Saint Monica, whom the Church commemorates today, was a woman and a mother: with her, therefore, we want to reflect on what it means to be women and mothers today.
A woman of yesterday and today
One might wonder: can a woman who lived in the 4th century AD have anything to say to women today? The answer is yes, because saints know how to overcome any distance of space or time and, as we begin to learn about Monica, we realize that she knows how to speak to today's wives, today's widows, and today's mothers.
Monica was the wife of Patricius, a pagan and rough man, and she knew how to change his heart through the means of gentleness, silence, prayer, and perseverance. If you are a wife living in a difficult marriage that is not always peaceful, Monica is by your side.
Monica experienced the pain of widowhood and faced it with living faith and fortitude; if you are walking this path, Monica will know how to walk with you.
Patron saint of Christian mothers
Monica was above all a mother; she is considered the patron saint of Christian mothers. She suffered immense pain, especially because of her son Augustine: deeply faithful to God herself, she watched him lose his way, drifting farther and farther from the Lord. Yet she always prayed and hoped, never giving up, and in the end she had the joy of seeing her son convert and decide to devote his entire life to the Lord.
Monica speaks to today's mothers
Thus Father Remo Piccolomini, a great expert on the Augustinian saints, outlines the message Monica leaves to mothers in the profile he prepared for Editrice Shalom: «The relationship between mother and child has the flavor of love. But the medal has two sides; if one is love, the other is concern: along with joy, a mother's heart bears the anxiety she feels for her child. For a mother, children are a source of joy because of the joy of life and the tenderness of love, but mothers' hearts also know the constant concern for their children, the desire to guide them so that they do not lose their way.
So it was for Monica, and so it is for all mothers today who worry about the greater dangers to which their children are exposed (violence, crime, drugs…). Today, moreover, we live in a different society: the family and the school are going through a crisis. Why? Could it perhaps be because they are unable to offer their testimony? In short, today’s young people flee and wander unchecked.
Raising children is a difficult undertaking. Hope is a mother’s true strength. Nurturing it means gaining optimism: young people are unpredictable, yet they have hidden strengths that must be brought to light and encouraged. Who better than a mother can do this? Look at Monica, a woman of the past but a model for mothers today: she follows her son Augustine as best she can, calls him back to a sense of honesty, and holds him accountable. She follows her son according to her abilities, but always with great love. Above all, she prayed and wept a great deal for thirty-three years. In the end, she received far more from God than she had asked for. Monica was a mother just as you are, women; she stands beside you to help you walk the difficult paths of life».
Khalil Ghibran, the Lebanese poet, writes with rare delicacy: «Your children are not your children… they are the sons and daughters of Life’s own force. […] You are the bow from which, like living arrows, your children are sent forth. The Archer aims at the target on the path of the infinite and draws you with all his strength so that his arrows may fly swiftly and far. Let yourselves be drawn with joy in the Archer’s hands, for he loves equally both the arrows that fly and the bow that remains steady».
To mothers, Monica teaches that they must have the courage to let their children go, even to let them make mistakes; they must have the strength to watch them from afar, without ever “losing sight of them” in their hearts, and they must place their complete trust in the Lord, who sees where we cannot and has plans we do not know.
