SEPTEMBER 9 Mon USA: Saint Peter Claver, Priest Memorial

Col 1:24—2:3/Lk 6:6-11 

10 Tue Weekday

Col 2:6-15/Lk 6:12-19 (438)

11 Wed Weekday

Col 3:1-11/Lk 6:20-26 (439)

12 Thu Weekday

[The Most Holy Name of Mary]

Col 3:12-17/Lk 6:27-38 (440)

Pss III

13 Fri Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Memorial

1 Tm 1:1-2, 12-14/Lk 6:39-42 (441)

14 Sat The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Feast

Nm 21:4b-9/Phil 2:6-11/Jn 3:13-17 (638) Pss Prop

15 SUN TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Ex 32:7-11, 13-14/1 Tm 1:12-17/Lk 15:1-32 or 15:1-10 (132) Pss IV

If you look at our church calendar this week, St. Peter Claver, the Jesuit who ministered to African slaves in Columbia, South America, in the 17th century, is listed as a saint who is to be remembered in all the churches of the United States on September 9.  His feast is an obligatory memorial in our country. We have to remember him. 

When the Roman calendar was revised in 1975 there were 95 optional memorials–saints and feasts that can be celebrated at the discretion of the local church or community and 

63 obligatory memorials, saints and feasts that are more important for the universal church and should be celebrated by the universal church. 

This week, for example, the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, September 12,  is an optional memorial. The Feast of John Chrysostom, September 13, is an obligatory memorial.  

In the church in the United States, Peter Claver is to be remembered. The reason, of course, is that he dealt with an issue that not only affected the world he lived in, but also still affects the world we live in, the issue of racism.