In the last four weeks, we have discussed prayers and issues related to them. This week, we want to examine tenacity in prayer as exemplified by Saint Monica in the life of her son, St Augustine.

It is not a coincidence that we celebrate both mother and son this August. St. Monica is known as the Patron Saint of alcoholics, married women, mothers, wives, and difficult marriages.

She is reputed to have had a difficult marriage with her pagan husband Patricius, who had a violent temper, an immoral life and who also opposed Monica’s Christian faith. Before this marital challenge, Monica was said to have struggled with alcohol but overcame it. 

What normally strikes me in the story of Monica is neither her initial struggle with alcohol nor her difficult marriage; rather, it is that she is said to have prayed for more than 15 years for the conversion of her son, Augustine, who later became the Bishop of Hippo and a Saint.

She prayed constantly with faith and hope.If you talk about being wowed all the time I read her story, that is it. I had reflected on where she got the zeal from. Was she exhausted at some point? Is it far easier to pray unwaveringly for a child than for a personal intention?

I honestly wish I could have a conversation with Monica about how she pulled through this extraordinarily difficult phase of motherhood. I guess I have these questions on my mind because I know a couple of persons who have lost the zeal to pray for a particular personal issue even though their faith in God and his abilities have not wavered.

However, regarding a particular life issue, they claim they have surrendered it to God and are not actively praying about it again.

Nonetheless, I am sure her tenacity is nothing short of God’s grace and strong Christian background. We, too, can have similar grace. Let us pray to God to stay through to him on those seemingly intractable issues in our lives.

As we begin her novena today, the 18th, culminating in her feast day on the 27th, let us pray:

Dear Saint Monica, you were once the mournful mother of a prodigal son. Your faithfulness to prayer brought you and your son so close to God that you are now with him in eternity. By your intercession and God’s grace, your son, St. Augustine, became a great and venerable Saint of the Church.

Please take my request to God with the same fervour and persistence with which you prayed for your own son. (Mention your intentions here)

May the Lord answer our prayers through the intercession of St. Monica. Amen.