Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 22 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Second-class feast

Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles falls in Ordinary Time after Pentecost, a season when the Church grows in the life of the Holy Spirit and the apostles’ witness is highlighted. The title given here—Double of the II Class—indicates a solemn liturgical celebration that outranks simple commemorations: families may expect fuller Mass propers and greater prominence in the prayers and readings for the day. There is no octave or vigil attached in this entry, so the celebration is kept to its single feast day observance.

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…

O God, Who have given us a way of coming to know Your name through Your blessed Apostles Simon and Jude, grant us to honor their everlasting glory by becoming more holy and to become more holy by honoring it.
Through our Lord…

Weekly Prayer

Weekly prayer content will appear here once it is scheduled.

Weekly Formation

Gluttony and Temperance

The Way of Darkness

Gluttony
Gluttony is an unreasonable attachment to eating, drinking, or similar bodily satisfactions. Its disorder lies not simply in quantity but in allowing appetite to rule reason, damage health or duty, or place bodily pleasure above the good of the soul.

The Way of Light

Temperance
Temperance moderates attraction to pleasure and keeps the use of created goods within the order of reason. It does not condemn bodily goods, but prevents appetite from ruling the person or crowding out health, duty, charity, and spiritual good.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Simon the Zealot

Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles

apostle of Jesus

Born: 0100-00-00
Died: 0107-01-01

Simon the Zealot, also the Canaanite or the Canaanean, was one of the apostles of Jesus. A few pseudepigraphical writings were connected to him, but Jerome does not include him in De viris illustribus written between 392 and 393 AD.

Learn more about Simon the Zealot

Today in Church History

Election of Pope John XXIII
1958Papal
In 1958, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected as Pope John XXIII, marking a pivotal moment in the Catholic Church. His papacy is best known for initiating the Second Vatican Council, which aimed to address relations between the Church and the modern world, promoting renewal and ecumenism.
Pope John XXIII's leadership reminds us of the importance of openness to the Holy Spirit and the need for renewal in our faith.
Promulgation of Nostra Aetate
1965Doctrine
In 1965, Pope Paul VI promulgated Nostra Aetate during the Second Vatican Council, marking a pivotal moment for the Catholic Church's relationship with non-Christian religions. This document emphasized respect and dialogue with other faiths, acknowledging the truth found in them and promoting interfaith understanding.
Nostra Aetate invites Catholics to embrace dialogue and understanding with others, fostering a spirit of unity in diversity.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Adultery is a serious breach of marital fidelity: when at least one person is married to someone else, sexual relations—even transient ones—constitute adultery. Christ condemns even adultery of desire, and the Catechism notes that the prophets saw adultery as an image of idolatry. It injures the marriage covenant, violates the rights of a spouse, weakens the institution of marriage, and compromises the welfare of children, who need their parents’ stable union. Christ reaffirmed the Creator’s intention that marriage be indissoluble; between baptized persons, a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power except death. In some cases, spouses may legitimately separate while the marriage bond remains, and civil divorce may be tolerated when it is the only way to protect legal rights, provide for children, or safeguard an inheritance. Yet divorce itself is a grave offense and can bring serious disorder and harm to spouses, children, families, and society. The Catechism also recognizes that a spouse who is unjustly abandoned through civil divorce may be an innocent victim and has not thereby violated the moral law. For Catholic families, these teachings call us to cherish marital fidelity, the enduring marriage bond, and the stable union that serves spouses and children.

The Catechism teaches that marriage calls spouses to a faithful, total, unique, and exclusive love, honoring the equal personal dignity of man and woman. Polygamy, adultery, divorce, and free union offend the dignity of marriage, while incest corrupts family relationships. Sexual abuse of children or adolescents entrusted to adults’ care causes grave harm to the young and violates the responsibility for their upbringing. Love is the fundamental vocation of every person, and Christ is the model of chastity; every baptized person is called to live chastely according to his or her state of life. Within marriage, spouses are called to faithful and indissoluble love, to receive fecundity as a gift and good of marriage, and to practice responsible parenthood through morally acceptable means.

Today's Mass Readings

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