Thursday. August 27, 2026. Saint Monica, Patroness of Mothers, was 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 difficult, 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 and well-disciplined character, finally led to the conversion of her gifted son, St. Augustine.
EWTN Online Mass Presider Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ
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 son. We place our petitions in your hands for your prayers for our children to support the MONTINOLA-CUMAGUN CARE FOUNDATION’S OBJECTIVES: (1.) Special Children SPED; a child’s mind is the most precious thing to waste. (The motto of the American Negro College), and the Handicapped Senior Citizens – Physical Therapy. (2.) Financial Support for Diocesan priests and Grade School Teachers for the rural areas. (3.) Computer Start-up Education Tools for selected public schools. “… expose and acclimate the youth to Information Technology—the age of computers – children must be computer literate to better their lives for the future and help our country progress to a global economy. Estonia and Finland, two countries smaller than ours, have put into their laws that access to the internet is a right of all citizens, similar to access to water and electricity.” [Negros Economic Development Foundation 40th Charter Foundation Day, Antonio G. Cumagun, Guest Speaker, Bacolod City, July 24, 2010] and (4.) Selected Start-up Management and Financial Support for Small Business. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded…” Luke 12:48. The sin of the rich man was not that he did wrong things, but that he did nothing. (A.G.C. Autobiography Song of Myself Memoirs, Looking Back at Serendipity, 2002) We are comforted by our faith in the Resurrection. “We live and die; Christ died and lived!” (John Stott) Christ lives for us to be our brothers’keeper. (Cf. 2nd of the 10 Commandments) – “Nobody goes to Heaven alone!” (Bishop Fulton J. Sheen) St. Monica, with your worries, anxieties, sorrow, and pain, you threw yourself on the mercy and providence of God. Pray for Ester and me, that we can join you in such a deep faith in God’s goodness and mercy. Above all, that we may, like you, parent our children as you did raise our children in faith and bring our families into the Light of Jesus.
Santuario de San Antonio Parish Online Mass Presider Fr. Adam Bakari, OFM
WORD Today. Matthew 24:42-51. Jesus said to his disciples: “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
Reflection. The words of the Popes. In today’s Gospel, Jesus exhorts us to be ready for His coming: “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Mt 24:42). Keeping watch does not mean to have one’s eyes physically open, but to have one’s heart free and facing the right direction, ready to give and to serve. This is keeping watch! The slumber from which we must awaken is constituted of indifference, of vanity, of the inability to establish genuine human relationships, of the inability to take charge of our brother and sister who is alone, abandoned, or ill. The expectation of Jesus who is coming must therefore translate into a commitment to vigilance. It is above all a question of wonder before God’s action, at his surprises, and of according him primacy. Vigilance also means, in a concrete sense, being attentive to our neighbour in difficulty, allowing oneself to be called upon by his needs, without waiting for him or her to ask us for help, but learning to foresee, to anticipate, as God always does with us. May Mary, the vigilant Virgin and Mother of hope, guide us on this journey, helping us to turn our gaze towards the “mountain of the Lord,” that attracts all men and all peoples. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 1 December 2019)
Radyo Katipunan Online Mass Presider Fr. Victor Baltazar, SJ
“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.” (William Shakespeare: Julius Caesar (Act 3, Scene 2) Business Enterprises are not Legacy: the wake you leave, who you leave it to, and for what? Let your wake speak, not your name.
Our Lady of the Impossible, grace those late in life but have more in life who want and try to be their brothers’ keepers for those who have less in life – “Ester and I for your blessings and grace for our enabling children to wholeheartedly support the MONTINOLA-CUMAGUN CARE FOUNDATION’S OBJECTIVES: (1.) Special Children SPED, a child’s mind is the most precious thing to waste. (The motto of the American Negro College), and the Handicapped Senior Citizens – Physical Therapy. (2.) Financial Support for Diocesan priests and Grade School Teachers for the rural areas. (3.) Computer Start-up Education Tools for selected public schools. The parable of Mt 24:42 does not mean to have one’s eyes physically open, but to have one’s heart free and facing the right direction, ready to give and to serve. This is keeping watch! Our Lady of the Impossible, pray for us. “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection was left unaided. . . Amen.”
Ester and my state of health – vital stats are recorded by Ester’s everyday, 24 hr. PDNs.
This morning, Ester’s BP was 110/70. HR 65. O2sat 97%.Temp. 36.3
Last Night’s BP 110/70. HR 76. O2sat 97%. Temp 36.5
Tony’s morning BP was 110/70. HR 61. O2sat 99%. Temp. 36.6
Last Night’s BP 110/70. HR 58. O2sat 99%. Temp 36.7
Beata John Paul 1, watch over Cristina C, Justice Jun’s state of health, and Ester’s health recovery of more than 5 years of stomah adhesion recovery, our autistic son John Paul’s (was baptized John Paul a decade before Cardinal Luciano of Milan took the regnal name of John Paul) emotional and physical disability, 57 years old, and my weakening 89-year-old body.
FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED AND SOULS IN PURGATORY
In Memory of all those who left us. We remember you in the morning and at night. You are always with us. We pray for the souls in Purgatory.
Blessed Mother Mary, I bring to you for your intercession the souls of Amb. Manuel R. and Dolores G. Cumagun, Juana Cumagun, Annette Cumagun, Lina Beltran, Judge and Mrs. Dolores Cumagun, Gov. Primo & Magdalena H. Gaffud, Dr. Trino, Sr. & Angeles Montinola, Betty, Luie, Trino, Jr. Montinola, Bernardino, and Isabel Jalandoni. Dr. Terry Lirio-Montinola, Dr. & Mrs. Tomacruz, Akira Tsusaka, Boy Eugenio, Jesus Ibañez, Sen. Nene Pimentel, Santiago Ranada 111, Boysie Villavicensio, Patria Manuel, Dr. Mariano Laurel, Rene Datu, (Ateneo ’54 – Jimmy Ongpin, Atty. Ato Gonzales, Buddy Joaquin, Fr. Unson, Msgr. Tantoco, Atty. Art Alafriz, Robert Arevalo Ylagan, Maximo Abesamis, Jr., Jesse Paredes), Atty. C. Platon, Araceli Rivera, Rey Castañeda, Col. Tanseco, Dr. E Fores, Dr. J. Caedo, Christine Syjuco, Leni Panganiban, Raul Boncan, Atty. Spanky and Dolly Perez, Amb. Albert del Rosario, Nellie Valdez, Toti Herbosa, Tec Syjuco, AL, Umberto (Beck) Gonzales, and Rufo Colayco. Pray 7 Our Father and The Credo