Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 25 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Feast

The season “Time after Pentecost” (also called Ordinary Time in some calendars) is the long portion of the Church year after Pentecost when Christians focus on growth in faith and daily discipleship. A feast ranked as a “Double” in older liturgical terminology is an observance of notable importance: it calls for a fuller celebration of the Eucharist and the Office than a simple commemorative day, with proper propers and more solemn prayers, but it is not on the same level as a principal feast or solemnity. There is no octave or vigil indicated here, so this feast is celebrated on its appointed day without an extended eight-day celebration or a required eve liturgy.

Introit (Daily Prayer)

Ps 44:8
Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Alleluja, alleluja.)
Ps 44:2
My heart hath uttered a good word I speak my works to the king.
Glory Be to the Father…

O God, Who prepared a pleasing dwelling place for Yourself in the heart of blessed Gertrude the Virgin, by her merits and intercession, mercifully wipe away all sinful stain from our heart and grant that we may enjoy her companionship.
Through our Lord…

Weekly Prayer

Weekly prayer content will appear here once it is scheduled.

Weekly Formation

Presumption, Despair, and Hope

Sins Against the Theological Virtues

Presumption on God’s mercy
Presumption expects salvation or forgiveness without the repentance, grace, and cooperation God requires. It distorts hope by treating divine mercy as permission to remain in sin or by trusting one’s own power to reach heaven without God’s help.
Despair of God’s mercy
Despair is the deliberate loss of hope in God’s mercy or in the possibility of salvation. It falsely judges sin, weakness, or suffering to be greater than God’s power and goodness and therefore tempts the soul to stop seeking forgiveness and grace.

The Theological Virtues

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.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Gertrude

St. Gertrude, Virgin

Roman Catholic Saint

Born: 1256-01-06 · Eisleben
Died: 1302-11-17 · Eisleben

Gertrude the Great or Gertrude of Helfta was a German Benedictine nun and mystic who was a member of the Monastery of Helfta. While herself a Benedictine, she had strong ties to the Cistercian Order; her monastery in Helfta is currently run by nuns of the Cistercian Order.

Learn more about Gertrude

Today in Church History

Execution of Priests during the French Revolution
1793Persecution
In 1793, during the tumultuous period of the French Revolution, ninety Roman Catholic priests were executed by drowning in Nantes. This tragic event highlights the severe persecution faced by the Church and its clergy during a time of radical secularization and anti-clericalism in France.
The sacrifice of these priests serves as a reminder of the enduring faith and resilience of the Church in the face of persecution.
Martyrdom of Jesuit Priests in El Salvador
1989Martyrdom
In 1989, the brutal killing of six Jesuit priests, including their housekeeper and her daughter, by El Salvadoran army troops highlighted the dangers faced by clergy advocating for social justice. This event underscored the Church's commitment to human rights and the protection of the marginalized in a time of civil unrest.
The sacrifice of these priests serves as a powerful reminder of the call to stand for justice and truth, even in the face of persecution.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Baptism gives us the grace of purification from all sins, yet the baptized continue to struggle against disordered desires. With God’s grace, we can grow in chastity, purity of intention and vision, discipline of our feelings and imagination, and prayer. Modesty is an important part of this path: it protects the intimate center and mystery of each person, guides how we look at and treat one another, and encourages patience, decency, and discretion in loving relationships. Teaching modesty to children and adolescents helps awaken respect for the human person. In a culture shaped by unhealthy curiosity and excessive displays of intimate matters, Christians are called to purity of heart, respect, and restraint. Through prayer, temperance, chastity, and purity of intention and vision, we can learn to see all things according to God.

The Tenth Commandment calls us to examine the intentions of our hearts, rejecting covetousness, greed, and envy, which can lead to injustice and harm toward our neighbor. Although the desire for pleasant things is good in itself, we must guard against desires that exceed reason and seek what belongs to another. We may rightly seek to obtain what others have when we do so by just means. In our daily lives, we can resist envy by practicing good will, humility, and charity. Law and grace turn our hearts from avarice and envy toward the Sovereign Good: God, who satisfies the human heart and leads us by the Holy Spirit.

¶ 2531

Purity of heart will enable us to see God: it enables us even now to see things according to God.

Today's Mass Readings

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