Sunday, May 09, 2010

St. Monica on Mother's Day

St. Monica is the patron saint of married women and of mothers. She is the example of patient prayer, fasting and praying for her son Augustine's conversion for years. St. Monica also prayed for years for the conversion of her pagan husband and mother-in-law. All three eventually converted.

Mother's Day has become a rather saccharine holiday when in fact, motherhood itself is far from easy. Motherhood requires patience and persistence, suffering and silence.

Both Our Lady and St. Monica knew this. Both went to that private inner place to pray for their sons who they knew would need divine grace in order to survive in this world.

For the times when motherhood keeps us up at night, either literally or figuratively, both St. Monica and Mary, the Mother of Jesus are there, praying with us for our children.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

St. Monica, pray for us. Pray to God for the salvation of my unconverted family members and for His blessings on my own mother. Amen.


Thanks for the post. Yes, Mother's Day, like just about all the other holidays, have been taken over by commercialism. It's all about what you buy, whether cards, flowers, candy, etc. But as you noted, motherhood isn't for the fainthearted!

Blessings!

Evan

Staying in Balance said...

Thanks, Evan!

Dymphna's favorite quotes


"Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews). Within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition. "— Rodney Stark

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