St. John Bosco, Confessor, is celebrated within the season called the Time After Epiphany, a period that follows the feast of the Epiphany and highlights the beginnings of Jesus’ public life and the call of Christians to live his mission. As a “Double” rank celebration in the divino_afflatu calendar system, this means the feast has an important liturgical place: it is celebrated with its proper prayers and readings, and it takes precedence over many lesser commemorations but does not carry the greater solemnity of a principal feast or a Sunday of obligation. There is no octave or vigil attached here, so the observance is kept on the single appointed day.
Daily Prayer
The Introit for this day has not yet been generated.
Weekly Prayer
Weekly prayer content will appear here once it is scheduled.
Weekly Formation
Idolatry, Sorcery, and Faithfulness
The Works of the Flesh
Idolatry
Idolatry gives a creature, image, power, or human good the worship or absolute trust owed to God alone. It is a work of the flesh because it turns the heart from the Creator toward something finite and makes that created thing the governing object of life.
Sorcery
Sorcery seeks hidden power, knowledge, or control through occult practices rather than through God’s providence and lawful means. It violates faith by appealing to spiritual powers apart from God and can involve superstition, deception, or direct openness to evil.
The Fruits of the Holy Spirit
Faithfulness
Faithfulness is steadfast reliability toward God and toward rightful human commitments. It makes belief, promises, duties, and relationships stable rather than subject to convenience, mood, or pressure.
Saint & Feast
Principal celebration
John Bosco
St. John Bosco, Confessor
Italian Roman Catholic priest, educator, writer (1815–1888)
Born
1815-08-16 · Castelnuovo Don Bosco
Died
1888-01-31 · Turin
John Melchior Bosco, SDB, popularly known as Don Bosco or Dom Bosco, was an Italian Catholic priest, educator and writer. While working in Turin, where the population suffered many of the ill effects of industrialization and urbanization, he dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. He developed teaching methods based on love rather than punishment, a method that became known as the Salesian Preventive System.
No Church history reflection has been prepared for this date yet.
Catechism
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Believing in the one true God transforms our lives profoundly, calling us to recognize His greatness and majesty while serving Him above all else. This belief fosters a spirit of gratitude, reminding us that everything we possess is a gift from God, which encourages families to cultivate thankfulness in daily life. It also emphasizes the dignity of every person, made in God's image, urging us to treat each other with respect and love. Ultimately, faith in God invites us to trust Him in all circumstances and to prioritize our relationship with Him, using the created world wisely to draw closer to His love and truth.
¶ 224
It means living in thanksgiving: if God is the only One, everything we are and have comes from him: "What have you that you did not receive?" "What shall I render to the LORD for all his bounty to me?"
¶ 225
It means knowing the unity and true dignity of all men: everyone is made in the image and likeness of God.
It means making good use of created things: faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from him: My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.
¶ 227
It means trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity. A prayer of St. Teresa of Jesus wonderfully expresses this trust:
¶ 228
"Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD..." ( Dt 6:4; Mk 12:29). "The supreme being must be unique, without equal. . . If God is not one, he is not God" (Tertullian, Adv. Marc., 1, 3, 5: PL 2, 274).
¶ 229
Faith in God leads us to turn to him alone as our first origin and our ultimate goal, and neither to prefer anything to him nor to substitute anything for him.
¶ 230
Even when he reveals himself, God remains a mystery beyond words: "If you understood him, it would not be God" (St. Augustine, Sermo 52, 6, 16: PL 38, 360 and Sermo 117, 3, 5: PL 38, 663).
Baltimore track
Baltimore Catechism No. 3
The Manner in which a Lay Person Is to Baptize in Case of Necessity
Q. 116.What do you mean here by a "lay person"?
A.By a "lay person" I mean here any one who is not a priest.
All such persons and those not dedicated to the service of the Altar, taken together, are called the "laity," as all those who have received sacred orders or who are dedicated to the service of the Altar, taken together, are called the "clergy."
Q. 117.What is meant by "in case of necessity?"
A.In "case of necessity" means here that a person not baptized is in danger of death and there is no priest present to administer the Sacrament.
Q. 118.How is Baptism given by a "lay person"?
A.Whoever baptizes must:--
Pour common water on the head or face of the person to be baptized, and say while pouring it:
"I baptize thee, in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
N.B.--Any person of either sex who has, reached the use of reason can baptize in case of necessity.
Q. 119.What else is to be observed?
A.In baptizing: (1) The water must touch the skin and flow; (2) the same person who pours the water must say the words; (3) parents should not baptize their own children, if there be any other person present who knows how to baptize; (4) a man, if he be present and knows how to administer the Sacrament, should baptize in preference to a woman; (5) the person baptizing must have the intention of doing what the Church does; (6) he must not repeat the baptism after giving it once correctly.