San Pedro Calungsod Parish,Mohon, Sogod,Cebu

26/08/2026

Patroness of Mothers

Born in Algeria, in 331, to a deeply Christian family of some means. She was given in marriage to Patricius, a pagan, who was a small land-owner.
Patricius had some redeeming features, but he had a violent temper. Monica also had to bear with a cantankerous mother-in-law who lived in her home. Patricius criticized her charity and piety, but always respected her. Her prayers and example finally won her husband and mother-in-law to Christianity. Her husband died in 371, one year after his baptism.
Monica had 3 children, the oldest, Augustine, was only 17 when his father died, a rhetoric student in Carthage. Monica was distressed to learn that her son had accepted the Manichean heresy—”all flesh is evil”—and was living an immoral life. For a while, she refused to let him eat or sleep in her house. Then one night she had a vision that assured her Augustine would return to the faith. From that time on, she stayed close to her son, praying and fasting for him.
Augustine decided to go to Rome to teach rhetoric, but he set sail for Rome. Monica was heartbroken, travel was difficul but she still followed him. She arrived in Rome and pursued him to Milan.
In Milan, Augustine came under the influence of Bishop Saint Ambrose, who also became her spiritual director. Monica became a leader of the devout women in Milan.
She continued her prayers for Augustine during his years of instruction. At Easter 387, Saint Ambrose baptized Augustine and several of his friends.
No one else was aware that Monica knew her life was near the end. She told Augustine, “Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.” She became ill shortly after and suffered severely for nine days before her death.
Almost all we know about St. Monica is in the writings of Saint Augustine, especially his Confessions.
Saint Monica is a model of patience. Her long years of persevering prayer, coupled with a strong faith, well-disciplined character finally led the conversion of her gifted son, St. Agustine.

From My Morning Prayer

26/08/2026

Saint Monica
August 27

Dear Saint Monica, you were once the mournful mother of a prodigal son. Your faithfulness to prayer brought you and your son so close to God that you are now with him in eternity. By your intercession and God’s grace, your son St. Augustine became a great and venerable Saint of the Church. Please take my request to God with the same fervor and persistence with which you prayed for your own son.
(Mention your intentions here)
With your needs, worries and anxieties, you threw yourself on the mercy and providence of God. Through sorrow and pain, you constantly devoted yourself to God. Pray for me, that I might join you in such a deep faith in God’s goodness and mercy. Above all, dear Saint Monica, pray for me, that I may, like your son, turn from my sin and become a great saint for the glory of God. Amen.

From My Morning Prayer

26/08/2026

Saint Teresa Jornet Ibars

26/08/2026

Teresa Jornet Ibars was born into a family of farmers in Catalonia Spain on 1843. As a child, she displayed a deep concern for the conditions of the poor, and she often would bring someone to the home of her Aunt Rosa for something to eat, medical aid, and other necessities they might need. Aunt Rosa reinforced Teresa’s natural desire to help the poverty-stricken.
Teresa began studying to be a teacher and at 19 started to teach.
She had a strong calling to the monastic life, she sought admission to the Poor Clares but anti-clerical laws of the day prevented that from happening. In 1870, she become a Secular Carmelite to help develop her spirituality, then her father died, and she came down with tuberculosis, during recovery she began caring for the many elderly people living alone and suffering from severe poverty.It opened her eyes.
She opened her fist house in Barbastro, along with some followers the group took the habit and became a religious congregation, being a Lay Carmelite, she took the name of St. Teresa of Avila. Her name became Teresa of Jesus Jornet. The official founding of the new order, The Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly was 1873, totally dedicated to the care and well being of the aged. Mother Teresa of Jesus taught her Sisters to sacrifice whatever they had to help the men and women that were in their care. She explained that these people were God’s gifts and that they were serving Him as they cared for them.
Mother Teresa of Jesus had suffered from a debilitating illness, she was noted for the powerful sense of peace she always exuded. This inner peace drew many young women to join with her.
In 1897 an outbreak of cholera hit Spain. Mother Teresa of Jesus joined her Sisters to help care for the victims of this dread disease. By the time it was over, 24 Sisters and 70 patients had died from the disease. Mother Teresa was exhausted and ill and was taken to the order’s house in Liria she died at 56 years old. Her little act of compassion grew into a Congregation of fifty houses in her life’s time.Today there are over 2600 religious serving the elderly in 210 facilities in different parts of the world.

From My Morning Prayer

26/08/2026

Saint Teresa of Jesus Jornet Ibars
August 26

O God, St Teresa of Jesus Jornet served our Lord Jesus.
Lead us by her love to serve all those to whom the world offers no comfort and little help.
Through us give hope to the hopeless, love to the unloved, peace to the troubled, and rest to the weary,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Saint Teresa of Jesus Jornet Ibars, who tirelessly served Our Lord Jesus, pray for us!
St. Teresa of Jesus Jornet, please pray for us, and for the lonely elderly of our world.

From My Morning Prayer

24/08/2026

Saint Louis of France

24/08/2026

Born at Poissy, France, in 1214, from his tenderest infancy he was inspired with a love for holy things.
At 12, he lost his father and his mother became regent of the kingdom. He then was crowned in Reims. At 20, he married Margaret, the daughter of Count of Provence, and 2 years later he took the reigns of government into his own hands.
At his coronation as king , Louis IX bound himself by oath to behave as God’s anointed, as the father of his people and feudal lord of the King of Peace. He actually interpreted his kingly duties in the light of faith. After the violence of two previous reigns, he brought peace and justice.
At 30, he “took the cross” for a Crusade. His reign is remembered as a medieval golden age in which the Kingdom of France reached an economic as well as political peak. His fellow European rulers esteemed him highly, not only for his military pre-eminence and the wealth of his kingdom, but for his reputation of fairness and moral integrity.
He was a reformer and developed French royal justice.
Louis was devoted to his people, founding hospitals, visiting the sick, and like his patron Saint Francis, caring even for people with leprosy. He united France, by the force of his personality and holiness. For many years the nation was at peace.
Every day, Louis had 13 special guests from among the poor to eat with him, and a large number of poor were served meals near his palace. During Advent and Lent, all who presented themselves were given a meal, and Louis often served them. He kept lists of needy people, whom he regularly relieved, in every province of his dominion. Disturbed by new Muslim advances in Syria, he led another crusade, but was diverted to Tunis. The army was decimated by a disease and Louis himself died on foreign soil at the age of 56 he was succeeded by his son Philip III.
Saint Louis' actions were inspired by Christian zeal and Catholic devotion. He was a just king. Renowned for his moderate lifestyle, reason, bravery and chivalrous politeness, he was a splendid knight whose kindness and engaging manner made him popular. They regard him as a "monk king", the only canonized king of France.

From My Morning Prayer

24/08/2026

Saint Louis of France
August 25

O God, who called your servant Louis of France to an earthly throne that he might advance your heavenly kingdom, and gave him zeal for your Church and love for your people,
Mercifully grant that we who commemorate him this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of your saints.
Saint Louis intercede for me with our Heavenly Father. Obtain for me the grace to follow in thy footsteps, to be always a dutiful child of St. Francis, and to observe exactly, all the days of my life, that holy rule which thou loved so ardently and kept so faithfully, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen
Saint Louis, pray for us!

From My Morning Prayer

23/08/2026

23/08/2026

Saint Bartholomew