NM

I used to wonder what was so great about St. Monica that merited her canonization.

She prayed for years for the conversion of her family. Okay, patience — and?

And...then I dove deeper into her experience and realized how great that really was.

To be patient is to suffer & endure.

What did she suffer?

A long wait was the most obvious thing.

A more subtle thing was that grief that can't be measured as easily as time.

The grief of being a mom who was so good, so hopeful, so constant in her embodiment of Christ, and seeing how little effect that had on her family.

Maybe today is the day my husband or my children will turn to Christ — she probably wondered this for years.

Yet at best, she was faced with no fruit, and at worst, bad fruit.

She cried. A lot, apparently. Real and valid.

What else is there to do when you give your best, your all, and it isn't enough?

Despite this long suffering, she hoped — probably with the help of St. Ambrose, who reassured her that "It is impossible that the child of so many tears should perish."

Despite all the temper of her husband, despite the waywardness of her son Augustine, how great her love was to be able to will their good — through prayer, fasting, and crying — until, by the grace of God, things turned up, and she could say with confidence that "nothing is far from God."

Today's Psalm (139) speaks to this too:

Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.

The homeless doing drugs on the street,
Your alcoholic mom,
Your apathetic brother,
Your apostatized, fallen-away friend,
Even you, bro
— no one is too far gone.

God's love is inescapable. What a beautiful thing :^)

Happy feast day, St. Monica!

Song association: All Falls Down by Kanye West

When the tears fall down, humility goes up, and the Spirit comes in.

Aug. 27, 2025