Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 3 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Sunday

This day is the Third Sunday after Pentecost, observed in the season following Pentecost when the Church reflects on the life and mission of the risen Christ and the growth of the Christian community. The rank “Semidouble” indicates a liturgical importance higher than ordinary weekdays but below the major feasts: prayers and readings proper to the Sunday are used, while some liturgical elements remain simpler than for a major solemnity. This particular Sunday falls within the Octave of the Sacred Heart, which means it is celebrated during the eight-day period honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus; the octave gives added devotional focus to the love and mercy of Christ during these days.

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Ps. 24:16, 18
Look toward me, and have pity on me, O Lord, for I am alone and afflicted. Put an end to my affliction and my suffering, and take away all my sins, O my God.
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…

O God, protector of all who hope in You, without Whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, increase Your mercy toward us, that, with Your guidance and direction we may so pass through the things of this temporal life as not to lose those of life eternal.
Through our Lord…

Weekly Prayer

Prayer for the Home

Visit, we beseech Thee, O Lord, this home,
and drive far from it all snares of the enemy.

Let Thy holy angels dwell herein to preserve us in peace;
and may Thy blessing be always upon us.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Weekly Formation

Commandment 8

The Ten Commandments

Thou shalt not bear false witness.
The Eighth Commandment requires truthfulness and respect for another person’s good name. It forbids lies, false testimony, rash judgment, slander, detraction, and the needless disclosure of faults, because justice and charity both govern speech.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebrationCalendar title

Third Sunday after Pentecost within the Octave of the Sacred Heart

A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.

Commemoration

Basil the Great

St. Basil the Great, Confessor and Doctor of the Church

4th-century Christian bishop, theologian, and saint

Born: 0329-01-01 · Kayseri
Died: 0379-00-00 · Kayseri

Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia from 370 until his death in 379. He was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed heresies within the early Christian church such as Arianism and Apollinarianism.

Today in Church History

Abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
1966Event
In 1966, the Vatican abolished the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, a list of prohibited books established in 1557 to protect the faith from heretical ideas. This significant decision reflected the Church's evolving approach to engagement with modernity and the importance of individual conscience in matters of faith.
This event encourages believers to seek truth and discernment in their reading and understanding of faith.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Receiving Holy Communion deepens our union with Christ, who invites us to abide in him and live because of him. This sacred nourishment strengthens, preserves, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism, sustaining us on our Christian pilgrimage. The Eucharist also separates us from sin: Christ’s gift of himself cleanses us from past sins, strengthens our charity, and helps us resist breaking away from him through mortal sin. As we receive Communion, we are encouraged to grow in Christ’s friendship and root our lives more deeply in him.

The Eucharist makes the Church, uniting those who receive it more closely to Christ and to all the faithful in one body. As we reflect together, we remember that Communion renews, strengthens, and deepens the incorporation into the Church begun in Baptism. Receiving Christ’s Body and Blood also commits us to recognize Christ in the poorest of his brethren. The divisions that prevent Christians from sharing fully at the Lord’s table are painful, and they call us to pray earnestly for complete unity among all believers. The Church recognizes that Eastern Churches not in full communion possess true sacraments, especially the priesthood and Eucharist, while communities arising from the Reformation have not preserved the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness. In grave necessity, and under the conditions set by the Church, Catholic ministers may administer certain sacraments to other Christians who seek them freely and share the Catholic faith regarding them.

¶ 1392

What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh "given life and giving life through the Holy Spirit," preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism. This growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion, the bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death, when it will be given to us as viaticum.

Today's Mass Readings

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

Third Sunday after Pentecost within the Octave of the Sacred Heart

Understanding the Day

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Collect

Weekly Prayer

Prayer for the Home

Weekly Formation

Commandment 8

The Ten Commandments

Saint & Feast

Third Sunday after Pentecost within the Octave of the Sacred Heart

Basil the Great

Today in Church History

Abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Today's Mass Readings

Day 3 within the Octave of the Sacred Heart

Baltimore Catechism No. 3