Catholic Saints & Feasts of the Liturgical Year

Read entire reflection online >>>January 3—The Most Holy Name of Jesus, Optional MemorialLiturgical Color: WhitePrayer:Jesus, Name full of glory, grace, love, and strength! You are the refuge of those who repent, our banner of warfare in this life, the medicine of souls, the comfort of those who mourn, the delight of those who believe, the light of those who preach the true faith, the wages of those who toil, the healing of the sick. To You our devotion aspires; by You our prayers are received; we delight in contemplating You. O Name of Jesus, You are the glory of all the saints for eternity. Amen.Source: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.Image via Wikipedia Commons

Read entire reflection online >>>January 2—Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors—MemorialSt. Basil: 329–379Patron Saint of monks, hospital administrators, reformers, and RussiaSt. Gregory: c. 329–389Patron Saint of harvests and poetsPre-Congregation canonizationsLiturgical Color: WhiteQuote: Much time had I spent in vanity, and had wasted nearly all my youth in the vain labor which I underwent in acquiring the wisdom made foolish by God. Then once upon a time, like a man roused from deep sleep, I turned my eyes to the marvelous light of the truth of the Gospel, and I perceived the uselessness of the “wisdom of the princes of this world, that come to naught” (1 Cor. 2:6) I wept many tears over my miserable life and I prayed that guidance might be vouchsafed me to admit me to the doctrines of true religion. ~Letter of Saint Basil #223Prayer:Saints Gregory and Basil, you were called by God to be a light in the midst of darkness during a time of great turmoil within the Church. Please pray for me, that I will never live enveloped in the darkness of this world but will always carry the light of Christ to scatter falsehood and sin, so that God may be glorified and souls may be saved. Saints Basil and Gregory, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.Source: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.Image: CEZAN93, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Read entire reflection online >>>January 1—Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God—The Octave Day of the Nativity of the LordHoly Day of Obligation(Obligatory in USA: unless it falls on Saturday or Monday)Liturgical Color: White/GoldQuote: Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. ~Luke 1:31–33Prayer:Most holy Mother of God, you were blessed beyond all people, graced beyond what I will ever comprehend. Thank you for your “Yes” to God in all things. Thank you for your pure and holy love for your Son, for your motherly heart, your motherly pondering, and your motherly care for all your children. Pray for me that I may become more like your Son so as to merit you as my mother and queen. Mother of God, pray for us. Jesus, I trust in You.Image via Wikimedia CommonsSource: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Read entire reflection online >>>December 23: Saint John of Kanty (Cantius), Priest—Optional Memorialc. 1390–1473Patron Saint of teachers, students, priests, pilgrims, Lithuania, and PolandCanonized by Pope Clement XIII on July 16, 1767Liturgical Color: VioletQuote: Fight all false opinions, but let your weapons be patience, sweetness and love. Roughness is bad for your own soul and spoils the best cause. ~Saint John of KantyPrayer:Saint John Cantius, though you were a great intellectual, your humility and deep faith, coupled with your genuine love for those whom you ministered to, had a lasting effect upon the people of your community, and upon all of Poland. Please pray for me, that I will learn from your life and imitate your virtues so that I, too, will one day be counted among the saints. Saint John Cantius, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: mycatholic.lifeCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Photo: Saint John Kanty Parish, Buffalo, NY

Read entire reflection online >>>December 14: Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor—Memorialc. 1542–1591Patron Saint of contemplatives, mystical theology, and Spanish poetsCanonized by Pope Benedict XIII on December 27, 1726Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1926Commonly referred to as the “Mystical Doctor”Liturgical Color: WhiteQuote: In order to expound and describe this dark night, through which the soul passes in order to attain to the Divine light of the perfect union of the love of God, as far as is possible in this life, it would be necessary to have illumination of knowledge and experience other and far greater than mine; for this darkness and these trials, both spiritual and temporal, through which happy souls are wont to pass in order to be able to attain to this high estate of perfection, are so numerous and so profound that neither does human knowledge suffice for the understanding of them, nor experience for the description of them; for only he that passes this way can understand it, and even he cannot describe it. ~Prologue of Ascent to Mount Carmel, Saint John of the CrossPrayer:Saint John of the Cross, through the sufferings you endured in your youth and as a friar, God purified you and called you deeper. You responded, and through you the Carmelites were reformed, and from you came a wealth of spiritual treasures in your teachings. Please pray for me, that I will never shy away from the sufferings of the Cross but will see those sufferings as the means of my deeper union with our loving God. Saint John of the Cross, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: mycatholic.lifeCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Museo Nacional de Arte, Public domain, via Wikimedia