Daybreak

• Monday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time
• Saint of the Day: St. Helena; mother of Emperor Constantine the Great; between 326 and 328 A.D., Helena visited the Holy Places in the Middle East; she had many churches constructed, and ordered a pagan temple built over the site of the Crucifixion to be destroyed; in the ruins, she found three crosses; tradition holds that Helena brought a woman who was near death, and had her touch the three crosses, and she fully recovered when touching the third one; Helena declared it to be the "True Cross"; she died around 330 A.D.
• Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/18/25
• Gospel: Matthew 19:16-22

• 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
• Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/17/25
• Gospel: Luke 12:49-53

• Saturday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
• Optional Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary, 975-1038; son of the Chief of the Magyars; baptized at the age of 10, along with his father; when he succeeded his father, he adopted a policy of Christianization of the country for political and religious reasons; under Stephen, one of every ten towns was required to build a church and support a priest; he abolished pagan customs, and was easily accessible to all, especially the poor; he died in 1038
• Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/16/25
• Gospel: Matthew 19:13-15

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven

Friday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/15/25

Gospel: Luke 1:39:56

• Thursday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
• Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, 1894-1941; Conventual Franciscan priest arrested twice by the Nazis; took the place of a man sentenced to death, and was, himself, executed
• Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/14/25
• Gospel: Matthew 18:21-19:1

• Wednesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
• Optional Memorial of Saints Pontian and Hippolytus; Pontian was Roman by birth, and was elected pope in 230, a time when a synod condemned Origen as a priest and teacher; in 235, Pontian was arrested and exiled in Sardinia; Hippolytus was the first antipope, and he was also exiled to Sardina in 235; they reconciled in the mines; both died in 235 A.D., and share the same feast day
• Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/13/25
• Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20

• Tuesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
• Optional Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, 1572-1641; widowed after seven years of marriage, St. Francis de Sales became her spiritual director; she wanted to become a nun, but St. Francis persuaded her to defer this decision; Francis told Jane of his plan to found an institute of women who would exemplify the virtues of Mary at the visitation--thus, their name, the Visitation Nuns; the congregation began when Jane was 45; she underwent numerous sufferings--St. Francis de Sales died, her son was killed, a plague ravaged France, and her daughter-in-law and son-in-law died; Jane Frances died while on a visitation of convents of the community
• Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/12/25
• Gospel: Matthew 18:1-5. 10, 12-14

• Monday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
• Memorial of St. Clare of Assisi, 1194-1253; lifelong friend and spiritual student of St. Francis; at 18, she escaped from her father's house, and was placed in a Benedictine convent by St. Francis; as her father and uncles stormed the convent, she clung to the altar of the church, and remained adamant; her sister Agnes and others joined her; they lived a simple life of great poverty, austerity, and complete seclusion from the world, according to a Rule which Francis gave them as a Second Order; she became abbess at the age of 21, and remained in that position until her death
• Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/11/25
• Gospel: Matthew 17:22-27

• 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
• Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/10/25
• Gospel: Luke 12:32-48

• Saturday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time
• Optional Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, 1891-1942; brilliant philosopher from a Jewish family, she stopped believing in God at age 14; but the autobiography of St. Teresa so captivated Edith Stein that it led her to baptism in 1922; twelve years later, she became a Carmelite nun, taking the name, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross; she spent four years in the Cologne Carmel, and then moved to the Carmel in Echt, Netherlands; the Nazis occupied that country in 1940; they arrested all Jews who had become Christians; Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa--who was also Catholic--died in a gas chamber at Auschwitz in 1942
• Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/9/25
• Gospel: Matthew 17:14-20