Second Sunday after Epiphany

January 19, 2025

Dear Friends in Christ,

Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday (January 19, 2025) is the Second Sunday after Epiphany. Last Sunday the Gospel provided a glimpse of the Child Jesus, on the verge of manhood, in the setting of the Holy Family. In this Sunday’s Gospel, He is a mature adult of perhaps 30 years, accompanying His Blessed Mother to a wedding in Cana of Galilee. His foster father, Joseph, is not mentioned and is presumably already deceased. Mary has learned much about her son, and his unique capabilities, in the years since he mystified her by remaining alone in Jerusalem when His parents headed back to Nazareth. Now, when the wine has run out at the wedding feast, she turns to Jesus and says, “They have no wine.” Jesus, having attracted a number of followers since His baptism by John, has begun to emerge from His hidden life in the Holy Family. He responds to his mother with unfamiliar formality, “Woman, what is that to thee and to me? My hour is not yet come.” But she, overruling his reluctance, asserts her parental prerogative for perhaps the last time. “Whatsoever he shall say to you,” she tells the waiters, “do ye.”


Calendar of Special Observances

Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962.

DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)

Sunday, January 19 – Second Sunday after Epiphany (II)

Monday, January 20 – Ss. Fabian, Pope and Sebastian, Martyrs (III)

Tuesday, January 21 – St. Agnes, Virgin & Martyr (III)

Wednesday, January 22 – Ss. Vincent and Anastasius, Martyrs (III)

Thursday, January 23 – St. Raymond de Peñafort, OP, Confessor (III) – Commemoration of St. Emerentiana, Virgin and Martyr

Friday, January 24 – St. Timothy, Bishop & Martyr (III)

Saturday, January 25 – Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle (III) – Commemoration of St. Peter, Apostle

Note: The Commemoration of Ss. Marius and Company, Martyrs and the Commemoration of St. Canute, Martyr are celebrated on January 19th in most years but are displaced by the Second Sunday after Epiphany this year.


Second Sunday after Epiphany

The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for the Second Sunday after Epiphany with English or Spanish translation. In addition, we offer a link to Dr. Michael P. Foley’s essay on “The Orations of the Second Sunday after Epiphany” from his Lost in Translation series published by New Liturgical Movement.


Latin Mass Schedule: Second Sunday after Epiphany (January 19, 2025)

Charlotte Area Latin Masses

  • 11:30 a.m., Saint Thomas Aquinas

  • 12:30 p.m., Saint Ann

Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses

  • 8:30 a.m., Saint John the Baptist (Tryon)

  • 9:00 a.m., Our Lady of the Angels (Marion)

  • 1:00 p.m., Church of the Epiphany (Blowing Rock)

  • ***2:00 p.m., Our Lady of Grace (Greensboro)*** (Special Mass time this Sunday due to priest's schedule)

Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses

  • 12:00 p.m., Prince of Peace (Taylors SC)

  • 1:00 p.m., Our Lady of the Lake (Chapin SC)

Note: Travelers are urged to consult parish websites or offices for up-to-date information regarding possible changes in the regular schedule of Sunday Mass times.


Latin Mass Schedule: Weekdays (January 20-25)

Charlotte Area Latin Masses

  • Saint Ann – Wednesday, 6:00 p.m.

  • Saint Thomas Aquinas – Thursday, 7:00 p.m.

  • Saint Ann – Friday, 7:00 a.m.

  • Saint Ann – Saturday, 8:00 a.m., (4th Saturday Respect Life Mass followed by prayers at the abortion facility an/or a Holy Hour of Reparation in the church)

Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses

  • Our Lady of the Mountains (Highlands) – Tuesday, 9:30 a.m.

  • St. John the Baptist (Tryon) – Friday, 8:30 a.m.

  • Church of the Epiphany (Blowing Rock) – Friday, 9:30 a.m.

Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses

  • Prince of Peace (Taylors SC) – Monday-Friday, 12:00 p.m. (Note: Latin Masses are canceled this Tuesday January 21, Wednesday January 22, and Thursday January 23)

  • Prince of Peace (Taylors SC) – Saturday 8:00 a.m.

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, holy days of obligation and other special feast days.



Announcements

Third Sunday Coffee and Doughnuts at Saint Ann – Saint Ann Parish will be offering coffee and doughnuts after all Masses this Sunday, including the 12:30 p.m. Latin Mass.

Wednesday January 22 - National Day of Prayer for Legal Protection of the Unborn – The US Bishops have declared this Wednesday (the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision which legalized abortion) to be a day of prayer and penance. [Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn]

Epiphany kits, chalk, and salt available at Saint Ann after 12:30 p.m. Latin Mass – If you missed the recent Epiphany blessings, the Carolina Traditional Liturgy Society has limited supplies of blessed chalk and salt, as well as individual Epiphany water bottles, available for pickup. Please stop by our information table at Saint Ann after the 12:30 p.m. Sunday Latin Mass while supplies last. Additionally, as a reminder, Saint Ann and Saint Thomas Aquinas (and a few other parishes) also have Epiphany water available at their Holy Water fonts in the narthex while quantities last.

Saint Thomas Aquinas to Welcome Nobertine Father Sebastian Walshe – Next Friday, Saturday and Sunday (January 24-26) Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish will be hosting a series of talks by Fr. Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem. The presentations will be centered around family life and the Eucharist. Fr. Walshe will also preach at all Sunday Masses, including the 11:30 a.m. Latin Mass. For times and talk topics please see the flyer at the end of this update.

Who are the Norbertines? The Norbertines are a community of monks founded by St. Norbert in France over 900 years ago. Fr. Walshe is from Saint Michael’s Norbertine Abbey in Orange County, California. The priests of Saint Michael’s Abbey have a variety of apostolic pursuits: teaching, crafts, scholarship, art and sacred music among others. Some of the Norbertines also offer Latin Masses in the churches of Southern California. If you are interested in learning more about the Norbertines of St. Michael’s Abbey, watch the videos available via the following links: [What is an Abbey?] [California’s Newest Abbey, Defying the Odds].

Fr. Ripperger to Offer Lenten Mission at Saint Thomas Aquinas (March 7-8) – Saint Thomas Aquinas parish is blessed to welcome back Fr. Chad Ripperger, SMD, a priest and exorcist with the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother (the Doloran Fathers), who will be leading their Lenten Parish Mission from Friday, March 7 - Saturday, March 8, 2025. He will preach a mission on Friday March 7 at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday March 8 at 7:00 p.m. Please note: This conference is geared toward adults, and would not be appropriate for younger children. Registration is required and is first open to Saint Thomas Aquinas parishioners (until January 31). After Friday January 31, everyone else can register. To register click here.

Church Unity Octave January 18-25 – The National Shrine of Saint Alphonsus Liguori in Baltimore, an apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), is participating in the Church Unity Octave and issued this announcement: This week, the Church gives us this Octave of Unity to remind us of God’s unfailing promise and of our role as dutiful servants to cooperate with it. Here, we are safe, and the torments that threaten to split the world outside find their answer in our prayers. Join us for this very special octave of grace and take refuge and comfort in the Church.

To participate, either by enrolling your intentions in the Masses, and/or by praying the prayers each day (beginning tonight Saturday January 18) please click on this link.

Traditional Men’s Retreat in PA (February 7-9) – The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) announced a men’s retreat will be offered in Malvern, Pennsylvania on February 7-9, and will feature an FSSP priest as retreat master. Registration deadline is January 20. To learn more and register click here.

Prayers for the soul of Abbé Charles Outtier: The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a religious order offering the Traditional Latin Mass, asks for prayers for the repose of the soul of their transitional deacon (Abbé) Charles Outtier, a French seminarian who died in an accident this week at their seminary in Gricigliano, Italy. Abbé Outtier was to be ordained to the priesthood this year. Prayers are also requested for his family, the clergy of the Institute, and his fellow seminarians, all devastated by this loss. To read more please see the Institute’s communiqué.

Prayers for Fr. Jones and Fr. Reid – Please continue to pray for Fr. Brandon Jones in his new assignment as parochial administrator of Saint Margaret Mary Parish in Swannanoa. He will be greatly missed at Saint Ann, especially by the Latin Mass community. Please also pray for Fr. Timothy Reid as he carries on at Saint Ann without the assistance of a second priest.

Holy Face Pilgrimage, November 14-25, 2025 – Fr. Lawrence Carney, the Holy Face priest, and local author Patrick O'Hearn will be leading a Holy Face Pilgrimage next November to Malta, Sicily, and Italy, which will include a visit to Rome for the Jubilee Year. The Traditional Latin Mass will be offered and both organizers will offer talks on the Holy Face devotion. For more information click on this link.

Ireland Pilgrimage, April 28 - May 7, 2025 – Fr. Jason Barone, pastor of St. Jude in Sapphire Valley and Our Lady of the Mountains Mission in Highlands is leading a 10-day pilgrimage to the Emerald Isle this spring and will visit several important Catholic sites including Our Lady of Knock, Kylemore Abbey, and St. Kevin’s at Glendalough. As long-time Saint Ann parishioners may recall, Fr. Barone was in residence at Saint Ann several years ago before being assigned to Saint Jude. For more information click on this link.

Consecration of those Governing to the Blessed Virgin Mary – Fr. Chad Ripperger, a native of Casper, Wyoming, was a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter before leaving to establish a society of exorcists, the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother (Doloran Fathers). His Consecration of the Election to the Blessed Virgin Mary was featured in past issues of this newsletter. He has now composed a new prayer, Consecration of those Governing to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which may be found at the end of this update or downloaded 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:

  • St. James (Concord) – Monday, 10-10:30 a.m. (in the cry room)

  • St. Mark – Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.

  • St. Thomas Aquinas – Tuesday, 6:00 a.m.

  • St. Ann – Tuesday, 7:30 a.m. (following 7:00 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass)

  • St. Michael the Archangel (Gastonia) – Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. (following 8:00 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass)

  • St. Vincent de Paul – Tuesday, 8:40 a.m.

  • Holy Spirit (Denver) – Tuesday, 10-11:00 a.m. (following the 9:15 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass)

  • St. John the Baptist (Tryon) - First Saturday, 9:30 a.m. (after 8:30 a.m Latin Mass)

Note: Days and times may be subject to change due to holidays.

“Jesus, Your ineffable image is the star which guides my steps. Ah, You know, Your sweet Face is for me Heaven on earth” (from Canticle to the Holy Face by Saint Thérèse de Lisieux, the 19th century Discalced Carmelite nun who took the name in religion, Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face).



Latin Mass and Liturgical News


Saints and Special Observances

The Conversion of St. Paul (January 25th) celebrates the extraordinary events surrounding the metamorphosis of Saul, the zealous persecutor of early Christians, into St. Paul, the man most responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout the world. As a young man, Saul had not only witnessed the stoning of the first martyr, the deacon Stephen; he had taken charge of the coats laid at his feet by those who took them off to cast their killing missiles. He stood by with stony indifference as Stephen called on Jesus to receive his soul and spoke his last words of surpassing forgiveness: “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”

Saul studied under the renowned rabbinical teacher, Gamaliel, a leader among the Pharisees and a member of the Sanhedrin. On track for a notable career himself, “Saul, as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” approached the high priest seeking letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus. His plan was to hunt down followers of Jesus and bring them back bound to Jerusalem for trial and punishment. Permission granted, the zealous young Jew set out for the Syrian city in search of prey.

But something happened on the road to Damascus—something that changed Saul and changed the world. As he was nearing the city, he suddenly found himself surrounded by an intensely bright light shining down from heaven. “And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me!” Saul asked, “Who art thou, Lord?” And the voice replied, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.”

This was but the beginning of the most spectacular and consequential conversion in the history of Christianity.

Awestruck, Saul asked the Lord what he wanted him to do, and Jesus told him to get up and go into the city where he would receive further instructions. The problem was that the heavenly radiance that had engulfed him and driven him to the ground had left him blind. His companions, who had understood little, if anything, of what had happened in their presence, found it necessary to take Saul by the hand and lead him into Damascus. Lost in the dark of his sudden sightlessness, and overwhelmed by his encounter with Christ on the road, Saul spent three days in prayer, neither eating nor drinking the whole time.

There was a follower of Christ in Damascus named Ananias to whom the Lord appeared in a vision, telling him, “Arise and go into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth.” And as he prayed, Saul saw a man named Ananias coming to him and laying hands upon him in order to restore his sight. Ananias was understandably reluctant to take on the task, being fearful of the man whose reputation had preceded him. He knew that Saul had come to Damascus to seek out and arrest followers of Christ and carry them bound to Jerusalem to be interrogated by the Jewish authorities. But the Lord told him again to go, saying that he had selected Saul to proclaim his name “before the Gentiles, and kings, and children of Israel. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

So it was that Ananias sought the street called Strait and found the house of Judas, and going in he laid hands on the blind man, saying, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus hath sent me, he that appeared to thee in the way as thou camest; that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” And immediately his vision was restored, and Saul rose up and was baptized. He remained in Damascus for some days, preaching that Christ was the Son of God in the synagogues he had planned to visit on a very different mission.

According to his own account in the Epistle to the Galatians, rather than return to Jerusalem, Saul withdrew into Arabia where he fasted and prayed in preparation for the work he was to undertake. It was only after three years that he went back to Jerusalem to introduce himself to Peter and James, the “brother” of Jesus, before setting out on his first monumental journey of evangelization: now not Saul but Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Note: All quotations are from the Gospel reading for the Conversion of St. Paul (Acts 9:1-22).


Closing Commentary

In closing, we share a commentary extracted from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger on “January 25–The Conversion of St. Paul.” A link to the full text of the great liturgist’s commentary follows the extract.


January 25 – the Conversion of St. Paul

We have already seen how the Gentiles, in the person of the Three Magi, offered their mystic gifts to the Divine Child of Bethlehem, and received from him, in return, the precious gifts of faith, hope, and charity. The harvest is ripe; it is time for the reaper to come. But who is to be God’s laborer? The Apostles of Christ are still living under the very shadow of mount Sion. All of them have received the mission to preach the gospel of salvation to the uttermost parts of the world; but not one among them has as yet received the special character of Apostle of the Gentiles. Peter, who had received the Apostleship of Circumcision, is sent specially, as was Christ himself, to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. And yet, as he is the Head and the Foundation, it belongs to him to open the door of Faith to the Gentiles, which he solemnly does, by conferring Baptism on Cornelius, the Roman Centurion.

But the Church is to have one more Apostle—an Apostle for the Gentiles—and he is to be the fruit of the martyrdom and prayer of St. Stephen. Saul, a citizen of Tarsus, has not seen Christ in the flesh, and yet Christ alone can make an Apostle. It is then, from heaven, where he reigns impassible and glorified, that Jesus will call Saul to be his disciple, just as, during the period of his active life, he called the fishermen of Genesareth to follow him and hearken to his teachings. The Son of God will raise Saul up to the third heaven, and there will reveal to him all his mysteries: and when Saul, having come down again to this earth, shall have seen Peter, and compared his Gospel with that recognized by Peter—he can say, in all truth, that he is an Apostle of Christ Jesus, and that he has done nothing less than the great Apostles.

It is on this glorious day of the Conversion of Saul, who is soon to change his name into Paul, that this great work is commenced. It is on this day, that is heard the Almighty voice which breaketh the cedars of Libanus, and can make a persecuting Jew become first a Christian, and then an Apostle. This admirable transformation had been prophesied by Jacob, when, upon his death bed, he unfolded, to each of his sons, the future of the tribe of which was to be the father. Juda was to have the precedence of honor; from his royal race was to be born the Redeemer, the Expected of nations. Benjamin’s turn came; his glory is not to be compared with that of his brother Juda, and yet it was to be very great—for from his tribe is to be born Paul, the Apostle of the Gentile nations.

These are the words of the dying Prophet: Benjamin, a ravenous wolf, in the morning shall eat the prey, and in the evening shall divide the spoil. Who, says an ancient writer, is he that in the morning of impetuous youth, goes like a wolf, in pursuit of the sheep of Christ, breathing threatenings and slaughter against them? Is it not Saul on the road to Damascus, the bearer and doer of the high priest’s orders, and stained with the blood of Stephen, whom he has stoned by the hands of all those over whose garments he kept watch? And he who, in the evening, not only does not despoil, but with a charitable and peaceful hand, breaks to the hungry the bread of life—is it not Paul, of the tribe of Benjamin, the Apostle of Christ, burning with zeal for his brethren, making himself all to all, and wishing even to be an anathema for their sakes?

Oh! the power of our dear Jesus! how wonderful! how irresistible! He wishes that the first worshippers at his Crib should be humble Shepherds – and he invites them by his Angels, whose sweet hymn was enough to lead these simple-hearted men to the Stable, where lies, in swaddling-clothes, He who is the hope of Israel. He would have the Gentile Princes, the Magi, do him homage – and bids to arise in the heavens a Star, whose mysterious apparition, joined to the interior speaking of the Holy Ghost, induces these men of desire to come from the far East, and lay, at the feet of an humble Babe, their riches and their hearts. When the time is come for forming the Apostolic College, he approaches the banks of the sea of Tiberias, and with this single word: Follow me, he draws after him such as he wishes to have as his Disciples. In the midst of all the humiliations of his Passion, he has but to look at the unfaithful Peter, and Peter is a penitent. To-day, it is from heaven that he evinces his power: all the mysteries of our redemption have been accomplished, and he wishes to show mankind, that he is the sole author and master of the Apostolate, and that his alliance with the Gentiles is now perfect: – he speaks; the sound of his reproach bursts like thunder over the head of this hot Pharisee, who is bent on annihilating the Church; he takes this heart of the Jew, and, by his grace, turns it into the heart of the Apostle, the Vessel of election, the Paul who is afterwards to say of himself: I live not I, but Christ liveth in me.

The commemoration of this great event was to be a Feast in the Church, and it had a right to be kept as near as might be to the one which celebrates the martyrdom of St. Stephen, for Paul is the Proto-martyr’s convert. The anniversary of his martyrdom would, of course, have to be solemnised at the summer-solstice; where, then, place the Feast of his Conversion if not near Christmas, and thus our own Apostle would be at Jesus’ Crib, and Stephen’s side? Moreover, the Magi could claim him, as being the conqueror of that Gentile-world, of which they were the first-fruits.

And lastly, it was necessary, in order to give the court of our Infant-King its full beauty, that the two Princes of the Church – the Apostle of the Jews, and the Apostle of the Gentiles – should stand close to the mystic Crib; Peter, with his Keys, and Paul, with his Sword. Bethlehem thus becomes the perfect figure of the Church, and the riches of this season of the Cycle are abundant beyond measure. [The Conversion of St. Paul]


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To Our Readers and All Friends of the Latin Mass: May you be abundantly blessed by God in this joyous season of Christmas.