In Conversation with God – Volume 7 Part 1 Feasts July - September by Fernandez Francis

Author:Fernandez, Francis [Fernandez, Francis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scepter (UK) Ltd
Published: 2011-11-26T05:00:00+00:00

27 AUGUST

19. SAINT MONICA

Memorial

Monica was born of a Christian family in Tagaste, northern Africa in 331. At a very young age, she was given in marriage to a pagan gentleman named Patrick. She bore him several children including Augustine whose conversion she won through constant prayer and abundant tears. This saint is a great example of Christian motherhood. She died in Ostia, Italy, in 387.

19.1 St Monica’s prayer for the conversion of her son Augustine.

The Gospel of today’s Mass narrates Jesus’ arrival in the city of Naim, in the company of his disciples and a large crowd of people. On entering, the Lord encountered a funeral procession, with a widow whose only son they were bringing to bury. And the Lord, seeing her, had compassion, and said: ‘Do not weep.’ He went up and touched the stretcher, so the bearers stood still. Then he said, ‘Young man, I say to thee, arise.’ And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And He gave him to his mother.[296] This miracle is wrought in souls again and again. Many who were dead to God have been restored to Life.

For many years, Augustine, the son of St Monica, lived outside of God’s favour. He was dead to grace through sin. The saint whose feast we celebrate today is the irreproachable mother who through her example, tears, and prayers, obtained from the Lord the spiritual resurrection of one who would later become one of the greatest saints and doctors of the Church. Furthermore, St Monica’s daily fidelity to God also won the conversion of her husband Patrick, who was a pagan. She exerted a profound influence on all those who formed part of the family circle. St Augustine summarizes the life of his mother in these words: She looks after everyone as if she truly were the mother of all. She also serves everyone, as if she were the daughter of all.[297]

St Monica constantly kept the conversion of her son in mind. She wept much, begged God insistently, and never stopped asking good and wise people to speak to her son and try to convince him to abandon his errors. One day St Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, whom she had already visited several times, took his leave from her in words that have been the consolation of so many mothers and fathers throughout the centuries: Go away from me now. As you live, it is impossible that the son of such tears should perish.[298] The example of St Monica remained engraved on the soul of St Augustine so that years later, perhaps recalling his mother, he exhorted: Do everything in your power to obtain the salvation of those in your family.[299]

The family is truly the appropriate place for children to receive, develop, and often recover the Faith. How pleasing to the Lord to see the Christian family as truly a ‘domestic church’, a place of prayer and of the transmission of faith, of learning through the example of the older ones and of solid Christian attitudes preserved throughout life as a most sacred legacy.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.