Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Eastertide

Week

Week 6 of Eastertide

Rank

Sunday

Eastertide is the fifty-day season celebrating Christ’s Resurrection, a time of joy, renewed faith, and growth in the life of the Church. The Fifth Sunday after Easter falls within this season and continues the unfolding celebration of Easter’s meaning each week. The given rank, Semidouble, is an older liturgical classification meaning this Sunday has a definite priority in the cycle of prayers and hymns: its proper prayers and readings are used, and certain commemorations are limited — in plain terms, the day is observed with the community’s usual Sunday liturgy but without the full complexity or precedence of higher-ranked feasts. There is no octave or special vigil noted beyond its place in the Easter season; it is one of the Sundays that extend the paschal joy toward Pentecost.

Daily Prayer

The Introit for this day has not yet been generated.

Weekly Prayer

Weekly prayer content will appear here once it is scheduled.

Weekly Formation

Commandment 2

The Ten Commandments

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
The Second Commandment protects the holiness of God’s name and everything specially dedicated to Him. It forbids using sacred names carelessly or falsely and requires reverence in oaths, vows, prayer, and speech about holy things.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebrationCalendar title

Fifth Sunday after Easter

A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.

Commemoration

Athanasius

S. Athanasius, Confessor and Doctor of the Church

Pope of Alexandria from 328 to 373

Born: 0296-00-00 · Alexandria
Died: 0373-05-02 · Alexandria

Athanasius I of Alexandria, also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th patriarch of Alexandria. His intermittent episcopacy spanned 45 years, of which over 17 encompassed five exiles, when he was replaced on the order of four different Roman emperors. Athanasius was a Church Father, the chief proponent of Trinitarianism against Arianism, and a noted Egyptian Christian leader of the fourth century.

Today in Church History

No Church history reflection has been prepared for this date yet.

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Catechism presents the Holy Trinity at the heart of God’s plan for salvation: the Father gives his beloved Son and the Holy Spirit for the salvation of the world and the glory of his name. Christ accomplishes this work through his Paschal mystery—his Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension—and the Church proclaims and celebrates this mystery in the liturgy. In the liturgy, Christ our redeemer continues the work of redemption through his Church, drawing the faithful into conscious, active, and fruitful participation. Liturgy includes divine worship, the proclamation of the Gospel, and active charity, calling us to serve God and neighbor. As we gather with the Church in prayer and worship, the liturgy helps root us in the Father’s love, strengthens the community’s new life in the Spirit, and sends us into the Church’s mission and service to unity.

¶ 1067

"The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God. He accomplished this work principally by the Paschal mystery of his blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension, whereby 'dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our life.' For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth 'the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church."'

¶ 1068

Today's Mass Readings

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