Dear Folks,

This past week we celebrated the feast days of St. Monica and St. Augustine. St. Monica’s feast was Thursday, and St. Augustine on Friday! It is only fitting that the mother’s feast day is before the son’s! With an Augustinian pope, I am confident that there will be increased reflection on these two great saints during his papacy.

St. Monica is a great intercessor for parents whose children have le the practice of the faith. She prayed for the future saint for many years, and her tears and prayers were answered beyond what she ever imagined! The second thing which I always recall for her, is that when she was dying, St. Augustine promised to take her body to her homeland for burial.

Her response shows her saintly focus on heaven and the holy sacrice of the Mass: “Bury my body wherever you will; let not care of it cause you any concern. One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be.” I invite all parents of children who have dried away from the practice of the faith, to pray for St. Monica’s powerful intercession and attend Mass as frequently as possible.

Secondly, in today’s bulletin there is a notice of invitation for all interested in participating in the St. Monica Prayer Group of St. Mary’s; a beautiful community of faith, gathering to encourage and pray for one another. Their next gathering is Saturday, September 12. Please reach out!

As a nod to the Holy Father, we put a statue of St. Augustine into the new adoration chapel. It is the statue on the rightmost side of the reredos, and it is the statue that has most elicited the question, “who is that?” He is depicted with a book in his hand and a flaming heart, which is a nod to this line from the beginning of The Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

St. Monica, powerful in prayer, and St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, pray for us!

pax,

Father John Mosimann