The very Marian month of August
Purple Catholic Saturday Post
Good morning and happy Saturday. I hope you all had a good week. Today feels like the first Saturday in a while that we don’t have an official memorial or feast day, but those of you who pray the Liturgy of the Hours may be aware that we do have an optional memorial on most Saturdays in Ordinary Time for the Blessed Virgin Mary.
According to the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, celebrating a memorial to Mary on Saturday dates back to the 9th century though little is know about the precise origins. However, as the Directory also says, it serves as an introduction of sorts to Sunday.
It adds yet another opportunity in the already Marian heavy month of August to strengthen our relationship with the Blessed Mother.
Of course this week we celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption and next week there is an obligatory memorial for the Queenship of Mary. Thursday’s memorial features a very poetic sermon by St. Amadeus of Lausanne about the virtue of Mary. He says:
Dwelling in the loftiest citadel of virtue, like a sea of divine grace or an unfathomable source of love that has everywhere overflowed its banks, she poured forth her bountiful waters on trusting and thirsting souls. … [W]hen the Virgin of virgins was led forth by God and her Son, the King of kings, amid the company of exulting angels and rejoicing archangels, with the heavens ringing with praise, the prophecy of the psalmist was fulfilled, in which he said to the Lord: At your right hand stands the queen, clothed in gold of Ophir.
We should take great joy in this very Marian month. And as St. Maxmilian Kolbe said (whose memorial we also celebrated this week), “never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”
So if you have yet to pray Lauds or the Office of Readings, pick a few of the options from the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday (page 1656 in Volume IV of the Liturgy of the Hours or find it online here*).
Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
This week we are entering the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time. This Sunday we will hear readings from Proverbs 9:1-6, Psalm 34, Ephesians 5:15-20, and John 6:51-58.
Here are some resources to help you prep for the readings this Sunday:
This Sunday, Why Would He Want Us To Eat His Flesh? - Tom Hoopes at Benedictine University
Feast with the Eyes of Humility - Dr. Marcus Peter at Scripture and Life
In the Liturgy of the Hours, we are entering Psalter Week IV and in the Office of Readings we will reading from the early chapters of Isaiah.
Here is a calendar for the rest of the week:
Monday, 19 August - Memorial of St. John Eudes, priest (optional)
Tuesday, 20 August - Memorial of St. Bernard, abbot and doctor
Wednesday, 21 August - Memorial of Pius X, pope
Thursday, 22 August - Memorial of the Queenship of Mary
Friday, 23 August - Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, OP, virgin (optional)
Saturday, 24 August - Feast of St. Bartholomew, apostle
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
John 6:56
In the news:
The United States
Its time to repurpose the Catholic Campaign for Human Development - George Weigel in Denver Catholic
US bishops want Church to have say in commission on boarding schools for Native Americans - Crux
Bishop Cozzens: The Eucharistic Congress “exceeded our expectations…” - Catholic World Report
Notre Dame suspends swim team for a year due to gambling scandal - National Catholic Register
The Vatican
Rupnik art appears on Vatican website again — and in Pope Francis’ apartment - Catholic News Agency
Is the Pontifical Academy for Life really an ‘academy’ at all? - JD Flynn in the Pillar
Pope Francis: Mary goes before us on the journey of life - EWTN Vatican
The World
Nigeria’s bishops decry ‘alarming’ rise in liturgical abuses - The Pillar
Assessment of Catholic safeguarding offers blueprint for improvement, New Zealand bishop says - Crux
New report in Western Australia says Catholic Church must do more to help abuse victims - Crux
Have a good weekend,
Matthew
*Universalis, for copyright reasons, uses their own translation of the Liturgy of the Hours on their free website. Because of this, the psalms, readings, and responses may differ slightly from printed versions of the Liturgy of the Hours.