Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 11 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Second-class feast

St. Lawrence, Martyr falls in the Time after Pentecost, the long liturgical season focused on the Church’s life and mission following the coming of the Holy Spirit. The rank “Double of the II Class” indicates a higher feast within older liturgical classifications: it is a celebration that takes liturgical precedence over ordinary weekdays and encourages fuller observance in prayer and readings, but it is not one of the highest solemnities. No octave or special vigil is indicated here, so the day is observed on its assigned date without an extended eight-day celebration.

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Ps 95:6
Splendor and majesty go before Him; praise and grandeur are in His sanctuary.
Ps 95:1
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all you lands.
Glory Be to the Father…

Grant us, we beseech You, almighty God, to extinguish the flames of our sins, as You granted St. Lawrence to overcome the fires of his tortures.
Through our Lord…

Weekly Prayer

Morning Offering

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart,

in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in thanksgiving for Your favors, in reparation for my sins,

for the intentions of all my associates, and in particular for the intention recommended by the Holy Father this month.

Weekly Formation

The Theological Virtues

Faith
Faith is the infused virtue by which the mind firmly assents to the truths God has revealed because He can neither deceive nor be deceived. It rests on God’s authority and gives the foundation by which the believer knows Him and orders life toward Him.
Hope
Hope is the infused virtue by which a person confidently expects eternal life and the graces needed to reach it, relying on God’s goodness, promises, and power. It stands between despair, which distrusts mercy, and presumption, which expects heaven without conversion and grace.
Charity
Charity is the infused virtue by which God is loved above all things for His own sake and one’s neighbor is loved for God. It gives supernatural life to the other virtues by directing the whole person toward friendship with God and eternal union with Him.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Lawrence

St. Lawrence, Martyr

Christian saint, martyr and a deacon of Rome (225-258)

Born: 0225-12-31 · Osca
Died: 0258-08-10 · Rome

Saint Lawrence or Laurence was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman emperor Valerian ordered in 258.

Learn more about Lawrence

Today in Church History

Impact of the French Revolution on the Catholic Church
1792Persecution
The storming of the Tuileries Palace in 1792 marked a pivotal moment in the French Revolution, leading to the persecution of the Catholic Church in France. The revolutionaries sought to diminish the Church's influence, leading to the confiscation of church properties and the establishment of a state-controlled church, which profoundly affected Catholic life and governance.
In times of trial, the faith of the Church is often tested, revealing the resilience of believers.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Catechism teaches that each person has a law inscribed by God in the heart, calling us to love, do good, and avoid evil. Through conscience, we recognize the moral quality of our concrete choices, hear the authority of truth, and are bound to follow faithfully what we know to be just and right. Conscience is our most secret core and sanctuary, where God’s voice echoes within us; listening to it requires the interiority to pause for reflection and self-examination amid life’s distractions. As we seek to make prudent choices, conscience helps us take responsibility for our actions. When we have done wrong, it calls us to ask forgiveness, practice the good still to be done, and cultivate virtue with God’s grace. Each person also has the right to act in conscience and freedom when making moral decisions.

Conscience plays a crucial role in moral decisions, and it must be informed and enlightened so that its judgments are upright, truthful, and in conformity with the true good willed by God. The education of conscience is a lifelong task: from early childhood, it teaches the interior law recognized by conscience and encourages virtue, helping to prevent or heal fear, selfishness, pride, resentment, and complacency. This formation fosters freedom and peace of heart. As we read the Word of God in faith and prayer, put it into practice, examine our conscience before the Lord’s Cross, and seek the help of the Holy Spirit, the witness or advice of others, and the Church’s teaching, we can seriously seek what is right and good in difficult choices. We are always called never to do evil so that good may result, to treat others as we would wish to be treated, and to act with charity and respect for our neighbor and his or her conscience.

¶ 1781

Today's Mass Readings

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

St. Lawrence, Martyr

Understanding the Day

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Collect

Weekly Prayer

Morning Offering

Weekly Formation

The Theological Virtues

The Theological Virtues

Saint & Feast

Lawrence

Today in Church History

Impact of the French Revolution on the Catholic Church

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Today's Mass Readings

Baltimore Catechism No. 3