Calendar Class of April 17, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Tonight we participate in one of the most lovely and dramatic events of the liturgical year in Rome- the pilgrimage of the altars of repose, a most romantic Roman tradition.

"Popular piety is particularly sensitive to the adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament in the wake of the Mass of the Lord's supper. Because of a long historical process, whose origins are not entirely clear, the place of repose has traditionally been referred to as "a holy sepulchre." The faithful go there to venerate Jesus who was placed in a tomb following the crucifixion and in which he remained for some forty hours."

Liturgical: Holy Thursday Mass readings and Bishop Barron's reflections.

Here is all the information on the significance of the liturgies of today from Catholicculture.org.

The last three days of Holy Week are referred to as the Easter or Sacred Triduum (Triduum Sacrum), the three-part drama of Christ's redemption: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Holy Thursday is also known as "Maundy Thursday." The word maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum (commandment) which is the first word of the Gospel acclamation:

Mandátum novum do vobis dicit Dóminus, ut diligátis ínvicem, sicut diléxi vos.

"I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34) These are the words spoken by our Lord to His apostles at the Last Supper, after he completed the washing of the feet. We should imitate Christ's humility in the washing of the feet.

"After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

John 13:1-15

Sanctoral: Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, France and Rome, +1783

In a modern inner city, one local character kneels for hours on the sidewalk and prays. Swathed in his entire wardrobe winter and summer, he greets passersby with a blessing. Where he sleeps no one knows, but he is surely a direct spiritual descendant of Benedict, the ragged man who slept in the ruins of Rome’s Colosseum. These days we ascribe such behavior to mental illness; Benedict’s contemporaries called him holy. Holiness is always a bit mad by earthly standards.

Saint Benedict Joseph Labre is the Patron Saint of homeless persons, of which there are many in Rome.

Human:

• 1387 The fictional characters in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury (according to scholars)

• 1917 Vladimir Lenin issues his radical "April Theses" calling for Soviets to take power during the Russian Revolution [OS Apr 4]

• 1961 1,400 Cuban exiles land in the Bay of Pigs in a doomed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro

• 1982 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II sign the "Proclamation of the Constitution Act", establishing the "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" as part of the country’s new Constitution

• 2012 The 8th century St. Cuthbert Gospel, Europe's oldest intact book, is purchased by the British Library for 9 million pounds

Natural: How to Grow and Care for Easter Lilies

Italian: Disfare (to undo)

Quote: “The washing of the feet and the sacrament of the Eucharist: two expressions of one and the same mystery of love entrusted to the disciples, so that, Jesus says, “as I have done… so also must you do.” – Pope John Paul II