In the Tucson area, the feast day of Saint John the Baptist is the beginning of the summer monsoon. The National Weather Service would tell you differently, and so sometimes would the sky ...

Mary Magdalene – 'Apostle to the Apostles' – gets upgraded feast day Appearance of Jesus Christ to Maria Magdalena by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, 1835. Public domain via Wikimedia.

Saint Matthew, the first-century tax collector turned apostle who chronicled the life and ministry of Christ in his Gospel, will be celebrated by the Church this week on his feast day of September 21.

Mary Magdalene, like Mary the Mother of God, has a special closeness to Jesus that we can see in today’s readings and feast.