First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Oh Lord Jesus Christ, to Your most Sacred Heart I confide this intention – for our children, and their children’s children, to wholeheartedly support the Articles of Incorporation of the MONTINOLA CUMAGUN CARE FOUNDATION, organized exclusively for charitable, educational, health, and social welfare purposes, without intent of profit. Only look upon me, then do what Your love inspires. Let Your Sacred Heart decide. I count on You. I trust in You. I throw myself on Your mercy. Lord Jesus, You will not fail me.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Your love for me.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Your kingdom come.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have asked You for many favors, but I earnestly implore this one. Take it, place it in Your open Heart. When the Eternal Father looks upon it, He will see it covered with Your Precious Blood. It will be no longer my prayer, but Yours, Jesus. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You. Amen.
Heart Speaks to Heart
Jesus has just set a man free. The man could not speak, and now he speaks. You would expect the crowd to rejoice. Instead, some of them say he must be working for the devil, and others ask him for a sign, as though what happened in front of their eyes was not enough.
Luke tells us that Jesus knew their thoughts. He reads hearts. And what he finds in theirs is division: they see the good, and they refuse it at the same time. So he speaks to them in words anyone can understand. A kingdom divided against itself falls. A house divided against itself comes down.
We know this from experience. A family, a community, and a parish rarely fall apart in a single day. The cracks start inside, long before anyone can see them. And the same happens in us. We say we trust God, and quietly we keep a second foundation just in case: our good name, our plans, and our ability to keep things under control. A heart like that finds it hard to hear God, because it is always listening to two voices at once.
Paul was facing this with the Galatians. They had received the Gospel through faith, a gift spoken to their hearts, and then they began to think they had to earn it. So Paul takes them back to Abraham. Abraham had nothing to guarantee his future. God spoke, Abraham believed, and through him every nation was blessed. His whole life rested on that one conversation, God’s heart speaking to his. So it comes down to a plain question. What power do I really depend on?
Today we celebrate Saint John Henry Newman, whom the Church has proclaimed a Doctor of the Church, a teacher for all of us. His motto was “cor ad cor loquitur,” heart speaks to heart, and his teaching came out of exactly that. He had everything a man could want at Oxford: respect, influence, friends, and a bright future. And when he heard the truth speaking to him, he followed it, even though it cost him much of what he had. He did not see the whole road. He prayed for a kindly light and asked only for the next step. What he teaches us as a Doctor, he first learned on his knees: a heart that listens to one voice can walk like that, even in the dark.
At the end of the Gospel, Jesus speaks of a house swept clean and put in order but empty. The unclean spirit comes back and brings seven worse with him. A tidy heart can still be an empty one. What keeps it safe is the presence of the one who dwells there, the stronger one who has already overcome the strong man. (St. John Henry Newman. – Repost Maruja Paredes)
Friday. October 9, 2026. Saint John Leonardi. John Giovanni Leonardi was born in Lucca, Italy. The youngest of 7 children and raised in the Catholic faith by middle-class parents. John spent time working in a shop of herbs and medicines, enrolled in pharmacy, and worked diligently. He had long been interested in the priesthood and began taking theological formation courses. On the feast of the Epiphany, John was ordained a priest and celebrated his first Mass. As a priest, John realized his passion for pharmaceutics had helped him in his vocation; he was able to help people discover “the medicine of God” – Jesus Christ crucified and risen. He firmly believed that people needed this medicine.” He often said. He spent a lot of time in hospitals and prisons and spreading “the medicine of God” to these people. In 1574, he founded the Congregation of Reformed Priests of the Blessed Virgin, later known as the Order of Clerks Regular of the Mother of God. He encouraged his disciples to have “before the mind’s eye only the honor, service and glory of Christ Jesus Crucified,” and, like a good pharmacist, accustomed to giving out medicines according to careful measurements, he would add: “Raise your hearts to God a bit more and measure things with him.” He chose the Blessed Mother to be the patroness of his order. He always kept his gaze on our Lady, and she was his teacher, sister, and mother who protected him and led him closer to Jesus Christ. Civic leaders opposed the formation of a new religious order, ineffective, their efforts forced John to spend most of the remainder of his life outside Lucca. In keeping with the spirit of the Catholic Counter-Reformation launched by the Council of Trent, John sought to deepen the knowledge and practice of the faith among clergy and lay Catholics; he stressed the universal call to holiness of life for all members, and priority should be given to the formation of pastors, “so that reform begins among those from whom it should be communicated to others. Whoever wishes to carry out a serious moral and religious reform must make first of all, like a good doctor, a careful diagnosis of the evils that beset the Church to be able to prescribe for each of them the most appropriate remedy.” The real medicine was “Christ first of all, Christ in the center of the heart; humanity needs Christ intensely, because he is our “measure.” Either Christ or nothing!” This was John’s prescription for every type of spiritual and social reform. John Leonardi died in Rome on Oct. 9, 1609, having contracted a deadly illness while caring for victims of a plague outbreak. He was venerated for his miracles and religious fervor. Saint John Leonardi was a man in love with Christ and Mary and the sacred field of the Catholic Church, where theological truths grow. Saint John stripped from himself every single personal interest, desire, or goal and merged his life totally with that of Christ.
Father, giver of all good things, you proclaimed the good news to countless people through the ministry of Saint John Leonardi. By the help of his prayers, may the true faith continue to grow. Saint John Leonardi, may your generous example of priestly service inspire a holy jealousy among priests so that they burn with the same desire that consumed you in service to Christ and Mary in the heart of the Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
WORD Today. Luke 11:15-26. When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. “When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.”
Reflection. The words of the Popes. The true problem (…) and it is one that we often overlook, is that conversion does not only make us aware of evil so that we can choose the good; it also forces evil to change its tactics, to become more insidious, to find new disguises that will be hard for us to see through. The battle is real. The tempter keeps coming back, disguised, but he comes back. One of the most helpful virtues to practice in this regard is the virtue of vigilance. Jesus uses a striking example to illustrate the need for vigilance, attentiveness to ourselves and to the Church. He tells us: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’. When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first” (Lk 11:24-26). Our initial conversion follows a certain pattern: the evil that we acknowledge and try to uproot from our lives does indeed leave us, but we would be naïve to think that it will long be gone. In short order, it comes back under a new guise. Before, it appeared rough and violent; now it shows up as elegant and refined. We need to realize that and once again unmask it. Let me put it this way: they are “elegant demons”: they enter smoothly, without our even being conscious of them. Only the daily practice of the examination of conscience can enable us to be aware of them. Hence the importance of the examination of conscience, to keep watch over our house. (Pope Francis, December 2022)
“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.” (Shakespeare)
Business Enterprises are not Legacy: the wake you leave, let the Montinola Cumagun Care Foundation’s Good Work speak, not our family name.
Our Lady of the Impossible, grace those late in life but had more in life who tried to be their brothers’ keepers for those who have less in life – “Ester and I pray for your blessings to grace our children, and their children’s children, to wholeheartedly support The MCC FOUNDATION – The MONTINOLA-CUMAGUN CARE FOUNDATION 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 and (4) Selected Start-up Management and Financial Support for Small Businesses. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48. “The sin of the rich man was not that he did wrong things, but that he did nothing.” (William Barclay, in A.G. Cumagun Autobiography Song of Myself Memoirs, Looking Back at Serendipity, 2002) Our Lady of the Impossible, “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection was left unaided…” Bless the good news of peace and justice through Ester and my founding the Montinola Cumagun Care Foundation. Let the Wake Speak.
Ester and My State of Health
(Vital Stats of Ester and Tony C are recorded every day by 24 hr. PDNs.)
Ester’s morning BP was 110/80. HR 80. O2sat 95%. Temp 36.3
Last Night’s BP 110/70. HR 65. O2sat 97%. Temp. 36.3
Tony’s morning BP was 110/70. HR 60. O2sat 99%. Temp 36.5
Last Night’s BP 110/70. HR 54. O2sat 98%. Temp. 36.7
Beata John Paul 1, watch over Cristina C, Justice Jun’s state of health, Ester’s recovery, and our autistic son John Paul’s emotional stability 57.
To fully appreciate the beauty of a diamond, it must be viewed from many angles. Many angles too are needed to fully love the most precious jewel of all, Jesus Christ.
The Gospels are four such angles showing the life of Jesus from different viewpoints. Another great view is through the eyes of the only person who followed and loved Jesus from the Annunciation (Gospels) to the Ascension (Readings). That person is His Mother.
Mary. Mama Mary walks us through the entire Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious angles of the life of our Savior when we pray with her in the Rosary.
October is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. For many sinners, she and her Rosary have been the lifeline that pulled them back to Jesus.
Rosary means “garland of roses.” The family that prays together stays together. Daily Rosary trains the whole family in humility and obedience, becoming a cohesive garland of lives linked by strong faith, hope, and love for God and each other. Let us pray the Rosary with Mama Mary.
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
Physical Therapy
