Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Passiontide

Week

Week 1 of Passiontide

Rank

First-class feast

The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (In Annuntiatione Beatæ Mariæ Virginis) is celebrated on a fixed date as a feast within Passiontide. Passiontide is the final part of Lent that brings the Church’s focus more directly to Christ’s suffering and impending death, preparing hearts for Holy Week and Easter. The rank given—Double of the I Class—indicates a very solemn, principal liturgical feast: it takes precedence over ordinary memorials and simple feasts, and its texts (propers) are used in Mass and the Divine Office when the day is observed. There is no octave or vigil specified here; the day is observed on its appointed date.

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Ps 44:13 44:15-16.
All the rich among the people seek your favor. Behind her the virgins of her train are brought to the King. They are borne in to You with gladness and joy. (Alleluja, alleluja.)
Ps 44:2
My heart overflows with a goodly theme; as I sing my ode to the King.
Glory Be to the Father…

Commemoration Feria IV of Passion Week
We who have shared in the blessing of the heavenly gift humbly pray You, almighty God, that it may be for us the source of sacramental grace and salvation.
Through our Lord…

Weekly Prayer

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, assist me in my last agony.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.

Weekly Formation

Beatitude 5

The Beatitudes

Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.
The merciful recognize another’s misery and act to relieve needs of body or soul. Their mercy imitates God’s compassion and disposes them to receive mercy from Him, without making mercy contrary to truth or justice.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Annunciation

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

announcement of the birth of Jesus to Mary

The Annunciation is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son through a virgin birth and become the mother of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Son of God, marking the Incarnation.

Learn more about Annunciation

CommemorationCalendar title

Wednesday of Week 1 of Passiontide

A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.

Customs & Fasting

Traditional fast

Traditional Lenten fast.

Today in Church History

Council of Pisa (1409)
1409Council
The Council of Pisa was convened in 1409 to address the Western Schism by attempting to depose the rival popes, Benedict XIII and Gregory XII, and restore unity in the Church. Although it failed to resolve the schism, it highlighted the Church's struggle for unity and authority during a tumultuous period. The council actually opened on March 25, 1409, but the main sessions and decisions took place later in the year.
The pursuit of unity within the Church reminds us of the importance of reconciliation and the call to be one body in Christ.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

In these paragraphs, we see Jesus’ profound respect for the Temple in Jerusalem, where he was presented as an infant, remained at age twelve to be about his Father’s business, and went for the great feasts. He honored the Temple as the dwelling of his Father and a house of prayer, showing zeal when its outer court became a place of commerce. Jesus also taught there, paid the Temple tax, and identified himself as God’s definitive dwelling-place among men. His prophecy that the Temple would be destroyed pointed to the beginning of a new age in salvation history, when worship of the Father would not be limited to Jerusalem or a particular mountain. For Catholic families, these passages invite reverence for places set apart for prayer and attention to Jesus, who leads us into worship of the Father.

In these passages, we see how Jesus provoked opposition from religious authorities, especially through his authority to forgive sins and his merciful conduct toward sinners. He ate familiarly with tax collectors and sinners, teaching that sin is universal and that those who think they do not need salvation are blind to themselves. Jesus called sinners to repentance and, by forgiving sins, revealed God’s own merciful attitude toward them. He did not abolish the Law but fulfilled it, and the Temple prefigured his own mystery: his Body would be the definitive Temple. For Catholic families, these passages invite us to humility, repentance, and merciful attention toward those in need of salvation, trusting that Christ calls sinners to himself.

The Church, as the Bride of Christ, is held by faith to be unfailingly holy because Christ loved her, gave himself for her sanctification, joined her to himself as his body, and endowed her with the Holy Spirit for God’s glory. United with Christ, the Church is sanctified and becomes sanctifying; through God’s grace, her members acquire holiness. Although the Church’s holiness on earth is real, it is still imperfect, and every faithful person is called to grow toward the perfection of holiness. Because the Church embraces sinners, all her members, including her ministers, need penance and renewal as they continue on the path to holiness. Charity is the soul of this calling, governing, shaping, and perfecting every means of sanctification. In honoring canonized saints, the Church recognizes the Spirit’s work in them and offers them as models and intercessors, sustaining believers’ hope. As we seek to conquer sin and grow in holiness, we can also turn our eyes to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whom the Church has already reached her all-holy perfection.

Today's Mass Readings

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