Friday, August 26, 2016

21st Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 27-08-16 (Memorial of St. Monica)

1 Cor 1:26-31 / Matthew 25:14-30

Today we celebrate the memorial of St Monica, the mother of St Augustine, whose memorial we will celebrate tomorrow.

We celebrate this memorial not simply because St Monica was the mother of a great saint.

The opening prayer for Mass goes like this and it is worth to take note: God of mercy, comfort of those in sorrow, the tears of St Monica moved you to convert her son, St Augustine to the faith of Christ.

St Monica was born of Christian parents. She married a good man but he had a violent temper and was sometimes unfaithful.

But St Monica managed to convert him to Christianity and he was later baptized.

Her son, Augustine, proved to be a much greater challenge.

When she was exhausted and tired with her son's wild and wheeling ways, she approached a bishop to ask him to intervene.

The bishop responded with these prophetic words: Let him be, and continue to pray for him. It is impossible that a son of so many tears should be lost.

St Monica dedicated most of her life praying for the conversion of St Augustine.

All in all, she prayed for something like 30 years before she finally had the joy of seeing St Augustine baptized.

St Monica trusted in the Lord and kept believing that the Lord would be faithful to His promises of salvation. And the Lord rewarded her for her faithfulness to Him.

The consolation, experienced by St Monica and her total abandonment to God can also be ours today when we persevere in patience and in trust.