Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Advent

Week

Week 4 of Advent

Rank

Second-class feast

St. Thomas the Apostle (S. Thomæ Apostoli) is celebrated on the Fourth Week of Advent in the Divino Afflatu calendar. Advent is a season of expectant waiting and preparation for the coming of Christ; this day falls near the close of that season and helps families reflect on faith, doubt, and the reality of the Incarnation. The rank “Double of the II Class” indicates a solemn liturgical celebration: the Mass and Office are given prominence above ordinary weekdays of Advent, with proper prayers, readings, and antiphons used where prescribed. There is no octave or vigil indicated here, so the observance is kept on the proper day without an eight-day extension or special preparatory day.

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…

Commemoration Feria II after IV Sunday of Advent
Having received Your gifts, we beseech You, O Lord, that each partaking of this sacrament may increase within us its saving effect.
Through our Lord…

Weekly Prayer

Weekly prayer content will appear here once it is scheduled.

Weekly Formation

Oppression of the Poor

Sins Crying to Heaven

Oppression of the poor
Oppression of the poor uses power, wealth, or social advantage to burden people who are already vulnerable or unable to defend their rights. Their cry reaches God because He is their protector and judges the powerful for injustice toward the weak, the stranger, the widow, and the orphan.

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.
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.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Thomas

St. Thomas the Apostle

Apostle of Jesus Christ

Born: 0001-01-01 · Galilee
Died: 0072-07-03 · Mylapore

Thomas the Apostle, also known as Didymus, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of Jesus when he was told of it ; he later confessed his faith on seeing the places where the wounds appeared still fresh on the holy body of Jesus after the Crucifixion of Jesus.

Learn more about Thomas

CommemorationCalendar title

Today in Church History

Death of Saint Peter Canisius
1598Church Father
Saint Peter Canisius, a key figure in the Counter-Reformation and Doctor of the Church, died on December 21, 1598. He was instrumental in revitalizing Catholicism in Germany and authored the influential 'Catechism of Peter Canisius.'
Saint Peter Canisius reminds us of the power of education and catechesis in strengthening faith.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Catechism teaches that when we pray “Our Father who art in heaven,” we acknowledge both God’s majesty and his closeness to the humble and contrite heart. Heaven is the Father’s house and our true homeland; sin has exiled us from the covenant, but conversion of heart enables us to return to the Father. In Christ, through his Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension, heaven and earth are reconciled. As we pray the Our Father, we are called to simple, faithful trust, humble and joyful assurance. This prayer brings us into communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, reveals our identity as God’s adopted children in Christ, and helps form in us a humble, trusting heart that desires to become like the Father. It also joins us to the Church and to the divine love that reaches out to the world as we look toward our heavenly homeland.

In the Lord’s Prayer, we first turn toward God our Father in adoration, love, and blessing, asking that his name be hallowed, his kingdom come, and his will be done. These first three petitions seek the Father’s glory and draw us in hope toward their final fulfillment. The later petitions bring our present needs before the Father of mercies: that we may be fed, forgiven and healed of sin, and sustained in the battle of prayer. As we pray these petitions, we are strengthened in faith, filled with hope, and set aflame by charity, entrusting ourselves, the world, and history to God’s boundless love.

¶ 2796

When the Church prays "our Father who art in heaven," she is professing that we are the People of God, already seated "with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" and "hidden with Christ in God;" yet at the same time, "here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling."

Today's Mass Readings

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