ST. MONICA, A WOMAN OF GREAT FAITH!

By -

"St. Monica was a woman of great faith," the priest declared as he began his homily at morning Mass at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church here in New Orleans.

That’s all it took.

I felt the tears welling up in my eyes and a sudden rush of emotion as his prophetic words penetrated me to the core. “A woman of great faith,” I thought to myself as I sighed deeply. “She certainly was.” I admired her and I understood her.

St. Monica knew God intimately, and she relied on him completely. She was a woman who believed in the power of steadfast, unbridled prayer. She was a wife who kept a hopeful heart during intense and prolonged suffering at the hands of her abusive husband. And she was a mother who allowed God’s grace to carry her through the torment and pain triggered by her prodigal son.

St. Monica put her faith in God every single day…and she never took it back. She remained faithful to God, and he remained faithful to her. During 17 years of suffering, St. Monica grew her faith and as a result, God grew his grace around her. And in time, he manifested the miracle St. Monica had been praying for; the conversion of her addicted son, St. Augustine, who is now revered as one of the most influential doctors of the Catholic Church.

Yesterday I completed a novena to St. Monica which I dedicated to my five sons. I prayed for God’s intercession in their daily lives because it is my hope that each one of them will come to know the Lord intimately, powerfully and joyfully so that nothing and no one will ever get in the way of that relationship.

Like St. Monica, I am relentless in my prayer life, remaining loyal to a daily disciplined rhythm of prayer that invites grace and feeds my faith. I know no other way to make it through the rigors and rainy days of life in a world that is beautiful, yet challenging, gifted yet exhausting.

Personally I have so much to be thankful for having experienced the power of prayer through the return of the prodigal son. I have watched the resurrection of the dead and I have felt God’s amazing grace flow through me as I've navigated some pretty horrendous situations.

Through it all I have come to understand that God is completely faithful. And as St. Monica so clearly represented, when we remain faithful to him, the inevitable burdens will eventually be transformed into precious jewels of grace that will strengthen and sanctify us.

I’d like to close with these words from “Confessions” by St. Augustine….

“Too late have I loved you, O Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! Too late I loved you! And behold, you were within, and I abroad, and there I searched for you; I was deformed, plunging amid those fair forms, which you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you. Things held me far from you—things which, if they were not in you, were not at all. You called, and shouted, and burst my deafness. You flashed and shone, and scattered my blindness. You breathed odors and I drew in breath—and I pant for you. I tasted, and I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for your peace

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SUBLIME AUDACITY!

By -
Image
I have all the signs and symptoms of something I just learned about today...Sublime Audacity. That's right...I have the audacity to believe-that anything is possible-anything at all-with God. In fact, I believe that there is one cure for all the world's ills...and that cure rests with -and in God. In a world of material wealth, individual desires and carefully orchestrated managed care...When people search the world over for the answers that never come, the healings that rarely happen and the hope that always gets dashed by the next person...I believe that there is only one steady stream of consciousness that always gets it right...and that is God. I've personally experienced it time and again and every time I look elsewhere or seek some other solution, I always come crawling back to the staying power of my higher power...Because let's face it...Once we have the audacity to tell anyone-anyone at all that God is responsible for all the good in our lives or the Love that ...
Read more

OUR LADY OF JOY, HANCEVILLE ALABAMA

By -
Image
High atop a hill in Hanceville Alabama, broken hearts are being healed and hope is being restored. Our Lady of Joyful Hope is a community of young men who are finding new freedom through a life of authentic truth. Once lost in the darkness of addiction they are now living in the light of Christ who is transforming them from the inside out...And their families, if they are open and willing, are being transformed right alongside them. Recently, I spent three days with this community, listening to the young men, their parents and to the foundress, Mother Elvira, who flew in from Italy for the anointing of the new community house and the celebration that followed. Mother Elvira's life story is on par with Mother Teresa. She is an Italian nun who heard the call from God to snatch souls from Satan by delivering young men and women from the demonic grip of addiction. She gave up everything familiar, walked straight into the wilderness and wound up becoming a living legacy for desperate fa...
Read more

CONFESSIONS OF FATHER JOE BENSON

By -
As we sat in silence, meditating...I nudged my friend Terri, "What do we have to complain about?!" I whispered. There he hung, pain stricken, vulnerable in his nakedness, sharp thorns cutting into his head, pleading eyes fixed on the heavens. What I thought, on God's green earth, do I have to complain about?! That's probably why they do it...place the life like crucifix dead center-above the altar, just above the Blessed Sacrament, right where you can't miss it...just to remind us-things could be worse, but they're destined to get better-if we keep our eyes focused-on the solution. Another friend-likes to remind me-he's not on the cross anymore...So why do we keep him there? Every one's got an opinion, but to tell you the truth, I need to be reminded of the sacrifice...and every painful moment in between. Puts my problems in perspective...helps me see clearly...gives me strength to proceed. We went to first Friday adoration in the upper ninth ward.....
Read more