Tuesday, August 27, 2024

 

Memorial of Saint Monica, holy woman

(II Thessalonians 3:1-3a.14-17; Matthew 23:23-26)

As a young man, Saint Augustine achieved a modicum of success as a rhetorician.  He headed an academy where he drew several students.  His reputation was growing, but that fact did not pacify his mother, Saint Monica.  More than anything else, Monica wanted her son to practice the Catholic faith.  It seems that she saw material success as the outside of the cup to which Jesus alludes in today’s gospel reading.

Jesus frequently suggests that appearances are not to be judged so much as reality.  The tax collector praying for forgiveness in the Temple is perhaps the best example.  His prayer and not the Pharisee’s who reminds God of his own virtue is heard.  In today’s gospel Jesus condemns the Pharisees’ attention to miniscule points of the Law while ignoring its principal teachings of mercy and fidelity.

Saint Monica ceaselessly petitioned God that her son become a Christian. She also appealed to her son continually that he consider joining Christ.  She knew that Christ was the way to true happiness in eternal life.  To her -- may God grant it so for us as well -- fame, fortune, and fun cannot compete in comparison.

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