A Mother's Prayer - May 4
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 61, 62; PM Psalm 68:1-20(21-23)24-36; Wisdom 10:1-4(5-12)13-21; Rom. 12:1-21; Luke 8:1-15
Today’s Reflection
But as for [the seeds that fell] in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. –Luke 8: 15
And now thou didst “stretch forth thy hand from above” and didst draw up my soul out of that profound darkness because my mother, thy faithful one, wept to thee on my behalf more than mothers are accustomed to weep for the bodily deaths of their children. For by the light of the faith and spirit which she received from thee, she saw that I was dead. And thou didst hear her, O Lord, thou didst hear her and despised not her tears when, pouring down, they watered the earth under her eyes in every place where she prayed. Thou didst truly hear her. –Augustine of Hippo
In the Episcopal and Anglican tradition, May 4 is the day we honor the life of Saint Monica, a faithful Christian of the early church, who lived between 330-387 in Northern Africa in what today is Tunisia. Though a Christian, her parents arranged for her to marry a man named Patricius, who did not share her faith. Their marriage was a difficult one due to his temper and licentiousness, not to mention his meddling mother. However, he allowed Monica to freely practice her faith, and together they had three children who survived infancy. Though their marriage was difficult, Monica continued to pray for him, that Patricius would come to share her faith, and finally he (and even his mother) became followers of Christ. A year later, though, Patricius died, and Monica was left to parent their three children on her own.
At the time, the oldest of Monica’s children, Augustine, was 17 and had already left their hometown of Thagaste to go study rhetoric in Carthage. At that point, Augustine had not yet come to share his mother’s faith in Christ. He was, as many young people that age do, making his own choices and, in some ways, rebelling against his mother’s values and hopes for him. Once he had finished his education in Carthage, at age 29 Augustine continued on to Rome, where he began to achieve success as a professor of rhetoric and oratory, tutoring influential people and making a name for himself. In his personal life, Augustine was living with a woman to whom he was not married, and they had a child together. Monica was not happy, so she traveled to Rome so she could have more influence on her son. But, by the time Monica arrived in Rome, Augustine had departed for Milan—where Monica finally caught up with him.
Monica had been praying for Augustine over all these years, that somehow, some way, we would finally come to share what for her was a life-giving faith in Christ. The move to Milan was, as it turned out, the move that ultimately turned Augustine toward the path to God. Though he was not yet a Christian, Augustine got to know a fellow intellectual named Ambrose, who happened to be the Bishop of Milan. Monica, too, got to know Ambrose, and he became, in a way, her spiritual director, counseling her to change some of the patterns with which she was interacting with her son—counseling her, perhaps, to push less and trust more. Augustine, writing in his memoir, Confessions, recalls that Ambrose told Monica this: “But let him alone for a time,” he said, “only pray God for him. He will of his own accord, by reading, come to discover what an error it is and how great its impiety is.” Monica wasn’t happy with this answer and kept begging Ambrose to intervene. But Ambrose was firm, and Monica ended up accepting his counsel: “Go your way; as you live, it cannot be that the son of these tears should perish.” Augustine remembers that, “As she often told me afterward, she accepted this answer as though it were a voice from heaven.” Monica held onto those wise words from Ambrose, and she stayed on in Milan where she became a leader in the local community of faithful women—and she kept praying for Augustine.
Augustine eventually heard the voice of God—literally, he heard a voice call out to him “Take up and read!” which led him to the Scriptures and to faith in Christ. He became a catechumenate (someone studying to prepare for baptism) under Ambrose, and in 387 was finally baptized a Christian. Later that same year. Monica died—but she died knowing that her prayers for her son had been answered, and that he, too, was now a follower of Christ. Then, in short succession, Augustine answered a call to the priesthood, and shortly after that became Bishop of Hippo, a position through which he exercised not only leadership in the governance of the church, but also became one of the chief doctors of the faith whose writings on theology, education, and rhetoric continue to be influential to this day. And for this we can thank Monica, a person whose commitment to Christ and to praying for her family ended up having a major influence on the future of the church and the world not only in her own time, but for centuries to come.
—Becky+
Questions for Self-Reflection
Who has prayed for you faithfully, and with tears, as Monica prayed for her son Augustine? Who have you prayed for, or continue to pray for, with this kind of hopefulness and devotion?
Daily Challenge
You can read more of Augustine’s story in his memoir Confessions, and you can read more of his words about his mother Monica here.