Saint Joseph The Worker Feast Day - 1 May

Quoted from Catholic News Agency [1]:

St. Joseph has two feast days on the liturgical calendar. The first is March 19—Joseph, the Husband of Mary. The second is May 1—Joseph, the Worker.

“Saint Joseph is a man of great spirit. He is great in faith, not because he speaks his own words, but above all because he listens to the words of the Living God. He listens in silence. And his heart ceaselessly perseveres in the readiness to accept the Truth contained in the word of the Living God,” Pope John Paul II had once said.

There is very little about the life of Joseph in Scripture but still, we know that he was the chaste husband of Mary, the foster father of Jesus, a carpenter and  a man who was not wealthy. We also know that he came from the royal lineage of King David.

We can see from his actions in scripture that Joseph was a compassionate man, and obedient to the will of God. He also loved Mary and Jesus and wanted to protect and provide for them.

Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus' public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph had probably died before Jesus entered public ministry.

Joseph is the patron of many things, including the universal Church, fathers, the dying and social justice.

[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/feast-of-st-joseph-the-worker-471

Saint Catherine Of Siena Feast Day - April 30

Quoted from ThoughtCo. [1]:

Saint Catherine of Siena (March 25, 1347–April 29, 1380) was an ascetic, mystic, activist, author, and holy woman of the Catholic Church. Hardly an anchoress, her assertive and confrontational letters to bishops and popes, as well as her commitment to direct service to the sick and the poor, made Catherine a powerful role model for a more worldly and active spirituality.

Fast Facts: Catherine of Siena

Known For: Patron saint of Italy (with Francis of Assisi); credited with persuading the Pope to return the papacy from Avignon to Rome; one of two women named Doctors of the Church in 1970

Also Known As: Caterina di Giacomo di Benincasa

Born: March 25, 1347 in Siena, Italy

Parents: Giacomo di Benincasa and Lapa Piagenti

Died: April 29, 1380 in Rome, Italy

Published Works: "The Dialogue"

​Feast Day: April 29

Canonized: 1461

Occupation: Tertiary of the Dominican Order, mystic, and theologian

Early Life and Becoming a Dominican

Catherine of Siena was born into a large family. She was born a twin, the youngest of 23 children. Her father was a wealthy dye-maker. Many of her male relatives were public officials or went into the priesthood. From age six or seven, Catherine had religious visions. She practiced self-deprivation, especially abstaining from food. She took a vow of virginity but told no one, not even her parents.

Her mother urged her to improve her appearance as her family began to arrange her marriage to the widower of her sister, who had died in childbirth. Catherine cut off her hair⁠—something nuns do upon entering a convent⁠—and her parents punished her for it until she revealed her vow. They then permitted her to become a Dominican tertiary when, in 1363, she joined the Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic, an order made up mostly of widows.

It was not an enclosed order, so she lived at home. For her first three years in the order, she stayed isolated in her room, seeing only her confessor. Out of the three years of contemplation and prayer, she developed a rich theological system, including her theology of the Precious Blood of Jesus.

Service as Vocation

At the end of the three years of isolation, she believed she had a divine command to go out into the world and serve as a means of saving souls and working on her salvation. Around 1367, she experienced a mystical marriage to Christ, in which Mary presided along with other saints, and she received a ring⁠—which she said remained on her finger all her life, visible only to her—to signify the union. She practiced fasting and self-mortification, including self-scourging, and took communion frequently.

Public Recognition

Her visions and trances attracted a following among the religious and secular, and her advisors urged her to become active in the public and political world. Individuals and political figures began consulting her to mediate disputes and give spiritual advice.

Catherine never learned to write and she had no formal education, but she learned to read when she was 20. She dictated her letters and other works to secretaries. The best-known of her writing is "The Dialogue" (also known as "Dialogues" or "Dialogo"), a series of theological treatises on doctrine written with a combination of logical precision and heartfelt emotion. She also tried (unsuccessfully) to persuade the church to take up a crusade against the Turks.

In one of her visions in 1375, she was marked with the stigmata of Christ. Like her ring, the stigmata were only visible to her. That year, the city of Florence asked her to negotiate the end of a conflict with the pope's government in Rome. The Pope himself was in Avignon, where Popes had been for almost 70 years, having fled Rome. In Avignon, the Pope was under the influence of the French government and church. Many feared that the Pope was losing control of the church at that distance.

The Pope at Avignon

Her religious writing and good works (and perhaps her well-connected family or her tutor Raymond of Capua) brought her to the attention of Pope Gregory XI, still at Avignon. She traveled there, had private audiences with the Pope, argued with him to leave Avignon and return to Rome and fulfill "God's will and mine." She also preached to public audiences while there.

The French wanted the Pope in Avignon, but Gregory, in ill health, probably wanted to return to Rome so that the next Pope would be elected there. In 1376, Rome promised to submit to papal authority if he returned. So, in January 1377, Gregory returned to Rome. Catherine (along with St. Bridget of Sweden) is credited with persuading him to return.

The Great Schism

Gregory died in 1378 and Urban VI was elected the next Pope. However, soon after the election, a group of French cardinals claimed that fear of Italian mobs had influenced their vote and, along with some other cardinals, they elected a different Pope, Clement VII. Urban excommunicated those cardinals and selected new ones to fill their places. Clement and his followers escaped and set up an alternative papacy in Avignon. Clement excommunicated Urban's supporters. Eventually, European rulers were nearly equally divided between support for Clement and support for Urban. Each claimed to be the legitimate Pope and named his counterpart the Antichrist.

Into this controversy, called the Great Schism, Catherine threw herself assertively, supporting Pope Urban VI, and writing heavily critical letters to those who supported the Anti-Pope in Avignon. Catherine's involvement did not end the Great Schism (that wouldn't happen until 1413), but she worked hard to unite the faithful. She moved to Rome and preached the need for the opposition in Avignon to reconcile with Urban's papacy.

Holy Fasting and Death

In 1380, in part to expiate the great sin she saw in this conflict, Catherine gave up all food and water. Already weak from years of extreme fasting, she fell gravely ill. Though she ended the fast, she died at age 33. In Raymond of Capua's 1398 hagiography of Catherine, he noted this was the age when Mary Magdalene, one of her key role models, died. It is also the age that Jesus Christ was crucified.

There was and is quite the controversy over Catherine's eating habits. Her confessor, Raymond of Capua, wrote that she ate nothing but the communion host for years, and considered this a demonstration of her holiness. She died, he implies, as a result of her decision to abstain from not only all food but all water as well. Whether she was "anorexic for religion" remains a matter of scholarly controversy.

Legacy, Feminism, and Art

Pius II canonized Catherine of Siena in 1461. Her "The Dialogue" survives and has been widely translated and read. Extant are 350 letters that she dictated. In 1939, she was named as a patron saint of Italy, and in 1970, she was recognized as a Doctor of the Church, meaning her writings are approved teachings within the church. Dorothy Day credits reading Catherine's biography as an important influence in her life and her founding of the Catholic Worker Movement.

Some have considered Catherine of Siena a proto-feminist for her active role in the world. However, her concepts were not exactly what we would consider feminist today. For instance, she believed that her persuasive writing to powerful men would be especially shaming because God sent a woman to teach them.

In art, Catherine is usually depicted in a Dominican habit with a black cloak, white veil, and tunic. She is sometimes portrayed with St. Catherine of Alexandria, a fourth-century virgin and martyr whose feast day is November 25. Pinturicchio's "Canonization of Catherine of Siena" is one of the better known artistic depictions of her. She was a favorite subject of several other painters, especially Barna de Siena ("Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine"), Dominican Friar Fra Bartolomeo ("Marriage of Catherine of Siena"), and Duccio di Buoninsegna ("Maestà (Madonna with Angels and Saints)").

[1] https://www.thoughtco.com/catherine-of-siena-3529726, quoted without hyperlinks, bold type original.

Saint Mark Evangelist Feast Day - 25 April

Quoted from catholicfaithpatronsaints.com [1]:

St. Mark was born into a Jewish family. St. Mark was one of the first disciples of Jesus. He was not one of the original twelve apostles. St. Mark is the patron saint of notaries and lawyers.

St. Mark accompanied St. Paul and Barnabas (his cousin) on their missionary journey to Cyprus. St. Mark is the author of the second gospel. This gospel is the oldest gospel and was written in Greek for Gentile converts. It is believed St. Peter requested him to write this gospel.

Much of what we know about St. Mark we have learned from tradition. It is believed that Mark is the man who carried water to the house where the Last Supper took place. It is also possible he was the man who ran away naked when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:51-52) St. Mark is believed to have been present at the Wedding at Cana when Jesus turned the water into wine. (John 2:1-10)

When St. Peter escaped from prison he went to the home of Mark’s mother. Mark went to Alexandria to preach. He then founded the church in Alexandria.

St. Mark died a martyr, being dragged through the streets with a rope around his neck in the year 68.

The symbol of St. Mark is a winged lion. The lion represents the way the gospel should be preached. St. Mark is the patron saint of lawyers.

https://catholicfaithpatronsaints.com/prayers-quips-and-quotes-st-mark-feast-day-april-25/, quoted without hyperlinks, bold italics original.

Saint Justin Feast Day - 14 April

Quoted from Catholic Answers [1]:

Justin Martyr, Saint, Christian apologist, b. at Flavia Neapolis, about A.D. 100, converted to Christianity about A.D. 130, taught and defended the Christian religion in Asia Minor and at Rome, where he suffered martyrdom about the year 165. Two “Apologies” bearing his name and his “Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon” have come down to us. Leo XIII had a Mass and an Office composed in his honor and set his feast for April 14.

...

The role of St. Justin may be summed up in one word: it is that of a witness. We behold in him one of the highest and purest pagan souls of his time in contact with Christianity, compelled to accept its irrefragable truth, its pure moral teaching, and to admire its superhuman constancy. He is also a witness of the second-century Church which he describes for us in its faith, its life, its worship, at a time when Christianity yet lacked the firm organization that it was soon to develop (see Saint Irenaeus), but the larger outlines of whose constitution and doctrine are already luminously drawn by Justin. Finally, in consecration and confirmation of the aforesaid, Justin was a witness for Christ unto death.

JULES LEBRETON

 

[1] https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/justin-martyr-saint, quoted without hyperlinks, italics original.

Saint Leo The Great, Pope, Doctor Of The Church Feast Day - 11 April

Quoted from EWTN [1]:

During the disintegration of the Western Empire, when heresy was rife and all moral values were threatened by the barbarian invasions, Pope Leo I stands out as the resolute champion of the faith. His courage and sagacity lifted the prestige of the Holy See mightily, and earned for him the title of "The Great," a distinction bestowed on but one other pope, Gregory I. The Church honored Leo further with the title of Doctor because of his expositions of Christian doctrine, extracts from which are now incorporated in the lessons of the Catholic breviary. Of his birth and early years we have no reliable information; his family was probably Tuscan. We know that he was at Rome as a deacon under Pope Celestine I and Pope Sixtus III, whose pontificates ran from 422 to 440. Leo must have achieved eminence early, for even then he corresponded with Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria, and Cassian dedicated his treatise against Nestorius to him. In 440 Leo was sent to Gaul to try to make peace between the imperial generals, Aetius and Albinus. Soon afterward Pope Sixtus died, and a deputation came up from Rome to inform Leo that he had been elected to the chair of St. Peter. His consecration took place in September of that year, and he at once began to show great energy in the performance of the papal duties.

[1] https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/saint-leo-the-great-5614, quoted without bold type and references.

Easter Sunday - The Resurrection Of Our Lord - 9 April 2023

Quoted from catholicfaithstore.com [1]:

It is the oldest Christian holiday and the most important feast of the ecclesiastical year. In fact, the dates and celebrations of the liturgical year (including all the Christian movable feasts) are arranged around the central Christian feast of Easter.

The Roman Catholic Church always marks Easter on the first Sunday that follows the first full moon of the Spring Equinox. The date therefore changes each year and falls on any day between March 22 and April 25.

Easter Sunday starts the Easter season, marks the end of Lent and is the last day of the Holy Week which is also known as the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday).

The true meaning of Easter has deep significance in our lives as Catholics.

One practice of commemorating Easter is the joyous greeting of “Christ is risen” and a response of “He is risen indeed!”

It reminds us that Jesus is alive and in our midst and he welcomes us in a new life with him.

Easter is thus a symbolic reminder for all Catholics that Jesus has overcome death and sin. It marks the victory of good over evil.

The resurrection of Jesus is a magnificent event that shows the realization of our Christian faith. In 1 Corinthians 15:17, Saint Paul wrote that “unless Christ rose from the dead, our faith is in vain.” By sacrificing himself, Jesus Christ saved humanity from the shackles of sin. His eventual resurrection is a promise of a new life. It shows us that our faith in him is alive and powerful.

This event is also a powerful reminder to us all that trusting in God will pull you up even from the depths of despair.

[1] https://www.catholicfaithstore.com/daily-bread/true-meaning-of-easter-sunday-catholics/, quoted without paragraph subheadings, and without hyperlink.

Good Friday - 7 April 2023

Quoted from Learn Religions [1]:

Good Friday is observed on the Friday before Easter Sunday. On this day Christians commemorate the passion, or suffering, and death on the cross of Jesus Christ. Many Christians spend Good Friday in fasting, prayer, repentance, and meditation on the agony and suffering of Christ.

Bible References to Good Friday

The biblical account of Jesus' death on the cross, or crucifixion, his burial, and his resurrection, or raising from the dead, can be found in the following passages of Scripture: Matthew 27:27-28:8; Mark 15:16-16:19; Luke 23:26-24:35; and John 19:16-20:30.

What Happened on Good Friday?

On Good Friday, Christians focus on Jesus Christ's death. The night before he died, Jesus and his disciples took part in the Last Supper and then went to the Garden of Gethsemane. There, Jesus spent his last hours praying to the Father while his disciples slept nearby:

"Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.'" (Matthew 26:39, NIV)

Quoted from Wikipedia [2]:

Conflicting testimony against Jesus was brought forth by many witnesses, to which Jesus answered nothing. Finally the high priest adjured Jesus to respond under solemn oath, saying "I adjure you, by the Living God, to tell us, are you the Anointed One, the Son of God?" Jesus testified ambiguously, "You have said it, and in time you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty, coming on the clouds of Heaven." The high priest condemned Jesus for blasphemy, and the Sanhedrin concurred with a sentence of death. Peter, waiting in the courtyard, also denied Jesus three times to bystanders while the interrogations were proceeding just as Jesus had foretold.

In the morning, the whole assembly brought Jesus to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate under charges of subverting the nation, opposing taxes to Caesar, and making himself a king. Pilate authorized the Jewish leaders to judge Jesus according to their own law and execute sentencing; however, the Jewish leaders replied that they were not allowed by the Romans to carry out a sentence of death.

Pilate questioned Jesus and told the assembly that there was no basis for sentencing. Upon learning that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate referred the case to the ruler of Galilee, King Herod, who was in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. Herod questioned Jesus but received no answer; Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate. Pilate told the assembly that neither he nor Herod found Jesus to be guilty; Pilate resolved to have Jesus whipped and released. Under the guidance of the chief priests, the crowd asked for Barabbas, who had been imprisoned for committing murder during an insurrection. Pilate asked what they would have him do with Jesus, and they demanded, "Crucify him" Pilate's wife had seen Jesus in a dream earlier that day, and she forewarned Pilate to "have nothing to do with this righteous man". Pilate had Jesus flogged and then brought him out to the crowd to release him. The chief priests informed Pilate of a new charge, demanding Jesus be sentenced to death "because he claimed to be God's son." This possibility filled Pilate with fear, and he brought Jesus back inside the palace and demanded to know from where he came.

Coming before the crowd one last time, Pilate declared Jesus innocent and washed his own hands in water to show he had no part in this condemnation. Nevertheless, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified in order to forestall a riot. The sentence written was "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." Jesus carried his cross to the site of execution (assisted by Simon of Cyrene), called the "place of the Skull", or "Golgotha" in Hebrew and in Latin "Calvary". There he was crucified along with two criminals.

Jesus agonized on the cross for six hours. During his last three hours on the cross, from noon to 3 pm, darkness fell over the whole land. Jesus spoke from the cross, quoting the messianic Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

With a loud cry, Jesus gave up his spirit. There was an earthquake, tombs broke open, and the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. The centurion on guard at the site of crucifixion declared, "Truly this was God's Son!"

Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin and a secret follower of Jesus, who had not consented to his condemnation, went to Pilate to request the body of Jesus Another secret follower of Jesus and member of the Sanhedrin named Nicodemus brought about a hundred-pound weight mixture of spices and helped wrap the body of Jesus. Pilate asked confirmation from the centurion of whether Jesus was dead. A soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a lance causing blood and water to flow out and the centurion informed Pilate that Jesus was dead.

Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus' body, wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and placed it in his own new tomb that had been carved in the rock in a garden near the site of the crucifixion. Nicodemus also brought 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes, and placed them in the linen with the body, in keeping with Jewish burial customs They rolled a large rock over the entrance of the tomb. Then they returned home and rested, because Shabbat had begun at sunset. Matt. 28:1 "After the Shabbat, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb". i.e. "After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week,...". "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said....". (Matt. 28:6)

[1] https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-good-friday-p2-700773, quoted without hyperlinks, bold type in large font type original.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday, quoted without hyperlinks and references.

Holy Thursday - 6 April 2023

Quoted from Catholic Online [1]:

Holy Thursday is the commemoration of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, when he established the sacrament of Holy Communion prior to his arrest and crucifixion. It also commemorates His institution of the priesthood. The holy day falls on the Thursday before Easter and is part of Holy Week. Jesus celebrated the dinner as a Passover feast. Christ would fulfill His role as the Christian victim of the Passover for all to be saved by His final sacrifice.

The Last Supper was the final meal Jesus shared with his Disciples in Jerusalem. During the meal, Jesus predicts his betrayal.

The central observance of Holy Thursday is the ritual reenactment of the Last Supper at Mass. This event is celebrated at every Mass, as party of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, but it is specially commemorated on Holy Thursday.

He also establishes the special priesthood for his disciples, which is distinct from the "priesthood of all believers." Christ washed the feet of his Disciples, who would become the first priests.

This establishment of the priesthood reenacted at Mass with the priest washing the feet of several parishioners.

During the Passover meal, Jesus breaks bread and gives it to his Disciples, uttering the words, "This is my body, which is given for you." Subsequently, he passes a cup filled with wine. He then says, "This is my blood..." It is believed those who eat of Christ's flesh and blood shall have eternal life.

During the Mass, Catholics rightly believe, as an article of faith, that the unleavened bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ through a process known as transubstantiation. There have been notable Eucharistic miracles attributed to this event, such as bleeding hosts (communion wafers).

The Last Supper is celebrated daily in the Catholic Church as part of every Mass for it is through Christ's sacrifice that we have been saved.

...

Following the Last Supper, the disciples went with Jesus to the Mount of Olives, where he would be betrayed by Judas [Iscariot].

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper - image from Wikipedia [2]:

[1] https://www.catholic.org/lent/thurs.php

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Supper#/media/File:The_Last_Supper_-_Leonardo_Da_Vinci_-_High_Resolution_32x16.jpg

Palm Sunday - 2 April 2023

Quoted from Simply Catholic [1]:

It is a time of despair, perplexity and contradiction. The very people who applaud Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem that morning, shouting out “Hosanna” and words of adoration will, within a week, be crying, “Crucify Him.” They will go from acclaiming Him as the new King of Israel to urging His life be traded in favor of a convicted criminal; they will first praise Him and then mock Him. Even friends entering Jerusalem at His side will desert Jesus. All this discord will take place during one week beginning on what we call Palm Sunday.

Exuberant Crowds

As we read in the Gospels, Jesus went to Jerusalem to join with throngs of other Jews to celebrate the Passover feast as had been prescribed in the Old Testament books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. According to the Gospel of St. John, Jesus and many of his followers journeyed the less than two miles from Bethany on that Sunday, arriving outside Jerusalem. As was the custom, pilgrims that had already arrived in the city went out to greet newly arriving groups; some had never seen Jesus but had heard about the miracles attributed to Him and were caught up in the excitement.

Those arriving with and greeting Jesus were large in number as explained by John’s Gospel: “When the great crowd … heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him, and cried out: ‘Hosanna! / Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, [even] the king of Israel’” (12:12-13).

This adulation was not lost on the Pharisees who were present. They said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He said in reply, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out” (see Lk 19:39-40). The Pharisees reported the events back to the Jewish high council, the Sanhedrin, which regarded Jesus’ ever growing popularity as a threat to their cozy relationship with the Romans. They were, in fact, planning to murder Him.

Previously, Our Lord had deliberately avoided popular acclaim, even fled, but this, upon entering Jerusalem, He accepts. Yet His actions are different than the people expected. He doesn’t present himself as a rival to Caesar; He is not the political messiah or the warrior king the multitude had clamored for. Instead of entering Jerusalem on a war horse or chariot, he enters on a donkey, a sign of peace; and not just any donkey, but one on which no one had ever sat, the prerogative of a king. Seeing Him on the donkey, the Jews surging around Him recalled the words of the Prophet Zechariah 500 years earlier:

“Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! / Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! / Behold: your king is coming to you; /a just savior is he, / Humble, and riding on a donkey, / on a colt, the foal of a donkey. / He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim / and the horse from Jerusalem” (Zec 9:9-10).

Pope Benedict XVI explained these Old Testament words as they related to Jesus: “He is a king who destroys the weapons of war, a king of peace and a king of simplicity, a king of the poor.… Jesus is not building on violence; he is not instigating a military revolt against Rome” (“Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week,” Ignatius Press, 2011, pp. 81-82).

Riding on the borrowed donkey, Jesus made His humble entrance into the city while the crowds were scattering their garments before Him and waving their palm branches. This joyful scene belies the traitorous acts, sorrow and agony that will soon follow, belies that this triumphant hero will be crucified like a criminal.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) offered a homily about Christ’s entry into Jerusalem: “How different the cries, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him,’ and then, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna, in the highest!’ How different the cries are that now are calling him ‘King of Israel’ and then in a few days’ time will be saying, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ What a contrast between the green branches and the cross, between the flowers and the thorns! Before they were offering their own clothes for him to walk upon, and so soon afterwards they are stripping him of his, and casting lots upon them.”

[1] https://www.simplycatholic.com/hosanna-what-is-the-meaning-of-palm-sunday/, large font size, original.