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Five Catholic Feast Days to Celebrate in October
October is the month of the Rosary, but it is also one of the most “star-studded” months in terms of recognizable feast days.
To honor these holy men and women, and to help you on your mission to live, study and spread the faith, we’re offering short features and meditations for a selection of feast days this month. We chose five, but be sure to check the calendar because you’re sure to recognize almost every saint we celebrate this month.
May the angels and saints surround you this month and always!October 1: St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Quote:“Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be.”Virtue or Devotion: Surrender
Prayer Prompt: St. Therese teaches us that every act and encounter can be transformed into heroic acts of love if we surrender our hearts to the Lord.
What are the little ‘thorns’ in our day—perhaps the small task we dread, the person who irritates us, the activity we don’t enjoy—that we can turn into an act of love?
St. Therese, pray for us to become more wholly surrender God’s perfect will for our lives!
October 2: Guardian Angels
Quote: “When tempted, invoke your angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped. Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him; he trembles and flees at the sight of your guardian angel.” -St. John Bosco
Virtue or Devotion: Devotion to our Guardian Angel
Prayer Prompt: Catholic tradition informs us that we all have been gifted a guardian angel—a special delegate from the Heavenly Host commission to protect and defend us in the spiritual battles we face every day.
Guardian Angel, draw close to me, protect me from the enemy, and encourage me in my pursuit of virtue. May my actions reflect my gratitude to God for your angelic presence!
October 4: St. Francis of Assisi
Quote: “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received – only what you have given.”
Virtue or Devotion: Detachment
Prayer Prompt:St. Francis is beloved for many things, but his deep internal poverty was a hallmark of his character. So detached from his earthly possessions, St. Francis is a powerful witness of how we are called to live in right order with our material goods.St. Francis, teach us to see everything as a blessing from the Lord—in our lack and our abundance—so that we may cultivate a healthy relationship with everything we have been given. Inspire us to desire heaven above all. Pray for us!
October 18: St. Luke, The Evangelist
Quote: “I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.” (Lk 1:3-4)
Virtue or Devotion: Hunger for truth
Prayer Prompt: Dominated by a historical perspective, Luke’s Gospel seeks to ensure that the truth about Jesus Christ and all the events included in salvation history were meticulously detailed.
St. Luke, foster in us a deep hunger for the truth. Encourage us this day to be bold in our proclamation of it—even when it’s costly. Pray for us!
October 22: St. John Paul II
Quote: “We cannot live without hope. We have to have some purpose in life, some meaning to our existence. We have to aspire to something. Without hope, we begin to die.”
Virtue or Devotion: Hope
Prayer Prompt: In this Jubilee Year of Hope, the message of Pope John Paul II feels particularly powerful. In many ways, his entire life was a witness to hope.
Where in our own hearts do we struggle to hope? Are there situations that feel bleak? Perhaps there are long-sufferings that we cannot conceptualize will ever end.
It is precisely here that the Lord wants to strengthen our virtue of hope.
St. John Paul the Great, instill in our hearts a hope so deep that all the powers of hell cannot threaten. Pray for us!
