Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Ascensiontide

Week

Week 1 of Ascensiontide

Rank

Sunday or semidouble observance

This feast falls during Ascensiontide, the liturgical season between the Lord’s Ascension and Pentecost, a time when the Church prays with particular attention to Christ’s return to the Father and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The celebration is ranked as a Semidouble in the older divino_afflatu calendar system: in plain terms, that means it is a proper feast with its own prayers and readings, observed with more solemnity than an ordinary weekday but without the full ceremonial of a higher-ranked solemnity. No octave or vigil is indicated for this day in the supplied data, so the observance is for 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

Commandment 6

The Ten Commandments

Be faithful in marriage and respect God’s gift of the body.
The Sixth Commandment guards fidelity in marriage and the holiness of God’s gift of the body. It requires purity appropriate to each state of life, respect for personal boundaries, and faithful conduct in thought, word, and action.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Mary Magdalen de Pazzi

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, Virgin

Italian Carmelite mystic and saint (1566-1607)

Born: 1566-04-02 · Florence
Died: 1607-05-25 · Florence

Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, OCarm, was an Italian Carmelite nun and mystic. She has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

Learn more about Mary Magdalen de Pazzi

CommemorationCalendar title

Day 5 within the Octave of the Ascension

Today in Church History

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

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Christian initiation is beautifully woven through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, each playing a vital role in the life of a believer. Baptism marks our birth into new life in Christ and, according to the Lord’s will, is necessary for salvation. Its grace forgives original and personal sin, makes us adoptive children of the Father, incorporates us into the Church, and makes us sharers in Christ’s priesthood. In an emergency, any person can baptize if they intend to do what the Church does and use water with the words of baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For families, this encourages us to nurture faith from an early age, since children may be baptized in the faith of the Church. We are also invited to trust in God’s mercy and pray for the salvation of children who have died without Baptism.

In the journey of faith, Baptism, the Eucharist, and Confirmation together form the sacraments of Christian initiation. Confirmation completes baptismal grace, binds the baptized more perfectly to the Church, and enriches them with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit rested upon Jesus for his saving mission, and Christ promised to pour out the Spirit upon his people—a promise fulfilled on Easter Sunday and more strikingly at Pentecost. Through Confirmation, received through the laying on of hands and anointing with chrism, the baptized are strengthened to be true witnesses of Christ, spreading and defending the faith by word and deed.

¶ 1281

Those who die for the faith, those who are catechumens, and all those who, without knowing of the Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God sincerely and strive to fulfill his will, are saved even if they have not been baptized (cf. LG 16).

Today's Mass Readings

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