Septuagesima Sunday Summary:
On Septuagesima Sunday, Holy Mother Church awakens us from spiritual complacency by silencing the Alleluia and calling us back to discipline, vigilance, and conversion; through Saint Paul’s warning that even the baptized can be lost if they do not persevere, and Our Lord’s parable of the laborers in the vineyard, we are reminded that grace is freely given but must be faithfully cooperated with, for privilege without effort leads to presumption, not salvation; from the perspective of the Vatican in Exile and the perennial teaching of the Church before 1958, this season summons both clergy and faithful to renewed self-mastery, penance, and holy fear, so that we may run the race not merely to start, but to finish well and obtain the crown.