The Church’s prayer today
United States Roman Calendar · Year C → Year A at Advent · Cycle II. Liturgical color: green.
Scripture for the liturgy
Jer 26:11-16, 24/Mt 14:1-12 (406)
These references follow the annual calendar, including permitted reading choices. Optional memorials ordinarily retain the weekday readings. Daily reading pages for this future year may not yet be published. Use these references with the USCCB Bible, or open the annual calendar.
Permitted observances today
- The Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary MajorOptional Memorial · white
- The Blessed Virgin Mary on SaturdayOptional Memorial · white
Enter the Marian mystery
The Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major
Honor the Mother of God in the church dedicated to her, and learn from the saints to welcome the Son she bears.
Read the teaching, meditation, and prayer →Contemplate with Mary
Let us not then find it irksome to visit our Queen every day in some Church, or Chapel, or in our own house — where it would be well to this end to make in the most solitary place a little Oratory with her Image, which should be kept adorned with cloths, flowers, candles, or lamps; and before it let the Litanies, the Rosary, etc., also be said.
Make this prayer your own
Most holy Virgin, obtain for us the love of prayer and of solitude, so that, detaching ourselves from the love of creatures, we may aspire to God alone and to Paradise, where we hope one day to see you and for ever to praise and love together with you your Son Jesus, world without end. Amen.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori · The Glories of Mary · On the Prayer of MaryOne faithful act
Pray the Rosary in a church or before an image of Our Lady at home.
Pray in honor of the Mother of GodCalendar scope and local observance
Dates, ranks, and reading references follow the official calendar for the dioceses of the United States, with Ascension on Sunday. Diocesan, parish, patronal, and religious-family calendars may differ. Consult your parish for Mass schedules and obligations. The Marian meditation is a devotional aid accompanying the day.