How far would you go to follow God? How far would you go to bring the ones you love to Christ? There should be no horizon because there is nothing more important than Heaven.
Sometimes St Monica can come across as one-note, maybe almost like the clingy mom of antiquity. But Monica offers bold witness to having radically clear priorities—the priorities we should share in our own relationships.
From her unfaithful, cruel husband to her brilliant but restless son, Monica poured herself into their conversions. She cared little for her loved ones' worldly accomplishments, which were significant. Status, position, and recognition were crumbs to Monica; she burned with desire to see them converted to Christ and won for Heaven.
She prioritized the salvation of her husband and children without limit. She forgave Patricius for his countless infidelities and followed Augustine around from continent to continent in her relentless efforts to convert him. No amount of time, expense, inconvenience, or even apparent failure could outweigh the importance of conversion. Monica had no other priority than Heaven.
We hear all the time "you do you" and "you're enough." It's supposed to help us let go of the idea that we have to somehow earn our worth. And that’s good. But sometimes this framework nudges us toward soft complacency, toward a foggy forgetfulness about the urgency of repentance.
Monica is a wake-up call—not a gentle flute but a blaring horn—that death is coming, and with it, eternity. In light of eternity, any day we do not move closer toward Christ and Heaven is a day foolishly squandered. In light of eternity, we can have no other priority for those we love.
Of course, we should not live in some kind of fearful gloom or reject the joys of this life. They are gifts from a loving Giver who wants us to know His goodness, after all. (Augustine said as much countless times in his Confessions.) But in this life, we dare not lose sight of what matters far more than any earthly good.
Augustine reported that Monica's last words were, "Nothing is far from God." Not this life, this day, this moment, however ordinary and mundane they may seem, and not a single soul made by Love for love.
St Monica's feast is August 27.
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