In the third book of his Confessions, St. Augustine remembers his mother Monica praying for him while he remained caught in Manichaean error. He describes her tears, her hope and the long interval during which she continued to pray. The story comes from the son looking back on his own life before God. Its tenderness is inseparable from his acknowledgment that she could not immediately change him. Augustine, Confessions Book III, Confessions III.11.19–12.21
Monica also sought help from a bishop. Augustine does not name him in this episode. The bishop declined the proposed confrontation at that time, judging Augustine unready to hear it, and encouraged her to pray for him. His further reassurance belongs to this particular conversation. Identifying him as Ambrose or turning his words into a promise about every child would add claims the passage does not establish. Augustine, Confessions Book III, Confessions III.11.19–12.21
Christ’s parable in Luke begins with the purpose that His disciples should keep praying and not lose heart. Persistence is therefore part of the Gospel’s own instruction. Monica’s account gives us a particular parental example; the parable gives the command to persevere. Neither provides a timetable by which a parent can demand a child’s conversion. Luke 18:1-8
Augustine’s remembrance can help us speak carefully to a parent carrying this grief. Monica’s love did not become indifferent when she could not persuade her son. She brought the distress before God and sought counsel. Those are actions a worried parent can recognize and consider without being burdened with the claim that another person’s choices measure the adequacy of their prayer. Augustine, Confessions Book III, Confessions III.11.19–12.21
The source also lets us be patient with an unfinished story. Augustine recalls that hope and continuing sorrow existed together in his mother. Prayer need not wait until concern has disappeared. We can keep bringing a loved person before God, seeking wise counsel and refusing to invent an outcome. Monica’s example directs us toward persevering prayer while leaving the person we love in God’s mercy. Augustine, Confessions Book III, Confessions III.11.19–12.21
For prayer, use the Lord’s Prayer given by Christ in Matthew 6:9–13.
Sources and edition notes
- Augustine, Confessions Book III. Translated by J.G. Pilkington. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/110103.htm.
Scripture references link to these comparison editions: NKJV. Biblical passages are paraphrased. Biblical language within a patristic quotation follows the identified historical English translation.