It's not the traditional Mothers' Day we celebrate in May, but one may think of this memorial of St. Monica as a Mother's Day of sorts. St. Monica, mother of the doctor of grace, surely earned her heavenly crown in bearing the trials of her wayward son. Many a mother, no doubt, can relate to her plight: begging the Lord to touch the heart of her son. She wanted to give him the one thing that we cannot give to each other, the One Thing necessary for a life of happiness: a relationship with the Lord. And so she entrusted him to the Lord in prayer -- again and again.
We can sometimes feel helpless when faced with friends or family members whose lifestyles seem to be self-destructive or harmful to those around them. Let us be consoled to know that even the saints have wrestled with this same feeling of frustration. In fact, trusting our loved ones (and those we wish we could love more) to the Lord is a wonderful way to imitate the saints, whose trust in the Lord's ways was, at times, their only consolation on the pilgrim journey toward eternity.
We can sometimes feel helpless when faced with friends or family members whose lifestyles seem to be self-destructive or harmful to those around them. Let us be consoled to know that even the saints have wrestled with this same feeling of frustration. In fact, trusting our loved ones (and those we wish we could love more) to the Lord is a wonderful way to imitate the saints, whose trust in the Lord's ways was, at times, their only consolation on the pilgrim journey toward eternity.
"Before giving birth to St. Augustine, St. Monica offered him repeatedly to God’s Glory, as he himself tells us; and it is a good lesson for Christian women how to offer the fruit of their womb to God, Who accepts the free oblations of loving hearts, and promotes the desires of such faithful mothers: witness Samuel, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Andrea di Fiesole, and others."
St. Francis de Sales
St. Francis de Sales
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