Understanding the Day
Season
Lent
Week
Week 4 of Lent
Rank
First-class feast
Sunday 4 in Quadragesima falls in the middle of Lent, the Church’s season of penance, prayer, and conversion preparing hearts for Easter. The rank “Greater Sunday of the I Class” means this Sunday is one of the most important liturgical days of the season: the Sunday Mass and its readings take precedence in the family’s weekly rhythm and public worship, and other optional memorials or lower-ranking commemorations are omitted. There is no octave or vigil tied specifically to this title; it is a regular Sunday in Lent with special solemnity.
Introit (Daily Prayer)
Isa 66:10-11
Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together, all you who love her: rejoice with joy, you who have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.
Ps 121:1
I rejoiced because they said to me, We will go up to the house of the Lord.
Glory Be to the Father…
Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and come together, all you who love her: rejoice with joy, you who have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.
Ps 121:1
I rejoiced because they said to me, We will go up to the house of the Lord.
Glory Be to the Father…
Grant, we beseech You, almighty God, that we who justly suffer for our sins may find relief in the help of Your grace.
Through our Lord…
Through our Lord…
Weekly Prayer
Prayer for the Home
Visit, we beseech Thee, O Lord, this home,
and drive far from it all snares of the enemy.
Let Thy holy angels dwell herein to preserve us in peace;
and may Thy blessing be always upon us.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
and drive far from it all snares of the enemy.
Let Thy holy angels dwell herein to preserve us in peace;
and may Thy blessing be always upon us.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Weekly Formation
Beatitude 4
The Beatitudes
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for justice; for they shall be satisfied.
To hunger and thirst for justice is to desire holiness and every virtue with the urgency of bodily hunger and thirst. The promise of being filled means that God satisfies this sincere desire through grace now and perfect righteousness in heaven.
Saint & Feast
Principal celebrationCalendar title
Sunday 4 of Lent
A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.
Today in Church History
First Cardinal in the United States
1875EventIn 1875, Archbishop John McCloskey was appointed as the first cardinal in the United States, marking a significant milestone in the history of the Catholic Church in America. This event underscored the growing influence and recognition of the Catholic Church in the United States during a time of expansion and immigration.
The elevation of Cardinal McCloskey reminds us of the importance of leadership and guidance in the Church's mission.
Catechism
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Church’s origin is rooted in the Holy Trinity’s plan and unfolds gradually through history as the “family of God,” called to share in divine life. God created the world for communion with him, brought about through the gathering of people in Christ, which is the Church. After sin disrupted communion with God and one another, God began gathering his People, preparing this gathering through Abraham and Israel and bringing it to fulfillment in the New Covenant instituted by Christ. Jesus inaugurated the Church by proclaiming the Kingdom of God, gathering a little flock around himself, and preparing and building his Church through the Twelve and the other disciples. The Church is born above all from Christ’s total self-giving for salvation, anticipated in the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross, where the blood and water flowing from his side symbolize her origin and growth. As we reflect together, we can give thanks for God’s loving plan to gather his people into communion with him in Christ.
¶ 758
We begin our investigation of the Church's mystery by meditating on her origin in the Holy Trinity's plan and her progressive realization in history.
¶ 759
"The eternal Father, in accordance with the utterly gratuitous and mysterious design of his wisdom and goodness, created the whole universe and chose to raise up men to share in his own divine life," to which he calls all men in his Son. "The Father . . . determined to call together in a holy Church those who should believe in Christ." This "family of God" is gradually formed and takes shape during the stages of human history, in keeping with the Father's plan. In fact, "already present in figure at the beginning of the world, this Church was prepared in marvellous fashion in the history of the people of Israel and the old Advance. Established in this last age of the world and made manifest in the outpouring of the Spirit, it will be brought to glorious completion at the end of time."