About Today
Tuesday 17 February 2026
Tuesday of week 6 in Ordinary Time
or The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
A mighty God is the Lord: come, let us adore him.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 2. Liturgical Colour: Green.
The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
In the early thirteenth century seven young Florentines formed a confraternity of laymen devoted to the praise of Mary. In 1233, after a vision on the feast of the Assumption, they took up the life of hermits on Monte Senario outside Florence. They went preaching through the whole of Tuscany and founded the order of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Servites, whose foundation was approved by the Pope in 1304. Their feast is celebrated today because one of the seven founders, Saint Alexius Falconieri, died on 17 February 1310. See the articles on the Servites in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.
Other saints: The Vietnamese New Year: first day
Vietnam
The Vietnamese calendar is like the ancient Greek, Jewish, and Chinese calendars in that it has real months, not synthetic ones: each month ends when the old moon has died and starts when the new moon first appears. As for the year, the Athenian calendar used to start a new year at the new moon after the summer solstice. The Vietnamese and Chinese calendars start it on the new moon after the new moon after the winter solstice. Differences in astronomical calculations mean that the Vietnamese and Chinese New Years are sometimes on the same day and sometimes a lunar month apart.
Vietnam adopted the Gregorian calendar for official purposes in stages between 1954 and 1975, but the rites, traditions and celebration of the Vietnamese New Year remain on its proper date.
As at our Christmas, there is day after day of celebration and families travel long distances to be together. Some New Year traditions are practically identical in Vietnam, Northumberland and Scotland – such as “first-footing”, the tradition that whoever is the first to enter the house on New Year’s Day will give luck to everyone throughout the year.
The Church has always sought to fulfil pagan traditions rather than abolish them, and the liturgical celebration of the Vietnamese New Year happens across three or four days:
New Year’s Eve is celebrated in the Vigil Mass of New Year’s Day. The readings and celebrate the glory of God and his kindness to his people, and the Gospel reading is of the Beatitudes. New Year’s Day: the first reading at Mass is of the Creation of heaven and earth; the second reading and the Gospel are reminders that we should not worry about things for ourselves but pray to God because he looks after us always. The Entrance Antiphon rejoices at the coming of Spring:
Behold, the winter has passed,
the cold rains have ceased upon our doorsteps.
The blossoms now rise in radiant array,
spreading their fragrant perfume across the fields.
The season of joy and song returns,
and the voice of the birds is heard throughout the villages.
Occasionally the Vietnamese New Year coincides with the beginning of Lent. In such years Ash Wednesday is postponed to the fourth day of the Vietnamese New Year in order not to interfere with the New Year celebrations.
Other saints: Saint Fintan of Clonenagh
Ireland, Argyll & the Isles
Saint Fintan was born in Leinster. He received his religious formation in Terryglass, Co. Tipperary under the abbot Colum, and was deeply influenced by his penitential practices and the severity of the Rule. Fintan made his own foundation in Clonenagh, Co. Laois. He died in 603. See the article in Wikipedia.
Other saints: Blessed William Richardson (1572 - 1603)
Hallam
He was born in Yorkshire and studied for the priesthood at seminaries in Valladolid and then Seville. He was ordained priest at some time between 1594 and 1600. He was then sent back to England, where he used the alias William Anderson, but he was quickly betrayed, arrested and imprisoned. He was tried and convicted within a week and hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Do you not yet understand?
Gospel: Mark 8:14-21
At that time: The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’ And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’ And he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’
Reflection on the painting
Just before the Gospel scene we have heard, Jesus has fed a crowd of four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fish. And yet, as the disciples cross the Sea of Galilee, they are anxious because they have only one loaf with them in the boat. They completely miss the point of Jesus’ warning about the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, taking his words in a painfully literal way. Leaven, in the Scriptures, always refers to 'a hidden influence at work beneath the surface', slowly shaping hearts and minds. Thuis leaven can be for the good or the bad. Mark presents Jesus here as deeply exasperated, frustrated (just like in yesterday's Gospel reading) firing off a series of questions like a teacher struggling to get through to a class that simply isn’t listening. The disciples have seen miracles with their own eyes, and still they fail to understand.
And yet, what shines through this passage is not the disciples’ blindness, but Jesus’ extraordinary faithfulness. He does not abandon them, even though they will later desert him at the moment of his Passion. Instead, he seeks them out again after the Resurrection, renewing their calling and restoring their trust. Mark’s brutally honest portrayal of the disciples can be a great comfort to us. Their slowness to hear and their failure to see, reveals the steadfast love of Jesus for them, always sticking with his disciples and encouraging them, despite getting very frustrated at times. The same Jesus who remained faithful to them remains faithful to us still. He keeps coming towards us, inviting us to begin again, and promising that if we try to follow him, he will give us all the spiritual nourishment we need for the journey.
The New Pupil,
Painting by Thomas Brooks (1818–1891),
Painted in 1854,
oil on canvas
© Dorotheum Auctions, Vienna,
Tuesday of week 6 in Ordinary Time
or The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
A mighty God is the Lord: come, let us adore him.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 2. Liturgical Colour: Green.
The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
In the early thirteenth century seven young Florentines formed a confraternity of laymen devoted to the praise of Mary. In 1233, after a vision on the feast of the Assumption, they took up the life of hermits on Monte Senario outside Florence. They went preaching through the whole of Tuscany and founded the order of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Servites, whose foundation was approved by the Pope in 1304. Their feast is celebrated today because one of the seven founders, Saint Alexius Falconieri, died on 17 February 1310. See the articles on the Servites in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.
Other saints: The Vietnamese New Year: first day
Vietnam
The Vietnamese calendar is like the ancient Greek, Jewish, and Chinese calendars in that it has real months, not synthetic ones: each month ends when the old moon has died and starts when the new moon first appears. As for the year, the Athenian calendar used to start a new year at the new moon after the summer solstice. The Vietnamese and Chinese calendars start it on the new moon after the new moon after the winter solstice. Differences in astronomical calculations mean that the Vietnamese and Chinese New Years are sometimes on the same day and sometimes a lunar month apart.
Vietnam adopted the Gregorian calendar for official purposes in stages between 1954 and 1975, but the rites, traditions and celebration of the Vietnamese New Year remain on its proper date.
As at our Christmas, there is day after day of celebration and families travel long distances to be together. Some New Year traditions are practically identical in Vietnam, Northumberland and Scotland – such as “first-footing”, the tradition that whoever is the first to enter the house on New Year’s Day will give luck to everyone throughout the year.
The Church has always sought to fulfil pagan traditions rather than abolish them, and the liturgical celebration of the Vietnamese New Year happens across three or four days:
New Year’s Eve is celebrated in the Vigil Mass of New Year’s Day. The readings and celebrate the glory of God and his kindness to his people, and the Gospel reading is of the Beatitudes. New Year’s Day: the first reading at Mass is of the Creation of heaven and earth; the second reading and the Gospel are reminders that we should not worry about things for ourselves but pray to God because he looks after us always. The Entrance Antiphon rejoices at the coming of Spring:
Behold, the winter has passed,
the cold rains have ceased upon our doorsteps.
The blossoms now rise in radiant array,
spreading their fragrant perfume across the fields.
The season of joy and song returns,
and the voice of the birds is heard throughout the villages.
Occasionally the Vietnamese New Year coincides with the beginning of Lent. In such years Ash Wednesday is postponed to the fourth day of the Vietnamese New Year in order not to interfere with the New Year celebrations.
Other saints: Saint Fintan of Clonenagh
Ireland, Argyll & the Isles
Saint Fintan was born in Leinster. He received his religious formation in Terryglass, Co. Tipperary under the abbot Colum, and was deeply influenced by his penitential practices and the severity of the Rule. Fintan made his own foundation in Clonenagh, Co. Laois. He died in 603. See the article in Wikipedia.
Other saints: Blessed William Richardson (1572 - 1603)
Hallam
He was born in Yorkshire and studied for the priesthood at seminaries in Valladolid and then Seville. He was ordained priest at some time between 1594 and 1600. He was then sent back to England, where he used the alias William Anderson, but he was quickly betrayed, arrested and imprisoned. He was tried and convicted within a week and hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Do you not yet understand?
Gospel: Mark 8:14-21
At that time: The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’ And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’ And he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’
Reflection on the painting
Just before the Gospel scene we have heard, Jesus has fed a crowd of four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fish. And yet, as the disciples cross the Sea of Galilee, they are anxious because they have only one loaf with them in the boat. They completely miss the point of Jesus’ warning about the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, taking his words in a painfully literal way. Leaven, in the Scriptures, always refers to 'a hidden influence at work beneath the surface', slowly shaping hearts and minds. Thuis leaven can be for the good or the bad. Mark presents Jesus here as deeply exasperated, frustrated (just like in yesterday's Gospel reading) firing off a series of questions like a teacher struggling to get through to a class that simply isn’t listening. The disciples have seen miracles with their own eyes, and still they fail to understand.
And yet, what shines through this passage is not the disciples’ blindness, but Jesus’ extraordinary faithfulness. He does not abandon them, even though they will later desert him at the moment of his Passion. Instead, he seeks them out again after the Resurrection, renewing their calling and restoring their trust. Mark’s brutally honest portrayal of the disciples can be a great comfort to us. Their slowness to hear and their failure to see, reveals the steadfast love of Jesus for them, always sticking with his disciples and encouraging them, despite getting very frustrated at times. The same Jesus who remained faithful to them remains faithful to us still. He keeps coming towards us, inviting us to begin again, and promising that if we try to follow him, he will give us all the spiritual nourishment we need for the journey.
The New Pupil,
Painting by Thomas Brooks (1818–1891),
Painted in 1854,
oil on canvas
© Dorotheum Auctions, Vienna,