The Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit).
Faith, Hope and Charity
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Track numbers 7, 8, 9 from John Mayer's "Heavier Things" album.
August 26th, 27th, and 28th.
3 is a "magic" number. These words from the schoolhouse rock song come to mind today on the Feast of St. Monica. Even though the above references to wonderful things that come in 3s are substantially different with the Trinity being the Truth of all truths and John Mayer songs being merely my opinion. Nevertheless, great things do come in threes.
August 26th, 27th, and 28th fall somewhere in between the Trinity and the John Mayer songs (undoubtedly these days are closer to the Blessed Trinity). August 26th happens to be the birthday of one of the most special ladies in my life, my mother. I can't even begin to describe how much I owe to this wonderful lady. She has not only fulfilled her motherly duties, but has gone above and beyond to make sure that I (along with my siblings) am happy. She has also helped my dad to hand down the beautiful Catholic faith to me for which I am preparing to give my life as a priest. This last aspect of caring for my eternal happiness and well-being is what ties her and her birthday to today, August 27th, the Feast of St. Monica.
St. Monica was the mother of St. Augustine, arguably the most influential saint in the history of the Church. However, Augustine may never have come to know Christ if it weren't for his mother. See, Augustine is the poster child for people who search for the truth. His search led him to embrace many creeds during his early years. All of the religions he tried came up short. The entire time that he was searching, Monica, like a good mother, was praying for him to come to Christianity. Finally, after much resisting and searching, Augustine came to faith in Jesus Christ in the Church. One of my favorite quotes from Augustine's Confessions is when Monica is begging the bishop to speak to her son to talk some sense in to him. After much pestering, the bishop turns to Monica and tells her to stop crying and to go away, "for there is no way that a child of this many tears will go unsaved." Augustine says that Monica went away confident that the good bishop was right and worried no more.
This brings us to day 3, August 28th, the Feast of St. Augustine. St. Augustine changed my life, plain and simple. Through a class I took on The Philosophy of St. Augustine, I came to know this renegade truth seeker turned saint. I took the class during my 3rd of 4 semesters of philosophy. Up until this point I had made my way through philosophy, but certainly did not love it. I found it rather difficult coming from an engineering background. And to think, this relationship with St. Augustine could very easily not have happened. See this course was an elective, and it put me up to 18 hours, which was not too bad in itself. The real kicker was that it was my 3rd class with one particular professor, who though very good, was very demanding. Even the professor told a friend of mine that I shouldn't do it. However, there was one thing I couldn't overlook. It was my last chance to take the class as he does not offer it every semester and the last day to drop the class was August 28th, St. Augustine's Feast day. I just couldn't do that to Augustine, so I decided to stick it out. I learned a great deal about St. Augustine during this course, and a great deal about myself. It was also a nice window into Pope Benedict's thinking as he sees himself more in line with Augustine's thinking than St. Thomas Aquinas (another contender for greatest saint/theologian ever!). Just think, some of the most moving lines in the Christian world come from St. Augustine who may not have even become a Christian were it not for his mother. We certainly thank God for the gift of St. Augustine, but we must in the same breath remember to thank God for Monica too. Anytime we read "Late have I loved You O Beauty ever ancient and ever new, late have I loved You," or "Our hearts are made for You and they will not rest until they rest in You," we should offer a prayer of thanks giving to God for raising both Monica and Augustine to the glory of heaven! Finally, one of my favorite quotes is when Augustine is speaking about how his mother kept after him when he was younger. He states that back then, he thought it was just his mother harassing him, but as he looks back after his conversion, he sees that it was really God speaking to him through Monica. What humility and wisdom he must have had to be able to realize and admit this.
I will end by giving thanks to God for the wonderful opportunity to pray at the tombs of both Monica and Augustine over the past two years. Augustine is buried in a small town outside of Milan called Pavia and Monica is buried in the Basilica of St. Augustine in Rome. I go to that church often to pray at her tomb. I especially like to offer prayers for my mother, grandmother, sister, sister-in-law, and all of the mothers who contact me to ask for my prayers. May St. Monica continue to be an example to mothers of how their faithfulness in desperate times can truly work miracles.
In Christ,
Patrick
Faith, Hope and Charity
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Track numbers 7, 8, 9 from John Mayer's "Heavier Things" album.
August 26th, 27th, and 28th.
3 is a "magic" number. These words from the schoolhouse rock song come to mind today on the Feast of St. Monica. Even though the above references to wonderful things that come in 3s are substantially different with the Trinity being the Truth of all truths and John Mayer songs being merely my opinion. Nevertheless, great things do come in threes.
August 26th, 27th, and 28th fall somewhere in between the Trinity and the John Mayer songs (undoubtedly these days are closer to the Blessed Trinity). August 26th happens to be the birthday of one of the most special ladies in my life, my mother. I can't even begin to describe how much I owe to this wonderful lady. She has not only fulfilled her motherly duties, but has gone above and beyond to make sure that I (along with my siblings) am happy. She has also helped my dad to hand down the beautiful Catholic faith to me for which I am preparing to give my life as a priest. This last aspect of caring for my eternal happiness and well-being is what ties her and her birthday to today, August 27th, the Feast of St. Monica.
St. Monica was the mother of St. Augustine, arguably the most influential saint in the history of the Church. However, Augustine may never have come to know Christ if it weren't for his mother. See, Augustine is the poster child for people who search for the truth. His search led him to embrace many creeds during his early years. All of the religions he tried came up short. The entire time that he was searching, Monica, like a good mother, was praying for him to come to Christianity. Finally, after much resisting and searching, Augustine came to faith in Jesus Christ in the Church. One of my favorite quotes from Augustine's Confessions is when Monica is begging the bishop to speak to her son to talk some sense in to him. After much pestering, the bishop turns to Monica and tells her to stop crying and to go away, "for there is no way that a child of this many tears will go unsaved." Augustine says that Monica went away confident that the good bishop was right and worried no more.
This brings us to day 3, August 28th, the Feast of St. Augustine. St. Augustine changed my life, plain and simple. Through a class I took on The Philosophy of St. Augustine, I came to know this renegade truth seeker turned saint. I took the class during my 3rd of 4 semesters of philosophy. Up until this point I had made my way through philosophy, but certainly did not love it. I found it rather difficult coming from an engineering background. And to think, this relationship with St. Augustine could very easily not have happened. See this course was an elective, and it put me up to 18 hours, which was not too bad in itself. The real kicker was that it was my 3rd class with one particular professor, who though very good, was very demanding. Even the professor told a friend of mine that I shouldn't do it. However, there was one thing I couldn't overlook. It was my last chance to take the class as he does not offer it every semester and the last day to drop the class was August 28th, St. Augustine's Feast day. I just couldn't do that to Augustine, so I decided to stick it out. I learned a great deal about St. Augustine during this course, and a great deal about myself. It was also a nice window into Pope Benedict's thinking as he sees himself more in line with Augustine's thinking than St. Thomas Aquinas (another contender for greatest saint/theologian ever!). Just think, some of the most moving lines in the Christian world come from St. Augustine who may not have even become a Christian were it not for his mother. We certainly thank God for the gift of St. Augustine, but we must in the same breath remember to thank God for Monica too. Anytime we read "Late have I loved You O Beauty ever ancient and ever new, late have I loved You," or "Our hearts are made for You and they will not rest until they rest in You," we should offer a prayer of thanks giving to God for raising both Monica and Augustine to the glory of heaven! Finally, one of my favorite quotes is when Augustine is speaking about how his mother kept after him when he was younger. He states that back then, he thought it was just his mother harassing him, but as he looks back after his conversion, he sees that it was really God speaking to him through Monica. What humility and wisdom he must have had to be able to realize and admit this.
I will end by giving thanks to God for the wonderful opportunity to pray at the tombs of both Monica and Augustine over the past two years. Augustine is buried in a small town outside of Milan called Pavia and Monica is buried in the Basilica of St. Augustine in Rome. I go to that church often to pray at her tomb. I especially like to offer prayers for my mother, grandmother, sister, sister-in-law, and all of the mothers who contact me to ask for my prayers. May St. Monica continue to be an example to mothers of how their faithfulness in desperate times can truly work miracles.
In Christ,
Patrick
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