27 August 2013
Feast of St. Monica
The grand effort of saving the human race is not simply between Jesus and the individual Christian, though this relationship plays a crucial role; rather it involves the whole of humanity. After all it was not merely Adam or Eve who fell in the Garden, nor was it merely they who fell together but rather in them fell all of humanity that was to come. Just as Christ seeks to raise us up from our fallen state, so He insists that we love others as He first loved us (Jn. 13:34-35); this means living our Christian life in such a way that we are not an obstacle to Christ’s salvific work. In fact, as the aforementioned verse teaches, it is only by sharing Christ’s love with others that we will be seen as His disciples in the first place: hence His rejection of the scribes and Pharisees.
Today’s saint is a model of exactly what we are considering this week: St. Monica threw her whole life into the salvation of her wayward son Augustine. She prayed for him, lived a model Christian life for him, sacrificed for him and, in the end, the Church was rewarded with the life of one of her greatest saints and doctors. St. Monica knew that it was Christ who would save her son, and she cooperated with Him out of love for her Lord and for her son, desiring eternal life for the child who received his mortal life through her.
Just as Christ has extended to us the open gate of salvation we ought—out of heart-felt gratitude and love for Him—bring along as many others as possible, guiding them with the firm hand of charity, the light of Christian example and the vigilance of constant prayer.