A MOTHER WHO NEVER GAVE UP

In my last Blog I mentioned how important it is to give our children a knowledge of the saints but it is also  important for adults- parents- to have some guides as they go through these uncertain times in educating their children in the faith. Yesterday was the feast of SAINT MONICA a who should be an inspiration to all mothers, especially those whose children have lost their way. Today is the feast of the son she saved.

Born in Tagaste (in Algeria) around 330, St. Monica was raised in a Christian family, but married Patricius, a pagan who served on the City Council of Tagaste. Augustine was the couple's eldest son. Monica was a good mother, but Augustine, as a young man, did not follow her example of Christian faith. Monica prayed continually for her son, as well as for her husband. Both eventually become followers of Christ.

Monica, in her fervor to see her son truly come to know the Lord, at times exhibits a lack of trust that God will bring good even out of Augustine’s mistakes and failings. Throughout Confessions, Augustine describes many of his mother’s admirable qualities and gifts including her sincere faith and vast wealth of patience. However, his writing also unveils the fear and worry she lived with wanting to keep watch over her son at all times, and thereby, to a certain extent, desiring to control the course of his life. Even from the earliest days of Augustine’s life, Monica seeks to protect him from any potential dangers to his faith. In his youth, his mother decides not to have him baptized because “if [he] continued to live, [he] should defile [him]self again with sin and, after baptism, the guilt of pollution would be greater and more dangerous” (Confessions 1.11).

St. Monica cried many times over her son’s transgressions, but received affirmation from God on several accounts.

She had a dream in which she wept over her son, and a figure told her that he was still with her. In his autobiography, The Confessions of Saint Augustine, St. Augustine wrote, “that it was my soul’s doom she was lamenting…” The figure told her to be at peace, and “see that where she was there I was also.”

She also received encouragement from a local bishop, who told her that “God’s time will come.” He added, “Go now, I beg you; it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish.”

Augustine credited his mother with planting the seeds of faith in his heart. He called his conversion a return to the faith which had been instilled in him as a child. When Augustine and his friends would get together for philosophical discussions, Augustine would invite his mother to join them. Her wise comments helped nurture the faith that had begun to grow in Augustine's heart.

The conversion of Augustine, whose earlier ways had caused many tears, brought particular joy to Monica. She was present at his baptism. On her way back to Africa with Augustine, she died at Ostia, near Rome, probably some time in October, 387. Her remains are at the Church of Saint Augustine, Rome.  She is an example of the mother who never gives up hope.