Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Lent

Week

Week 2 of Lent

Rank

Feast

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are celebrated during Lent, a season of prayer, penance, and preparation for Easter. In this calendar their celebration is a “Double,” an older term that signals a feast of greater liturgical importance than ordinary weekdays; in practical family terms it means the day is observed with special prayers and remembrance without replacing the Lenten call to conversion. The listing shows no octave or vigil attached, so the observance is a single-day celebration rather than an extended eight-day octave or requiring a preceding night vigil. This feast matters because it honors two early Christian martyrs whose witness models fidelity to Christ amid hardship.

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Ps 16:15
But I in justice shall behold Your face; I shall be content when Your glory shall appear.
Ps 16:1
Hear, O Lord, a just suit; attend to my outcry.
Glory Be to the Father…

Commemoration Sts. Felicitas & Perpetua
You have filled us with spiritual joy and delight; grant, we beseech You, O Lord, that by the intercession of Your holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas, we may spiritually attain what now we ritually perform.
Through our Lord…

Weekly Prayer

Act of Spiritual Communion

My Jesus,
I believe that Thou art present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love Thee above all things,
and I desire to receive Thee into my soul.

Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace Thee as if Thou wert already there,
and unite myself wholly to Thee.

Never permit me to be separated from Thee. Amen.

Weekly Formation

Beatitude 2

The Beatitudes

Blessed are the meek; for they shall possess the land.
Meekness is strength governed by reason and charity rather than by resentment or the desire to retaliate. The meek endure wrong without returning evil for evil and remain peaceful and teachable under God’s providence.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Perpetua

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs

early 3rd century Carthaginian Christian martyrs

Perpetua and Felicity were Christian martyrs of the third century. Vibia Perpetua was a recently married, well-educated noblewoman, said to have been 22 years old at the time of her death, and mother of an infant son she was nursing. Felicity, a slave woman imprisoned with her and pregnant at the time, was martyred with her. They were put to death along with others at Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.

Learn more about Perpetua

CommemorationCalendar title

Friday of Week 2 of Lent

A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.

Customs & Fasting

Traditional fast · Complete abstinence

Traditional Lenten Friday fast and complete abstinence.

Today in Church History

Martyrdom of the 42 Martyrs of Amorium
845Martyrdom
In 845, the 42 Martyrs of Amorium were executed for their steadfast refusal to convert to Islam, exemplifying the courage and faith of early Christians in the face of persecution. Their sacrifice is commemorated in the Catholic Church as a testament to the strength of faith and the call to witness for Christ, even unto death.
Their unwavering faith inspires us to stand firm in our beliefs amidst challenges.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

In these passages, we learn that Jesus inaugurates the Kingdom of God on earth and gathers people around himself in the Church, the seed and beginning of that Kingdom. He calls all people into union with him, inviting them to accept his word and become his disciples. His Kingdom is received by the poor and lowly in heart, and Jesus welcomes sinners with the Father’s boundless mercy while calling them to conversion. Through parables, Jesus teaches that entering the Kingdom requires a radical choice: not words alone, but deeds, active love toward the poor, and a wholehearted response to his call. As we pray and reflect together, we can ask for humble hearts that welcome Christ’s word and follow him more faithfully.

In the ministry of Jesus, we see the close connection between his mighty works and the coming of God’s kingdom. His signs show that the kingdom is present in him, attest that he is the promised Messiah, and invite us to believe in the One sent by the Father. By healing and freeing people from hunger, injustice, illness, death, and demonic domination, Jesus gave messianic signs; yet he came above all to free humanity from sin, the deepest slavery that harms our vocation as God’s children. Jesus chose the Twelve to share in his mission of preaching the kingdom and healing. Among them, Peter received a unique mission: to strengthen his brothers in faith and to exercise authority in the Church, including the authority symbolized by the keys of the kingdom. As we reflect together, we can place our trust in Christ, whose works bear witness that he is the Son of God and whose kingdom brings victory over sin and the powers of death.

¶ 541

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying: 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe in the gospel.'" "To carry out the will of the Father Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth." Now the Father's will is "to raise up men to share in his own divine life". He does this by gathering men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the Church, "on earth the seed and beginning of that kingdoms".

Today's Mass Readings

Open the day's Sancta MissaDivinum Officium · Divino Afflatu - 1954View readings