FRIDAY POTPOURRI: BAPTIZING DAYS

So last time on Friday Potpourri we looked at how each of the month were dedicated to a certain holy personage or theological idea. Well, as they say, “Vatican II; options for you!” There is another set of things to contemplate on a daily basis. The names of our days (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) come from ancient mythology. For more on that please look here. But for a quick example, Monday ‘s name etymology is “moon day” and was important to the goddess of the moon.

Well, once again the Catholic Church “baptized” the days of the week to give us Christian things to contemplate and dedicate the day to. Here is a traditional listing:


Sunday – the Holy Trinity
Tuesday – the Holy Spirit
Wednesday – Saint Joseph
Thursday – the Holy Eucharist
Friday – the Sacred Passion
Saturday – the Blessed Virgin Mary

Here is how such ideas might come into play in your life. You might have a prayer with one of these concerns that you may not do every day, but on Wednesday you might remember to say a prayer to St. Joseph or stop by the church and light a candle on that day asking for his intercession. Friday might encourage you to fast in commemoration of the Lord’s Passion. In fact, Catholic are STILL obliged to do some sort of penance on Fridays though we may choose something else besides not eating meat outside of lent. (Nobody seems to know this.)

Now these day commemorations are pretty low in the hierarchy of importance. But if it is ordinary time and there is no other feast or memorial to celebrate, you might find, when you go to Mass on Saturday morning, that you will be celebrating a Mass in commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary as we worship our one true God, recalling his greatest follower and striving to be more like her in listening to and following Him.