St.Monica Feast Day 2006

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Do we really believe in Miracles?  In todays reading we have Isaiah saying,

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    Your God will come and save you

            Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,

            And the ears of the deaf unstopped

            Then the lame shall leap like deer

            And the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. 


In the Gospel, we hear of Christ taking a man aside who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech

      Christ put his fingures into his ears and spate and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven he sighed and said to him, Ephaphatha that is, be opened and immediately the mans ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly 

Today, do we really believe in miracles? Do we really believe we can pray and see miraculous change before our very eyes? Jesus said if we knocked, the door would be opened for us, he said faith could move mountains do we really believe? 

Monica, our patron saint believed! She prayed for the conversion of her son, Augustine, and kept on praying till finally he was converted. Let us take a quick look at the amazing life of St.Monica, our Patron Saint.  

Saint Monica was born in North Africa in 333. Her parents were Christian, however, there is very little known about her childhood. We do know more about her married life. She was married by arrangement to Patritius, a pagan official in North Africa, who was much older than she, and although generous, was also violent tempered. His mother lived with them and was equally difficult, which proved a constant challenge to St. Monica. Unlike Monica they were pagans.

St. Monicas marriage, unfortunately, was an unhappy one. Her husband didnt like when she prayed or gave to the Church. He was not supportive. Despite his attitude, St. Monica continued to keep a positive outlook.

Monica and Patritius had three children. They had two boys and one girl. Her husband wouldnt allow their children to be baptized. This made her feel very upset and sad. When her elder son, Augustine, became very sick, her husband agreed that he could be baptized. However, when he got better, her husband withdrew his consent.

St. Monica felt very concerned about Augustine because he became very bitter and mean and lead a disolute life. He rejected Christianity. She prayed for him daily. He was sent away to school, and he chose to become pagan like his father. Through her patience and prayers, she was able to convert her husband and his mother to the Catholic faith. Her husband died a year later. Perpetua, her daughter, and her second son, Navigius, entered the religious Life. St. Augustine was much more difficult, as she had to pray for him for 17 years, begging the prayers of priests who, for a while, tried to avoid her because of her persistence at this seemingly hopeless endeavor.

One day when Augustine visited Monica he spoke very strongly against the Church. St. Monica became so upset that she asked him to leave her house. Later on, she had a vision that encouraged her to invite him back. Monica visited a bishop, and his name is unknown. He told St. Monica that since she cared about Augustine so much, he most likely would be saved. She felt great comfort in his words.

St. Monica followed Augustine to whatever town he traveled. She visited the local churches continually begging for prayers for her sons conversion.  Monica appealed to Saint Ambrose to intercede which he did and finally, Augustine became a Christian. He was baptized in the Church of Saint John the Baptist in the town of Milan.  Later that year (387) on their way back to Africa St. Monica died, she was 54 years of age and Augustine went on to Africa and later became Bishop of Hippo for forty years. An extraordinary pillar of the Church.

This simple women who prayed so much became the patron saint of married women of abused victims alcoholics, difficult marriages disappointing children, homemakers, housewives, married women, mothers, victims of adultery, victims of unfaithfulness, victims of verbal abuse widows, and wives .

Believe in miracles? She surely did. For a simple woman, she lead a life that we are all called to live.

St.Monica pray for us that we might become a Parish Family worthy of your example. 

-Don Pare
 
 
 

Feast of St. Monica

August  25 – 26, 2007

 

Guest Homilist

Catherine Cherry

                     

I come to you as a mother, a grandmother, and a Spiritual Community Animator.

 I’m going to tell you about St. Monica, the mother - how she is like us, or perhaps, how we are like her.  I’m going to share about the readings, tell you a story of heart ache, and I’m going to end with a message of hope.

 Who was St. Monica?  She was a Christian woman who lived in the 4th Century, soon after the Roman Emperor Constantine granted Christians the freedom of worship.   No longer would they be thrown to the lions.  At that time most people were still pagans and Monica was the only Christian in her own family.  Even her husband and three children were pagans.   As a mother she desired that her children come to know Jesus.   She recognized that her older son, Augustine, who was extremely bright, was living a life of passion that did not give him inner peace.    Monica wanted this treasured son, Augustine, to know the other treasure of her life: God.

 

She pursued him, talked with him, and prayed for him over many years.  Eventually he heard. He was touched in his heart.  He became an ardent Christian, a priest, a Bishop, and a great writer whose influence is ongoing.  The book of Augustine’s “Confessions” still moves people deeply.  

 Who was St. Monica?  She was the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo! 

 Who was St. Monica?  She was a mother who desired that her children know Jesus, and know his love for them.  I think that this is how we are like her, or how she is like us.  I think we all desire this. 

 What were my desires as a young parent?  Well, I desired that my children grow up to be responsible loving adults (which they are).  Actually, I expressed three explicit desires to my children when they were small: (Father Raymond always laughs at this): 

1.      That they learned to read (and become readers), I knew they would be good at math, because all the family is good at math, so that wasn’t an issue.

2.      That they learn to swim and pass their Bronze Medallion Lifesaving  (so they could save others in difficulty), and most important,

3.      That they realize that God loves them deeply, and that they love God in return.  (So that they become good and loving people.)

 

You’re here, so I think that like Monica, we all share this desire for our children.  Besides, it is God’s desire for us.

 Right now I am going to talk first to young parents, then to parents of adolescents and adults, and finally to those parents who live with a concern about the direction their children have taken in life.

 

The first reading from Deuteronomy probably speaks to young parents:  Tell them over and over, love God with your whole heart… Repeat it, wear it on your forehead etc.  It expresses such enthusiasm.  It expresses the enthusiasm I hear when parents are introducing their children to soccer, or the Montreal Canadians.  Do we talk about God with this much enthusiasm?  Why not?  I know that joy captures, and to be enthusiastically joyful about God  - catches kids.

 

The Gospel seems to talk to older parents in their concern for their children.  God says, talk to me, pray constantly.  Can we really change God’s mind as this woman’s constant harassment changes the judge’s mind?  This is a theological dilemma.  Actually, we don’t change God’s mind, because God is already on our side; but in our attention to God, we change ourselves, and in being open to receiving God’s love, our children can be moved by our love and our concern.  Love is the key.

 

In this Gospel we are like St. Monica who prays constantly while loving her son, Augustine, and believing in him without ceasing.  I’ve found that if I focus on my children’s imperfection, or on something lacking in someone - about how they are not this or that - they become defensive, and put up blocks to the very thing I desire for them; but if I believe in them and affirm them in their goodness, they grow.  After all, between Good and God, there is just one extra O.

 

What if our adult children are no longer Christian, and look for a different way to God?

 

Well, besides being a mother, I work as a Spiritual Community Animator. (For the last five years at St. Monica’s school, and this year at Willington and Merton.) I do not teach Catholic Religion, or even espouse Christianity.  Rather, I honour God’s universal call to a relationship with him, and in that, I honour how God works in different ways in different people, calling each one to union with him within their own culture and faith tradition.  This is solid Catholic Theology. 

 

As an animator, I am to love the children, help them to listen to God, help them to live with authenticity, with integrity, so that they can experience the deep inner transformation of “Being grasped by God - as they know God, so as to be able to give themselves to God without conditions, qualifications or reservations”.   God speaks to each of us in a unique way calling each and every one of us into a loving relationship totally united to Him.  To follow one’s unique call leads to a deep peace.

 

Augustine was following the Manichean religion, and if what I have just said is true, if this is so, why couldn’t St. Monica accept Augustine’s choice of religion and his way of life?   Augustine wasn’t at peace.

 

This is where I’m speaking to parents of adult children who have gone off track.  Monica sensed Augustine’s unsettledness, the attitudes and behavior that seemed to diminish him, that were not those that befit him in the fullness of his being.  He was not centered.  He did not know the God who loved him so much.   He did not know Jesus.

 Monica, and I think, you and I desire what is expressed in the second reading – That our children “be strong in their inner selves, and that knowing the love of God that is beyond all knowing, they are filled with the utter fullness of God”. 

But what if this doesn’t happen?   What if our adolescent or adult children don’t care about God, or they are not living well?

I have a story.  My two daughters, Wendy and Tara are 16 months apart.  This story takes place when they were 2 months and 18 months old.

 One day I met an old school friend who had just got married and, very proud of my little ones, I asked her if she was looking forward to having children.  To my surprise she said she did not want any children because she didn’t want the Heart Ache.     I was surprised, and I was left thinking about this statement.    Heart Ache?!

 

At the time, like all 18 month olds, Wendy was running, climbing, touching, and into everything.   Two days after the conversation with my friend, I was busy at home with my little ones.  After treating the new baby with ear drops, I went to sit down to nurse her.  Wendy proceeded to tear up some newspapers, drag out the dirty diapers, and pull the toilet paper down the hall.  In my humanness, I began to feel impatient and quite irritated with her.  Then I looked down the hall again, and she was standing with the bottle of ear drops to her mouth.  Oh no!  I phoned poison control and they said, “Get her here immediately.  This medicine could cause permanent brain damage.”  With both babies in my arms, I rushed to the hospital.  I ached.  I was afraid for my little girl.  What would happen?  I had to wait hours to find out if she were ok.  My heart ached.

 

She was ok.  What happened to me?  I had experienced heart ache.  My heart had just stretched in love for my child.  I remembered my friend’s statement.   I realized that I would choose heart ache – not the pain in itself, but the pain of my heart stretching in love.  I love my adult daughters, their husbands, and my three little grandchildren.  I love my students.  I love my friends.  Do I experience heart ache?  Yes I do!  Yet, I want my heart to stretch, always.

 

What about those adolescents and adult children who have gone off track?  Well, I claim that God loves them with an ongoing heart ache.  God looks at all of us wanting that we stop hurting each other, that we be open to the grace, the love that he has to offer.  This is a new insight for me.  God suffers as he loves us.  God suffers heart ache.  We don’t have a static God.  We have a dynamic God who continues to grow in love.  God loves us. 

 To summarize, what can we do? 

As young parents we can God-talk to our children with joyful enthusiasm.  All of us can be like St. Monica and pray with out ceasing.  We can open ourselves to God and grow in love.  We can continue to treat others with acts of joy-filled intentional loving.  Our hope resides in the assurance stated in at the end of the second reading:

  “God can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine”.   God loves us.  Our God experiences heart ache.  Our God suffers with us.  Our God is not yet finished with us – not now, not ever!