Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

Posts Tagged ‘Feasts and Commemorations’

Augustine is one of the most celebrated theologians and leaders of the Western Church. Born in North Africa in 364, his mother tried unsuccessfully to raise her son in the faith. As a young adult, Augustine moved to Carthage where he lived with a woman and fathered a son. In 384, he travelled to Milan in Italy, having accepted an appointment as a teacher of philosophy. There, the prayers of his mother were answered, and after dialoging with the city’s bishop, Ambrose, he was baptized in the year 387. In the year 391, while visiting the city of Hippo, he was asked to serve as the pastor of the local Christian community. He remained there for the rest of his life, living in community with the clergy under a strict rule. His monastic rule has been adopted by numerous religious orders over the years.

COLLECT
Lord God, you are the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the hearts that serve you. Help us, following the example of your servant Augustine of Hippo, so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

We know about Monnica almost entirely from the autobiography of her son Augustine. Monnica was born in North Africa, near Carthage, in what is now Tunisia, perhaps around 331, of Christian parents, and was a Christian throughout her life. As a girl, she was fond of wine, but on one occasion was taunted by a slave girl for drunkenness, and resolved not to drink thereafter. She was married to a pagan husband, Patricius, a man of hot temper, who was often unfaithful to her, but never insulted or struck her. It was her happiness to see both him and his mother ultimately receive the Gospel.

Monnica’s son was another matter. He was an intelligent young man, and a natural leader. She had high ambitions for Augustine, but over time her ambition for his secular advancement became a deep passion for his conversion to the faith as her spiritual life became more and more deeply rooted in prayer. No matter how much he rebuffed her attempts to share the faith with him, she continued in prayer for him constantly. Eventually, Monnica’s prayers were answered, and Augustine was baptized by Ambrose in Milan at the Great Vigil of Pascha in the year 387.

After his baptism, Augustine planned to return to Africa with Monnica (and his younger brother), but in Monnica fell ill before leaving Italy. She told her son, “You will bury your mother here. All I ask of you is that, wherever you may be, you should remember me at the altar of the Lord. Do not fret because I am buried far from our home in Africa. Nothing is far from God, and I have no fear that he will not know where to find me, when he comes to raise me to life at the end of the world.”

COLLECT
O Lord, through spiritual discipline you strengthened your servant Monnica to persevere in offering her love, prayers, and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son. Deepen our devotion, we pray, and use us in accordance with your will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord; he who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.