Understanding the Day
Season
Septuagesima
Week
Week 2 of Septuagesima
Rank
Second-class feast
Sexagesima Sunday (Dominica in Sexagesima) falls in the pre-Lenten season of Septuagesima. This period prepares families for Lent by shifting the liturgy’s tone from ordinary time toward penance and reflection. As a Greater Sunday of the II Class, Sexagesima is a principal Sunday with more solemn liturgical observance than ordinary weekdays: the Mass and Liturgy of the Hours use proper texts for the day, and the celebration has priority in parish scheduling. There is no octave or vigil specifically attached to this celebration; it is observed on the Sunday indicated by the traditional calendar. For families, Sexagesima matters because it marks an early step in spiritual preparation—Scripture readings and prayers begin to turn attention toward repentance, conversion, and readiness for the Lenten fast.
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
Beatitude 1
The Beatitudes
Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Poverty of spirit is freedom from placing the heart’s security in wealth, status, or self-sufficiency. It belongs to rich and poor alike when they depend humbly on God and remain willing to surrender created goods rather than offend Him.
Saint & Feast
Principal celebrationCalendar title
Sexagesima Sunday
A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.
Today in Church History
No Church history reflection has been prepared for this date yet.
Catechism
Catechism of the Catholic Church
In the beginning, God created the first man good and established him in friendship with his Creator, in harmony with himself and with creation. Adam and Eve were constituted in an original state of holiness and justice, sharing in divine life. From this friendship with God flowed the happiness of their existence in paradise.
This original harmony touched every dimension of human life: harmony within the person, between man and woman, and between the first couple and creation. Work in the garden was not a burden, but the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation. Humanity’s mastery over the world was first expressed as self-mastery, free from the disorder of concupiscence.
Yet this harmony of original justice was lost through the sin of our first parents. As we reflect together, we can remember that God did not create us to be solitary: man and woman form the first communion of persons, and every human person is created as a unity of body and soul, called to share in God’s life.
This original harmony touched every dimension of human life: harmony within the person, between man and woman, and between the first couple and creation. Work in the garden was not a burden, but the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation. Humanity’s mastery over the world was first expressed as self-mastery, free from the disorder of concupiscence.
Yet this harmony of original justice was lost through the sin of our first parents. As we reflect together, we can remember that God did not create us to be solitary: man and woman form the first communion of persons, and every human person is created as a unity of body and soul, called to share in God’s life.
¶ 374
The first man was not only created good, but was also established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with the creation around him, in a state that would be surpassed only by the glory of the new creation in Christ.
¶ 375
The Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original "state of holiness and justice". This grace of original holiness was "to share in. . .divine life".