Mass Appeal
This is what we call the six days of the year (in addition to every Sunday) when Catholics are required to attend Mass
What are Holy Days of Obligation?
Canon 1246, §2 - Holy Days of Obligation
January 1, Mary, Mother of God
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, Ascension
August 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
November 1, All Saints
December 8, Immaculate Conception of Mary
December 25, Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Members of the Catholic Church who are neither ordained nor members of a religious order
What is the laity/a layperson?
CCC 897 - The term 'laity' is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in Holy Orders and those who belong to a religious state approved by the Church.
The youngest of Jesse's sons, he is known for slaying a Philistine champion and later becoming a great king whose lineage would bring forth the Messiah.
Who is David?
1 Samuel 17:12 - Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah.
Romans 1:2-4 - the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
An Italian man known for abandoning his wealth and embracing poverty, receiving the Stigmata, and hearing Jesus speak to him through the cross at San Damiano, we now consider him the Patron Saint of Animals
Who is St. Francis of Assisi?
The number of Sacraments in the Catholic Church
What is 7?
1113 - There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.
1131 - The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.
The part of the Mass made up of readings from the Old Testament, Psalms, Epistles, and Gospel
What is the Liturgy of the Word?
CCC 1190 - The Liturgy of the Word is an integral part of the celebration [of the Mass]. The meaning of the celebration is expressed by the Word of God which is proclaimed and by the response of faith to it.
The room where vestments, church furnishings and sacred vessels are kept when not in use
What is the Sacristy?
From the Latin word sacristra, meaning a room near the sanctuary or church entrance. The sacristy was part of the church since the first places of public worship were built in the fourth century. Here the sacred vessels are cleaned after Mass. In most sacristies there is a sacrarium, a sink that drains directly into the earth where water from cleaning the vessels is poured.
He was born to a Hebrew mother, abandoned in a river, and raised by the daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh
Who is Moses?
Exodus 2:5-6 - Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
Regarded as the Patroness of Music, this Saint heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married, is said to have personally converted over 400 people, and is represented in art with an organ or organ-pipes in her hand.
Who is St. Cecilia?
The number of beads on a typical five decade rosary, not including the crucifix and the center medal
What is 59?
The five decade rosary is the one most people picture when they hear the word rosary. It consists of a crucifix, then a short set of 5 beads, then a rosary center, followed by a loop of 5 decades to count the Hail Mary's prayed as one meditates on the mysteries of the rosary, with a bead for praying the Our Father between each decade.
The liturgical season when Catholics wait for the coming of Jesus
What is Advent?
CCC 524 - When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior's first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor's birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: "He must increase, but I must decrease."
The place in a church where consecrated hosts are kept between Masses
What is the tabernacle?
CCC 1183 The tabernacle is to be situated "in churches in a most worthy place with the greatest honor." The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.
The person recruited by Roman soldiers to help carry Jesus's cross
Who is Simon of Cyrene?
Matthew 27:32 - As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.
Who is St. Jude Thaddeus?
Roman Catholics invoke St. Jude when in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances -just as their forefathers had done before them; therefore, he is the patron saint of desperate cases.
The number of tribes of Israel
What is 12?
Genesis 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
The process by which the bread and wine become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ
What is Transubstantiation?
CCC 1376 - The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation."
The vessel in which a consecrated Host is displayed for the purpose of adoration
What is a Monstrance?
Monstrance comes from the Latin word monstrare, meaning “to show.”
The monstrance is meant to highlight and draw attention to the king of kings, Jesus Christ, present in a real and substantial way under the appearances of bread. This is why a monstrance is typically gold and ornamented in a special way, in recognition of the divine mystery it holds and reveals.
A Jewish woman who became a queen and risked her life by approaching the king without an invitation to request that he spare the Jewish people from death
Who is Esther?
Esther 4:16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
An Italian scholar famous for his Summa theologiae and also for reports that Jesus spoke to him saying "You have written well of me," this man is regarded as the Patron Saint of Students and Schools
Who is St. Thomas Acquinas?
Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, true source of light and fountain of wisdom! Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect, dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin and of ignorance.
Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, a retentive memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself. Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to successful completion.
This I ask through Jesus Christ, true God and true man, living and reigning with You and the Father, forever and ever.
The number of days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday
What is 50?
The word Pentecost is Greek and it means "50th day." Fifty days after Easter Sunday, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and their followers, and the beginning of their Earthly ministry to make disciples of all nations.
The place where the first Mass was believed to be celebrated in the United States
Where is St. Augustine, FL?
On August 28, 1565, the feast day of St. Augustine, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés put an expedition ashore on the northern Atlantic coast of Florida and established St. Augustine there, and Fr. Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales celebrated Mass on September 8th.
The vessel in which incense is burned during liturgical services.
What is the thurible?
From Latin turibulum and Greek thuos (sacrifice)
GIRM 277 - The priest, having put incense into the thurible, blesses it with the sign of the Cross, without saying anything.
A Moabite widow who selflessly left her homeland to cling to and care for her widowed mother-in-law
Who is Ruth?
Ruth 1:16-17 - But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,if even death separates you and me.”
Born Francesco Forgione and known for his piety and charity, as well as the gift of the stigmata, this Italian Priest is said to have dedicated his life to the Lord at the age of five, which is why we fittingly consider him the Patron Saint of Adolescents
Who is St. Padre Pio?
Other fun facts: he received the stigmata while hearing confessions, and the wounds smelled of roses.
He was often reported to levitate during episodes of fervent prayer.
In 1947, Fr. Karol Wojtyla visited Padre Pio who prophetically told him he would "rise to the highest post in the Church." Fr. Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II in 1978.
The number of popes in the history of the Catholic Church
What is 266?
From St. Peter (who served from 32 AD to 67 AD) to Pope Francis (appointed in 2013), there have been 266 appointed Bishops of Rome.