Brother, is it possible that gospel readings may differ on a specific liturgical date? It’s because every morning I devoutly read the mass readings and send them to all my contacts in my cellphone. Then I noticed this morning that readings for October 4 is totally different from the two sites that I browsed. In one site and in your OTWOMD, the Gospel Reading is Matthew, practically the same. But when on another site, the Gospel is from Lk 10:25–37. Now I am confused its because I always look at these sites for reference. Why do they differ? Is there wrong or right with both of their Gospel readings? I hope we have the answer for this. Thanks. – Zandro (sent 4 October, 2010, 7:28 PM)

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Dear Zandro,

I like your question, it highlights the importance of understanding the Liturgical Calendar of the Catholic Church.

Before we answer your question, we must first understand the Hierarchy of Feasts in the Liturgical Calendar of the Catholic Church. In the seminary, a whole semester is dedicated in understanding the Liturgy. Since we are not in the seminary and that space here will not suffice, we will just tackle the basics and fundamentals of the Liturgical calendar, and liturgy in general. This is just a crash course so please bear with me as I dissect and compressed a very extensive subject.

In the Liturgy we have what we call Ecclesiastical Feasts. Ecclesiastical feasts is the proper term for feasts celebrated in the Catholic Church. These so called feasts have Hierarchy or order of importance. Much in the same way in an organizational chart of a company wherein the CEO is superior over the vice president, so on and so forth.

In the Official Liturgy of the Catholic Church, the highest of all that is to be celebrated is Sunday. Sunday is the Day of the Lord or Dies Domini so the utmost priority is to celebrate it regardless of the feast on the date.

Next is the Solemnity. When we say solemnity, it is a feast that is celebrated in the whole catholic church regardless of geographical locations or ecclesiastical province (another term for Diocese) or jurisdiction (can be used for Religious Orders or Institutions, communities etc). Solemnities are also feasts that requires all faithful to attend mass which we commonly call as Holy Day of Obligation. Example of Solemnities are the Immaculate Conception, Mother of God, Easter Sunday, Christmas day so on and so forth. These Solemnities have something to do with its significance to our Salvation History that is why the Church is stressing that we observe these dates faithfully.

After Solemnities comes the Feast. Feasts are celebrated also in the entire catholic church but with a lesser degree than Solemnities. Common feasts that we celebrate is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Feast of the Corpus Christi, Feast of the Good Shepherd, Feasts of Saints that played a significant role in the Catholic Church (Saint Francis of Assisi, the Apostles, Saint Teresa of Avila etc).

Lesser degree than feasts is Memorial. memorial is simply saying a commemoration of a certain saint or blessed.

And the least of all is the Optional Memorial. From the word optional which means you have the option to or not to celebrate.

Now these feasts can be superseded by a higher level in the hierarchy. For example, if the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi falls on a Sunday, which is the highest in the Hierarchy, therefore the feast of Saint Francis will be moved on a Monday. Or If a solemnity like the Immaculate Conception which is December 8, falls on a Sunday, automatically the celebration will be moved on December 9 Monday. Same goes with other memorials and optional memorial.

Now what if both feasts or solemnity falls on the same date? let’s say Ash Wednesday (which is not technically a solemnity but a holy day of obligation) falls on the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter on February 22? Both are very important feast. Which of the two do you think will be celebrated? Of course it’s the Ash Wednesday because it is the first day of Lent and is very significant in the Liturgical Calendar.

Now this will answers partly your question.

Every ecclesiastical feast has a corresponding Gospel and Bible readings attached to it depending on the year and cycle in the liturgy (a different topic to be discussed). And because celebration of feasts are determined on the hierarchy of importance, therefore the Gospel for that date is dependent on the feast that is celebrated.

Now in the case of Memorial and Optional memorial, these can be celebrated both universally and locally in particular dioceses. Every diocese has their own patron saints, blessed and liturgical celebration endemic only to their jurisdiction. What might be celebrated in the Archdiocese of Sydney may not be celebrated in the Archdiocese of New York. That is why we have an optional memorial.

Now what is the difference between Memorial and Optional Memorial?

Memorials are also celebrated throughout the Catholic church but can be elevated as a Feast if that particular event or saint is very significant in that Diocese or Jurisdiction. For example, October 1 is a Memorial of Saint Therese of Lisieux in the official liturgical calendar. Some Diocese celebrate October 1 as a Memorial but in the Discalced Carmelite Order where Saint Therese belonged, it is celebrated as a feast.

Now optional memorial are even more adjustable since this is often delegated to saints and blessed only popular to certain dioceses or jurisdictions where their devotion to them is actually observed. In an optional memorial, the Diocese or Jurisdiction can have the choice of not celebrating this. For example, on a first Saturday of the month, the Optional Memorial for Saint Philomena falls under it. The Local Parish Church decides not to celebrate the Optional Memorial of Saint Philomena but instead Celebrate the First Saturday devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Mass.

Another example, in September 17 alone, there are 18 saints sharing that day as a feast. But for the Franciscan Family, September 17 is the feast of the Stigmata of Saint Francis. So instead of celebrating at least one of those 18 saints on that date, the Franciscan Order celebrate the Feast of Saint Francis Stigmata instead because that particular feast has a significance in their order’s history and devotion.

Again this answer partly your question:

The Gospel Readings will differ depending on the Ecclesiastical feast celebrated on a certain diocese or Jurisdiction.

For a more specific example,

Every September 28, three saints share this date as feasts. They are St. Wenceslaus, Martyr († 936) celebrated in the Czech republic, St. Simón de Rojas, O.SS. (1552-1624) celebrated in Spain and Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, Martyr celebrated in the Philippines. Now these three countries including their dioceses celebrate three different feasts. Therefore the Gospel Readings for that day may differ in those three countries because of the respective feasts they are celebrating.

And today we are celebrating two Memorials, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary and Memorial of Pope St. Mark. In the US, Australia and the Philippines, October 7 is celebrated as the feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary and not of Pope Saint Mark. Perhaps in some diocese they celebrate it. That is why today, Gospel Readings may differ depending on the feast they are going to celebrate.

Now to answer your question specifically:

The reason why on October 4, there are two different sets of Gospel Reading which you have read is because they observed two different celebrations. In OTWOMD we celebrated the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi (for a very obvious reason) that is why our Gospel Readings for that day correspond also on the site you mentioned which is very much identified with the Franciscans. Now the other site you mentioned has a different Gospel Reading because they used the generic or general set of Mass reading which only means they assumed that on that Day, no feast is celebrated and that the normal or generic Gospel readings for that day is to be used.

Some websites used this general sets of Gospel Readings in order to be on the safe side or cater on the needs of a more general reader or audience, that instead of using the Gospel readings for a specific saint, they use the General or Generic liturgical readings.

This is the reason why every catholic should understand and learn the ins and outs of the liturgy. The Catholic Church’s liturgy is so universal yet so specific that every faithful regardless of race and geographical location can have no excuse in celebrating the glory and richness of the Liturgy wherever they are in the world.

And because you are a devoted reader of the Gospels, May I suggest that you get a liturgical Ordo or the order of liturgical calender (pocket size which you can bring anywhere and can put on any pocket) which can be bought for a minimum price in a catholic bookstore near you. With the aid of an ordo, you will be able to know what feast is celebrated and what Gospel readings are used specifically in your diocese of country.

From hereon I hope that your confusion will be brought down to a minimal.

Liturgy is a very special subject in the seminary. It requires a lot of time, practice, thorough devotion and interest before you master it. Learning it is not exclusive only for nuns, priests and seminarians. It is also for all the faithful. Because once you learn the deeper meaning of the Liturgy, you will never have any more urge to skip mass and important celebrations.

Liturgy is one of my favorite subject in the seminary. It’s so rich in meaning that every day you can’t wait to celebrate the next feast for the next day.

May God bless you on your extraordinary mission in spreading the Good news via your cellphone.

Paz y Bien