Catholic Family Devotions

Understanding the Day

Season

Advent

Week

Week 1 of Advent

Rank

Feast

St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor, is celebrated in Advent, the Church’s season of expectant preparation for the coming of Christ. Advent invites families to quiet preparation, prayer, and acts of charity as they await Christmas. The rank “Double” means this feast is an important local celebration: it takes liturgical precedence over ordinary weekday observances and is marked with the proper collect, readings, and prayers for the saint, while remaining within the Advent cycle. In the divino_afflatu calendar this feast falls in the second week of Advent; there is no octave or special vigil attached in the information given, so normal Advent liturgical practices continue before and after the day. This celebration matters for families because it honors a holy bishop whose life of faith and service calls Christians to charity, pastoral care, and joyful preparation for Christ’s coming.

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

Willful Murder

Sins Crying to Heaven

Willful murder
Willful murder is the deliberate and unjust taking of innocent human life. Scripture describes innocent blood as crying to God because the act attacks a person made in His image and commits an injustice that the victim can no longer answer on earth.

The Ten Commandments

Thou shalt not kill.
The Fifth Commandment protects human life because every person is made by God and belongs ultimately to Him. It forbids unjust killing and deliberate injury, and it also condemns hatred, revenge, and conduct that recklessly endangers oneself or another.

Saint & Feast

Principal celebration

Nicholas

St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor

4th-century Christian bishop and saint

Born: 0250-00-00 · Patara
Died: 0350-00-00 · Myra

Saint Nicholas of Myra, also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara in Anatolia during the time of the Roman Empire. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, toymakers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His reputation evolved among the pious, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the folklore of Santa Claus through Sinterklaas.

Learn more about Nicholas

Today in Church History

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

Catechism

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The church, the house of God, is the proper place for the parish community’s liturgical prayer and a privileged place for adoration of Christ’s real presence in the Blessed Sacrament. At home, a family can set aside a simple “prayer corner” with Sacred Scripture and icons; this little oratory can foster prayer together. Indeed, the Christian family is the first place where we learn to pray.

Prayer needs both regular times and a heart that remembers God. Morning and evening prayer, grace before and after meals, the Liturgy of the Hours, Sundays centered on the Eucharist, and the feasts of the liturgical year offer helpful rhythms for family life. Christian tradition also recognizes vocal, meditative, and contemplative prayer, each calling us to composure of heart, attentiveness to God’s Word, and dwelling in his presence. As the pilgrim Church, we also ask for the intercession of the saints.

In prayer, God speaks to us through his Word, and we respond with both our hearts and our words. Jesus taught his disciples the vocal prayer of the Our Father, and vocal prayer is an essential part of Christian life. Because it is expressed outwardly, it is especially accessible to groups and can lead us toward deeper, more contemplative prayer. Meditation invites us to seek understanding of the Christian life, reflect on what we read in Scripture and other helps for prayer, and bring it honestly into the realities of our lives. As we pray, we can ask, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” Through vocal prayer and meditation on the mysteries of Christ, we are led toward a deeper knowledge of the love of Jesus and union with him.

¶ 2694

The Christian family is the first place for education in prayer.

Today's Mass Readings

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