Happy Mother's Day

with a devotional reflection

I thought I’d write a little reflection on a great mother from Christian history in honour of mother’s day today: Saint Monica.

The Life of Saint Monica

Some of you may be thinking, “Saint Who?” and while many of you may have never heard of her, you should recognize her son’s name, because I wrote about him during my Lent devotionals. Saint Monica is the mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo—a Church Father and Doctor of the Church, known for his monumental contribution to Western Christianity.

Saint Augustine was not always a Christian and for over 17 years his mother prayed for his conversion. He eventually did become a Christian and much of what we know about Saint Monica comes from Augustine’s work, Confessions.

Monica lived a devout Christian life of generosity, love and prayer, despite having a pagan husband that found her piety (in the proper sense of the term) annoying. She eventually converted not only her son, but also her husband and mother-in-law through her shining example.

What Saint Monica Reminds Us Of

To me, Monica is a reminder of the love that a mother feels for her children and also the humble surrender that a mother must have in entrusting her children to God.

Monica teaches us about the patience and persistence that we can have in prayer because despite her prayers going seemingly unanswered for years—and perhaps feelings of hopelessness creeping in—she continued to trust that God knew her sorrow and was at work.

Praying Patiently

Often when we pray, we expect to receive an immediate answer from God, but sometimes God doesn’t answer our prayers right away or in the way we expect. Prayer cannot be a genie-slot-machine with God, asking for what we want and getting angry if we don’t get it.

God knows what we need and doesn’t give us more or less than what we need at any particular time. Just like the men and women in the Old Testament who trusted God daily for manna, we are called to pray daily for “this day, our daily bread.” We pray for his guidance and wisdom each day rather than getting overwhelmed by the big picture.

Prayer is a communion with God, a relational conversation that grows as our love for God grows. It is through our complete trust in God that our faith is strengthened and this should be the ultimate goal of our prayer life—to know God and to trust him more fully. We can rely on God’s love and mercy in full confidence, bringing our prayers before Him.

Whether you are a mother currently, hope to be one in the future, mourning the loss of a child, celebrating your own mother’s life, or the lives of other great women in your life, Monica’s example can teach us about the patient persistence of prayer, the love a parent has for a child, the humility to generously serve others and the surrendering of our will to God’s will…daily.

Preparing Our Hearts

When prayers go unanswered, do we turn from God or do we dig deeper and trust further? Are we approaching prayer with an attitude of what we can get from God, or do we ask God to work in our hearts and lives so that the ultimate outcome of our prayers would be a greater surrender to His holy will?