St. Monica

I first read about St. Monica going into my first year of university and was absolutely blown away by her story. She was the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, who’s also an inspiring saint for me (but that’s another blog post). Funny enough, the name “Monica” runs in my family; my sister was named Monica (my dad named her), and my paternal grandmother’s middle name was also Monica.

What’s inspirational about St. Monica is her devotion to prayer, and her incredible patience while waiting for God to change the heart of her (then) pagan son, Augustine. The wife of Patritius, an official in present-day Algeria, and also a pagan, Monica endured a rather lonely Christian life. She made use of it by devoting her time to prayer for the conversion of her husband and son. God’s will was definitely to see those two men become spiritual leaders in the family: Patritius converted to Christianity before his death, and her son went to be a scholar for the Church and then a saint. (The story of St. Augustine is a wonderful story that always lifts me, knowing that there’s always hope for people we think might be beyond hopeless. We can’t forget that!)

As someone who struggles with patience almost daily, St. Monica is a good saint to celebrate and learn about. Imagine, years of praying for the same person to change his or her ways, to find Christ, when after years and years it seems to be getting more and more hopeless. I know true love knows no boundaries, but I truly can’t imagine the doubt she would have been up against throughout those trying years. Compounded with her unhappy marriage to Patritius (abuse and adultery in tow), it would have been quite the difficult life, and years of looking at someone without change would have been daunting.

Now imagine her celebration and joy when those men in her lonely Christian life found refuge in God.

Incredible!

Thank you, St. Monica, for praying for your husband and son!