Put the following in index.php, for instance right before <?php get_footer(); ?>
PHP Code:
<?php if ( is_front_page() ) { ?>
<?php $my_query = new WP_Query('category_name=featured&showposts=5');
while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?>
All the code parts from index.php here, depending on what you want to display
I.e. Post Kicker, Post, Post Footer...
What you put here will be repeated for every post as specified above
(5 posts from the category "featured")
category_name is the URL name of the category i.e.:
/.../category/featured/.../
and not the category title:
"Featured"
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php } ?>
This would display 5 posts from the category "Featured".
Replace <?php if ( is_front_page() ) { ?> with
<?php if ( is_page() ) { ?> to display on all pages
<?php if ( is_page('17') ) { ?> to display on the page with the ID 7
query_posts would be used to modify the main post loop, but that's already being used to display the post (= "Page" page content) on the page.