| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 (+) (St Hugh of Grenoble) |
2 (+) (St Francis of Paola) (St Mary the Egyptian) |
3 (+) (St Sixtus I) |
4 (+) ><> First Friday (St Isidore of Seville) |
5 (+) First Saturday (St Vincent Ferrer) |
||
6 |
7 (+) (St John Baptist de la Salle) |
8 (+) (St Julian of Toledo) |
9 (+) (St Casilda of Toledo) |
10 (+) (St Ezekiel) (St Terence) |
11 (+) ><> (St Stanislaus) |
12 (+) (St Zeno) |
13 (+) PALM SUNDAY |
14 (+) Monday of Holy Week (St Peter Gonzalez/St Telmo) |
15 (+) Tuesday of Holy Week (St Peter Gonzalez/St Telmo) |
16 (+) Wednesday of Holy Week (St Bernadette Soubirous) |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 (*) EASTER OCTAVE MONDAY (S) (day #2) |
22 (*) EASTER OCTAVE TUESDAY (S) (day #3) |
23 (*) EASTER OCTAVE WEDNESDAY (S) (day #4) |
24 (*) EASTER OCTAVE THURSDAY (S) (day #5) |
25 (*) EASTER OCTAVE FRIDAY (S) (day #6) |
26 (*) EASTER OCTAVE SATURDAY (S) (day #7) |
27 |
28 (*) (St Louis de Montfort) (St Peter Chanel) |
29 (*) (St Catherine of Sienna) (St Peter of Verona) |
30 (*) (St Pius V) |
The Jubilee Year: Every 25 years, a Jubilee Year occurs within the Catholic Church. The tradition dates back to 1300 when Pope Boniface VIII instituted the first Jubilee Year. At that time, Jubilee Years were celebrated every 100 years. Eventually, the interval was shortened to every 25 years. This tradition allows Catholics worldwide to renew and strengthen their faith and relationship with Christ. The theme of this year's Jubilee is "Pilgrims of Hope," and it began with the opening of the Holy Foor of St. Peter's Basilica on December 24, 2024, by Pope Francis.
The Paschal Triduum: The English word "paschal" comes from the Hebrew word for Passover, Pesach. We fast, abstain from certain foods, rest, and keep watch during the Lenten season. We strive to come together, observing the three disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Then, on the night between Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, our fasting ends, and the feast begins. From sundown on Holy Thursday to sunset on Holy Saturday is the Paschal Triduum (tri-doo-um), which means "the Three Days of Passover."
Holy Thursday, until sundown, is the final day of Lent and the 40th day of the 40-day period (counting from the First Sunday of Lent as day #1, as established at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325). However, Lent ends at sundown, and the three days of the Paschal Triduum begin. The Triduum is the heart of the year and the three days of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the Passover of our Lord.
Good Friday is the first full day of the Triduum, when the liturgical services have no formal beginnings or endings, no greetings or dismissals. Instead, the worship services are all part of the single, three-day liturgy of the Triduum.
Holy Saturday is the middle day of the Triduum. In Latin, Holy Saturday is Sabbatum Sanctum, the Holy Sabbath. The Paschal Sabbath of Holy Saturday lasts from sundown on Good Friday to sunset on Holy Saturday. The Church "rests" in Christ today, as He rested in the tomb on the old covenant Sabbath. At nightfall, what was the blessed Old Covenant Sabbath ended. The first day of the week, which we call Sunday, was the first day of the old creation and the beginning of the new creation of the New Covenant of the Lord in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. At sunset, which signaled the end of the Old Covenant Sabbath, the customary first task was to kindle a fire and light the evening lamp. That is what the Church does as the Easter Vigil begins. Christ completed the Old Covenant; He is the New Covenant's spiritual light in a new creation (Jn 8:12). On this special night, the Church invites her members to gather with those being received into the Church family in the Sacrament of Baptism. On this night, above all other nights, the Church "keeps watch" together as a family as we await the Lord's promised return in glory and as He continues to keep watch over His household of the Church.
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord: In the 1st century AD, the Jews called the two feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread either "the Passover" or "Unleavened Bread (Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12; Lk 22:1, 7). After the Israelites returned from the Babylonian exile, the name of the month was no longer known by the Hebrew name Abib but became Nisan, the name of the Babylonian month in the early spring. The combined feasts began on Nisan the 14th and lasted eight days until the 21st (as the ancients counted without a zero-place-value). The Gospel of John sets the countdown to Jesus's last Passover in John 12:1 by announcing that when Jesus ate dinner with friends in Bethany, it was six days (as the ancients counted) until the Passover sacrifice. The next day, Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the day we celebrate in the Christian calendar as Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion. If it was six days until the Passover sacrifice from the Saturday dinner in Bethany, then, with the day of the dinner counting as day #1, the 6th day was the day of the Passover sacrifice on Thursday, the 14th of Nisan. That means Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan (Abib), on the day God commanded the Israelites to select the lambs and goat kids for the first Passover in Egypt (Ex 12:3-5). Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb of God that St. John testified "takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29, 36). According to the Gospels, it was on the first night of Unleavened Bread when covenant members (in a state of ritual purity) ate the Passover victim in a sacred meal that Jesus and His disciples celebrated as the Last Supper (Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12; Lk 22:1, 7). The Synoptic Gospels use the feast names "Passover" and "Unleavened Bread" together as one feast (Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12; Lk 22:7). Only the Gospel of John refers to both feasts as "Passover" for the entire holy week. The word "Passover" is also the only designation for the two feasts in the Jewish Mishnah, and as Jews identify the feast of Unleavened Bread today since there is no Temple to offer a Passover sacrifice.
At the Passover sacred meal on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jesus transformed the old Sinai Covenant ritual meal into the sacred meal of the New Covenant people of God by offering His Body and Blood in the first Eucharistic banquet. Afterward, Jesus and His apostles withdrew to the Mount of Olives to pray. There, Jerusalem Temple guards, accompanied by Roman soldiers, arrested Jesus. The Jewish law court (Sanhedrin) condemned Jesus for blasphemy for claiming to be God. Since they did not have the power to execute Jesus, they took Him to the Roman governor at dawn on Friday. The Jewish religious authorities pressured the Roman governor to condemn Jesus for treason against Rome. The Romans crucified Jesus at 9 AM (Mk 15:25). Most of Jesus's disciples probably attended the required holy day ceremonies of the Sacred Assembly for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Tamid sacrifice at the Jerusalem Temple, which began at 9 AM/the third-hour Jewish time (Lev 23:6-7). On Friday, he gave up His life at 3 PM (the ninth-hour Jewish time), at the hour of the afternoon Tamid sacrifice; it was Preparation Day for the Jewish Saturday Sabbath when all "work" had to cease at sundown, and the Sabbath began (Mk 15:42; Jn 19:31, 42). His disciples placed Him in a new tomb before sunset, which marked the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. Jesus descended to Sheol (the abode of the dead; Hades in Greek) to preach the Gospel of salvation to the souls imprisoned there (1 Pt 3:18-20; 4:6). Then, defeating sin and death, He arose from His tomb on the third day (as the ancients counted) on Sunday, the first day of the week. It was the Feast of Firstfruits in the liturgical calendar of Israel (Lev 23:9-14). It is the day that Christians celebrate as Jesus Christ's Resurrection/Easter Sunday and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep (1 Cor 15:20). See the book "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice" at Amazon books. The Easter Octave is from Easter Sunday to the Second Sunday of Easter. This octave is observed as eight solemnities, one after the other, or one single, eight-day-long solemnity. During this time, the Church tells the Gospel stories of the resurrection.
Divine Mercy Sunday: The Catholic Church began celebrating this feast when the Vatican made it official on April 30th of the Jubilee Year 2000. Divine Mercy Sunday always falls on the second Sunday of Easter. It commemorates Jesus's promise to St. Faustina for complete forgiveness of all sins and punishment for those sins on this day. Jesus told Faustina: "Whoever approaches the Fountain of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment" (Diary of Faustina, 300). It is the perfect time for fallen-away Catholics to return to the Church. However, to receive Holy Communion, one must be in a state of grace and without the stain of sin. Therefore, someone who wishes to return to full communion with the Body of Christ must go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to confess and repent their mortal sins. The confession of venial sins can be offered before Mass and forgiven in the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass. In Faustina's diary, she recorded that Jesus also promised He would be there in the confessional, ready to embrace the sinner with His love: "When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here, the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy, souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity" (Diary of Faustina, 1602).
The Greek Orthodox and Eastern Rite Churches: The Orthodox and Eastern Rite Churches calculate Easter Sunday differently from Latin Rite Catholics. This year, their Easter is the same as ours, April 20, and the miracle of the Holy Fire should take place on Holy Saturday, April 19. For centuries, the "Holy Fire" miracle has been observed on the Saturday before Orthodox Easter when a ball of fire miraculously lights a candle the Orthodox Patriarch holds in the Tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Specular in Jerusalem.
St. Mark the Evangelist: Usually, the Church observes the Feast of St. Mark on April 25th, if it is not preempted by a feast day. St. Mark was the son of Mary of Jerusalem and, like his mother, a disciple of Jesus. Their house in Jerusalem was where Jesus and the disciples often met (Acts 12:12). He was also the inspired writer of the Gospel that bears his name. His name, Mark/Marcus, was Roman, and John/Yohanan was his Jewish name. Therefore, the New Testament refers to him as John Mark, and Mark. He was probably in his teens during the years of Jesus's ministry. His father was likely a Roman soldier since his Latin name (Marcus) is the name of the Roman god Mars, the patron god of Roman soldiers.
Mark's mother's house in Jerusalem may have been the site of the Last Supper, and he may have been the young man who ran away naked after the soldiers grabbed his garment when they arrested Jesus at Gethsemane. Mark is the only Gospel writer to record that event. Mark recorded that the young man's clothing was not a Jewish tunic but a Roman toga that was one piece of material (Mk 14:51). John-Mark was a relative of St. Barnabas (Col 4:10). He accompanied Saints Barnabas Paul to the Christian community in Antioch after they visited Jerusalem in c. 44 AD (Acts 12:25). He was a member of their first missionary journey (c. 45 AD) but soon decided to return to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). For this reason, Paul refused to take Mark on his second missionary journey. Therefore, Barnabas took Mark to preach the Gospel in Cyprus (Acts 15:37, 39). Mark later went to Rome, where he served as St. Peter's secretary and wrote Peter's account of Jesus's ministry that we call the Gospel of Mark (1 Pt 5:13). Mark mended his friendship with St. Paul, and Paul wrote that Mark stayed with him during one of Paul's several imprisonments (Col 4:10; Phil 24). When the Romans imprisoned Paul again in AD 67, Paul asked for Mark's company and assistance before he suffered martyrdom (2 Tim 4:11).
After the martyrdom of Saints Paul and Peter (on the same day), Mark left Rome and preached the Gospel in Cyprus and Alexandria, Egypt, where he founded the Coptic Christian Church. He served as the first Christian Bishop of Alexandria for ten years until he suffered martyrdom. In an angry response to his great success in attracting Jews and Gentiles to Christ, an angry crowd bound and dragged him through the city to his death. Centuries later, Venetian Christians removed his bones to Venice, built a magnificent cathedral named for him to house his relics, and declared St. Mark their patron saint. The Church celebrates John-Mark's entrance into Heaven on April 25th, the traditional day of his holy martyrdom in Egypt. St. Mark is the protector of notaries, opticians, glaziers, breeders, pharmacists, painters, shoemakers, tanners, secretaries, and interpreters. He is the patron saint of Venice and Pordenone, Italy.
St. Mark's symbol is the winged lion cherub from Revelation 4:6-7. The regal lion is a desert-dwelling animal and a symbol of royalty. It is an appropriate symbol for Mark's Gospel, as he begins his account with John the Baptist's story in the desert and presents Jesus as the prophesied Davidic King. According to the Church Fathers, Mark wrote his Gospel from St. Peter's reflections on the mission of Christ. Mark's Gospel is direct, straightforward, and filled with details that help us understand Jesus's human nature. He also challenges us to share in Jesus's sufferings.
THE JUBILEE PRAYER
Father in Heaven, may the faith you have gifted us in your son Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity kindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom. May your graces transform us into diligent cultivators of the evangelical seeds that make humanity, and the cosmos rise unto the confident expectation of the new heavens and the new earth, when the powers of Evil are overcome and your glory shall be manifested eternally. May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, and the yearning for heavenly treasures and pour over all the earth the joy and peace of our Redeemer. To you God blessed in eternity, be praise and glory, for ever and ever. Amen
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2025 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.