Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Lent

Week

Week 4 of Lent

Rank

Feast

St. John Damascene, celebrated during Lent in the fourth week of the season, is observed as a “Double” feast. The rank “Double” is a traditional liturgical classification indicating this feast has its own proper texts and should be celebrated with attention in the daily prayer of the Church; in simple terms, it means the day is more significant than ordinary weekday commemorations and is given priority in the liturgy. There is no octave or vigil specified here, so the observance is kept on the single day named.

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

Beatitude 6

The Beatitudes

Blessed are the pure of heart; for they shall see God.
Purity of heart is singleness of purpose before God, together with purity in thought, desire, word, and deed. A heart cleansed from divided and sinful attachments is made capable of knowing God more clearly and seeing Him in glory.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

John Damascene

St. John Damascene, Confessor

Christian monk, priest, hymnographer and apologist (675/6-749)

Born: 0675-00-00 · Damascus
Died: 0749-12-04 · Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas

John of Damascus or John Damascene, born Yūḥana ibn Manṣūr ibn Sarjūn, was an Arab Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and apologist. He was born and raised in Damascus c. AD 675 or AD 676; the precise date and place of his death is not known, though tradition places it at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem, on 4 December AD 749. A polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music, he was given the by-name of Chrysorroas. He wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still used both liturgically in Eastern Christian practice throughout the world as well as in western Lutheranism at Easter.

Learn more about John Damascene

Customs & Fasting

Traditional fast

Traditional Lenten fast.

Today in Church History

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

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Church is apostolic: she is built on the foundation of the apostles, whom Christ chose and sent to continue his mission. With the help of the Holy Spirit, she keeps and hands on the teaching received from them. Although the apostles were uniquely chosen witnesses of the Resurrection, their pastoral ministry continues through their successors. The bishops, assisted by priests and united with the successor of Peter, teach, sanctify, and guide the Church. As a family, we can give thanks that Christ continues to shepherd his Church through this enduring apostolic ministry; the Catechism teaches that listening to the bishops is listening to Christ.

The Church is apostolic: remaining in communion of faith and life with the apostles through their successors, she is sent into the whole world to spread Christ’s Kingdom. Every member shares in this mission in different ways. Its fruitfulness depends on a vital union with Christ, and charity drawn especially from the Eucharist is the soul of the whole apostolate. As we reflect together, we can rejoice in the Church’s deepest identity as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic: one Body, given life by one Spirit; holy through God, Christ, and the Spirit even while including sinners; catholic in proclaiming the fullness of faith and being sent to all peoples; and apostolic, founded on the apostles and governed by Christ through Peter and the other apostles in their successors.

¶ 857

The Church is apostolic because she is founded on the apostles, in three ways: - she was and remains built on "the foundation of the Apostles," The witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself; - with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching, The "good deposit," the salutary words she has heard from the apostles; - she continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the apostles until Christ's return, through their successors in pastoral office: the college of bishops, "assisted by priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the Church's supreme pastor":

Today's Mass Readings

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