Memorial of Saint Monica

Today's Mass Readings

Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Monica, while tomorrow we will celebrate the memorial of her son, St. Augustine. Now, St. Augustine wasn’t always very saintly. In fact, as his autobiography shows, from age 16 he rejected Christianity and embraced teachings that were contrary to the faith, and he began to behave in ways that were contrary to Christian morality. He caused many tears for his mother, St. Monica.

However, Monica never gave up on her son but continued to pray faithfully for his conversion. But her prayers seemed to bear no fruit for many long years. She must have gotten discouraged at times, as we all do when our prayers seem to go unanswered. But she kept at it faithfully for 17 long years! Finally, when Augustine was 33 years old, he turned to Christ and was baptized. And he went on to be one of the greatest bishops and theologians in Church history.

We don’t usually know why our prayers seem to go unanswered. But if we persevere in faith like St. Monica did, we will find ourselves growing in virtues such as patience and trust, which is probably part of the reason God is treating us in this way. We must also realize that God sees more deeply than we do and always knows what’s best in the situation. I firmly believe that God always answers our prayers with a “yes,” but that he gives us what we truly need in the moment, which is not necessarily what we want.

Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB