St Monica

Monica prays for Augustine

Not only does God often keep us waiting for an answer, but sometimes it comes in a very unexpected way.  This is what happened to St Monica.  St Monica, who was a very good Church woman, had a son called Augustine, but when he was 17 he got in with some bad companions and had no use at all for the Christian religion.  The only thing she could do for him was to pray for him, and this she did every day but it seemed to make not the slightest difference.  Augustine just went from bad to worse.

At last, when Monica had almost lost hope, a bishop encouraged her by saying, “Go on praying; the child of so many tears cannot perish”.

Augustine sails for Rome

When Augustine was 29, he told his mother that he wanted to leave North Africa, where they lived, and go to Rome.  Monica was afraid of what would happen to him alone in a great city and did her best to persuade him not to go.  Augustine pretended to give in to her but, while she was praying in a nearby church that he might not set sail, he seized the opportunity to give her the slip and went on board the ship.  And when his mother came out of the church, he was already heading for the open sea and for Rome.

Augustine meets St Ambrose

From Rome Augustine went to the city of Milan in North Italy, and there he met the man who, by God’s will, was to change his whole life.  It was St Ambrose, the saintly and forceful Bishop of Milan, and through his influence Augustine was baptised.  Later Augustine was ordained a priest and became a bishop in North Africa.  He was such a great and holy man that we now call him St Augustine the Great.

Monica’s prayers are answered

Thus St Monica’s prayers were at last answered, but in a very unexpected way.  For if Augustine had not set sail for Italy, he would never have met St Ambrose and might never have become a Christian.  As St Augustine himself wrote afterwards, “…I lied to my mother…and got away…And what was it, O Lord, that she, with such an abundance of tears, was asking of You, but that You would not permit me to sail?  But You, mysteriously counselling and hearing the real purpose of her desire, granted not what she then asked, in order to make me what she was ever asking.  The wind blew and filled our sails, and withdrew the shore from our sight; and she, wild with grief, was there on the morrow, and filled Your ears with complaints and groans, which You disregarded…she loved to have me with her, and knew not what joy You were preparing for her by my absence". (2)