Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 5 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Feast

This celebration falls in the Time after Pentecost, the long season of the Church year when we live in the light of the Holy Spirit and the growth of the Church. Days in this season often focus on the holiness of ordinary Christian life and the examples of those who walked faithfully with Christ. There is no octave or vigil noted here, so the observance is a single-day celebration rather than an extended celebration.

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 9

The Ten Commandments

Thou shalt not covet another person’s spouse.
The Ninth Commandment guards purity and marital fidelity within the heart, where deliberate desires begin. It distinguishes an unwanted temptation from a chosen desire and forbids willingly entertaining thoughts that would violate another person or another marriage.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

William

St. William, Abbot

Italian noble and saint

Born: 1085-00-00 · Vercelli
Died: 1142-06-25 · Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi

William of Montevergine, or William of Vercelli,, also known as William the Abbot, was a Catholic hermit and the founder of the Congregation of Monte Vergine, or "Williamites". He is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

Learn more about William

Commemoration

Nativity of John the Baptist

Second Day of the Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

The Nativity of John the Baptist celebrates the birth of John as narrated in the Gospel of Luke.

Customs & Fasting

No traditional fast · Complete abstinence

Traditional Friday complete abstinence.

Today in Church History

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

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Through the sacraments of Christian initiation, we receive the new life of Christ. Yet we still live with human frailty, suffering, illness, death, and the inclination to sin, so this new life can be weakened or even lost by sin. In his mercy, the Lord continues his work of healing and salvation in the Church through the sacraments of Penance and Anointing of the Sick. In Penance, we confess our sins and receive God’s pardon and peace, being reconciled with God and with the Church. As we pray together, let us remember our call to conversion, forgive one another, and rely on Christ’s grace as we strive for holiness and eternal life.

In the Catechism, Jesus’ call to conversion is foundational to the proclamation of God’s kingdom: repent and believe in the Gospel. This conversion begins in Baptism, where, through faith in the Gospel, we renounce evil, receive forgiveness of sins, and are given new life. Yet conversion remains an ongoing task for Christians and for the whole Church. It is more than outward observances; it calls for a sincere turning of the heart away from sin and back to God, with trust in his mercy and grace. St. Peter’s tears of repentance remind us of Jesus’ infinite mercy. In our daily family devotion, we can remember that God gives us the strength to begin anew, and that the Holy Spirit brings sin to light while giving our hearts grace for repentance and conversion.

¶ 1426

Conversion to Christ, the new birth of Baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ received as food have made us "holy and without blemish," just as the Church herself, the Bride of Christ, is "holy and without blemish." Nevertheless the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptized such that with the help of the grace of Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of Christian life. This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us.

Today's Mass Readings

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