Yesterday was the Feast of St. Monica, and today is the Feast of her son, St. Augustine of Hippo. Since I was born in Santa Monica, and have a lot of love for St. Augustine, I thought I would share with you the final paragraph from Chapter 9 of the Confessions of St. Augustine:

"May she therefore rest in peace with her husband, before or after whom she married none; whom she obeyed, with patience bringing forth fruit unto Thee, that she might gain him also for Thee.

"And inspire, O my Lord my God, inspire Thy servants my brethren, Thy sons my masters, who with voice and heart and writings I serve, that so many of them as shall read these confessions may at Thy altar remember Monica, Thy handmaid, together with Patricius, her sometime husband, by whose flesh Thou introducedst me into this life, in what manner I know not.

"May they with pious affection be mindful of my parents in this transitory light, of my brethren that are under Thee our Father in our Catholic mother, and of my fellow-citizens in the eternal Jerusalem, which the wandering of Thy people sigheth for from their departure until their return.

"That so my mother's last entreaty to me may, through my confessions more than through my prayers, be more abundantly fulfilled to her through the prayers of many."



What a wonderful thing to include in one's autobiography: a request for the reader to pray for the author's mother.

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