68. Praying Your Loved Ones Into the Kingdom

Notes

For those worried about a family member becoming Christian, Saint Monica serves as a powerful role model and intercessor. As the mother of Saint Augustine, her story exemplifies perseverance and unwavering love in the face of a loved one's rejection of faith.
Saint Augustine, known for his hedonistic lifestyle and rejection of Christianity, joined a sect and pursued his passions. Despite this, Saint Monica never gave up on him, demonstrating the heartbreak a devout Christian mother can feel when a child strays from the path.
In his autobiography, "Confessions," Saint Augustine openly discusses his embrace of a hedonistic lifestyle and rejection of Christianity. However, Saint Monica remained steadfast in her love and prayers for his conversion, showcasing the power of persistent prayer.
The New Testament parable of the persistent widow coming to the judge at night illustrates the effectiveness of persistent prayer. Saint Monica prayed tirelessly for Augustine's transformation for over seventeen years, even when there were no signs of hope or improvement.
Despite not seeing any external change in her son for seventeen years, Saint Monica's faith sustained her through discouragement. Her tearful prayers moved a Catholic bishop to assure her that the child of such tears would not perish, a prophecy that would come true.
Saint Monica did not just pray for her son; she also pursued him when he left North Africa for Rome and Milan. She offered emotional and spiritual support, balancing her love with gentle correction, demonstrating the depth of commitment required when loved ones are on the wrong path.
The power of Saint Monica's prayer and perseverance not only transformed Augustine's life but also had a profound impact on Western civilization. Saint Augustine became one of the greatest thinkers in history, leaving a lasting legacy for all Christians.
Saint Augustine's conversion in March, greatly influenced by Saint Ambrose, led him to become a bishop and one of Christianity's most influential theologians. His transformation is a testament to the power of persistent prayer and the intercession of Saint Monica.
The lesson from Saint Monica's story is the importance of perseverance in praying for loved ones, even when change seems impossible. Like Monica, we must hold on to hope and trust that transformation can happen in God's own timing.
It is not up to us to determine when a loved one will experience a transformation; our role is to persevere in prayer and trust in God's plan. Saint Monica's example encourages us to never give up on those we love, no matter how hopeless the situation may seem.
Saint Monica's unwavering love and dedication to her son's spiritual well-being serve as an inspiration for all Christians facing similar challenges with their loved ones. Her story reminds us of the power of a mother's love and the importance of intercessory prayer.
As we pray for the conversion of our loved ones, we can turn to Saint Monica and Saint Augustine for their intercession. Their feast days, celebrated back-to-back in late August, serve as a reminder of the transformative power of persistent prayer and the hope we can have for those we love.

Episode Transcript

You know, every weekday morning, we pray the rosary together on x at 07:55AM in a space, a live space with 50 people, and we take turns, different people say, different decades. And people bring their prayer intentions. And frequently, there are prayer intentions for people praying for loved ones who have left the faith or never believed the faith are either not Christian at all because they've never been baptized and have no interest in it, or perhaps they've just fallen away. They went to confirmation as a middle schooler, and they never went back to church after that. Act actually, in ecclesial circles, there's there's the talk about this problem where people go to confirmation kind of as a box to check off, but they never come back to church.

Some people call it the sacrament of goodbye. But for Christians who know how important faith is, especially upon death and entering into eternal life, Christians are concerned about the welfare, the spiritual well-being of their loved ones. They're concerned that people they love may find themselves on the wrong side of the divide in eternal life. Jesus himself talks about the fact that people will be sent away, he will tell them to depart from me. When it comes to worrying about someone in your family that you want to become Christian, there's a beautiful role model to look to and to ask for her intercession.

And it's Saint Monica. Saint Monica, of course, is the mother of Saint Augustine. Their feast days are actually back to back, one after another, in late August every year. Of course, Saint Augustine was the rebel. He was a man who pursued his passions and pleasure.

Saint Monica never gave up. She's a powerful example of perseverance and love. She never gave up no matter how hopeless it seemed. For a devout Christian mother, it can be heartbreak when a son pursues a wayward path. Saint Augustine makes no secret of what he did.

If you read his Confessions, autobiography, he embraced a hedonistic lifestyle, rejected Christianity, and joined a sect. But despite this rejection, Monica remained steadfast in her love for her son and her prayers for his conversion. There is a power in persistent prayer. We see the example that's in the New Testament about the widow coming to the judge at night and being persistent. Monica prayed tirelessly for Augustine's transformation for over seventeen years, without seeing any improvement, without any signs of hope.

She prayed for seventeen years with no external change, as far as she could tell. And her faith sustained her through discouragement. Monica's tearful prayers moved a Catholic bishop to assure her the child of such tears will not perish. A prophecy. But Monica didn't just pray.

She pursued her son. When he left North Africa to go to Rome and then to Milan, she followed, even though he probably didn't want her to. She offered emotional and spiritual support. She balanced her love for him with gentle correction from time to time. Her sacrifices show the depth of commitment necessary when you have loved ones on the wrong path.

But the power of prayer and perseverance not only transformed the life of Augustine, it transformed Western civilization. Saint Augustine is one of the greatest thinkers in history. And because Saint Monica prayed him into the kingdom, he left a legacy for all of us. He converted eventually in the year March with great influence from Saint Ambrose. Augustine himself would become a bishop, one of Christianity's greatest theologians.

All of this, of course, is Christian history. But what's the lesson for you and me is perseverance. Like Monica, we can hold on to hope for loved ones even when change seems impossible. Trust the transformation can happen in god's own timing. It's not up to us when.

It's just up to us to persevere. Saint Monica and Saint Augustine, pray for us.