Today, September 29th, begins 10 consecutive days of AWESOME Feast Days – these happen to be some of my favorite 10 days of the entire liturgical year:
Sept. 29th – Feast of the Archangels
Sept. 30th – Memorial of St. Jerome AND the Anniversary of the death of St. Therese
Oct. 1st – Memorial of St. Therese
Oct. 2nd – Memorial of the Guardian Angels
Oct. 3rd – Transitus of Our Holy Father St. Francis (Join us here at OLS for the celebration beginning at 5 p.m. – Vespers, Veneration of Relic, etc)
Oct. 4th – Solemnity of Our Holy Father St. Francis (Mass @ 10 a.m.)
Oct. 5th – Memorial of St. Faustina
Oct. 6th – Memorial of St. Bruno
Oct. 7th – Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
Oct. 8th – Our Lady of Good Remedy
What a line up!!!!! Get ready to celebrate!
Reminder: the Saints are always watching over us and interceding for us!
In my 20 years of Religious Life – and I pray for many years to come – the Liturgical calendar has brought me so much JOY! I love to try to memorize the Feast Days and celebrate each saint in a manner fitting their uniqueness.
At times we do this communally, at times it is more of a personal devotion. Communally, we may pray a novena (like we are currently doing for St. Francis), have a special meal (like the French meal we are planning for St. Therese), or watch a movie of the Saint (like we do for St. Thomas More, that “Man for All Seasons”). We prepare for Mass accordingly, trying to honor the Saint of the day in our choice of vestments, altar linens, flowers, chalice, hymns and so on. If we have one, a relic or statue of the Saint is placed in our Adoration Chapel. Personally, we can allow the Liturgical Year to guide our book choices, personal devotions, conversation, and so on.
My friends, the Liturgical Year is not simply some stagnant calendar (and the Saints are not far from us…they are so near, cheering us on, spurring us on, praying for us!). The Liturgical Year carries within it our beautiful and inspiring traditions, bursting with memory and hope. SO ALIVE!!! It is a point of connection, uniting us to great mysteries, to Our Lord, Our Lady, the Angels, and the Saints -our older brothers and sisters in the faith. It serves as a constant and consistent reminder of the manifold and infinite Love of our God and the closeness and universality of the Church and all of her members (on earth, in purgatory, and in Heaven). And really I’m just barely scratching the surface of the importance and deep meaning of the Liturgical Year, with its seasons and so on.
WOW – I love being Catholic.
Your blog today about the liturgical year, and all the upcoming feast days, was so full of joyfulness….something which surely radiated all last week when the Holy Father was visiting the USA. I just was smiling all through reading your message. Prayers from here in Pennsylvania for all of you there in Arizona.
Sue
What a joy to celebrate this wonderful “cloud of witnesses”! And there are more coming–Oct. 11-Pope St. John XXIII; Oct. 15-St. Teresa of Avila; Oct. 18-St. Luke; Oct. 22-Pope St. John Paul II; Oct. 28-Sts.Simon and Jude (my patron Saint). Yes, I too love being Catholic!
Judy Kallmeyer
As years go by since going through RCIA in 2008 & becoming a member, the Saints get more exciting to me. I now could not imagine my life without them. I love them. And I especially love when one just pops up in our thoughts or we see their picture everywhere or learn about them. It’s special, like they are there to help me along my way too. I have so many Saints that I love & look forward to meeting more. And I agree with with you all, I too love being Catholic.