When I mentioned St. Monica, the patron saint of mothers with wayward sons, I saw the nods and smiles out in the pews.
Somethings are timeless. Monica, a woman of faith, though she lived over 1,500 years ago, feared for her son, the future St. Augustine, with similar concerns as the mothers today.
By worldly and external standards, Augustine was a success: yet Monica knew there was a lot of work to do on the inside, which would determine his eternal life. For thirty years she alternated between faith and worry.
Saint Monica is a great model of faith and persevering love that can inspire all family members in many ways. A woman who didn’t have a perfect family - and wasn’t perfect herself - but in the end, through the grace of God and many prayers, led her and her family home to God.
Learn more about St. Monica
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
Matthew 23:25-26
