This feast, celebrated in the Time after Pentecost, honors the dedication of the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior (the Lateran), a principal church of the local Church. The season after Pentecost is the ordinary time of growth in the life of the Church, a period for living and deepening faith following the great mysteries of Easter and Pentecost. There is no octave or vigil specified here, so the celebration is observed on the day itself.
Introit (Daily Prayer)
Gen. 28:17 How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven; and it shall be called the court of God. (Alleluia, alleluia.) Ps 83:2-3 How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts! My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. Glory Be to the Father…
Commemoration St. Theodore Grant, we beseech You, O Lord, by the intercession of blessed Theodore, Your Martyr, that what we taste with our lips we may consume with a pure heart. Through our Lord…
Weekly Prayer
Weekly prayer content will appear here once it is scheduled.
Weekly Formation
Sloth and Diligence
The Way of Darkness
Sloth
Sloth is sorrow, weariness, or neglect in the face of the spiritual good and the duties required by one’s vocation. It is more than physical tiredness: it resists the effort of loving God well and often escapes into idleness, distraction, or unfinished obligations.
The Way of Light
Diligence
Diligence is steady care in carrying out the good required by one’s duties and state in life. It opposes sloth by persevering through difficulty, weariness, or lack of attraction instead of neglecting what love of God and neighbor requires.
Saint & Feast
Principal celebration
Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica of Our Savior
The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome and the ecclesiastical seat of the pope as bishop of Rome.
The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome and the ecclesiastical seat of the pope as bishop of Rome. Its dedication is commemorated in the Roman calendar on November 9.
The 1880 earthquake in Zagreb significantly impacted the city, including damage to Zagreb Cathedral, a vital symbol of Catholic faith in the region. This event led to reconstruction efforts that reinforced the Church's presence and resilience in the face of adversity.
In times of destruction, the faith of the community can lead to renewal and rebuilding.
Roger Allen LaPorte's Self-Immolation Protest (1965)
1965Event
Roger Allen LaPorte, a member of the Catholic Worker Movement, set himself on fire in protest against the Vietnam War. This tragic act highlights the intersection of faith, social justice, and moral opposition to war within the Catholic tradition.
True witness often requires profound sacrifice in the pursuit of peace and justice.
Catechism
Catechism of the Catholic Church
As followers of Christ, we are called to put away falsehood, malice, guile, insincerity, envy, and slander, and to live in true righteousness and holiness. Our words carry real weight: false witness, detraction, calumny, and lying can harm another person’s reputation, damage justice and charity, and undermine trust among people. In our daily relationships, we should seek to interpret others’ thoughts, words, and actions favorably whenever possible, avoiding rash judgments and speech that injures their good name. When our words or actions have harmed someone, we have a duty in conscience to make reparation, including for damage done to another’s reputation, as an expression of justice and charity.
¶ 2476
False witness and perjury. When it is made publicly, a statement contrary to the truth takes on a particular gravity. In court it becomes false witness. When it is under oath, it is perjury. Acts such as these contribute to condemnation of the innocent, exoneration of the guilty, or the increased punishment of the accused. They gravely compromise the exercise of justice and the fairness of judicial decisions.
¶ 2477
Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty: - of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor; - of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another's faults and failings to persons who did not know them; - of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.
Saint Theodore, distinguished as Theodore of Amasea, Theodore the Recruit, and by other names, is a Christian saint and Great Martyr, particularly revered in the Eastern Orthodox Churches but also honored in Roman Catholicism and Oriental Orthodoxy. According to legend, he was a legionary in the Roman army who suffered martyrdom by immolation at Amasea in Galatian Pontus during the Great Persecution under Diocletian in the early 4th century. Venerated by the late 4th century, he became a prominent warrior saint during the Middle Ages, attracted a great deal of additional legends including accounts of battle against dragons, and was often confused with the similar Theodore Stratelates of Heraclea.
To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor's thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:
¶ 2479
Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one's neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.
¶ 2480
Every word or attitude is forbidden which by flattery, adulation, or complaisance encourages and confirms another in malicious acts and perverse conduct. Adulation is a grave fault if it makes one an accomplice in another's vices or grave sins. Neither the desire to be of service nor friendship justifies duplicitous speech. Adulation is a venial sin when it only seeks to be agreeable, to avoid evil, to meet a need, or to obtain legitimate advantages.
¶ 2481
Boasting or bragging is an offense against truth. So is irony aimed at disparaging someone by maliciously caricaturing some aspect of his behavior.
¶ 2482
"A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving." The Lord denounces lying as the work of the devil: "You are of your father the devil, . . . there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
¶ 2483
Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead into error someone who has the right to know the truth. By injuring man's relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord.
Baltimore track
Baltimore Catechism No. 3
Lesson 31 — The First Commandment--On the Honor and Invocation of the Saints
Q. 1197.How do we know that the saints hear us?
A.We know that the saints hear us, because they are with God, who makes our prayers known to them.
Q. 1198.Why do we believe that the saints will help us?
A.We believe that the saints will help us because both they and we are members of the same Church, and they love us as their brethren.
Q. 1199.How are the saints and we members of the same Church?
A.The saints and we are members of the same Church, because the Church in heaven and the Church on earth are one and the same Church, and all its members are in communion with one another.
Q. 1200.What is the communion of the members of the Church called?
A.The communion of the members of the Church is called the Communion of Saints.