(Photo Credit Joseph Pérez -Unsplash)
By Holly Gustafson
For the past year, I’ve written monthly about saints that can provide families with advice, hope, and consolation. There was Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, patron saint of mental health; Our Lady of Lourdes, patron saint of families in need of healing; St. Macrina the Elder, patron saint of grandparents; St. Faustina, patron saint of gratitude; St. Irenaeus and Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, patron saints for big problems; St. Charles de Foucauld, patron saint for worried parents; Mater Dolorosa, patron saint for the heavy-hearted; Father Damien of Molokai, patron saint of accompaniment; and finally, last month, Saints Martha and Mary, patron saints for not giving up on your kids. But there’s never been any question for me which saint would round out the year this August: it’s got to be St. Monica.
St. Monica was a devout Christian and holy woman in her own right, but she’s probably best known for the conversion of her son, St. Augustine, who not only became a Christian but also went on to become a doctor of the Church and one of the most influential theologians in 2000 years of Catholicism. (Her feast day is celebrated on August 27, fittingly one day before her son’s.) Monica’s only goal in life was her son’s conversion – “there was indeed one thing for which to tarry a little in this life, and that was that I might see you a Catholic Christian before I died,” she said to Augustine. And it was her love and her desperate yet patient prayers, more than anything she said and did, that ultimately brought Augustine to Christ and the Church.
In order to understand St. Monica’s influence on her son, perhaps it’s best to hear from St. Augustine himself. When his mother died, St. Augustine was inconsolable, and nothing seemed able to bring him any comfort (he tried to pray, as he had been taught, and when that didn’t help, he took a bath which he’d heard could “drive trouble from the mind,” but unfortunately, but not entirely surprising, that was ineffective, too).
The only thing that finally brought Augustine some comfort in the grief of his mother’s death was reflecting on her life of love, and there are two things he noted about her – her love for God, and her love for him. Speaking to God of his mother, Augustine writes in his Confessions: “And then, little by little did I brink back my former thoughts of Your handmaid, her devout conversation with You, her holy tenderness and attentiveness towards us….”
This is what converted Augustine, who would go on to become one of the greatest saints of the Church: witnessing the devout prayer of his mother and experiencing her great love, through tenderness and attention, for him.
So if we ever wonder what our role is in this life as parents, we need only look to St. Monica, who did the only two things necessary to create a saint in her own son: she prayed, devoutly and intimately to her God, and, with tenderness and attentiveness, she loved her children.
St. Monica, pray for us.
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Holly Gustafson lives with her husband, James, and their five children, in Regina, where they attend Christ the King Parish. Holly received her Masters in Linguistics at the University of Manitoba, and now pursues her love of language through art, writing, public speaking, and unsolicited grammatical advice. The best advice she ever received was from her spiritual friend, St. Faustina, who told her that when in doubt, “Always ask Love. It advises best.” |
