Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Eastertide

Week

Week 4 of Eastertide

Rank

Feast

This feast falls in the Eastertide season — the fifty days from Easter Sunday celebrating Christ’s Resurrection and the new life it brings. As a “Double” in older liturgical classification, this indicates a significant celebration with extended prayers and music; in practical family terms, treat it as an important feast day for special prayer, a family reading, and a joyful meal. St. Gregory Nazianzen is honored as a bishop, confessor, and Doctor of the Church: a pastoral leader and a teacher whose faithful witness and theological insight helped the Church better understand Christ’s divinity and the Trinity.

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 3

The Ten Commandments

Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
The Third Commandment sets apart the Lord’s Day for divine worship and true rest from ordinary labor. For Catholics this is fulfilled especially by assisting at Mass on Sundays and holy days and by allowing the day to serve God, the soul, and the duties of charity.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Gregory Nazianzen

St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church

Christian saint and theologian (c. 329 – 390)

Born: 0329-01-01 · Arianzos
Died: 0389-01-25 · Arianzos

Gregory of Nazianzus, also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen, was an early Roman Christian theologian and prelate who served as Archbishop of Constantinople from 380 to 381. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. As a classically trained orator and philosopher, he infused Hellenism into the early Church, establishing the paradigm of Byzantine theologians and church officials.

Learn more about Gregory Nazianzen

Commemoration

Today in Church History

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

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

In the Catechism, we learn that Jesus’ Resurrection is unlike the return to ordinary earthly life experienced by those he raised before Easter. In his risen body, he passes from death to a new life beyond time and space. His body still bears the marks of his Passion, showing that it is truly the same body that was crucified, yet it also has the new properties of a glorious body and is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Resurrection is a real event, witnessed through the empty tomb and the apostles’ encounters with the risen Christ, while still remaining a mystery that transcends history and human senses. Jesus revealed himself to his disciples in ways meant to awaken their faith. As a family, we can prayerfully contemplate Christ’s suffering, death, and risen glory, trusting in the Father’s power revealed in raising his Son.

The Church’s liturgy celebrates the mystery of the Lord as we await the fulfillment of God’s kingdom and Christ’s glorious coming. The sacraments, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, are efficacious signs of grace through which divine life is given to us. Celebrated by the Church as a priestly community, they involve both the baptismal priesthood of the faithful and the priesthood of ordained ministers. Prepared by God’s Word and received with faith, the sacraments strengthen and express our faith. Their fruit is both personal and ecclesial: life for God in Christ Jesus, and growth in the Church’s charity and mission of witness.

The Catechism teaches that the liturgy is the action of the whole Christ: Christ the Head united with his Body, the Church. When the Church celebrates the sacraments, the Spirit enables us to share in the eternal heavenly liturgy, where all creation gives praise to God. This can encourage our families to approach the Church’s worship with reverence and gratitude, knowing that we join a celebration greater than ourselves.

Liturgical services are celebrations of the whole Church, not private functions. The baptized form the celebrating assembly and share in Christ’s common priesthood, while bishops, priests, and deacons serve the community in ordained ministry. Other members also have genuine liturgical functions, such as serving, reading, commenting, and singing. In the unity of the Spirit, each person is called to carry out the part entrusted to him or her according to the rite and the Church’s norms.

Today's Mass Readings

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