Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 15 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Feast

S. Eustachius and Companions, Martyrs is observed in Ordinary Time (the season called “time after Pentecost” in this calendrical system). Ordinary Time is the part of the Church year when we reflect on the ongoing life and mission of Jesus and the growth of the Church. The celebration’s rank is given as “Double,” which in plain language means it is a substantive liturgical feast: it has its own proper prayers and readings and takes liturgical precedence over simpler commemorations on the same day. There is no octave or vigil indicated for this celebration in the information provided, so it is kept as a single-day observance.

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 Evangelical Counsels

Chastity
The evangelical counsel of chastity is the voluntary renunciation of marriage for the sake of Christ and undivided service to His kingdom. It goes beyond the chastity required of every Christian and, when vowed in religious life, offers the whole person to God.
Poverty
The evangelical counsel of poverty is the voluntary surrender or restricted use of personal possessions in order to follow Christ with greater freedom. It goes beyond ordinary justice and detachment by making material goods subject to a stable form of Gospel renunciation.
Obedience
The evangelical counsel of obedience is the voluntary offering of one’s will to God through lawful religious authority and an approved rule. St. Thomas calls it the chief religious vow because it offers not merely possessions or bodily goods, but the direction of one’s own will.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Eustace

S. Eustachius and Companions, Martyrs

Christian martyr

Born: 0100-01-01 · Rome
Died: 0118-01-01 · Rome

Saint Eustace is revered as a Christian martyr. According to legend, he was martyred in AD 118, at the command of emperor Hadrian. Eustace was a pagan Roman general, who converted to Christianity after he had a vision of the cross while hunting. He lost all his wealth, was separated from his wife and sons, and went into exile in Egypt. Called back to lead the Roman army by emperor Trajan, Eustace was happily reunited with his family and restored to high social standing, but after the death of Trajan, he and his family were martyred under Hadrian for refusing to sacrifice to pagan Roman gods.

Learn more about Eustace

Commemoration

Customs & Fasting

Traditional fast · Complete abstinence

Traditional September Ember Wednesday fast and complete abstinence.

Today in Church History

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

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The first commandment calls us to love the one true God with all our heart, soul, and mind, to accept him, worship him, and remember his loving and liberating action. It invites us to respond to God’s love through faith, hope, and charity: believing his word, hoping for his help and blessing, and loving him above all things. In our daily devotion, we are called to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, rejecting doubt, unbelief, despair, presumption, indifference, ingratitude, lukewarmness, and spiritual sloth. As we seek to obey God’s commandments and bear witness to him, we act in conformity with the image and likeness of God and make him manifest through lives shaped by his goodness and love.

In the teachings of the Catechism, we learn that the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity give life to the moral virtues. Charity leads us to give God what we owe him in justice, and the virtue of religion disposes us to this attitude. Adoration, the first act of religion, calls us to acknowledge God as Creator, Savior, Lord, and merciful Love, while humbly recognizing our dependence on him. Prayer is essential for expressing faith, hope, and charity through praise, thanksgiving, intercession, and petition, and it is indispensable for obeying God’s commandments. We can also offer our lives to God by uniting ourselves to Christ’s perfect sacrifice. Finally, promises and vows made to God, whether connected with Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, or personal devotion, are acts of devotion and signs of love and respect for God. These teachings can encourage us in daily prayer, humble worship, and faithful devotion to God.

¶ 2091

The first commandment is also concerned with sins against hope, namely, despair and presumption: By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy.

Today's Mass Readings

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

S. Eustachius and Companions, Martyrs

Understanding the Day

Daily Prayer

Weekly Prayer

Weekly Formation

The Evangelical Counsels

The Evangelical Counsels

Saint & Feast

Eustace

Customs & Fasting

Today in Church History

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Today's Mass Readings

September Ember Wednesday

Matthew

Baltimore Catechism No. 3