Is there anything more motivating than the love we have for our children? I think God does that on purpose. How sanctifying it is to be a mother, be it a biological mother, foster mother, adoptive mother, or spiritual mother. How personal it is that our children find joy in this life; how vital that they find the path God has for them. Someone once told me that every mother is only as happy as her least happy child. I think there is amazing truth in that. We are so intertwined to our children. In a way, their lives make ours. It is a great vocation to be a mother…we literally hold the future in our hands.
For 17 years, St. Monica begged God to save her son, St. Augustine. Without her determined faith, would the world have missed a great Doctor of the Church? Would the world have read his 200 books or encountered a thousand edifying sermons and letters?
I know St. Monica has prayed for me in the most difficult moments of my life. I’ll spare you the horrid details, but on her feast day a few years ago, answers came. A truth was uncovered. The truth sets us free, even when the truth is terrible. Naturally, because of that, I have a great love for her.
What is most inspiring is the example St. Monica left. She stood in the midst of sin and anger, yet still pushed forward to sainthood. She watched her son live a life that glorified Satan, but after nearly 20 years, he would return to the faith and go on to leave an everlasting impact on the faith. Her answered prayers are what we now recognize as the great St. Augustine. What a model example for mothers in this world!
It is a horror that so many of our children are losing faith and being attracted to worldly things. But this is a horror St. Monica knows all too well, which is why she is an ideal intercessor for Catholic mothers today.
For Christmas this year, I received a chaplet of Saint Monica. Through all of my years of asking for her prayers, I did not know she had a chaplet. I sobbed while discovering these beautiful prayers and truly united my tears to the prayers of this beautiful devotion. You can learn more about the chaplet here.
In this life, emotions such as despair, anger, blame, suspicion, doubt, and fear will come. But if we aren’t careful, they will destroy our souls and the souls around us. How lovely that in this chaplet, we not only pray against those destructive emotions, but also pray to replace those evils with hope, love, forgiveness, trust, faith, and peace. We all need healing. We all need grace to do so. We need Heaven’s help. We need the prayers of saints so much!
How beautiful that St. Monica and our Blessed Mother are praying mothers, for a mother’s love cannot be bound.
Please join me in asking St. Monica to intercede for us that we might become more faithful mothers. Join me in asking St. Augustine to intercede for the protection and guidance of our children. Join me in asking Our Blessed Mother for her intercession of grace to our efforts. Our children and the world need us to stand like St. Monica. They need us to pray! Jesus longs for our efforts and for our children.
Dearest sisters, please pray with me!
