Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Lent

Week

Week 3 of Lent

Rank

First-class feast

Third Sunday of Lent is a weekly focus within the penitential season of Lent, a forty-day time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that prepares Catholics for Easter. The rank “Greater Sunday of the I Class” indicates this is one of the most important Sunday celebrations in the liturgical year: it has precedence in the calendar and its prayers, readings, and rites take priority over ordinary weekday observances. There is no octave or vigil attached specifically to this celebration in the given context; it stands as the principal Sunday liturgy of the third week of Lent. This day matters because it marks continued preparation for Easter through communal worship, penitential practice, and attention to conversion—core elements that shape family devotions during Lent.

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Ps 24:15-16
My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He will free my feet from the snare. Look toward me, and have pity on me, for I am alone and afflicted.
Ps 24:1-2
To You I lift up my soul, O Lord. In You, O my God, I trust; let me not be put to shame.
Glory Be to the Father…

We beseech You, almighty God, hear the prayers of the humble and stretch forth the right hand of Your majesty to protect us.
Through our Lord…

Weekly Prayer

Prayer to the Holy Family

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
bless us and grant us the grace
to love and serve God faithfully,
to honor one another with patience and charity,
and to make our home a dwelling place of peace.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
help us to grow in faith, hope, and love.
Guide our work, our rest, our words, and our choices,
so that in all things we may seek the will of God.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
pray for us and protect our family. Amen.

Weekly Formation

Beatitude 3

The Beatitudes

Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.
The blessed mourners grieve chiefly for sin—their own and the sins of the world—and bear unavoidable trials in union with God. Their promised comfort is not mere earthly relief but the consolation of grace and, finally, eternal joy.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebrationCalendar title

Sunday 3 of Lent

A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.

Commemoration

John of God

St. John of God, Confessor

Portuguese soldier turned health-care worker, canonized by the Catholic Church

Born: 1495-03-08 · Montemor-o-Novo
Died: 1550-03-08 · Granada

John of God, O.H. was a Portuguese soldier turned healthcare worker in Spain, whose followers later formed the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, a Catholic religious institute dedicated to the care of the poor, sick and those with mental disorders.

Learn more about John of God

Today in Church History

Battle of Hausbergen (1262)
1262Event
The Battle of Hausbergen marked a significant conflict between the bourgeois militias of Strasbourg and the bishop's army, reflecting the tensions between ecclesiastical authority and emerging civic powers. This event illustrates the struggle for power and autonomy in the context of the Church's influence in medieval society.
The battle serves as a reminder of the complexities of faith and governance in the Church's history.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

In the moments leading up to his Passion, Jesus reveals his divine glory in the Transfiguration, confirming Peter’s confession and showing that he must go by the way of the cross in Jerusalem to enter into his glory. The Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ’s glorious coming and recalls that we enter the kingdom of God through many persecutions. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he is prepared to die there; he weeps for the city and expresses his desire that it would know the things that make for peace. His humble entry into Jerusalem reveals the coming kingdom that he will accomplish through the Passover of his Death and Resurrection. For Catholic families, this passage invites us to listen to Jesus, to meet trials with faith, to grow in humility, and to prepare our hearts for the joy of the Resurrection.

In the life of Christ, every moment—from his hidden life at Bethlehem and Nazareth to his Death and Resurrection—continually teaches us. As families, we can look to Jesus’ obedience to Mary and Joseph and his humble work in Nazareth as an example of holiness in daily family life and work. At Bethlehem, we are called to kneel before the manger and adore Christ, hidden in the weakness of a new-born child. Jesus’ Transfiguration strengthens faith in anticipation of his Passion and reveals the hope of glory, while his voluntary journey to Jerusalem leads to the Passover of his Death and Resurrection, through which the Messiah-King accomplishes the coming of the kingdom.

¶ 557

"When the days drew near for him to be taken up [Jesus] set his face to go to Jerusalem." By this decision he indicated that he was going up to Jerusalem prepared to die there. Three times he had announced his Passion and Resurrection; now, heading toward Jerusalem, Jesus says: "It cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem."

Today's Mass Readings

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

Sunday 3 of Lent

Understanding the Day

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Collect

Weekly Prayer

Prayer to the Holy Family

Weekly Formation

Beatitude 3

The Beatitudes

Saint & Feast

Sunday 3 of Lent

John of God

Today in Church History

Battle of Hausbergen (1262)

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Today's Mass Readings

Baltimore Catechism No. 3