Dear Friends in Christ,
Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday (May 19, 2024) is Pentecost, one of the principal feasts in the liturgical cycle of the Church: a day of joyful celebration, commemorating the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles, on the fiftieth day of the Easter season. As the Ascension occurs 40 days after the Resurrection of Our Lord at Easter, Pentecost follows on the tenth day thereafter. Before ascending into Heaven, Jesus told His Apostles: But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8). After watching Jesus disappear from their sight, the Apostles returned to Jerusalem and spent nine days “persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Acts 1:14), praying for the Holy Ghost to come; and on the tenth He came. This then was the original novena, and the Novena to the Holy Ghost remains the only one officially prescribed by the Church. Pentecost is the English equivalent of the Greek word meaning the fiftieth.
Calendar of Saints and Special Observances
Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962 or on the liturgical calendar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.
DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)
Sunday, May 19 – Pentecost (I)
Monday, May 20 – Pentecost Monday (I)
Tuesday, May 21 – Pentecost Tuesday (I)
Wednesday, May 22 – Ember Wednesday in the Octave of Pentecost (I)
Thursday, May 23 – Pentecost Thursday (I)
Friday, May 24 – Ember Friday in the Octave of Pentecost (I)
Saturday, May 25 – Ember Saturday in the Octave of Pentecost (I)
Note: The following are displaced by the liturgical celebrations of Pentecost week this year: May 19, Feast of St. Peter Celestine, Pope and Confessor (III) and Commemoration of St. Pudentiana, Virgin; May 25, Feast of St. Gregory VII, OSB, Pope and Confessor (III) and Commemoration of St. Urban I, Pope and Martyr.
Pentecost Sunday
The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for Mass in the Extraordinary Form for Pentecost Sunday with either English or Spanish translation. The English version includes a brief commentary on Pentecost excerpted from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB (1805-1875). (A longer excerpt may be found under Closing Commentary below.) In addition, we offer a link to an essay by Dr. Michael P. Foley on “The Orations of the Feast of Pentecost” from New Liturgical Movement.
Latin Mass Schedule: Pentecost Sunday (May 19th)
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Latin Mass Schedule: Weekdays (Ember Week)
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Note: Travelers are advised to contact parish offices to confirm weekday and Saturday Mass times, since local schedules are sometimes subject to change without notice, especially on or around holidays and holy days of obligation.
Ember Week: This week includes the Ember Days of Pentecost, which according to the 1962 calendar, are three days of prayer and penance (now voluntary) near the beginning of summer to give thanks to God for the gifts of creation and to consecrate the upcoming season. The summer Ember Days, like those designated for the other three natural seasons, are celebrated on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in Ember Week. To learn more about Ember Days please see our Saints and Special Observances section below.
Spiritual Bouquet for Bishop Emeritus Jugis
We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the spiritual bouquet for Bishop Emeritus Jugis and will be presenting these offerings to His Excellency soon.
We are organizing a spiritual bouquet for Bishop-elect Martin around his ordination – so stay tuned and save up your prayers for him too!
Announcements
No First Saturday Latin Mass on June 1: There will not be a First Saturday Latin Mass at Saint Thomas Aquinas or Saint John the Baptist on June 1st due to diaconate ordinations that day.
Father Matthew Kane, FSSP to offer Masses in Charlotte on June 3rd and June 6th following ordination: Deacon Matthew Kane, FSSP, a North Carolina native, will be ordained to the priesthood for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) on May 29th in Nebraska. The newly ordained Father Kane will visit North Carolina to celebrate Latin Masses in Charlotte on Monday, June 3rd, at 6:00 p.m. in Saint Ann Church; and on Thursday, June 6th, at 7:00 p.m. in Saint Thomas Aquinas Church. The FSSP is a congregation of priests, canonically erected by Pope St. John Paul II in 1988, whose members celebrate the Latin Mass and other traditional sacraments according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. FSSP seminarians will serve the newly ordained Father Kane in the Masses he is to offer here. Please pray for Deacon Kane as the date of his ordination to the priesthood approaches.
Note: The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter has posted a video of the deacons at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, who will be ordained to the sacred priesthood on May 29th, singing the Litany of Loreto (available here: OLGS deacons singing the Litany of Loreto).
Prayers for Diocese of Charlotte Candidates for Ordination: There are several seminarians in the Diocese of Charlotte who are to be ordained to the transitional diaconate or priesthood next month. Please keep these men in your prayers.
Prayers for Sister Maria Theresa of Merciful Love and an invitation to her Profession of First Vows on Saturday June 8th: The Carter family, past Saint Thomas Aquinas parishioners now living out west, have extended an invitation to members of our community to attend the profession of first vows by their daughter, Sister Maria Theresa of Merciful Love, OCD (Jyllian Carter), a novice with the Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Traverse City, Michigan. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 8th, during a Solemn High Mass of Thanksgiving scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. Sister Maria Theresa will receive visitors on that day, between 2:40 and 4:40 p.m., and on the following two days, June 9th and 10th, during the same hours. The Carmelite Monastery of the Infant of Prague is located at 3501 Silver Lake Road, Traverse City, MI 49684. The prayers of those unable to attend, offered for Sister Maria Theresa on this important day, would be greatly appreciated by the family.
Traditional Sung Vespers, Friday, May 31st: Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro will again offer Traditional Vespers according to the 1934 “Antiphonale Monasticum” of the Benedictine Abbey at Solesmes in France on the last day of this month at 7:00 p.m. The Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes was founded by Dom Prosper Guéranger who, in addition to the composition of his monumental opus, The Liturgical Year, was responsible for revitalizing the use of Gregorian Chant in the liturgy.
Upcoming Feast Days on which Latin Masses are to be celebrated: Special Latin Masses to be celebrated on two notable feast days during the next few weeks are listed below. Information about others will be shared when available.
Feast of Corpus Christi – Thursday, May 30th
Feast of the Sacred Heart – Friday, June 7th
Father Reid's 20th Anniversary of His Ordination to the Priesthood: Saint Ann parish will host a celebration after the 6:00 p.m. Latin Mass on Wednesday June 5th to commemorate Father Reid's 20th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. A reception of heavy hor d'oeuvres will follow Mass in the Allen Center. To RSVP click here.
Holy Face Devotions
Prayers of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus are offered each week at the following churches on the indicated days:
Latin Mass and Liturgical News
Saints and Special Observances
Pentecost and the Ember Days of Pentecost Week – The importance of Pentecost in the annual cycle of events observed by the Church is made manifest by the fact that all liturgical celebrations during the Octave of Pentecost are 1st-class feasts. As its subject is the birth of the Church under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Pentecost merits an extended celebration lasting throughout the week preceding the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Pentecost Sunday itself is the great feast of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.
Pentecost is the English equivalent of a Greek word meaning the fiftieth. Celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter, it falls on the fiftieth day of the season that begins with the Resurrection of Our Lord. Pentecost recalls the momentous events of the day described at the beginning of the second chapter of St. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles:
And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak (Acts 2:1-4).
The Pentecost mentioned by Luke was an important Jewish festival celebrating the harvest at the end of the Paschal season. Pentecost was the name by which the festival was known among Greek-speaking Jews. According to the Acts of the Apostles, the city was filled with people “out of every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5) when the Apostles “filled with the Holy Ghost” spilled out into the streets of Jerusalem, joyfully proclaiming the Gospel. Visitors from Rome, North Africa, Asia and all around the civilized world were amazed to hear the Galileans making themselves understood in every known language. Peter, the untutored fisherman Jesus had selected to be the Rock upon which He would build his Church, stood forth and spoke with great eloquence about the history of the Jewish people and the promise of the Messiah to come, concluding with the same call to repentance Jesus had issued at the beginning of His ministry:
But Peter said to them: Do penance and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, whomsoever the Lord our God shall call (Acts 2:38-39).
Answering the spontaneous call to do penance and be reborn in Christ, approximately three thousand persons stepped forth to be baptized on that one day alone. In this way, the Catholic Church was set in motion by the Apostles who, having received the Holy Ghost, went forth immediately to share the gift.
The Novena to the Holy Ghost is considered the original novena, as it is based on the nine days of prayer undertaken by the Apostles with Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, and other followers of Jesus after His Ascension. On the tenth day their prayers were answered by the descent of the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete promised by Jesus prior to His departure into Heaven. The novena remains the only nine-day prayer officially prescribed for use by the Church. Each day features a meditation on the gifts or fruits of the Holy Ghost; a prayer for the day; recitation of the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father; an Act of Consecration to the Holy Ghost; and a Prayer for the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost. [Novena to the Holy Ghost]
The week following Pentecost is also one of four weeks during the liturgical year designated by the Church to include special days of prayer, abstinence and fasting known as Ember Days. These fall on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday during each Ember Week associated with a natural season. In addition to the week following Pentecost associated with the coming of summer, Ember weeks follow The Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14th (fall), the Feast of St. Lucy on December 13th (winter), and the first Sunday in Lent, a moveable feast near the beginning of spring. The origin of Ember Days has been traced both to the Old Testament (Zacharias 8:19) and to the perceived need for intensified prayer at the beginning of each season in the annual cycle of agricultural activity. Intercessory prayers typically address the need for favorable weather and for protection against extreme climatic conditions and potentially catastrophic events.
Pentecost and the Ember Days observed during the Octave of Pentecost underscore the continuity between the old covenant and the new, as well as the deeply rooted connection of Christianity to the natural world and the agricultural pursuits that have been the subject of special celebrations since the soil of the earth first was broken to receive seed.
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A word in closing about that other name for Pentecost: Whit Sunday or Whitsunday. Whit is simply an archaic form of the English word white. “White Sunday” calls to mind the Latin name traditionally associated with the Octave Day of Easter (i.e., the Sunday after Easter Sunday): Dominica in Albis, that is, “Sunday in White” or simply “White Sunday.” That was the day on which those who had been baptized at Easter came to worship in the white baptismal garments they had been wearing for a week as a sign of their recent reception into the Church. They were then allowed to set them aside to show they were no longer neophytes but had won acceptance as fully fledged members of the Christian community. Whit Sunday traditionally served a somewhat different purpose: Those who came to worship clad in white were not the recently baptized but catechumens who had not received the first sacrament at Easter. These late-comers were afforded another opportunity to be baptized at Pentecost, the day on which the Church celebrates the baptism of her first members with fire by the Holy Ghost.
Closing Commentary
We close with a commentary on “Whit Sunday – The Day of Pentecost” excerpted from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB. Please use the link following the excerpt to access the full text of this excellent commentary.
Whit Sunday – The Day of Pentecost
Veni, sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. |
Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within them the fire of thy love. |
The great day, which consummates the work that God had undertaken for the human race has, at last, shone upon the world. The days of Pentecost, as St. Luke says, are accomplished. We have had seven weeks since the Pasch; and now comes the day that opens the mysterious number of Fifty. This day is the Sunday, already made holy by the Creation of the Light, and by the Resurrection of Jesus; it is about to receive its final consecration and bring us to the fullness of God.
In the Old and figurative Law, God foreshadowed the glory that was to belong, at a future period, to the Fiftieth Day. Israel had passed the waters of the Red Sea, thanks to the protecting power of his Paschal Lamb! Seven weeks were spent in the Desert, which was to lead to the Promised Land; and the very morrow of those seven weeks was the day whereon was made the alliance between God and his people. The Pentecost (the Fiftieth Day) was honored by the promulgation of the ten commandments of the Divine Law; and every following year, the Israelites celebrated the great event by a solemn Festival. But their Pentecost was figurative, like their Pasch: there was to be a second Pentecost for all people, as there was to be a second Pasch for the Redemption of the whole world. The Pasch, with all its triumphant joys, belongs to the Son of God, the Conqueror of death: Pentecost belongs to the Holy Ghost, for it is the day whereon he began his mission into this world, which, henceforward, was to be under his Law.
But how different are the two Pentecosts? The one on the rugged rocks of Arabia, amidst thunder and lightning, promulgates a Law that is written on tablets of stone; the second is in Jerusalem, on which God’s anger has not as yet been manifested, because it still contains within its walls the first-fruits of that new people, over whom the Spirit of love is to reign. In this second Pentecost, the heavens are not overcast, nor is the roar of thunder heard; the hearts of men are not stricken with fear, as when God spake on Sinai; repentance and gratitude—these are the sentiments which are now uppermost. A divine fire burns within their souls, and will spread throughout the whole world. Our Lord Jesus had said: I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled? The hour for the fulfillment of this world is come: the Spirit of Love, the Holy Ghost, the eternal uncreated Flame, is about to descend from heaven, and realize the merciful design of our Redeemer.
Jerusalem is filled with pilgrims who have flocked thither from every country of the Gentile world: they feel a strange mysterious expectation working in their souls. They are Jews, and are come from every foreign land where Israel has founded a Synagogue; they are come to keep the feasts of Pasch and Pentecost. Asia, Africa, and even Rome, have here their representatives. Amidst these Jews properly so called, are to be seen many Gentiles, who, from a desire to serve God more faithfully, have embraced the Mosaic law and observances; they are called Proselytes. This influx of strangers, who have come to Jerusalem out of a desire to observe the Law, gives the City a Babel-like appearance, for each nation has its own language. They are not, however, under the influence of pride and prejudice, as are the inhabitants of Judea; neither have they, like these latter, known and rejected the Messias, nor blasphemed his works whereby he gave testimony of his divine character. It may be that they took part with the other Jews in clamoring for Jesus’ death, but they were led to it by the Chief Priests and Magistrates of the Jerusalem which they reverenced as the holy City of God, and to which nothing but religious motives have brought them.
It is the hour of Tierce—the third hour of the day (our nine o’clock)—fixed from all eternity for the accomplishment of a divine decree. It was at the hour of midnight that the Father sent into this world, that he might take flesh in Mary’s womb, the Son eternally begotten of himself: so now, at this hour of Tierce, the Father and Son send upon the earth the Holy Spirit who proceeds from them both. He is sent to form the Church, the Spouse and Kingdom of Christ; he is to assist and maintain her; he is to save and sanctify the souls of men; and this his Mission is to continue to the end of time.
Suddenly is heard, coming from heaven, the sound of a violent wind: it startles the people in the City, it fills the Cenacle with its mighty breath. A crowd is soon round the house that stands on Mount Sion; the hundred and twenty Disciples that are within the building feel that mysterious emotion within them, of which their Master once said: The Spirit breatheth where he will, and thou hearest his voice. Like that strange invisible creature which probes the very depth of the sea and makes the waves heave mountains high, this Breath from heaven will traverse the world from end to end, breaking down every barrier that would stay its course.
The holy assembly have been days in fervent expectation; the Divine Spirit gives them this warning of his coming, and they, in the passiveness of ecstatic longing, await his will. As to them that are outside the Cenacle, and have responded to the appeal thus given, let us, for the moment, forget them. A silent shower falls in the House; it is a shower of Fire, which, as holy Church says (in the Responsory for the Thursday within the Octave), “burns not, but enlightens—consumes not, but shines.” Flakes of fire, in the shape of tongues, rest on the heads of the hundred and twenty Disciples: it is the Holy Ghost taking possession of all and each. The Church is not not only in Mary, but also in these hundred and twenty Disciples. All belong now to the spirit that has descended upon them; his kingdom is begun, it is manifested, its conquests will be speedy and glorious.
But let us consider the symbol chosen to designate this divine change. He who showed himself under the endearing form of a Dove on the occasion of Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan, now appears under that of Fire. He is the Spirit of Love; and love is not only gentle and tender, it is also ardent as fire. Now, therefore, that the world is under the influence of the Holy Ghost, it must needs be on fire, and the fire shall not be checked. And why this form of Tongues? To show that the heavenly fire is to be spread by the word, by speech. These hundred and twenty Disciples need but to speak of the Son of God made Man, and our Redeemer; of the Holy Ghost, who renews our souls; of the heavenly Father, who loves and adopts us as his children;—their word will find thousands to believe and welcome it. Those that receive it shall all be united in one faith; they shall be called the Catholic Church, that is, universal, existing in all places and times. Jesus had said: Go, teach all nations!—the Holy Ghost brings from heaven both the tongue that is to teach, and the fire (the love of God and mankind), which is to give warmth and efficacy to the teaching. This Tongue and Fire are now given to these first Disciples, who, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, will transmit them to others: so will it be to the end of time.
An obstacle, however, opposes the mission at the very onset. Since the confusion at Babel, there have been as many languages as countries; communication by word has been interrupted. How, then, is the word to become the instrument of the world’s conquest, and make one family out of all these nations that cannot understand each other? Fear not: the Holy Spirit is all-powerful, and has provided for this difficulty. With the other gifts, wherewith he has enriched the hundred and twenty Disciples, he has given them that of understanding all languages, and of making themselves understood in every language. In a transport of holy enthusiasm, they attempt to speak the languages of all nations—their tongue and their ear take in, not only without effort, but even with charm and joy, this plenitude of word and speech which is to reunite mankind together. The spirit of love has annulled the separation of Babel; men are once more made Brethren by the unity of language. [Whit Sunday -- The Day of Pentecost]