Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 7 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Feast

The season “Time after Pentecost” follows the Easter and Pentecost celebrations and covers much of the Church’s ordinary life. There is no octave or vigil indicated here, so the family celebration is properly observed on the day itself.

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

The Two Greatest Commandments

You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul and with all your mind.
To love God with the whole heart, soul, and mind is to prefer Him above every created good and to order the whole life toward Him. This love includes worship, obedience, trust, and the willing acceptance of His truth and commandments.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
To love one’s neighbor as oneself is to desire and seek the neighbor’s true good for the love of God. Every human person is a neighbor in this sense, and this charity excludes both deliberate harm and indifference to another’s genuine need.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Cyril and Methodius

Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Bishops and Confessors

9th-century Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries

Cyril and Methodius were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".

Learn more about Cyril and Methodius

Today in Church History

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

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Anointing of the Sick is not only for those at the point of death. It is fitting for a faithful person to receive it when sickness or old age brings danger of death. If someone recovers and later faces another grave illness, or if the same illness becomes more serious, the sacrament may be received again. It is also fitting before a serious operation and when an elderly person’s frailty becomes more pronounced. Only priests administer this sacrament, while family, friends, and the whole Church can encourage the sick to call for a priest and surround them with prayer and fraternal care. Celebrated as a liturgical and communal prayer, sometimes in connection with Penance and the Eucharist, it includes the Liturgy of the Word, the priest’s laying on of hands, prayer in the faith of the Church, and anointing with blessed oil. These prayers and actions ask the Lord for the strength of his Spirit and indicate the grace given to the sick.

The Anointing of the Sick is a profound sacrament that gives spiritual strength, peace, and courage to those facing serious illness or the frailty of old age. Through this sacrament, the sick are strengthened to unite themselves more closely to Christ’s Passion, so that suffering becomes a participation in Jesus’ saving work. The sacrament also serves the whole Church: the Church intercedes for the sick, and those who freely unite themselves to Christ’s passion and death contribute to the good and sanctification of God’s people. For those nearing the end of earthly life, Anointing prepares them for their final journey and strengthens them for the last struggles before entering the Father’s house. The Church also offers the Eucharist as viaticum, Communion for this passing over to the Father, as a seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection. In times of illness and frailty, this sacrament invites the faithful to place their trust in God and receive the Lord’s help.

¶ 1518

Today's Mass Readings

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

Understanding the Day

Daily Prayer

Weekly Prayer

Weekly Formation

The Two Greatest Commandments

The Two Greatest Commandments

Saint & Feast

Cyril and Methodius

Today in Church History

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Today's Mass Readings

Baltimore Catechism No. 3