St. Monica Novena

St. Monica Novena – Day 1

Today, August 18, is the traditional starting date of St. Monica’s novena. Famously known as the prayerful mother of St. Augustine, St. Monica is the patron saint of mothers, patience, difficult marriages, wayward children, and much more!

We will go through each day of the novena and learn more about St. Monica’s life. St. Monica was born in a Christian family in North Africa between 330-332 AD. She was part of the Berber tribe, who are indigenous to the region. She had an arranged marriage with a Roman non-Christian named Patricius. Living with Patricius and her mother-in-law, she had to deal with their nasty tempers, constant criticisms, Patricius’s alcoholism, and his unfaithfulness.

What was St. Monica’s response to all of the disorder and heartache in her life? PRAYER.

Let us take just one small minute out of our day to pray this novena, and share with our Father our heart’s desire. Remember, our prayers do not have to be fancy or long. We only have to open our mouths, release our hearts, and speak to our Creator.

St. Monica Novena – Day 2

On Day 2, we are focusing on St. Monica’s relationship with her mother-in-law and her husband, Patricius. St. Monica was married off to Patricius when she was in her early 20s, and he, in his 40s. Patricius came from a wealthy Roman family, and he worked as a city magistrate. On the other hand, St. Monica only had access to the most basic education due to her living on the outskirts of the Roman Empire. As with most women of the time (especially in the provinces), she was expected to marry, housekeep, and bear children.

Patricius and his mother are often described as sharing the same cantankerous nature. Though many accounts paint Patricius in a completely negative light, one only has to dig a little more to find out that he also had a loving and generous side and respected St. Monica’s right to her religious beliefs.

However, he would veer between one extreme mood to another, and he looked down on St. Monica’s charitable nature. St. Monica diligently prayed for both Patricius and his mother, and miraculously enough, both of them eventually converted to Christianity! A year after his baptism, Patricius died.

As we pray the novena today, let’s think about the members of our family who often test our resolve, irritate us, or even worse, have verbally or emotionally abused us. Oftentimes in our families, we see certain negative traits and/or patterns passed down from generation to generation. Patricius and his mother were similarly ill-humored, a trait that I’m sure has traveled extensively down their family line. We should keep in mind that St. Monica was the youngest person in the household. Yet her spiritual maturity and vigorous prayer life enabled her to spiritually intercede for people who senior her, thereby changing the trajectory of their souls’ final resting place, their family’s fate, and the future of the Church.

You have been gifted the privilege to spiritually stand in the gap for your loved ones by praying for them and their shortcomings, in hopes of breaking the generational curses that have afflicted you and your family for centuries. As our Redeemer stated so sympathetically, “Forgive them, Abba, for they know not what they do.”

Today, ask yourselves… Who in your family do you need to forgive? Who needs to be covered by the prayers that only YOU can give voice to?

St. Monica Novena – Day 3

Today we look at St. Monica as a mother and her role in the formation of her children. A fact not known to many is that she had three children: Augustine – her firstborn, Navigius, and a daughter (whose name is not known).

St. Monica instructed St. Augustine in the Catholic faith, taught him how to pray, and made sure he was formally a catechumen – a person receiving instruction from a catechist in the principles of Christianity prior to baptism.

Patricius and St. Monica were serious about Augustine’s education and had to financially stretch themselves to make sure he could receive a good education. There was even a period when they had to take him out of school so that Patricius could save up enough money for his tuition.

It’s safe to say that the efforts taken to raise them in the faith and with education paid off. The foundation St. Augustine had helped him not only write the books that he is famous for but also return back to the one true faith. Later on, when Augustine became Bishop of Hippo, his sister ran a monastery for women, apparently on his behalf.

For those of us who have young children in our lives, whether they are your nieces & nephews, your own children, or grandchildren, pray that God walks with you to help raise these children to adulthood. As the popular verse in Proverbs goes, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Expose the children in your life to our beautiful faith. Teach them how to pray and the importance of going to Church. Make sure they receive the academic help they need if they are struggling in certain subjects.

Follow St. Monica’s example, and watch as the seeds you faithfully water yield the most beautiful fruit.

St. Monica Novena – Day 4

Today we focus on the line in the novena that tells us to “remain close to our children.” When St. Augustine was 17, his father, Patricius, died. Shortly after, Augustine embraced the Manichean religion, which believed in the duality of good and evil in every soul. St. Monica was devastated, and she refused to let St. Augustine back into the house.

She continued to pray for him until one day she had a vision of a glowing being who pointed to Augustine in a beam of light and told her that “Your son is with you.” From that moment, St. Monica packed up and went to Rome & Milan to live with St. Augustine and stay by his side. She had spiritual assurance that her son would one day see the light.

When it comes to converting the hearts and minds of people, it is important that we have stock in their lives and emotions. We cannot expect someone to listen to us when we have not spent time with them, sacrificed for them, and taken the time to really know them as a person. Most people will only seriously consider advice from those who they feel have earned a spot in their lives.

Perhaps instead of constantly telling your loved ones what they need to do, and how what they are doing is wrong, just spend time with them. Listen to them. Comfort them. Take your worries to the Lord and be assured that our Lord will make a way!

We need to be patient and confident that God will answer our prayers and intercede for his children. We should be a steady, positive presence in the lives of those around us. You will be surprised how powerful your non-critical presence can be to someone who is probably already dealing with a lot within themselves.

St. Monica Novena – Day 5

When going through trials and tribulations, one of the most important things you can do is to reach out to a spiritual head and ask not only for their prayers but for their advice. This is precisely what St. Monica did.

While grieving over her son’s decision to reject the faith and embrace Manicheanism, St. Monica decided to go to a Bishop and beg him to speak to St. Augustine. She begged, cried, and followed him for so long that the Bishop finally told her, “Go. The son of so many tears cannot perish.”

Instead of going through hardship alone or sharing it with friends who might not give the best advice, remember that you can not only pray, but also seek out the counsel of a priest, nun, bishop, or any religious that you have access to. A list of all of our parishes is here: Parishes & Shrines. If you need to follow through with meeting someone about any troubles you are facing.

The foundation of our Augustinian Charism is a life in common, or simply put, community. So whatever you are going through, please know that we are always here to meet you at your need, and walk with you together towards the cross & the healing love and grace of our Savior.

St. Monica Novena – Day 6

This stained glass artwork of a young St. Augustine with St. Monica never fails to elicit a chuckle out of me. What I love about it is it perfectly captures the surliness of adolescence, and as one publication puts it, the ‘Inexhaustible Hope of St. Monica.’

Anyone who has dealt with teenagers is very familiar with this face and this energy. Or maybe you remember once being this moody teenager who knew everything, was tired of hearing the same thing over and over, and had better things to do with their time! It’s no secret that St. Augustine was really a handful for his mother.

From complaining about his teachers, to running loose and getting into trouble with his friends, being lazy, having a child outside of wedlock, to finally, and probably most grievously, joining a cult! It’s surprising to hear the St. Monica’s hair had not turned completely gray by the time St. Augustine was 18!

We all know about the problem child, the prodigal son, the daughter who needs a bit more extra than their siblings. Maybe you yourself, are the black sheep in your community. These “challenging people” are inside of our families, our workplaces, our churches, our communities, etc. As we deal with them and their seemingly unending series of unfortunate events that somehow befall them, let us remember the grace of St. Monica, and the patience with which she came to bear St. Augustine’s years of waywardness and obstinacy.

We have to love and pray for the ones God has put in our lives, no matter how long they seem to never get things right or cause drama. Pray your problem people into a person of purpose! For as it says in 1 Timothy 2:4, We serve a God “who wishes all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge and recognition of the divine truth.”

St. Monica Novena – Day 7

Augustine wrote once about his mother: “In place of a basket filled with fruits of the earth, she had learned to bring to the oratories of the martyrs a heart full of purer petitions, and to give all that she could to the poor – so that the communion of the Lord’s body might be rightly celebrated in those places where, after the example of his passion, the martyrs had been sacrificed and crowned.”

St. Monica attended events and religious ceremonies and would sometimes bring wine, bread, and porridge for the attendees. Let’s ask ourselves, what value does our presence bring to our families? To our communities?

Let’s shift from interacting with the world as solely as consumers. It’s easy to get lost in that mode of existence. We go to parties and consume the food prepared, go to Mass and consume the host and feel inner peace, we scroll through social media and cheerfully visually consume the entertainment offered. But really do some soul searching and ask yourselves when is the last time you hosted an event? Or brought refreshments to a gathering? Have you freely offered your services recently to a a family member or friend that could have used it? Can you recall when you donated time, finances or needed goods to your Parish?

Let’s strive to be value adding citizens of the kingdom, and not just another face in the crowd.

St. Monica Novena – Day 8

St. Monica is known for spending many years of constantly pleading with her son, praying for him, and weeping at the sad situation she found herself in. After she received a vision that assured her that her son would eventually embrace God, she followed him to Rome, and eventually to Milan, where he was finally (!!) baptized by St. Ambrose of Milan.

The famous painting of St. Augustine & St. Monica holding hands is based off of the event called ‘The Ecstasy of Ostia’. One afternoon, St. Augustine and St. Monica withdrew from everyone to mediate and pray, and while looking out the window at the sea, they shared a transcendental vision together. In a way, this moment between the two of them was the final ‘real’ conversation that they would have together. How different the energy was between the two of them, as St. Monica moved closer to the veil, unbeknownst to the both them. A lifetime spent spiritual wrangling for the destiny of her son finally comes to a close in this ethereal, touching scene between mother and child.

Of this mystical experience, St. Augustine writes, “We passed through, one after another. All the things of a material order, unto heaven itself. We marvelled at the beauty of Thy works, O my God!… And so we came to our own minds, and passed beyond them into the region of unfailing plenty, where Thou feedest forever with the food of truth… And as we talked, and we strove eagerly towards this divine region, by a leap with the whole force of our hearts, we touched it for an instant…. Then we sighed, we fell back, and left there fastened the first fruits of the Spirit, and heard again the babble of our own tongues, this mortal speech wherein each word has a beginning and an ending.”

After the experience, St. Monica turns and confesses to St. Augustine, “My son, as for me, I find no further pleasure in life. What I am still to do, or why I still linger here, I know not…. There was only one thing made me want to tarry a little longer in this life, that I might see you a Christian and a Catholic before I died. My God has granted me this boon far beyond what I hoped for. So what am I doing here?”

5 – 6 days after this episode took place, Monica fell ill and subsequently passed away after 9 days. She was 56 years old. Her last words convey to us the ultimate peace she finally felt, after the Father stretched out his merciful hand and interceded; Not just hold and comfort the heart of an anxious mother, but to also change the course of Church history!

While you are in the midst of praying for your difficult person, make sure that you are able to envision obtaining this hard-fought moment in the future. Be certain that it is coming, and that the peace that God will place upon you and your loved one will be like nothing you have both ever imagined…

Your day of victory is coming. This restlessness will not last forever.

St. Monica Novena – Day 9

On the last day of this novena, I chose a graphic that is very untraditional when it comes to artistic portrayals of Monica. I wanted us to finish out this spiritual exercise with an image that visually shows how St. Monica eventually came to feel when it came to her son – pride and joy. I imagine her looking at St. Augustine with this smile during his baptism by St. Ambrose, or while watching him preaching to people, or perhaps, while walking into a room and catching him, head bowed, in the midst of prayer.

Though we customarily associate her with weeping, how wonderful would it be if we also associated her with the ecstatic bliss that she felt when she and St. Augustine shared a mystical vision in Ostia? It’s striking that St. Augustine is known as the ‘Son of Tears’ (due to the tears St. Monica shed on his behalf) because the tables turned when his mother suddenly transitioned. We read from St. Augustine that he wept bitterly for his mother because she wept so many tears for his ultimate salvation. The ‘Son of Tears’ becomes just that, a son, full of grief-stricken tears.

Our final focus is centered on the eternal promise of being reunited with the most high, El Shaddai (the All-Sufficient One), Jehovah-Jireh (God Provides). We should eagerly look forward to the fulfillment of the promise that one our restless, unsatisfiable heart, will be filled forever and left not wanting.

St. Monica spent a good portion of her life anxious over her son, until one afternoon in Ostia completely changed her perspective. She experienced a small bit of the glory that the Almighty has to offer us, and that glimpse into kingdom was enough to overcome her restlessness and have her go gladly into the loving arms of the Almighty.

For those of you who have followed along with us through this 9 day novena, we would like to thank you. We hope that these daily devotions spiritually nourished you and gave direction on where to focus your prayer intentions for the day. We also hope you enjoyed learning more about St. Monica’s life, and in extension, St. Augustine’s.

Let’s end this novena with a short prayer to St. Monica:

O Glorious St. Monica, after a lifetime of tearful prayers, fasting, and sacrifice, you were at last granted the happiness of witnessing, both your husband’s and son’s conversion.

After your son Augustine returned to the faith, you said: “God has granted this to me in more than abundance. What am I still doing here?” A few days later, you died happily at peace with God and His world.

Grant us that same peace, faith, and acceptance of God’s Will, that we may live all our years in serenity and go joyfully to our heavenly home, secure in the knowledge of eternal salvation. Amen.

St. Monica, Pray for Us!