At Catholics Come Home, we hear from many parents who continually pray for their children to return to the Catholic Church. There are few people who understand these parents’ hearts and struggles better than St. Monica.
St. Monica prayed unceasingly, fasted, and wept for the conversion of her son, Augustine, back to the Catholic Faith from his wayward lifestyle. Before St. Monica’s death, St. Augustine became a practicing Catholic–and he would later go on to become one of the greatest bishops and theologians the Church has ever seen.
“I do not know what there is left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled. All I wished for was that I might see you a Catholic and a child of Heaven. God granted me even more than this in making you despise earthly felicity and consecrate yourself to His service.” -St. Monica to St. Augustine
If you have children away from the Church (or any family or close friends), pray to St. Monica! In her own words: “Nothing is far from God.”
St. Monica (feast day: August 27) and St. Augustine (feast day: August 28), pray for us!