Reflection on Mass Readings for feast of St Monica, mother of Augustine

Tuesday of the Twenty-first week in Ordinary Time  27 August 2013 St. Monica (332-387)   The circumstances of St. Monica's life could have made her a nagging wife, a bitter daughter-in-law and a despairing parent, yet she did not give way to any of these temptations. Although she was a Christian, her parents gave her in marriage to a pagan, Patricius, who lived in her hometown of Tagaste in North Africa. Patricius had some redeeming features, but he had a violent temper and was licentious. Monica also had to bear with a cantankerous mother-in-law who lived in her home. Patricius criticized his wife because of her charity and piety, but always respected her. Monica's prayers and example finally won her husband and mother-in-law to Christianity. Her husband died in 371, one year after his Baptism.   Monica had at least three children who survived infancy. The oldest, Augustine, is the most famous. At the time of his father's death, Augustine was 17 and a rhetoric student in Carthage. Monica was distressed to learn that her son had accepted the Manichean heresy and was living an immoral life. For a while, she refused to let him eat or sleep in her house. Then one night she had a vision that assured her Augustine would return to the faith. From that time on she stayed close to her son, praying and fasting for him. In fact, she often stayed much closer than Augustine wanted.   When he was 29, Augustine decided to go to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monica was determined to go along. One night he told his mother that he was going to the dock to say goodbye to a friend. Instead, he set sail for Rome. Monica was heartbroken when she learned of Augustine's trick, but she still followed him. She arrived in Rome only to find that he had left for Milan. Although travel was difficult, Monica pursued him to Milan.   In Milan Augustine came under the influence of the bishop, St. Ambrose, who also became Monica's spiritual director. She accepted his advice in everything and had the humility to give up some practices that had become second nature to her (see Quote, below). Monica became a leader of the devout women in Milan as she had been in Tagaste.   She continued her prayers for Augustine during his years of instruction. At Easter, 387, St. Ambrose baptized Augustine and several of his friends. Soon after, his party left for Africa. Although no one else was aware of it, Monica knew her life was near the end. She told Augustine, "Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled." She became ill shortly after and suffered severely for nine days before her death.   Almost all we know about St. Monica is in the writings of St. Augustine, especially his Confessions.   Quote:       When Monica moved from North Africa to Milan, she found religious practices new to her and also that some of her former customs, such as a Saturday fast, were not common there. She asked St. Ambrose which customs she should follow. His classic reply was: "When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday, but I fast when I am in Rome; do the same and always follow the custom and discipline of the Church as it is observed in the particular locality in which you find yourself."   Reflection:   Today, with Internet searches, e-mail shopping and instant credit, we have little patience for things that take time. Likewise, we want instant answers to our prayers. Monica is a model of patience. Her long years of prayer, coupled with a strong, well-disciplined character, finally led to the conversion of her hot-tempered husband, her cantankerous mother-in-law and her brilliant but wayward son, Augustine.   1 Thess. 2:1-8. You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our reception among you was not without effect. Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated, as you know, in Philippi, we drew courage through our God to speak to you the gospel of God with much struggle. Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives, nor did it work through deception. But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the gospel, that is how we speak, not as trying to please human beings,but rather God, who judges our hearts. Nor, indeed, did we ever appear with flattering speech, as you know, or with a pretext for greed - God is witness - nor did we seek praise from human beings, either from you or from others, although we were able to impose our weight as apostles of Christ. Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.   Ps 139(138):1-3.4-6. O LORD, you have probed me and you know me; You know when I sit and when I stand; You understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, With all my ways you are familiar. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it. Behind me and before, you hem me in and rest your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain.   Matt 23:23-26. Jesus said: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean."   Commentary of the day: Origen (c.185-253), priest and theologian Homilies on Saint Luke's Gospel, no.21 ; PG 13, 1855 ; SC 87 "Cleanse first the inside of the cup" : prepare a way into our heart In the prophet Isaiah we read the following words: “A voice cries out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight his highway!” (cf. Is 40,3). The Lord wants to find a way into your hearts by which he can enter and walk. Prepare this way for him; make his highway straight... What kind of way are we going to prepare for the Lord? A material way? But how could God's Word make use of a way like that? Wouldn't it be better to prepare an interior way for the Lord and to draw some straight, connected roads into our hearts? Yes indeed! This is the way for the Word of God to enter in and settle within the human heart that is able to receive him.How great man's heart is! How broad and spacious so long as it is pure! Do you want to understand its greatness and breadth? Take a look at the range of divine knowledge it contains. Here is a heart that says so itself: “God gave me sound knowledge of existing things that I might know the organization of the universe and the force of its elements, the beginning and the end and the midpoint of times, the changes in the sun's course and the variations of the seasons. Cycles of years, positions of the stars, natures of animals, tempers of beasts, powers of the winds and thoughts of men, uses of plants and virtues of roots” (Wsd 7.17-20). You see, the heart of man which encompasses so many things is by no means small!...Well then, if it isn't small and if it can grasp so many things, we can prepare a way for the Lord in it and make straight a highway where the Word and Wisdom of God can walk (1Cor 1,24). Prepare a way for the Lord by means of a good conscience; level the road for the Word of God to walk within you without obstacle and give you understanding of his mysteries and of his coming.