Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday (June 2, 2024) is the Second Sunday after Pentecost. It follows by three days the Feast of Corpus Christi celebrated, according to the traditional Roman Calendar of 1962, on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday (May 30th this year). The bishops of the United States allow, as an alternative, celebration of the External Solemnity of Corpus Christi on the Sunday following the feast day. In the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday after Pentecost we hear the parable of the great feast to which many notables are invited but do not come. Jesus shares this parable while seated at supper in the house of a leading Pharisee. Once again, He makes His listeners the object of His parabolic message: In this case, the Pharisees and lawyers who are too preoccupied with the details of their own legalistic pursuits to acknowledge the presence of the Word of God Himself in their midst. They have been invited to the heavenly banquet, but they will not come. The places they were to occupy will be filled by those they consider unworthy, signified by “the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame” (Luke 14:21).
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, June 2 – Second Sunday after Pentecost (II) [External Solemnity of Corpus Christi (II)]
Monday, June 3 – Feria (IV)
Tuesday, June 4 – St. Franciscus Caracciolo, Confessor (III)
Wednesday, June 5 – St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr (III)
Thursday, June 6 – St. Norbert, Bishop and Confessor (III) [Jesus Christ the High Priest (III)]
Friday, June 7 – Sacred Heart of Jesus (I)
Saturday, June 8 – Feria (IV) [Our Lady on Saturday (IV)]
Note: The following are displaced by the liturgical celebration of the Second Sunday after Pentecost on June 2nd – Commemoration of SS. Peter and Marcellinus, Martyrs (302), and St. Erasmus, Bishop and Martyr (303).
Second Sunday after Pentecost
The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the Second Sunday after Pentecost with either English or Spanish translation. The English version includes a brief commentary on “The Mystery of the Time after Pentecost” excerpted from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB (1805-1875). In addition, we offer a link to an essay by Dr. Michael P. Foley on “Heavenly Life on Earth: The Secret of the Second Sunday after Pentecost” from New Liturgical Movement. One last link can be used to download a printable copy of the Proper Prayers for the External Celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi with English translation.
Latin Mass Schedule: Second Sunday after Pentecost (June 2nd)
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Note: *Due to a Eucharistic procession scheduled to follow the 10:00 a.m. Mass at Prince of Peace (Taylors SC), the 12:00 p.m. Latin Mass will be delayed until the procession has ended. Those planning to attend the Latin Mass at noon are invited to arrive at 11:15 in order to participate in the procession.
Latin Mass Schedule: Weekdays
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Note: The summer Mass schedule at Prince of Peace takes effect this week. Weekday Latin Mass will only be celebrated Tuesday through Thursday at 12:00 p.m. There will be no Latin Masses on Monday, Friday or Saturday from June 3rd through August 17th.
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.
Spiritual Bouquet for Bishop Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv.
Following the consecration of Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv. as the fifth Bishop of Charlotte in a ceremony at Saint Mark in Huntersville last Wednesday (May 29th), and his installation in the Cathedral of Saint Patrick the following day, the Carolina Traditional Liturgy Society is organizing contributions to a Spiritual Bouquet to be presented to the new shepherd of our diocese. Bishop Martin will need our prayers to support him during this period of transition as he assumes responsibility for the care of more than half a million souls in the 46 counties of western North Carolina encompassed by the Diocese of Charlotte. If you are able to join us in this effort please register your contribution by Friday, June 7th, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, at the following location on our website: [Spiritual Bouquet]
Announcements
First Sunday Potluck at Saint Thomas Aquinas: This Sunday (June 2nd) will be First Sunday Food and Fellowship at Saint Thomas Aquinas following the regularly scheduled 11:30 a.m. Latin Mass. All are invited to come break bread and have a good time! If you can bring something to help provision the feast (or stay to help clean-up afterward), please check a box or two on the June First Sunday Food and Fellowship sign-up sheet.
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 the 20th anniversary of Fr. Reid’s ordination to the priesthood. There will be a reception in the Allen Center, featuring heavy hor d'oeuvres, from 7:15 until 9:00 p.m. All parishioners are invited. If you will be able to attend, please use the sign-up sheet available here to indicate the size of your party and what you would like to contribute to help make this very special event a success.
Father Matthew Kane, FSSP to offer Latin Masses in Charlotte this week following ordination: Father Matthew Kane, FSSP, a North Carolina native, was 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:
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.
Ordination of Diocesan Priests and Transitional Deacons: Seven transitional deacons will be ordained to the sacred priesthood for service in the Diocese of Charlotte on Saturday, June 15th, at Saint Mark in Huntersville. The seven are graduates of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Cincinnati; five attended St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly before completing their studies at the major seminary in Cincinnati. The candidates include young men from six different parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte. Please keep them in your prayers as they approach the momentous day of their ordination during the next two weeks. Please pray as well for the six future priests ordained to the transitional diaconate at Saint Mark earlier today Saturday (June 1st). They will need our support as they go on to complete their studies for the sacred priesthood. [Seven men to be ordained priests for the Diocese of Charlotte] [Six men to be ordained transitional deacons on June 1]
SAVE THE DATE: Solemn High Mass, Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, Thursday June 13: Saint Thomas Aquinas will be offering a special Solemn High Mass for the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, Thursday June 13 at 7:00 p.m. Additionally there will be veneration of a 1st class relic of Saint Anthony, as well as an Our Lady of Fatima procession immediately following Mass.
Sunday June 16 Schedule Change: Please note that Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro will offer the Latin Mass at a special time of 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 16th.
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.
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
Suggested Additional Reading
Saints and Special Observances
St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr, was an English Benedictine monk who came to be known as the Apostle of the Germans. a well-deserved title earned over the course of 36 years devoted to the conversion of pagans in central Germany. The ever-dangerous mission to the Germanic tribes ended in martyrdom when Boniface and 50-plus companions were slaughtered in Frisia on June 5, 754.
Boniface was born around 680 into a Christian family numbered among the nobility of Devonshire. Given the name Winfrid at baptism, he resolved at an early age to pursue a religious vocation. His early education was provided by the monks of the abbey at Exeter. He completed his studies at the abbey of Bursling in the Diocese of Winchester. His academic achievements there were such that upon graduation he was appointed head of the school.
Ordained to the sacred priesthood at the age of 30, Winfrid felt drawn to missionary work in foreign lands. He made an abortive trip to Friesland with two companions, only to find that war was raging in that country between the forces of two powerful dukes opposed to one another on the question of religion. Beating a retreat to Bursling, Winfrid stifled an effort to make him abbot and set off for Rome to seek papal authorization for the missionary work he still hoped to undertake.
Pope Gregory II welcomed Winfrid to Rome and kept him there until spring before sending him forth with a new name, Boniface, and a general commission to convert the heathen peoples of Europe. His missionary journey took Boniface across the Alps into Bavaria and on to Hesse before he settled in Friesland for three years under the protection of two powerful chieftains who had been baptized but left uninstructed in the Faith. His success during that period was so notable that the Pope recalled him to Rome for the purpose of making him a bishop.
On the feast of St. Andrew, November 30th in the year 722, Boniface was consecrated bishop with jurisdiction over “the races in the parts of Germany and east of the Rhine who live in error, in the shadow of death.” Pope Gregory II also gave him a letter commending him to the care and protection of Charles Martel. Buttressed by the support of both the Pope in Rome and the ruler of the Franks, Boniface decided to launch a frontal assault on the pagan customs of the Hessian people. Taking an axe to the sacred oak of Thor, he managed to fell the mighty tree with the assistance of one or two companions. When Thor failed to exact immediate retribution, the people turned away from the pagan god and accepted the God of Christianity.
Boniface built a chapel on the site of his triumph over Thor and added a second monastery to the one he had established on his first foray into Hesse. Monks and nuns flocked to the Continent from England to support his work. In 731 Pope Gregory III made him archbishop and named him metropolitan of all Germany beyond the Rhine with authority to create new bishops within that country.
After a third trip to Rome, Boniface created a number of new dioceses in Germany, installing an English monk as bishop in each. In 741 the great Benedictine abbey at Fulda was founded to serve as the center of monastic culture among the Germanic peoples. Charles Martel passed away in the same year, and Boniface convinced his successors to convoke a synod for the purpose of addressing errors and abuses in the Frankish churches that had taken root during the reign of the late king. Presiding over that synod and several that followed in the next five years, Boniface succeeded in bringing about substantial reforms that restored the Church in Gaul to its former state of solid faith and fidelity to Rome.
Having been appointed apostolic legate, as well as primate of Germany, it was Boniface who crowned Pepin king at Soissons in 751. Now more than 70 years old, but still driven by missionary zeal, he sailed down the Rhine with 50 companions to revisit the scene of his first conversions to Christianity in Friesland. Having won new converts among tribes located northeast of Utrecht, Boniface planned a special confirmation ceremony on Whitsun Eve. He was reading in his tent, awaiting the arrival of the new converts, when a band of armed pagans suddenly appeared in the missionary encampment. Boniface ordered his companions not to resist; and all were speedily deprived of their lives in this world, winning that higher life which is the martyr’s reward.
St. Boniface’s body was retrieved for burial at Fulda where it remains to this day. His extensive literary output includes a copious collection of letters valued for the light they shine on the history of the Church in Europe and the development of dogma during the eighth century.
Closing Commentary
In closing, we commend to our readers the following superlative commentary from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, “On Holy Communion, During the Time After Pentecost.” We present the first part of the commentary (Before Communion) here, reserving the second part (After Communion) for our next issue. For those wishing to read the entire commentary at once, we provide a link to the online text below.
On Holy Communion, During the Time After Pentecost
If, in the early stages of the Liturgical Year, in Advent, at Christmas, and during the periods of Septuagesima and Lent, when there was question of nothing beyond a preparation for the divine Mysteries which wrought our salvation,—if, in the name of holy Church, we then invited the Faithful to have recourse to the Sacrament of our Lord’s Body, as being the heavenly nourishment that would support them in the glorious career on which they had entered: now, that the work is done, that they have risen again with their Redeemer, that they have followed him, by their desires and their hopes, even to the very summit of heaven; now, that the Holy Ghost has come down upon this earth, that he might complete within them the work of their union with God;—surely, nothing could profit them more, than that they nourish themselves, and even more frequently than before, with the Bread of Life, which came from heaven, that he might give Life to the World.
From our first entrance into the new season, which we are now passing through, holy Church has, by the great Feast of Corpus Christi, brought us face to face with the august Mystery, which is both the Sacrifice whereby God receives the honor due to him, and the Sacrament containing within himself the nourishment of our souls. We have now a clearer understanding of the unspeakable gift, which our Savior vouchsafed to bestow upon us, the night before his Passion. We now see more plainly the nature and greatness of the homage which earth gives to its Creator, by the ceaseless offering of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We now know, so much better than formerly, what that deifying relation is, which is made to exist between God and the soul, by means of the participation of the Sacred Host. The Holy Ghost has shed his light upon all these truths; he has opened out of us the very depths of the mystery shown to us from the outset, the mystery, that is, of the Emmanuel, or God with us. Now that we are so fully initiated into the whole of God’s work, we the better understand that great text of the Gospel, which says: The Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us. We grasp the meaning more completely; we can give it a more literal, and equally faithful, translation, and say: the Word was made Flesh, and took up his dwelling within us.
All this has increased in the Christian the desire of assisting at the Holy Sacrifice. He says to himself, as did the Patriarch of old: “Truly, the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; my faith was sound, but I did not perceive, as I do now, the immensity of what our Lord did at his Last Supper.” In the same way, having now a clearer knowledge of the union, which is brought about, even in this present world, between God and the soul that is nourished with the living Bread, whereby that soul is transformed into its Creator,—having this clearer knowledge, the Christian longs more ardently than ever for the enjoyment of that Lord, who, even during this mortal life, gives us, by means of the Eucharistic Bread, not only a foretaste, but the very reality, of that which awaits us in heaven. We may truly assert, that the keeping up of that state, which we have already described in the Third Chapter, and which is the state both of the Church herself and of the faithful soul, during this period of the Liturgical Year, is the joint work of the Holy Ghost, who abides within us, and of the Eucharistic gift, in which the Son of God ceases not to act for the preservation, increase, and development of the divine life, which he came to bring us, and of which he thus speaks: I am come, that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.
We will here, as in the preceding Volumes, give Acts which may serve as preparation for holy Communion during this Season of the Year. There are souls that feel the want of some such assistance as this; and, for the same reason, we will add a form of Thanksgiving for after Communion.
Before Communion
Act of Faith
Now that I am about to unite myself to thee in the mystery of thy love, I must first profess that I believe it to be truly thyself, O my God, thy body, thy soul, thy divinity, that thou art going to give me. The first duty thou askest of me, now that thou art coming to me, is the act of my Faith in this deep mystery; I make it; and my understanding is happy at thus bowing itself down before thy sovereign word. Thou, O Jesus, art the Truth; and when presenting to thy disciples the bread changed in to thy Body, thou saidst to them: This is my Body! I believe thy word; I adore the living Bread, come down from heaven to give life to the world. The grace of the Holy Ghost, whom thou hast sent me, enables me to relish this marvel of thy all-powerful love. This love of thine was not satisfied with uniting thee to the human nature, which thou assumedst in Mary’s womb; it would, moreover, prepare for each one of us, by means of the heavenly food of thy sacred flesh, a real and mysterious union with thee, which none but thou could have planned, none but thou could have achieved. For its accomplishment, thou first demandedst, as thou hadst all right to do, that we should have an unlimited confidence in the truth of thy word. When thou wast upon the Cross, thy divinity was veiled from view; in the sacred Host, thy very humanity is hid from our eyes; but, I believe, O my God, both thy divinity and humanity present under the cloud which shrouds them from all mortal sight. I have been taught by thine Apostle, O light inaccessible, that it is by faith alone that we can approach thee, while we are in this present life. I believe, then, O Lord! but help thou mine unbelief.
Act of Humility
Taught, as I have been, by thy words, O my God, I know, and with a certainty which my reason and my senses could never have given me, that, in a few moments, I shall be in closest union with thine infinite Majesty. Thou hast said it: He that eateth my Flesh, abideth in me, and I in him! My whole being thrills at these words. I, a sinner, all marked with the sores of my iniquities, and still fighting with passions but half subdued, I am to abide in thee! And thou, that art infinite Being and infinite Holiness, thou art coming to abide in me, in me who am but nothingness and sin! At such a tiding as this, what else can I, than cry out, with the Centurion of thy Gospel: Lord! I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof! And yet, I hear thee saying, also, these other words: Unless ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, ye shall not have life in you. This life I would have, O Jesus! And didst thou not come, didst thou not work all thy mysteries, in order that we might have life, and more and more of that life? I have no desire to shun it. What, then, can I do, but take shelter in the depths of humility, think of mine own vileness, be mindful of the fuel of sin that exists within me, and acknowledge the infinite distance there is between myself and thee, O my Redeemer and my Judge? I know that then thou wilt have pity on my misery, and wilt say but one word, and my soul shall be healed. Say, I beseech thee, that word, which is to comfort my heart. Till thou sayst it, I dare not raise up mine eyes towards thine altar; I can but tremble at the approach of that moment, when a poor creature, like myself, is to be united with its Creator, from whose eyes nought is hid, and who judges even our justices.
Act of Contrition
Ever since that day whereon thy Spirit, O Lord, came down upon us, in order that he might the more deeply imprint upon our souls the divine mysteries thou wroughtest, from thy merciful Incarnation to thy glorious Ascension, thou vouchsafest to invite me more frequently to thy table. And I have learned, too, since that same coming, better than I knew before, how it behooves me to prepare myself, with all possible diligence, for each of thy visits. I have been renewing my faith, by accepting, with increased ardor, the truth of thy presence in the Sacrament of the Altar. As I see thy dread Majesty advancing towards me, I have professed, and with sincere humility, my utter nothingness, for I have acknowledged my extreme unworthiness;—but all this does not put me at rest. There is something beyond all this:—it is, that I am a sinner; I have offended Thee; I have rebelled against thee; I have turned thy very benefits into occasions of outrage against thee; to say it in all its enormity, I have caused thy death upon the Cross! The Holy Ghost, having vouchsafed to give me light, has taught me the malice of sin; he has given me to understand, more fully than formerly, how detestable have been my audacity and ingratitude. I have had revealed to me, by the grand Mysteries of the first portion of the Year, how much I cost thee on that Day, whereon Justice and Mercy united in the Sacrifice which saved mankind. The more thou hast heaped thy favors on me, O Lord, the more keenly do I feel the injury of my sins; and I beseech thee to bestow on me the signal grace, the grace which will ensure every other,—of keeping up within me the spirit of compunction and penance. I offer to thee, O my God, at this hour when thou art about to give thyself to me, I offer to thee the expression of my sorrow; and from my deepest soul, I say to thee those words of the Publican: Have mercy on me, O God, for I am a Sinner!
Act of Love
And now, O my Lord, permit me to turn my thoughts upon the happiness of a soul, to whom thou givest thyself in the Sacrament of thy love! As to that familiarity, into which thine ineffable goodness leads some souls, who approach thee without reflecting upon the greatness of thy majesty, oh! I shudder at such impertinence; and yet, I long to be united with thee; and, until thou art come into me, my soul panteth after thee. Thy Mysteries, which I have been celebrating with thy Church, have enkindled within me a fire which nothing can quench,—a fire to which thy divine Spirit delights to be ever adding heat. Thy delight, so thou hast told us, is to be with the children of men; and is it not true, also, that with such of the children of men as know thee, thy love is the very nourishment on which their own hearts live? In order to maintain them in this love which is their life, thou hast made thyself present in the sacred Host; thou givest them to live in thee, just as thou livest in them, as often as they eat of this Living Bread, which hath come down from heaven. This Charity, this Love, which hath been poured forth into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, is nourished at thy holy Table, O Lord! and there is it increased; for it is in the divine Sacrament, which thou institutedst the night before thy Passion, that we are united to thee. Love tends to be united with the object it loves; therefore do I, in spite of all the conviction of my unworthiness, long for the blissful moment of thy coming into me. Everything that thou hast done, my Lord, has been done to make me love thee? Thou hast loved me first; who will blame me, that my heart hungers for thee? Thou hadst pity, one day, on the people who had followed thee into the desert. I have compassion, thou saidst, on this multitude; and then, straightway, thou gavest them to eat as much as they would. Ah! Lord, my poor heart and flesh, long after thee; and thou alone canst satisfy the hunger which gnaws me, for thou art the Sovereign Good, thou art true Life; and it was that I might enjoy that Sovereign Good, and live that heavenly Life, that thou createdst me. There was a time, when this heart of mine was dull; darkness was upon me, and I could not see the light; but now that thy Mysteries have enlightened and regenerated me, I sigh after thee with all the earnestness of my soul. Come, then, Lord Jesus! Withhold thyself no longer from my soul, that awaits thy visit!