The virtue for August is diligence or perseverance. The saint who best exemplifies this trait is St. Monica. Her son, Augustine was a troubled youth who lived an immoral life after accepting the Manichean heresy. Perhaps its most enticing doctrine was, as Augustine later explained, that "it was not we who sin but some other nature that sins within us. It flattered my pride to think that I incurred no guilt, and when I did wrong, not to confess it." A perfect system of belief for the young man who had lost his father at the age of 17.
THIRD DAY: Prayer for Charity
O glorious mother St. Monica, who can conceive the consolation that abounded in thy heart, so long the home of brooding sorrow, when thou sawst thy child Augustine rising in the light of grace and giving himself generously to God; when thou foldedst thy converted son in thy arms, and tears of very joy streamed forth to tell the glowing jubilee of thy heart. Oh, how in that moment God in his mercy recompensed thy years of sorrow and anxiety, thy long and weary days of racking suspense. It was impossible that a child of tears like thine should perish; and when thy son Augustine heart the call of God, he obeyed it, and his life and his deeds flung a lustre all their own on thee, St. Monica. O fortunate mother, twice mother of thy child, deign to listen to our prayers and present our petitions to God; look lovingly, and with all a mother's interest on us assembled here, under thy protection, to honor thee. We love thee; let us become, as St. Augustine of old, the objects of thy maternal love. Pray that we, too, like St. Augustine, may have strength to cling to God, and triumph over sin and temptation. By thy prayers break the fetters of sin that hold in cruel bondage the souls of thy sinful children in this world. O mother, pray that the miracle of grace in the heart of Augustine may again and again be repeated in these day of universal sin, and that the erring children of Jesus may be let back to the fold; that, united here on earth, we may securely go through the dangers of life and be united with thee, our mother, in heaven for ever. Amen
Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . .Saint Monica, pray for us.
LET US PRAY. O God, look graciously down upon your children who sigh in this valley of tears. Hopefully we pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the never-failing help of your grace, and for the faithful fulfillment of your promises: to find life everlasting and a happy abode with you in heaven, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.
May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen
Here is the final installment of the chaplet:
5) I join my tears to yours --- against the spirit of Doubt, toward the spirit of Faith --- Saint Monica, pray for me in the Holy Name of Jesus!
4 Hail Marys...
6) I join my tears to yours --- against the spirit of Fear, toward the spirit of Peace --- Saint Monica, pray for me in the Holy Name of Jesus!
4 Hail Marys...
Returning to pendant, on the first bead pray:
"Saint Monica, Exemplary mother of the great Augustine, you perserveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God. Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray."
On the next pendant bead, pray:
"O great Saint Augustine, take our children under your protection! To our efforts in their behalf, join your intercession for them with God. Exert all your influence and, with the compassion of your loving heart, intercede with the Most Holy Trinity for them. Permit not that our children, sanctified in the waters of baptism, should through mortal sin be banished from the presence of God and suffer eternal punishment."
On the medal:
"Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us and on our children! Lord, graciously hear us! Amen."
SECOND DAY: Prayer for Hope
O glorious mother, St. Monica, who, despite the many means thou employed to accomplish the conversion of thy son Augustine seemed fruitless, though for a long time God himself appeared deaf to thy earnest prayer and unmoved by thy ever-flowing tears, didst never lose confidence in obtaining the long-sought grace for Augustine. Thou didst lovingly and tenderly admonish thy erring son; thou didst watch over him ever with all a mother's love, and fearless of danger and heedless of fatigue, follow him from place to place in his weary and wayward wanderings; in a word, all that t mother's tender love could suggest, all that a mother's anxious solicitude could inspire, all that a wondrous prudence and true wisdom could dictate, thou, O great St. Monica, cheerfully didst to effect the return to God of thy firstborn and darling child. By all these generous efforts, so happily crowned in the end, hear, O mother, the petitions we make thee. Pray for us, too, and pray especially for those who are unmindful of and ungrateful to God. To thee, O dearest mother, we are especially dedicated; look upon us, then, as thy children, and win for us the grace we need. Regard mercifully the most destitute amongst us, that sin being diminished, the number of the faithful may increase, and greater glory may be given to Him who is the best of friends, the truest of benefactors, our first beginning and last end, the source of all our hope, our Savior, our God. Amen
Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . .Saint Monica, pray for us.
LET US PRAY. . O God, look graciously down upon Your children who sigh in this valley of tears. With hope we pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the never-failing help of Your grace, and for the faithful fulfillment of Your promises: to find life everlasting and a happy abode with You in heaven, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.
May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.
Here is the second installment of the St. Monica Chaplet.
August 27 is the feast of Saint Monica of Hippo in North Africa, mother of Saint Augustine. Because she prayed for 32 years for her son's conversion, she is a powerful intercessor when praying for family members who have lost their faith. There is a 3 day Novena chaplet to St. Monica that begins tomorrow and ends on the feast of St. Monica.FIRST DAY
Prayer for Faith
O glorious St. Monica, transfixed with sorrow when you saw your beloved child Augustine living in the dark and gloomy abyss of error and vice, and straying far from the right path which leads to true felicity in the possession of God and His holy grace, hear our prayer, O afflicted mother. By that cruel sorrow, which with so much patience you did bear, and by those earnest sighs and bitter tears with which you did appeal to God to change the heart of your prodigal son, and by your wondrous confidence in God, which was never shaken, O grant to us, your children, that we may, like you, place all our trust in God, and in our trials and troubles be ever resigned to His holy will. While we ask you, O glorious mother St. Monica, to supply for us our special needs, we here earnestly ask you to pray for the erring children of Jesus, so many Augustines, straying from God and hurrying to ruin. Let that earnest prayer of yours go forth once more for us and for sinners, that we may live in the light of divine grace and be united again thereafter to bless the bounty of a loving God for eternity. Amen.
LET US PRAY. . O God, look graciously down upon Your children who sigh in this valley of tears. With hope we pray for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the never-failing help of Your grace, and for the faithful fulfillment of Your promises: to find life everlasting and a happy abode with You in heaven, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.
May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts. Amen.
Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be. . . Saint Monica, pray for us.
There is also a beautiful chaplet to Saint Monica. Because it has 6 sections, I will publish 2 of them per day of this novena. The chaplet begins with the prayer to St. Monica, the Our Father, and the Hail Mary.Begin on the medal with the prayer of St. Monica:
"O holy Monica, by your burning tears and unceasing prayers, you did save your son from eternal damnation. Obtain for us the grace ever to comprehend what is most conducive to the salvation of our children, so that we may effectively restrain them from the way of sin and lead them by that of virtue and piety to heaven!"
On the first pendant bead, pray Our Father
On the second pendant bead, pray Come, Holy Spirit
On the loop:
For each group of five, on the large bead, pray one of the petitions below, followed by Hail Mary on each of the four small beads:
1) I join my tears to yours --- against the spirit of Despair, toward the spirit of Hope --- Saint Monica, pray for me (us) in the Holy Name of Jesus!
4 Hail Marys...
2) I join my tears to yours --- against the spirit of Anger, toward the spirit of Love --- Saint Monica, pray for me in the Holy Name of Jesus!
4 Hail Marys...
