Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 6 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Feast

The Season: This feast falls in Ordinary Time after Pentecost, a period in the Church year focused on growth in Christian discipleship and the ongoing life of the local Church.

What “Double” Means: In older liturgical terminology, “Double” indicates a solemn celebration of the saint’s feast with proper prayers and readings. In plain terms for families: it’s a significant feast day in the parish calendar, meant to be observed with special Mass and, where possible, family prayer at home.

Octave or Vigil: No octave or special vigil is attached here. The day is celebrated on its proper date within the season without an eight-day extension.

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 Precepts of the Church: Eucharist and Discipline

The Precepts of the Church

You shall receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
This precept requires worthy reception of Holy Communion at least during the Easter season. The minimum joins the faithful sacramentally to the Paschal mystery and presumes the preparation required for receiving the Eucharist reverently.
You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
This precept requires observance of the days and forms of fasting and abstinence established by lawful Church authority. These common disciplines unite bodily self-denial with repentance, prayer, and obedience rather than treating penance as a merely private preference.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Camillus de Lellis

St. Camillus de Lellis, Confessor

Italian priest, nurse and saint

Born: 1550-05-25 · Bucchianico
Died: 1614-07-14 · Rome

Camillus de Lellis, M.I., was a Catholic priest from Italy who founded the Camillians, a religious order dedicated to the care of the sick. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in the year 1742, and canonized by him four years later in 1746. De Lellis is the patron saint of the sick, hospitals, nurses and physicians. His assistance is also invoked against gambling.

Learn more about Camillus de Lellis

Commemoration

Today in Church History

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

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Catechism teaches that the matrimonial covenant, established by God, is a partnership of the whole of life between a man and a woman, ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of children. Between baptized persons, Christ has raised this covenant to the dignity of a sacrament. Rooted in Scripture and in God’s loving design from creation, marriage reflects the mutual love to which God calls man and woman and is meant to be fruitful. Yet this union is often wounded by sin, bringing discord, domination, infidelity, jealousy, and conflict. God’s grace, which he never refuses in his mercy, helps heal these wounds and enables spouses to seek the union of life for which they were created. For Catholic families, this invites us to cherish marriage, foster love and unity, and rely on God’s grace amid the struggles of daily life.

In God’s mercy, marriage helps address the damaging effects of sin by calling spouses beyond self-absorption, egoism, and the pursuit of their own pleasure toward mutual aid and self-giving (CCC 1609). Through the Old Testament, God’s people were prepared for a deeper understanding of marriage’s unity and indissolubility, while the law also sought to protect wives from arbitrary domination (CCC 1610-1611). Jesus honored the goodness of marriage by performing his first sign at the wedding at Cana; the Church sees this as confirming marriage’s goodness and proclaiming it an efficacious sign of Christ’s presence (CCC 1613). He taught that the union of man and woman is indissoluble, and he gives spouses the strength and grace to live this calling through following him, self-renunciation, and taking up their crosses (CCC 1614-1615). Christian marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant, signifying and communicating the grace of Christ’s covenant with the Church (CCC 1616-1617).

Today's Mass Readings

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