Saint Joseph Catholic Church

The Roman Martyrology commemorates today:

From Today's Gospel: At the sight of the crowds, Jesus' heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." (Matt 9:36-38).

In the midst of the World War II, Pope Pius XII put the whole world under the special protection of our Savior's Mother by consecrating it to her Immaculate Heart, and in 1944 he decreed that in the future the whole Church should celebrate the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is not a new devotion. In the seventeenth century, St. John Eudes preached it together with that of the Sacred Heart; in the nineteenth century, Pius VII and Pius IX allowed several churches to celebrate a feast of the Pure Heart of Mary. Pius XII instituted today's feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the whole Church, so as to obtain by her intercession "peace among nations, freedom for the Church, the conversion of sinners, the love of purity and the practice of virtue" (Decree of May 4, 1944).

Catechism of the Catholic Church 478:

Today is the Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle, who was designated by the Holy Spirit to share the charge and mission of the twelve Apostles, is venerated by the Church as one of them. He played an important part in the first extension of Christianity outside the Jewish world. It was Barnabas who presented St. Paul to the other Apostles when, after his long retreat in Arabia, he came to Jerusalem for the first time after his conversion to submit for Peter's approval the mission to the Gentiles entrusted to him by the Master Himself. Barnabas was Paul's companion and helper on his first missionary journey and returned with him to Jerusalem, but left him when he set out on his second journey and went to Cyprus. The name of St. Barnabas is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Landericus, or St. Landry (d. 661), who was the Bishop of Paris from 650 to his death. He is best remembered as the founder of the first hospital in Paris, known as Hotel-Dieu.

The Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Ephrem, Deacon (306-373), called "the Harp of the Holy Spirit." Ephrem is the great classic Doctor of the Syrian church. As deacon at Edessa, he vigorously combated the heresies of his time, and to do so more effectively wrote poems and hymns about the mysteries of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the saints. He had a great devotion to Our Lady. He was a commentator on Scripture and a preacher as well as a poet, and has left a considerable number of works, which were translated into other Eastern languages as well as into Greek and Latin. He died in 373. Pope Benedict XV proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church in 1920.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Médard (456-545), Bishop of Noyon, France. Legend says that once when he was a child a sudden shower fell, soaking everyone except St. Médard who remained perfectly dry, because an eagle had spread its wings over him. Ever since, Médard was known as "master of rain" or his patronage against bad weather and who to invoke for good weather. In religious art, an eagle shelters Médard from the rain.

"While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.'"