Liturgical Calendar

The Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle is on July 3^rd: Thomas, whose Aramaic name Toma means "twin," is one of the Twelve Apostles named in the lists of Apostles (Mt 10:3; Mk 3:18; Lk 6:15; Acts 1:13). In the Gospel of John, the Greek word didymus, "twin," is after his name: Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve (Jn 20:24 also see 21:2). St. Thomas is most prominent in St. John's Gospel, where he urges the Twelve Apostles to accompany Jesus to Judea when they are fearful and declares that he is prepared to die with Jesus (Jn 11:16). In the Last Supper discourse, when Jesus announces that He must go away, Thomas asks Jesus where He is going and how they may know the way (Jn 14:5). Thomas is perhaps best known as the Apostles absent from Jesus's first Resurrection appearance to the Apostles in the Upper Room on Resurrection Sunday, missing (Jn 20:24). When the Apostles told him of Jesus's sudden appearance, Thomas declared that he could not believe in Jesus's resurrection unless he could touch His wounds (Jn 20:25). This event gave Thomas the nickname "doubting Thomas," which seems unfair considering his other declarations of belief. However, Jesus returned to the Apostles in the Upper Room a week later. When He challenged Thomas to put his hands into His wounds, Thomas dropped to his knees and declared, "My Lord and my God," becoming the first to openly proclaim the divinity of the Resurrected Christ (Jn 20:26-28). Thomas was present when seven of the Apostles met with the resurrected Jesus on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Jn 21:1-23). He and the other Apostles shared a meal with their Lord and witnessed Jesus's second commissioning of St. Peter (Jn 21:1-19). According to an undisputed early Christian tradition, St. Thomas carried the Gospel into western India, where he suffered martyrdom while praying before the altar of his church, fulfilling his pledge to die for Jesus. The Malabar Christians of India revere St. Thomas as their Apostolic Father and call themselves "Thomasites" or "Saint Thomas Christians."

The Feast of St. Mary Magdalene: She was Jesus's disciple from the port city of Magdala near Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Scripture identifies her as the woman Jesus delivered from seven demons and as one of several women disciples who accompanied Jesus and ministered to Him (Lk 8:2-3). She was present at Jesus's crucifixion (Mt 27:56; Mk 15:40; Jn 19:25) and was among those women who prepared Him for burial in His tomb (Mt 27:61; Mk 15:47). For her faithfulness, her reward was to be the first recorded eyewitness to Jesus's Resurrection, and she heard the voice of the glorified Christ call her name (Mt 28:1-10; Mk 16:1-8; Lk 24:10; Jn 20:1-18). Saint Mary Magdalene protects gardeners, perfume-makers, glove-makers, and the penitent.

The Feast of St. James the Greater, Apostle: St. James the Apostle, also called James son of Zebedee and St. James the Greater, is the brother of the Apostle St. John Zebedee. His name appears in all the lists of the Twelve Apostles (Mt 10:2; Mk 3:17; Lk 6:14; Acts 1:13). James was in the fishing business with his father, Zebedee, his brother John, and the brothers Simon (Peter) and Andrew. Their home port was the village of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus called them to become His disciples, they left everything behind to follow Him (Lk 5:10-11). Later, Jesus gave the Zebedee brothers the nickname "Boanerges," which means "Sons of Thunder" (Mk 3:17). He gave them this name either because the Zebedee brothers displayed great zeal for Jesus's mission to share the Gospel in their request to rain fire down on a Samaritan village that refused Jesus's hospitality (Lk 9:54) or because their father had a fiery disposition. Jesus often singled out James, his brother John, and Peter to participate in miracles that the other Apostles and disciples did not witness. These miracles included the raising of Jairus's daughter (Mk 5:37; Lk 8:51), the Transfiguration event (Mt 17:1; Mk 9:2; Lk 9:28), and Jesus's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26:37; Mk 14:32-33). According to Christian tradition, St. James traveled to Spain, where he preached the Gospel of Salvation and became one of the most celebrated saints in Spain. He was the first Apostle to suffer martyrdom. King Herod Agrippa I ordered his beheading to please the Jews in c. AD 42. His death is the only martyrdom the Twelve Apostles recorded in the Bible (Acts 12:1). According to Church history, James's disciples moved his body to the church he founded in NW Spain after his death, making Santiago de Compostela (St. James of Compostela) one of the foremost pilgrimage sites in Christendom after Jerusalem and Rome.

The Feast of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel: This optional memorial feast, celebrated on July 16^th, was instituted in the 18^th century. The intention was to recall the Madonna of Mount Carmel in the Holy Land and celebrate the ancient origin of Carmelite spirituality. On Mt. Carmel in northern Israel, the 9^th-century BC prophet Elijah envisioned a cloud that brought life-giving rain, ending a three-year drought. It was an image that the Fathers of the Church thought must prefigure the Virgin Mary. In the early centuries of Christianity, people who wanted to pray and devote their lives to God settled on the slopes of Mount Carmel and later built a monastery. On July 16^th, 1251, the Prior General of the Carmelites, Simon Stock, had a vision of Mary the Mother of God. The day of his vision became a special feast day of the Carmelite Order, and in the 18^th century, the Universal Church adopted this feast. Prayer to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel: "O most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity ... (state petition). O Star of the sea, help me and show me herein you are my Mother. O holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you, from the bottom of my heart, to aid me in my need; there are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein you are my Mother. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (repeat three times). Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands" (pray three times).

Religious Jews observe Tisha B'Av on the 9^th of Ab, from sundown on July 25^th to sunset on July 26^th. The feast is a Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonians in 587/6 BC and again by the Romans in AD 70, forty years after Jesus's Resurrection and Ascension. God, in His mercy, gave the Jews of the Old Covenant forty years to give up what was old and passed away to come into the New and Eternal Covenant promised by the Old Testament prophets and fulfilled in Christ Jesus (Jer 31:31-34; 32:40; 50:5; Lk 22:20). Pray for our Jewish brothers and sisters that they may come to recognize the Living Christ as the Son of God and their promised Davidic Messiah (Jer 23:5-6; 33:14-16; Ezek 34:23-24).

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