THE SAINT MONICA SODALITY of MICHIGAN
email stmonicasodality@hotmail.com
The monthly Masses of the Sodality are:
Assumption Grotto Roman Catholic Church, First Saturday, February 4th at 4pm
Ss. Cyril & Methodius Roman Catholic Slovak Church, Fourth Sunday, January 22nd at 1:30 P.M.
For those who pray for souls to return to the Catholic Faith, and for conversion of sinners
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7
Remember to continue to ask until you receive, to continue to seek until you find, and continue to knock until the door is opened. Do not grow weary in asking, seeking or knocking. Advent is a time of waiting for His coming, to strengthen you to persevere.
God, you reward those who bring their loved ones to you in faith.
From the Magnificat, Luke 5: 17-26, and Isaiah 35: 1-10.
Jesus heals the paralytic because He saw the faith of those who lowered him through the roof.
In their own hearts they have seen "the glory of the Lord", and that is why they are so eager to make firm, knees that are weak and to say to their frightened friend, "Be strong, fear not! Here is your God."
HOW CAN WE BRING THEM TO JESUS?
Today we see young mothers bring their infants and toddlers to the altar to be blessed by the priest when they receive Communion. So, too, can we bring to the altar those we are praying to return to the Catholic Faith and return to union with us, their family.
We can do this in many ways: by reciting the St. Monica Sodality Prayer every day, by reciting the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet for their intention, by writing their names on the petitions slips found at the Petition Box in the hallway. We can also attend the monthly Mass where our petition slips will be placed in a covered album and brought to the altar during the Mass which is offered for the intention of the St. Monica Sodality. And, when possible, we can ask them to attend Mass with us.
The Holy Mass is the most powerful prayer this side of Heaven because our prayers are united to the offering of Jesus, to His Father and our Father.
WHO CAN WE BRING TO JESUS?
Jesus healed the paralytic because He saw the faith of those who brought him. We assume they are his friends, but they could easily have been family, or even strangers who took pity on him.
At first, we generally ask the intercession of St. Monica and St. Augustine for a person we love most dearly. Soon, we begin to pray for family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. And each time we pray the St. Monica Sodality Prayer, we are also praying for total strangers on whom we take pity because we know their only true happiness is to be united with God, the Catholic Church and their loved ones who are also praying the St. Monica Sodality Prayer.
God creates us out of love, we return His love in our acts of mercy. Each act offered for love of another strengthens us to persevere and increases the depth of our love.
HOW CAN WE PREPARE OURSELVES TO RECEIVE JESUS?
Traditionally, the month of December is dedicated to
the Divine Infancy of Jesus. And the virtue is Union.
Union of persons is agreement of mind and heart and will with the one it loves. Supernaturally it is union of the soul with God. In growth in the spiritual life, it is the last stage of sanctity which follows the purgative and illuminative way. In it one is constantly aware of God's presence, and becomes habitually conformed to the will of God.
"The more God wishes to bestow on us,
the more does He make us desire."
St. John of the Cross
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A Statue of Saint Monica At Sts. Cyril & Methodius a statue of St. Monica is venerated after Mass. It is a third-class relic, which means it has been touched to a bone of St. Monica. It is a sacramental. Sacramental as defined in the Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J, Modern Catholic Dictionary states: “ Objects or actions that the Church uses . . . in order to achieve through the merits of the faithful, certain effects, mainly of a spiritual nature. They differ from sacraments. . . Their efficacy depends not on the rite itself, as in the sacraments, but on the influence of prayerful petition; that of the person who uses them and of the Church in approving their practice. . . (and) draw not only on the personal dispositions of the individual but on the merits and prayers of the whole Mystical Body of Christ.” Fr. C. Frank Phillips, C.R. International Director of the Sodality located in Chicago, has stated that our prayers, with faith in God and His Saints, can bring answers above and beyond what we have petitioned, even physical healings. An important action on our part after our prayerful petition, is to seal this exchange with St. Monica by a touch to her statue.
REFLECTIONS God creates us out of love and we return His love with acts of charity. Each act offered for love of another strengthens us to persevere and increases the depth of our love. And what great love and reward awaits those who bring lost souls to You Heavenly Father, for is it not said that all of Heaven rejoices over the return of just one lost sinner? “The more God wishes to bestow on us, the more does He make us desire (it)” St. John of the Cross
Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” Remember to continue to ask until you receive, continue to seek until you find, and continue to knock until the door is opened. Do not grow weary.
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THE SAINT MONICA SODALITY PRAYER
Please recite this prayer DAILY for your intentions and in union with all those also saying this prayer:
Eternal and merciful Father, I give You thanks for the gift of Your Divine Son Who suffered, died and rose for all mankind. I thank You also for my Catholic Faith and ask Your help that I may grow in fidelity by prayer, by works of charity and penance, by reflection on Your Word, and by regular participation in the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.
You gave Saint Monica a spirit of selfless love manifested in her constant prayer for the conversion of her son Augustine. Inspired by boundless confidence in Your power to move hearts, and by the success of her prayer. I ask the grace to imitate her constancy in my prayer for [name(s)] who no longer share(s) in the intimate life of Your Catholic family. Grant through my prayer and witness that (he/she/they) may be open to the promptings of Your Holy Spirit, and return to loving union with Your Church. Grant also that my prayer be ever hopeful and that I may never judge another, for You alone can read hearts. I ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Printed with Diocesan Approval, Diocese of Cleveland 1986
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TRIDUUM (THREE-DAY) NOVENA in HONOR of ST. MONICA For an INCREASE of FAITH, HOPE and CHARITY This Three-Day Novena may be begin three days before or on the feast days of St. Monica August 27 also the Tridentine Mass on May 4th, St. Augustine - August 28, St. Augustine's birthday - November 13, St. Augustine's Baptism - April 24
SECOND DAY Prayer for Hope O glorious mother, St. Monica, although the many means you employed to accomplish the conversion of your son Augustine seemed fruitless, and for a long time God Himself appeared deaf to your earnest prayer and unmoved by your ever-flowing tears, you never lost confidence in obtaining the long-sought grace for Augustine. You lovingly and tenderly admonished your erring son; you watched over him ever with all a mother's love, and fearless of danger and heedless of fatigue, followed him from place to place in his weary and wayward wanderings. In a word, all that a mother's tender love could suggest, all that a mother's anxious solicitude could inspire, all that a wondrous prudence and true wisdom could dictate, you, O great St. Monica, cheerfully did to effect the return to God of your firstborn and darling child. By all these generous efforts, so happily crowned in the end, hear, O mother, the petitions we make to you. Pray for us, too, and pray especially for those who are unmindful of and ungrateful to God. To you, O dearest mother, we are especially dedicated; look upon us, then, as your children, and win for us the grace we need. Regard mercifully the most destitute among us, that sin being diminished, the number of the faithful may increase, and greater glory may be given to Him who is the best of friends, the truest of benefactors, our first beginning and last end, the source of all our hope, our Savior, our God. Amen.
LET US PRAY. O God, look graciously down upon Your children who sigh in this valley of tears. With hope we pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the never-failing help of Your grace, and for the faithful fulfillment of Your promises: to find life everlasting and a happy abode with You in heaven, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer. May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.
Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . . Saint Monica, pray for us.
THIRD DAY Prayer for Charity O glorious mother St. Monica who can conceive the consolation that abounded in your heart, so long the home of brooding sorrow, when you saw your child Augustine rising in the light of grace and giving himself generously to God. When you folded your converted son in your arms and tears of every joy streamed forth to tell the glowing jubilee of your heart, Oh, how in that moment God in his mercy recompensed your years of sorrow and anxiety, your long and weary days of racking suspense. It was impossible that a child of tears like yours should perish and when your son Augustine heard the call of God he obeyed it, and his life and his deeds flung a luster all their own on you, St. Monica. O fortunate mother, twice mother of your child, deign to listen to our prayers and present our petitions to God. Look lovingly, and with all a mother's interest on us assembled here, under your protection, to honor you. We love you and let us become, as St. Augustine of old, the objects of your maternal love. Pray that we, too, like St. Augustine, may have strength to cling to God, and triumph over sin and temptation. By your prayers break the fetters of sin that hold in cruel bondage the souls of your sinful children in this world. O mother, pray that the miracle of grace in the heart of Augustine may again and again be repeated in these day of universal sin, and that the erring children of Jesus may be led back to the fold so that united here on earth, we may securely go through the dangers of life and be united with you, our mother, in heaven forever. Amen
LET US PRAY. O God, look graciously down upon Your children who sigh in this valley of tears. With hope we pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the never-failing help of Your grace, and for the faithful fulfillment of Your promises: to find life everlasting and a happy abode with You in heaven, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer. May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.
Our Father. . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . . Saint Monica, pray for us.
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IN MY DISTRESS I CRIED UNTO THE LORD
St. Monica, pray for us |
THE BEGINNING of the ST. MONICA SODALITY in Michigan
The Saint Monica Sodality of Michigan, at this time, consists of two local chapters of the St. Monica Sodality, the international organization that was formed in 1995 out of St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. Fr. C. Frank Phillips, C.R. is the director of the Sodality, as well as pastor of St. John Cantius.
THE LOCATION OF THE TWO LOCAL CHAPTERS IN THE DETROIT METROPOLITAN AREA THAT OFFER MONTHLY MASSES ARE:
The Assumption Grotto Roman Catholic Church, a national shrine, located in Detroit (directions). This first chapter started in November of 2003 with encouragement from the pastor, Fr. Eduard Perrone. The monthly Mass for the Sodality's intention is First Saturday at 4:00 p.m. The person of contact is Mary (313) 885-6910 St. Monica Sodality at Assumption Grotto is First Saturday of each month at 4:00 P.M.
The second chapter started in January of 2004 at Sts. Cyril & Methodius Roman Catholic Slovak Church in Sterling Heights (directions) was welcomed by the pastor, Fr. Ben Kosnac. Their monthly Mass for the intention of the Sodality is the Fourth Sunday of the month at 1:30 p.m. St. Monica Sodality at St. Cyril, is the fourth Sunday of each month at 1:30 P.M. The person of contact is Jerry (586) 883-1721 St. Monica Sodality at St. Cyril
Both churches offer Confession and recitation of the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the St. Monica Sodality Prayer. During Mass a covered album, with petition lists and photos for those being prayed, is brought to the altar where your petitions are united with the most sacred offering of Christ.
On a table near the entrance, both churches have Petition Slips at the St. Monica Sodality Petition Box to write the names of those who are no longer practicing the faith. Just place the slip in the box and take a St. Monica Sodality Prayer Card.
WHO are St. MONICA and St. AUGUSTINE?

St. Monica was born of devout parents who educated her in the Catholic Faith in Tagaste, North Africa (now known as Algeria) around 332 A.D. She was given in marriage to Patricius, a pagan Roman official of violent temper. Their first child was Augustine born in 354. They also had another son, Navigius and a daughter, Perpetua. In time, her pagan mother-in-law would come to live with them. St. Monica exercised much patience and prudence in dealing with her husband and his mother. They, and Augustine, would convert through her virtuous life which gave them a living example of the Way of Christ.
Even as a child Augustine showed signs of possessing a great intellect so he was sent to the best schools to train him in the disciplines necessary for a promising career. His search for knowledge and truth took him down many different paths, most were scandalous to his virtuous mother and brought her great sorrow. She continually offered prayers and tears for her son to find his way to the Truth he was so desperately seeking.
For years she begged clergy to convince him to turn away from his way of life. She was told by one bishop that "the heart of this young man is at present too stubborn, but God's time will come". When she persisted the bishop dismissed her with the words, "Go now, I beg of you; it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish".
And so it was to be, to the joy of St. Monica who would witness St. Augustine's baptism in answer to her years of prayer, fasting and tears. This was the second birth of her son, and the most important for it brought Life to his eternal soul. In 387, she could now rest from her labors and
await him in their Heavenly home.
Her perseverence in prayer and sacrifice won for him the grace of conversion. This is why we have her as our intercessor with God for all those who have gone astray. If her life of prayer brought about the conversion of her son, who became a priest, bishop and Doctor of the Church, how much more powerful are St. Monica and St. Augustine's prayers for us today!
August 27 is Saint Monica's feastday, August 28 is Saint Augustine.
PRAYER to SAINT AUGUSTINE
Written by JOHN PAUL II
In November 2004 Pope John Paul II received the relics of St. Augustine at the Vatican. The initiative marked the celebration of the 1,650th anniversary of the birth of the bishop, philosopher and theologian, as well as one of the most influential Fathers of the Church of the West. The Holy Father was so moved when viewing the relics that he composed this prayer to St. Augustine:

"Great Augustine, our
father and teacher, knowledgeable in the luminous ways of God and also in the
tortuous paths of men; we admire the wonders that divine grace wrought in you,
making you a passionate witness of truth and goodness, at the service of
brothers.
At the beginning of the new millennium marked by the cross of Christ, teach us
to read history in the light of Divine Providence, which guides events toward
the definitive encounter with the Father. Direct us toward peaceful ends,
nourishing in our hearts your own longing for those values on which it is
possible to build, with the strength that comes from God, the 'city' made to the
measure of man.
May the profound doctrine, that with loving and patient study you drew from the
ever living sources of Scripture, enlighten all those tempted today by
alienating illusions.
Give them the courage to undertake the path toward that 'interior man' where the
One awaits who alone can give peace to our restless hearts.
Many of our contemporaries seem to have lost the hope of being able to reach --
amid the numerous opposing ideologies -- the truth, of which their innermost
being still keeps a burning nostalgia.
Teach them to never cease in their search, in the certainty that, in the end,
their effort will be rewarded by the satisfying encounter with the supreme Truth
who is source of all created truth.
Finally, St. Augustine, transmit to us also a spark of that ardent love for the
Church, the Catholic Mother of the Saints, which sustained and animated the
toils of your long ministry.
"Have us, walking together under the guidance of legitimate Pastors, reach the
glory of the heavenly Homeland, where, with all the Saints, we will be able to
join the new canticle of the everlasting alleluia. Amen."
.....
Pope John Paul II November 2004
2012 ELECTION: A Brief
Catechism for Catholic Voters. (An excellent
explanation of moral guidelines for the Catholic voter.)
http://www.ewtn.com/vote/brief_catechism.htm
"All copy has been written by Louise Hand"
2007
email stmonicasodality@hotmail.com
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