The Church’s prayer today
United States Roman Calendar · Year C → Year A at Advent · Cycle II. Liturgical color: white.
Scripture for the liturgy
1 Jn 2:3-11/Lk 2:22-35 (202)
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.
The seasonal Mass remains primary. A saint’s Collect may be used as permitted by GIRM 355(a).
Permitted observances today
- Saint Thomas Becket, Bishop and MartyrCommemorationSeasonal commemoration: the saint’s Collect may be used; the seasonal day retains precedence.
On the humility of Mary
Just as a beggar-woman, if she is clothed in a rich garment given her, does not grow proud of it, but on seeing it humbles herself the more before her giver, since then she the more remembers her own poverty; so Mary, the more she saw herself enriched, the more she humbled herself, remembering that all was the gift of God; whence she herself said to St. Elizabeth the Benedictine: Pro firmo scias, quod me reputabam vilissimam, & gratia Dei indignam. — Hold it for certain that I accounted myself most vile, and unworthy of the grace of God. (Ap. S. Bon. de Vit. Christ.)
St. Alphonsus de Liguori · The Glories of Mary · On the Humility of Mary · excerpt
Make this prayer your own
Then, O my Queen, I shall never be able to be your true child, if I am not humble; but do you not see that my sins, after having made me ungrateful to my Lord, have made me proud as well? O my Mother, do you provide the remedy; by the merits of your humility obtain for me to be humble, and so to become your child. Amen.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori · The Glories of Mary · On the Humility of MaryOne faithful act
Recognize the gifts of God and give Him the praise.
Ask Mary for humilityCalendar 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.