Third Sunday After Epiphany

Jesus healing the servant of a Centurion by Paolo Veronese (c. 1580)

And the centurion making answer, said: Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed (Matthew 8:8).

Dear friends in Christ

Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. The liturgy for this Sunday (January 21, 2024), the third after the Epiphany of Our Lord, includes Saint Matthew’s account of the encounter between Jesus and the Roman centurion. The words of the soldier, who beseeched Our Lord to heal his servant “grievously tormented” by the palsy, are recalled in every mass by those we speak before approaching the altar to receive our own healing nourishment: Dómine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanábitur ánima mea.

In this update we share information about Sunday’s Mass and other Latin Masses scheduled during the week ahead.

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany with either English or Spanish translation. The English version includes a commentary by the great Redemptorist preacher, Saint Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri, C.Ss.R. (1696-1787). In addition, we offer a link to an article by Dr. Michael P. Foley on “The Secret for the Third Sunday after Epiphany” published by New Liturgical Movement.

• Third Sunday after Epiphany

• Tercer Domingo de Epifania

• The Secret for the Third Sunday after Epiphany

Close of Christmas Potluck Celebration at Saint Ann

There will be a special Close of Christmas potluck celebration following the 12:30 p.m. Latin Mass at Saint Ann this Sunday, January 21st. Although the Christmas season traditionally extends to February 2nd, due to the early date of Easter this year the Third Sunday after Epiphany will be the last Sunday of the season that began with the Nativity of Our Lord. (Next Sunday, January 28th, will mark the beginning of the pre-Lenten season of Septuagesima.) All are invited to celebrate the close of the Christmas season on the plaza in front of the church, where the Cantate Domino Latin Girl’s Choir will sing their annual Wassailing (Christmas caroling). Please bring a dish, snack, dessert or drink to share.

Calendar of Saints and Special Observances

Celebrations listed are those on the traditional liturgical calendar found in the Roman Missal of 1962.

• Sunday, January 21st – Third Sunday after Epiphany

• Monday, January 22nd – Saints Vincent and Anastasius, Martyrs

• Tuesday, January 23rd – Saint Raymund of Pennafort, Confessor

• Wednesday, January 24th – Saint Timothy, Bishop and Martyr

• Thursday, January 25th - Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle

• Friday, January 26th – Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr

• Saturday, January 27th – Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church

Schedule of Latin Masses for Sunday, January 21st (Third Sunday after Epiphany)

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., Our Lady of Grace (Greensboro)

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

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)

Schedule of Weekday Latin Masses

Wednesday, January 24th, Saint Timothy, Bishop and Martyr

• 6:00 p.m., Saint Ann

Thursday, January 25th, Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle

• 7:00 p.m., Saint Thomas Aquinas

Friday, January 26th, Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr

• 7:00 a.m., Saint Ann

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

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

Saturday, January 27th, Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor of the Church

• 8:00 a.m., Saint Ann (Respect Life Latin Mass followed by prayers at the abortion facility and also a Holy Hour of Reparation in the church)

Note: The Traditional Latin Mass is offered daily at Prince of Peace in Taylors, South Carolina: Monday-Friday at 12:00 p.m. and Saturday at 8:00 a.m., in addition to the Latin Mass on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.

* The Traditional Latin Mass previously celebrated at Saint Elizabeth of the Hill Country in Boone has been moved to the mission church of that parish, the Church of the Epiphany, located at 163 Galax Lane in Blowing Rock.

Holy Face Devotions

Prayers of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus will be offered at the following churches during the coming week:

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

• St. Mark – Monday, 5:00 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, 9:00 a.m.

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

Announcements (Dates to Save)

Monday January 22nd has been declared by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to be a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. The bishops of the United States are calling for prayer and penance for the intention of ending abortion. Monday marks the fifty-first anniversary of the U. S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that recognized a constitutional right to abortion throughout the United States. That decision was overturned in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24, 2022. However, several states have acted since then to ensure the availability of the procedure within their respective jurisdictions. As a reminder, Saint Ann Parish offers a Latin Mass on behalf of ending abortion at 8:00 a.m. on the fourth Saturday of each month. The pro-life Mass this month will be celebrated on Saturday, January 27th, and will be followed as usual by prayers at the local abortion facility.

Friday February 2nd is the date on which the traditional Blessing of Candles will take place at Saint Ann prior to the 7:00 a.m. Latin Mass. February 2nd, marking the end of the Christmas season, is celebrated each year as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Also called Candlemas, the feast celebrates the first presentation of the Light of Christ in the Temple at Jerusalem. The liturgy for Candlemas recalls the day on which Mary went with the Holy Infant to undergo the rite of ritual purification following the birth of Jesus.

Traditional Carmelite Lenten Enrollment

In just a few weeks, Lent will commence on Wednesday February 14. In preparation for this, we share a wonderful Lenten offering by the traditional Carmelite Hermits of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Fairfield, PA which you can begin to enroll in today. (Click on Lenten Enrollment at the top of the home page or use the link provided below.) The deadline to enroll is Tuesday February 13 (day before Lent).

The Hermits will be offering the following during Lent:

• 40 Traditional Masses (Carmelite Rite)

• 40 days of praying the Divine Office (and other daily prayers), and;

• 40 days of fasting and penance

Enroll those most in need (living or deceased) to benefit from 40 Masses and 40 days of prayer and penance offered by the Discalced Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel this Lent.

The enrollment is free, however, the Hermits survive entirely on alms from the laity, and as such please consider a donation to help support their apostolate. To learn more and enroll, visit: https://www.edcarm.org/lent and also see this inspiring video.

“No human tongue can enumerate the favors that trace back to the Sacrifice of the Mass. The sinner is reconciled with God; the just man becomes more upright; sins are wiped away; vices are uprooted; virtue and merit increase; and the devil’s schemes are frustrated.” – Saint Lawrence Justinian

Meal Assistance

Matthew and Katherine Gallegos, who attend the Saint Ann Latin Mass, recently welcomed their first child, Gabriela Noelle Gallegos. Please consider providing the blessing of a meal during this important period of recovery and transition: https://takethemameal.com/ZUHC4630

Christmas Season Continues Through February 2nd

Contrary to the secular world’s calendar, the great Benedictine liturgist Dom Prosper Guéranger reminds us in The Liturgical Year that the Christmas season that began on December 25th will continue for forty days until the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary on February 2nd:

We apply the name of Christmas to the forty days which begin with the Nativity of our Lord, December 25, and end with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, February 2. It is a period which forms a distinct portion of the Liturgical Year, as distinct, by its own special spirit, from every other, as are Advent, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost. One same Mystery is celebrated and kept in view during the whole forty days. Neither the Feasts of the Saints, which so abound during this Season; nor the time of Septuagesima, with its mournful Purple, which often begins before Christmastide is over, seem able to distract our Holy Mother the Church from the immense joy of which she received the good tidings from the Angels [St Luke ii 10] on that glorious Night for which the world had been longing four thousand years. The Faithful will remember that the Liturgy commemorates this long expectation by the four penitential weeks of Advent.

The custom of celebrating the Solemnity of our Saviour’s Nativity by a feast or commemoration of forty days’ duration is founded on the holy Gospel itself; for it tells us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, after spending forty days in the contemplation of the Divine Fruit of her glorious Maternity, went to the Temple, there to fulfil, in most perfect humility, the ceremonies which the Law demanded of the daughters of Israel, when they became mothers.

The Feast of Mary’s Purification is, therefore, part of that of Jesus’ Birth; and the custom of keeping this holy and glorious period of forty days as one continued Festival has every appearance of being a very ancient one, at least in the Roman Church. [History of Christmas]

Latin Mass and Liturgical News

• When Does the Christmas Season End? asks Gregory DiPippo in an article posted on New Liturgical Movement that provides clarity regarding the length of the Christmas season. [When Does the Christmas Season End]

• Day of the Unborn is an article by Dr. Michael P. Foley, posted on New Liturgical Movement, that examines why it may be problematic to commemorate historical events of a non-religious nature – such as the anniversary of Roe v. Wade – by including them on the Church’s liturgical calendar. [Day of the Unborn]

• The Passage from Vice to Virtue: Durandus on the Wedding at Cana, posted by Gregory DiPippo on New Liturgical Movement, revisits the gospel reading for last Sunday (January 14th), quoting the commentary of William Durandus regarding the “authentic mystical symbolism” of Jesus’s first miracle. [The Passage from Vice to Virtue]

• Before and After: Immaculate Conception in Rapid City, South Dakota, an article posted by local writer John Paul Sonnen on Liturgical Arts Journal, offers the reader a glimpse of the beauty achieved by renovation of the altar and sanctuary in the former cathedral of the Diocese of Rapid City. [Before and After: Immaculate Conception]

• The Unknown Story of St. Peter’s Golden Sphere, by Solène Tadié, Europe Correspondent for the National Catholic Register, sheds light on the glorious history of the globe on the top of the Vatican Basilica’s dome. [St. Peter's Golden Sphere]

• Return of the Monks: The Trappists Go Back to Norway, an article by freelance reporter Bénédicte Cedergren for the National Catholic Register, documents the return of monastic life to Norway 500 years after the Protestant Reformation set out to destroy all of the monasteries and abbeys in that once-Catholic country. [Return of the Monks]

• The Asperges Ritual and the Mystery of Dwelling, a recent post by Dr. Michael P. Foley on New Liturgical Movement, directs our attention to a familiar ritual frequently invoked at the beginning of the Ordinary of the Mass, reconnecting us to our baptismal vows and “driving out the unclean in order to prepare the way for the Holy Sacrifice.” [The Asperges Ritual]

Saints and Special Celebrations

Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church was born in Antioch in the year 347 but did not become a baptized Christian until he was more than 20 years old. However, his early training in rhetoric and classical Greek education helped to prepare him for his future career as a preacher of the Christian faith perhaps unequalled in the history of the Church. The surname by which he is known – a derivative of the Greek word chrysostomos, meaning “golden-mouthed” – came into common usage following his death as his reputation for eloquence spread from the Greek world throughout the West.

John’s father, a high-ranking officer in the Syrian army named Secundus, died when the future saint was only a boy; but his widow, Anthusa, saw to it that her only son got a good education. Libanius, the most renowned orator of his day and a fierce proponent of paganism, considered John his most promising pupil but lamented on his deathbed that he had been “stolen” by the Christians. Antioch was the second greatest city in the eastern Empire and a hotbed of religious controversy in the fourth century. While paganism was in decline, orthodox Christianity was continually challenged by the adherents of various heretical sects, including Manichaeanism, Gnosticism and Arianism. Moreover, the Catholic Church itself was riven by schism in the East, with some members supporting a bishop named Meletius and others a rival named Paulinus.

When he was about 20 years old, John met Bishop Meletius and was influenced by him to abandon his classical studies in order to devote himself to the study of Holy Scripture. After about three years, he was baptized and ordained a lector; but, feeling the need to purge his pagan past in order to better prepare himself to serve God, he left Antioch and joined a secluded ascetical society. The next four years of his life were devoted to prayer, manual labor, intensive assimilation of the Scriptural texts, and the composition of early works on ascetical subjects. Then, deciding to live as an anchorite, he took up residence in a cave; but the ensuing two years of rigorous seclusion so undermined his health that he was forced to return to Antioch and resume his duties as lector.

John was probably 30 years old when he rejoined the ecclesiastical community in Antioch. Three years later, Meletius ordained him deacon prior to his own departure for Constantinople, where he died while presiding over the Second Ecumenical Council. Meletius’s successor, Flavian, ordained Chrysostom to the priesthood in 386 when the future saint was nearly 40 years old. He would spend the next 12 years chiefly in the exercise of his considerable skill as a preacher. During this period, he initiated the practice of preparing commentaries on the liturgical readings which provided the subject matter for his sermons. The theological works he produced in these years established his reputation throughout the Christian world, earning him a place among the renowned in Saint Jerome’s De Viri Illustres in the year 392.

Likely the presumptive successor to Flavian as bishop of Antioch, John Chrysostom was suddenly taken away from his native city to serve another. On the 27th of September in 397, Nectarius, Bishop of Constantinople, passed away; and a protracted battle ensued between rival factions seeking to determine who would succeed him. The bishopric remained unfilled for five months until the Emperor, Arcadius, ordered John Chrysostom brought to the capital. Spirited out of Antioch under cover, for fear of arousing the populace, John was taken to Constantinople and ordained bishop there on the 26th of February in 398. His ordination marked the beginning of the most demanding, and ultimately the most tumultuous, period of his life.

He began by reining in the self-indulgent clergy of his episcopal domain – something that had to be done before he could call on the inhabitants of the metropolis to amend their own lives. At the same time, he imposed a program of fiscal restraint on his own household, eliminating the expenditures on lavish entertainment that had made his predecessor popular with the wealthy and powerful. Chrysostom used the savings achieved by his economic measures to fund projects of lasting value for ordinary people, such as the construction of a new hospital.

Certain people in high places were unimpressed by the charitable works brought about by the bishop’s leaner and less lenient approach to ecclesiastical administration. Chief among them was the empress, Eudoxia, wife of Arcadius, who took personal offense at things Chrysostom said and wrote regarding the way Christians should live. When the bishop was called away from Constantinople on ecclesiastical business for a period of several months, dissidents took advantage of his absence to establish an organized opposition group with the empress at its center. This group included a number of disaffected bishops who felt themselves threatened by Chrysostom’s efforts to curb corruption in the episcopal ranks.

In 403 his enemies succeeded, with the consent of the emperor, in having John Chrysostom deposed by order of a trumped-up court and sent into exile. He returned to Constantinople when the empress, fearing she had offended Heaven, relented for a time; but regaining her nerve, Eudoxia prevailed on the emperor to send him into exile a second time. On June 24th in the year 404, a military detachment conducted Chrysostom out of the imperial capital. The soldiers took him to Cuscusus, a remote and rugged place on the border of Armenia vulnerable to attacks by barbarians. Three years later, a new order called for him to be transported to Pithyus, an even more remote location near the Caucasus. He was badly mistreated during the journey and, due to the rigorous conditions imposed on him and the physical abuse to which he was subjected, died at a place called Comana and was buried there. His last words were “Glory be to God for all things.”

The saint’s remains were exhumed on the 27^th of January in 438 and returned with ceremonial honors to Constantinople for entombment in the Church of the Apostles. The empress, Eudoxia, had been buried there shortly after having the bishop sent into permanent exile.

Saint John Chrysostom’s legacy of writings includes 700 sermons, nearly 250 letters, and hundreds of biblical commentaries and theological discourses. Recognized as a monumental defender of Christian orthodoxy soon after his death, he has been venerated as a saint since the fifth century and was the sixth saint to be declared a Doctor of the Church. His feast day on the traditional liturgical calendar is January 27th, the date his remains were translated for final burial in the city where he had served as bishop.

Closing Commentary

In closing, we offer the following brief excerpt from the entry for the “Third Sunday after the Epiphany” in Dom Prosper Guéranger’s The Liturgical Year. The great Benedictine liturgist addresses here the transition from Christmastide to the pre-Lenten season of Septuagesima, sometimes foreshortened (as this year) by the early occurrence of Easter.

We have kept for the end of this volume the five following Sundays, in order not to interrupt the order of the Feasts, which are kept during the forty days of Christmastide; as also, because the variation of Easter Sunday necessitates, almost every year, a different arrangement from that in which they stand in the Missal. Septuagesima often comes in January, and the Feast of the Purification is occasionally later than Quinquagesima Sunday. We were obliged to provide for these changes, and simplify them for the Faithful, by adopting our present plan.

It also happens that the 3rd and 4th Sundays after the Epiphany (even in years when they could be kept) have to be omitted, owing to the occurrence of a Double feast; and feasts of this class are frequent during the last fifteen days of January. In this case, the Church simply makes a commemoration of the occurring Sunday, at the Collect, Secret, and Post-communion; and the Gospel of the Sunday is read in place of St. John’s, at the end of Mass.

The Sundays of Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima, take precedence of Double feasts; and, as we have already noticed, the Purification itself is deferred till the following day, if it fall on any of these three Sundays. [Third Sunday after Epiphany]

To Our Readers and All Friends of the Latin Mass:

May you be abundantly blessed by God in this joyous season of Christmas.

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