Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 16 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Feast

The Impression of the Stigmata of St. Francis is observed in the season after Pentecost, the long period of the Church year when we reflect on the life of the Church, the work of the apostles, and growth in Christian discipleship. In plain terms, the rank “Double” indicates this is a significant liturgical celebration: families and parishes give it proper attention in the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass, without the additional obligations attached to higher ranks like a solemnity. There is no octave or vigil specified here, so this day is celebrated on its appointed date without an extended eight‑day observance or a special vigil the evening before.

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Ps 85:3; 85:5
Have pity on me, O Lord, for to You I call all the day; for You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon You.
Ps 85:1
Incline Your ear, O Lord; answer me, for I am afflicted and poor.
Glory Be to the Father…

Commemoration Stigmata of St. Francis
O God, Who in many ways showed in blessed Francis the wondrous mysteries of the Cross, grant, we beseech You, that we may always follow the example of his holiness and be strengthened by unceasing meditation upon that very Cross.
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

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit

Charity
Charity as a fruit is the mature delight of loving God and neighbor under the action of the Holy Ghost. It is called a fruit because supernatural love has become not only right but spiritually fruitful and pleasing in its exercise.
Joy
Joy is the spiritual gladness that follows charity’s union with the beloved good, above all with God. It can remain beneath sorrow and suffering because its deepest cause is God’s possessed or hoped-for goodness rather than favorable circumstances.
Peace
Peace is the tranquility produced when desires are rightly ordered within the soul and charity unites persons in the good. It is more than quiet or lack of conflict, since true peace depends on union with God, justice, and ordered love.
Patience
Patience bears present suffering without abandoning the good or surrendering to disordered sorrow. As a fruit of the Spirit it gives steadiness under trials whose end may not yet be visible.
Kindness
Kindness is a gracious readiness to treat others with warmth and to make charity evident in manner and action. It removes needless harshness and makes the good attractive without compromising truth.
Goodness
Goodness is the active inclination to do what is morally good and beneficial to others. As a fruit of the Spirit it reflects an interior uprightness that readily expresses itself in worthy deeds.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Francis of Assisi

Impression of the Stigmata of St. Francis

Italian Catholic saint, friar, deacon and preacher and founder of the Franciscan Order (1181/2–1226)

Born: 1182-06-24 · Assisi
Died: 1226-10-03 · Portiuncula

Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian mystic, poet and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Christian life of poverty, he became a beggar and an itinerant preacher.

Learn more about Francis of Assisi

Today in Church History

Crowning of Alfonso VII as King of Galicia
1111Event
In 1111, the highest Galician nobility, led by Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and Bishop Diego Gelmírez, crowned Alfonso VII as King of Galicia. This event marked a significant moment in the consolidation of Christian rule in the Iberian Peninsula and highlighted the close relationship between the Church and the monarchy during this period.
The intertwining of faith and governance reminds us of the importance of divine guidance in leadership.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Ten Commandments offer a clear expression of what is required in love of God and love of neighbor. The first three commandments concern love of God, while the other seven concern love of neighbor. In fidelity to Scripture and the example of Jesus, they have held a predominant place in the Church’s catechesis since St. Augustine, and catechisms have often used their order to explain Christian morality. They are not simply separate rules: the Decalogue forms a coherent whole, with each commandment referring to the others and to all of them. As part of God’s revelation, the commandments express our fundamental duties toward God and neighbor and teach us about true humanity.

The Ten Commandments express God’s covenant with his people and remain permanently valid, as Jesus attested by his life and preaching. Jesus teaches that those who abide in him bear fruit, and he tells those who would enter life to keep the commandments. The commandments form an organic unity, express the natural law in a privileged way, and state grave obligations, even though obedience also includes matters that may be light in themselves. As we read them together, we can remember with hope that what God commands, he makes possible by his grace.

¶ 2067

The Ten Commandments state what is required in the love of God and love of neighbor. the first three concern love of God, and the other seven love of neighbor.

¶ 2068

Today's Mass Readings

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

Impression of the Stigmata of St. Francis

Understanding the Day

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Collect

Weekly Prayer

Prayer for the Home

Weekly Formation

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit

Saint & Feast

Francis of Assisi

Today in Church History

Crowning of Alfonso VII as King of Galicia

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Today's Mass Readings

Baltimore Catechism No. 3