Whit Monday

Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday, also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit, is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a moveable feast in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is moveable because it is determined by the date of Easter. In the Catholic Church, it is the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, marking the resumption of Ordinary Time.

Whit Monday gets its English name from “Whitsunday”, an English name for Pentecost, one of the three baptismal seasons. The origin of the name “Whit Sunday” is generally attributed to the white garments formerly worn by those newly baptized on this feast.

Observance

Pentecost is always on a Sunday and is therefore usually a non-working day. That said, the Monday after Pentecost is a public holiday in Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Austria, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, The British Virgin Islands, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, France, Gabon, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Hungary, Iceland, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Monaco, Montserrat, The Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Spain, Switzerland, Togo and Ukraine. In many of these countries, Whit Monday is known as “the second day of Pentecost” or “the second Whitsun”.

In France, it became a work day for many workers from 2005 to 2007. This was to raise extra funds following the government’s lack of preparation for a summertime heat wave, which led to a shortage of proper health care for the elderly. It continues to be a “worked public holiday” in France. In Liechtenstein, Whit Monday is considered to be a “favorite holiday”, much like Christmas in many other countries. In Germany, Whit Monday (German: Pfingstmontag) is a Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics. It is celebrated in South Tyrol, and for its capital city Bolzano it replaces the holiday of the local patron saint celebrated elsewhere in Italy.

Until 1973, Whit Monday was a public holiday in Ireland (also called a bank holiday). It was a bank holiday in the United Kingdom until 1967. It was formally replaced by the fixed Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday in May in 1971. It was also a public holiday in various former British colonies, especially in the Pacific. It remains a public holiday in some of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean. In Sweden, Whit Monday was a public holiday until 2004; it was replaced by the National Day of Sweden in 2005.

Although Whit Monday is a civil holiday in many countries, it was not a Catholic religious holiday any more than the other weekdays that follow Pentecost Sunday. Until the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, they were part of the octave of Pentecost, which was added in the 7th century. The Monday after Pentecost is now the first day of the resumption of Ordinary Time. While the details differ from diocese to diocese, the most widespread practice in Germany (where the holiday remains an obligation) was to have a compulsory votive Mass of the Holy Spirit outranking even solemnities (these would be local solemnities in that case).

However, in February 2018, Pope Francis declared that henceforth, Whit Monday will be the fixed date for the celebration of a new feast, officially known as the “Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church” to be celebrated throughout the universal Church.

Observance in Eastern Orthodoxy

In the Eastern Orthodox Church Whit Monday is known as “Monday of the Holy Spirit” or “Day of the Holy Spirit” and is the first day of the after feast of Pentecost, being dedicated specifically to the honor of God the Holy Spirit and particularly in commemoration of his descent upon the apostles at Pentecost. The day following is known as Third Day of the Trinity. In the services on the Monday of the Holy Spirit many of the same hymns are sung as on the day of Pentecost itself. During the Divine Liturgy the Deacon intones the same introit as on the day of Pentecost, and the dismissal is the same as on the day of Pentecost. Special canons to the Holy Spirit are chanted at Compline and Matins.

The post Whit Monday appeared first on Good News!.

“On Burning Ground: A Son’s Memoir” (St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan) is a true narrative of radical masquerade: the story of how at the height of World War II a fair-haired rabbinical student assumed the identities of a Catholic and, more strategically, of a Muslim, to survive racial genocide. In effect, it is a journey to the end of night capturing the visceral danger and spiraling suspense of a young man alone in the world, bereft of any structure of support, outwitting his destiny.

This is a tale of a wartime chameleon, a man of multiple masks, who survived by ingenuity, daring, and deft maneuver. In a desperate gamble at life, a parochial student at one of Poland’s pre-eminent rabbinical academies used his many false “selves”–especially his assumed Muslim identity, which gave him cover for his circumcision–to fake his way into the belly of the beast, the dreaded Waffen-SS, the inner core of the Nazi killing machine, in order to survive certain death.

A story of total and terrifying self-reinvention, it demonstrates the multiple arts of passing: psychological daring, sartorial strategy (he had to look the part) and linguistic mastery (he had to sound the part) to stay alive. By necessity, it touches upon such issues as existential choice and dread, moral anguish and ambiguity, as well as the ever-tormenting question of means and ends, questions to animate intense educational, psychological and ethical discussion. After the war, Joseph Skakun returned to Judaism in a fog of anguish in Paris and then in New York, where he lived amid a supernova of memory and penance. Michael Skakun become his witness as his father recounted his death-defying story to him. See (www.onburningground.com)

On Burning Ground – A Son’s Memoir

#onburningground #sonsmemoir #truestory #michaelskakun #catholic #muslim #genocide #danger #support #nazi #josephskakun #judaism #education #ethical #memory #witness #father

The post ON BURNING GROUND : A SON MEMOIR’S – STRANGER-THAN-FICTION WAR THRILLER by MICHAEL SKAKUN appeared first on Good News!.

Ukrainian Christmas Last  Day celebrated with water symbolizing 

Jesus in the Jordan River..

Support St. Voldymiere Ukranian Church at 82nd , off of Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan 

#peace #ukraine #warinukraine #catholic #war #jesus #river #jordan #christmas #church #ukrainian #amsterdam #water #manhattan

The post Ukrainian Christmas Last Day celebrated with water symbolizing Jesus in the Jordan River appeared first on Good News!.

The post St. Therese of LISIEUX MONTAUK appeared first on Good News!.

Members of many Christian denominations, including the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Oriental Orthodox and Reformed traditions, observe Good Friday with fasting and church services.[5][6][7] Communicants of the Moravian Church have a Good Friday tradition of cleaning gravestones in Moravian cemeteries.[8]

The date of Good Friday varies from one year to the next on both the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Eastern and Western Christianity disagree over the computation of the date of Easter and therefore of Good Friday. Good Friday is a widely instituted legal holiday around the world, including in most Western countries and 12 U.S. states.[9] Some countries, such as Germany, have laws prohibiting certain acts, such as dancing and horse racing.

Easter,[nb 1] also called Pascha (Aramaic, Greek, Latin)[nb 2] or Resurrection Sunday,[5][6] is a Christian festival and holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day after his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD.[7][8] It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.

Most Christians refer to the week before Easter as “Holy Week”, which contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper,[9][10] as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus.[11] In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and ends with the coming of the 40th day, the Feast of the Ascension.

Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts which do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars which follow only the cycle of the Sun; rather, its date is offset from the date of Passover and is therefore calculated based on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the only rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the council. No details for the computation were specified; these were worked out in practice, a process that took centuries and generated a number of controversies. It has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March.[12] Even if calculated on the basis of the more accurate Gregorian calendar, the date of that full moon sometimes differs from that of the astronomical first full moon after the March equinox.[13]

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover (Hebrew: פֶּסַח pesach, Aramaic: פָּסחָא pascha) by its origin (according to the Synoptic Gospels, both the Crucifixion and the Resurrection took place during the Jewish Passover)[14][15] and by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In most European languages the feast is called by the words for passover in those languages; and in the older English versions of the Bible the term Easter was the term used to translate passover.[16] Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church,[17] and decorating Easter eggs (symbols of the empty tomb).[18][19][20] The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection,[21][22] traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide.[23] Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades.[24][25][26] There are also various traditional Easter foods that vary regionally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter

#god #easter #good #friday #christian #holiday #crucifixion #jesus #calvary #death #holy #week #sunday #jewish #catholic #church #christianity #passover #romans #prayer #fasting

The post Good Friday n Easter!! appeared first on Good News!.

The post NORA CRONIN PRESENTATION ACADEMY GRADUATION- THIS FRI JUNE 8th appeared first on Good News!.

The post Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan Click Here for Video & Podcast appeared first on Good News!.

New York, NY. Pope Francis shared his Peace message at the International Day of Peace Press Conference in Times Square September 15, 2015. It was delivered by Father McWeeney from the Catholic Church of New York. The Press Conference was packed with the people of the world, about 1,000 people heard our Peace Day Message. Limited media, but we have big prayers that the media and the people of the world will hear the message and create a Global Truce and nonviolent day in celebration for The International Day of Peace. 193 Countries of the UN agreed to the day, please join in. Announcement of www.peacedayparty.org events in Central Park on 9/20 at 3PM and Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn War Memorial on 9/21 at 11:30AM

Pope Francis Shared:

We bow our heads,

Powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace in your tenderness all that exists that pours into us with the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with Peace that we may live as brothers and sisters, hurting no one. Oh God of the poor, may you help us rescue the abandoned and forgotten on this earth.

Bring Healing to our lives that we may protect the world, not pray on it. That we may see beauty and not pollution. Look at hearts of those who only seek gain at the expense of others and the poor on the earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing in awe and contemplation. Recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature, as we journey towards your infinite light.

Thank you for being with us today, we pray and encourage you for justice, love and peace. Amen.

The post Pope Francis Message at a Times Square appeared first on Good News!.