Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Time After Pentecost

Week

Week 17 of Time After Pentecost

Rank

Sunday

The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost falls in the long season called “Time after Pentecost,” a period for growing in Christian discipleship by reflecting on the teachings and life of Christ. In many traditional calendars this Sunday is labeled Dominica 17 post Pentecosten and follows a yearly pattern of readings and prayers that help families slow down and listen to Scripture together. Its rank is Semidouble, which in plain language means this Sunday has a moderately important liturgical status: its proper prayers and readings are observed, and the celebration receives respectful attention in the household without the greater rituals reserved for higher-ranking feasts. There is no octave or vigil attached to this day in the information given, so ordinary preparations for Sunday worship apply.

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

Avarice or Greed and Generosity

The Way of Darkness

Avarice or Greed
Avarice is an excessive desire to possess or retain wealth and material goods. It makes possessions an end rather than a means, producing hardness toward those in need and tempting the soul toward dishonesty, anxiety, and neglect of spiritual goods.

The Way of Light

Generosity
Generosity readily uses possessions, time, ability, and attention for the good of others and the honor of God. It opposes avarice by keeping created goods in their proper role as means of service rather than objects that possess the heart.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebrationCalendar title

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.

Commemoration

Saint Remigius

St. Remigius, Bishop and Confessor

French archbishop and saint

Born: 0437-00-00
Died: 0533-01-13

Remigius was the Bishop of Reims and "Apostle of the Franks". On 25 December 496, he baptised Clovis I, King of the Franks. The baptism, leading to about 3000 additional converts, was an important event in the Christianization of the Franks. Because of Clovis's efforts, a large number of churches were established in the formerly pagan lands of the Frankish empire, establishing a Nicene Christianity for the first time in Germanic lands, most of whom had been converted to Arian Christianity.

Today in Church History

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

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The third commandment recalls the holiness of the sabbath, a day set apart for the Lord, for rest, and for praise of God’s creation and saving work. It invites us to pause from everyday work so that people, especially the poor, may be refreshed. Jesus teaches that the sabbath is made for man and is a day for mercy, doing good, and honoring God. Through Christ’s Resurrection on the first day of the week, Sunday became the Lord’s Day for Christians, recalling both creation and the new creation. For Catholic families, Sunday worship is a regular, visible way to honor God as Creator and Redeemer and to celebrate his gifts of creation and salvation.

The celebration of the Lord’s Day and the Eucharist is at the heart of the Church’s life, with Sunday observed as the foremost holy day of obligation. From the earliest apostolic age, Christians have gathered together to encourage one another in faith. The parish gathers the faithful for the Sunday Eucharist, teaches Christ’s saving doctrine, and practices the Lord’s charity through good works and brotherly love. The faithful are bound to participate in Mass on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, unless they are excused for a serious reason or dispensed by their pastor. In the Sunday Eucharist, we witness to our belonging to Christ and his Church, grow in faith and charity, and strengthen one another.

¶ 2175

Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ's Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath and announces man's eternal rest in God. For worship under the Law prepared for the mystery of Christ, and what was done there prefigured some aspects of Christ:

Today's Mass Readings

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