Weekday Solemnities
theophilus June 24th, 2009
It was only recently that I started to understand the difference between the different types of days on the Church calendar. I couldn’t tell you the difference between solemnities, feasts, memorials, optional memorials and ferial days. I thought feast days were all the same.
So, as I began to learn about the Church calendar, I started to understand its structure and what the Church is trying to teach us as the year unfolds. I also began to understand why solemnities are reserved for the most important days during the year.
Most solemnities are well-observed (Easter & Christmas) or fall on Sunday (Epiphany, Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi, Christ the King). Holy Days of Obligation are also solemnities (Mary, Mother of God; Ascension; Assumption; All Saints; Immaculate Conception).
But there are a few solemnities that do not fall on Sunday and are not Holy Days of Obligation. These are St. Joseph (March 19), the Annunciation (March 25), Sacred Heart (Friday after 2nd Sunday after Pentecost), Sts. Peter & Paul (June 29), and St. John the Baptist (today, June 24).
All of these days are important to us and allow us to spend time thinking and praying about great people in the life of Jesus and the Church, as well as great mysteries that form the foundation of our faith.
With today being one of these most important of remembrances, we should spend some time thinking about the life of St. John the Baptist, what he meant to Christ’s ministry, and what he means to us today.
He was the voice crying in the wilderness. He prepared the way for the Lord. He was the fulfillment of prophecy. He taught repentance, conversion, salvation and forgiveness.
This is a great day to go to Mass, pray the Rosary, read the story of St. John in Luke 1. It is also a great day to think about whether you are listening to God through the people he has sent into your life; whether you need to get to confession to ask for forgiveness; whether you need to change things in your life; whether you are accepting the gift of salvation from Christ and are serving him.
Are you doing God’s will as St. John did?
Today, place yourself on the banks of the Jordan River and listen to what St. John has to tell you; listen to what Christ has to tell you.
