Jimmy Akin

The Church Year: May 18, 2012

by Jimmy Akin on May 17, 2012

Today is Friday of the 6th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, the liturgical color for today is red.

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 18, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. John I, pope and martyr. It is an optional memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Venantius of Camerino, martyr, who died in A.D. about 250. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. John I, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Venantius, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

Devotional Information:

On the nine days between (not including) Ascension Thursday and Pentecost, many pray a Pentecost Novena. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

The Pentecost Novena

155. The New Testament tells us that during the period between the Ascension and Pentecost “all…joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts 1, 14) while they awaited being “clothed with the power from on high” (Lk 24, 49). The pious exercise of the Pentecost novena, widely practiced among the faithful, emerged from prayerful reflection on this salvific event.

Indeed, this novena is already present in the Missal and in the Liturgy of the Hours, especially in the second vespers of Pentecost: the biblical and eucological texts, in different ways, recall the disciples’ expectation of the Paraclete. Where possible, the Pentecost novena should consist of the solemn celebration of vespers. Where such is not possible, the novena should try to reflect the liturgical themes of the days from Ascension to the Vigil of Pentecost.

In some places, the week of prayer for the unity Christians is celebrated at this time.

Clerical Scandals Are Nothing New

by Jimmy Akin on May 17, 2012

in +Did You Know?

Did You Know? Colorful Protestant evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson–founder of the Foursquare Gospel Church–disappeared May 18, 1926. At first it was thought she was drowned. She later reappeared and claimed to to have been kidnapped. Significant evidence indicated she had spent the missing time with an illicit lover. What’s the truth? You decide. LEARN MORE.

The Church Year: May 17, 2012

by Jimmy Akin on May 16, 2012

in +Religion, Liturgical Year

Today is Thursday of the 6th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

This is a holyday of obligation (Ascension) in some parts of the world–including some parts of the United States. If it is a holyday of obligation in your area, be sure to go to Mass if you didn’t go yesterday evening.

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 17, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Pascal Baylon, OFM, confessor, who died in A.D. 1592. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Pascal Baylon, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

Devotional Information:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

200. Those who recite a third of the Rosary sometimes assign the various mysteries to particular days: joyful (Monday and Thursday), sorrowful (Tuesday and Friday), glorious (Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday).

Where this system is rigidly adhere to, conflict can arise between the content of the mysteries and that of the Liturgy of the day: the recitation of the sorrowful mysteries on Christmas day, should it fall on a Friday. In cases such as this it can be reckoned that “the liturgical character of a given day takes precedence over the usual assignment of a mystery of the Rosary to a given day; the Rosary is such that, on particular days, it can appropriately substitute meditation on a mystery so as to harmonize this pious practice with the liturgical season.” Hence, the faithful act correctly when, for example, they contemplate the arrival of the three Kings on the Solemnity of the Epiphany, rather than the finding of Jesus in the Temple. Clearly, such substitutions can only take place after much careful thought, adherence to Sacred Scripture and liturgical propriety.

Really Old Computer Technology

by Jimmy Akin on May 16, 2012

in +Did You Know?

Did You Know? The Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovered the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer, on May 17, 1902. Originally made in the 1st century B.C., mechanisms of this complexity would not be made again until the 1300s. LEARN MORE.

There’s Still a Little Time to Get the Secret Info Club Briefing

by Jimmy Akin on May 16, 2012

in +Religion

I just finished working on the special “interview” with Pope Benedict on homosexual “marriage.” It’s a briefing for Secret Information Club members in response to President Obama’s endorsement of homosexual marriage.

If you would like to read it, you should sign up for the Secret Info Club by Thursday, and you’ll get it in your email inbox on Friday.

You should sign up using this form right here:

Or you can use the form in the top right margin or go to www.SecretInfoClub.com.

The Church Year: May 16, 2012

by Jimmy Akin on May 15, 2012

in +Religion, Liturgical Year

Today is Wednesday of the 6th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

Note: Tomorrow is a holyday of obligation (Ascension) in some parts of the world–including some parts of the United States. If it is a holyday of obligation in your area, be sure to go to Mass either this evening or tomorrow.

In the Extraordinary Form, it is a rogation day and the Vigil of the Ascension.

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 16, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Ubald, bishop of Gubbio, confessor, who died in A.D. 1160. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Ubald, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

Devotional Information:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

199. With due regard for the nature of the rosary, some suggestions can now be made which could make it more proficuous.

On certain occasions, the recitation of the Rosary could be made more solemn in tone “by introducing those Scriptural passages corresponding with the various mysteries, some parts could be sung, roles could be distributed, and by solemnly opening and closing of prayer.”

How Long, Do You Think, Till They Try This Again?

by Jimmy Akin on May 15, 2012

in +Did You Know?

Did You Know? The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 16, 1918, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense. LEARN MORE.

The Church Year: May 15, 2012

by Jimmy Akin on May 14, 2012

in +Religion, Liturgical Year

Today is Tuesday of the 6th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, it is a rogation day.

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 15, in the Ordinary Form in the United States, we celebrate St. Isidore of Seville. It is an optional memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. John Baptist de la Salle, founder of the Brothers of Christian Schools, confessor, who died in A.D. 1719. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Isidore, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. John Baptist de la Salle, you can click here.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

Devotional Information:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

198. The Blessing for Rosary Beads indicates the Church’s esteem for the Rosary. This rite emphasises the community nature of the Rosary. In the rite, the blessing of rosary beads is followed by the blessing of those who meditate on the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord so as to “establish a perfect harmony between prayer and life.”

As indicated in the Benedictionale, Rosary beads can be blessed publicly, on occasions such as a pilgrimage to a Marian shrine, a feast of Our Lady, especially that of the Holy Rosary, and at the end of the month of October.