Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 13 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Second-class feast

The Season of Time after Pentecost (Ordinary Time) is the long stretch of the Church year when we follow Christ’s life and the growth of the Church through the teaching and witness of the apostles.

This celebration is the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle (S. Bartholomæi Apostoli), ranked in the older liturgical classification as a “Double of the II Class.” There is no octave or special vigil attached here, so the day’s liturgies and prayers are celebrated on the feast itself.

Why it matters: feasts of apostles remind families that the Church is sent to proclaim the Gospel.

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Ps 138:17
To me, Your friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable; their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
Ps 138:1-2
O Lord, You have probed me and You know me; You know when I sit and when I stand.
Glory Be to the Father…

Almighty, eternal God, Who bestowed on us the devout and holy joy of this day to celebrate the feast of Your blessed Apostle Bartholomew, grant unto Your Church, we beseech You, both to love what he believed and to preach what he taught.
Through our Lord…

Weekly Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful
and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.

℣ Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created.
℟ And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.
O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Weekly Formation

The Corporal Works of Mercy

Feed the hungry
Feeding the hungry supplies necessary nourishment to those who lack it. It is a corporal work because it serves a bodily need, and an act of mercy because charity responds to another’s misery rather than ignoring preventable want.
Give drink to the thirsty
Giving drink to the thirsty provides the water or other wholesome refreshment needed for life and health. The work includes direct aid and reasonable support for efforts that make safe water available to people in need.
Clothe the naked
Clothing the naked provides suitable clothing and protection to those who lack them. It safeguards bodily health and personal dignity while recognizing that unused or excess goods can answer another person’s genuine necessity.
Visit the imprisoned
Visiting the imprisoned brings humane presence and assistance to those deprived of liberty, including people unjustly confined or otherwise held captive. It neither approves wrongdoing nor abandons justice, but refuses to treat any prisoner as beyond dignity, truth, or mercy.
Shelter the homeless
Sheltering the homeless provides safe lodging or helps secure it for those without a stable place to live. Traditional language calls this harboring the harborless, extending hospitality and protection to the stranger and displaced person.
Visit the sick

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Bartholomew

St. Bartholomew the Apostle

Christian apostle and martyr

Born: 0100-01-01 · Cana
Died: 0100-01-01 · Albanopolis

Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John.

Learn more about Bartholomew

Today in Church History

Marriage of King John and Isabella of Angoulême
1200Event
The marriage of King John of England to Isabella of Angoulême in 1200 took place in a cathedral, highlighting the importance of the Church in royal ceremonies. This union had significant political implications, affecting the relationship between the monarchy and the Church in England.
The intertwining of royal authority and the Church illustrates the divine order in governance.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

According to the Catechism, humanity is called to show forth the image of God and to be transformed into the image of the Father’s only Son. This personal vocation also concerns the whole human community: all are called to God, and love of neighbor cannot be separated from love for God. Because we need society, mutual service, and dialogue, life with others helps us develop our potential and respond to our vocation. The family and the state are societies that correspond directly to human nature, while associations also help people pursue goals beyond individual capacities and develop initiative and responsibility. As we reflect on these teachings in family life, we can remember that communities and authorities serve the common good. The principle of subsidiarity teaches that larger communities should support, rather than take over, the proper functions of smaller ones, respecting personal freedom and initiative.

The Catechism teaches that society is essential to fulfilling the human vocation and should respect a just hierarchy of values, subordinating physical and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones. When means and ends are reversed—when what is only a means is treated as the ultimate goal, or persons are treated merely as means—unjust structures arise and make Christian conduct more difficult. As we reflect together, we are invited to appeal to our spiritual and moral capacities and to seek the conversion of our hearts, while also working to reform institutions and conditions that encourage sin. With God’s grace, charity helps us follow the path between giving in to evil and responding with violence; it respects others and their rights, calls for justice, and inspires self-giving love of God and neighbor. The family is one of the societies that corresponds directly to human nature, and every social organization should place the human person at its center. Society should promote virtue, encourage participation and responsibility, and, where sin has damaged social life, charity should urge just reforms. There is no solution to the social question apart from the Gospel.

Today's Mass Readings

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

St. Bartholomew the Apostle

Understanding the Day

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Collect

Weekly Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit

Weekly Formation

The Corporal Works of Mercy

The Corporal Works of Mercy

Saint & Feast

Bartholomew

Today in Church History

Marriage of King John and Isabella of Angoulême

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Today's Mass Readings

Baltimore Catechism No. 3