# Saint Monica

An episode of [Saints Alive Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1598392451), 12 Aug 2024, 36 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1882754/episodes/15541650-saint-monica.mp3

"Nothing is far from God" Have you ever heard the quote "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."? Or what about "To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him, the greatest adventure and to find Him, the greatest human achievement"? These beautiful quotes are from the incredible Saint, Augustine of Hippo. And before he was a saint, Augustine was nothing short of a ruffian and rebel. It was only by the grace of God that he went on to become saint and doctor of the church! And we will tell his story...but! Not yet. First, we have to start with the story of the one that prayed Augustine into the arms of God, the woman who wept and fought for his holiness: Augustine's mother, Saint Monica. Saints Alive is brought to you by the #1 Catholic Prayer App, Hallow! Sign up today with a 30-day free trial! Please rate, review and share with friends and family! Find out more about Saints Alive at our website: https://www.saintsalivepodcast.com/

## Transcript

[0:03] SPEAKER_08: Welcome to Saints Alive, where we take you with us to meet God's most heroic followers.
[0:08] SPEAKER_08: The Saints were just ordinary boys and girls who allowed God's love to transform them into real-life superheroes.
[0:16] SPEAKER_08: Their love for God changed our world.
[0:19] SPEAKER_08: Did you know that God has sent you here to become a saint?
[0:22] SPEAKER_08: It's up to you to choose love over fear, to be courageous, faithful, and kind.
[0:27] SPEAKER_08: The choice to become a saint won't be easy, but it will be worth it.
[0:31] SPEAKER_08: So listen closely and open your hearts.
[0:34] SPEAKER_08: These real-life tales of the saints from the past may just inspire you how to live your story.
[0:40] SPEAKER_08: Let's go on this adventure together.
[1:13] SPEAKER_08: Or what about to fall in love with God is the greatest romance, to seek him the greatest adventure, and to find him the greatest human achievement.
[1:24] SPEAKER_08: These beautiful quotes are from the incredible saint, Augustine of Hippo.
[1:31] SPEAKER_08: And before he was a saint, Augustine was nothing short of a ruffian and rebel.
[1:36] SPEAKER_08: It was only by the grace of God that he went on to become a saint and doctor of the church.
[1:43] SPEAKER_08: And we will tell his story, but not yet.
[1:48] SPEAKER_08: First, we have to start with the story of the one that prayed Augustine into the arms of God.
[1:55] SPEAKER_08: The woman who wept and fought for his holiness.
[2:00] SPEAKER_08: Augustine's mother, Saint Monica.
[2:20] SPEAKER_10: I want to remember.
[2:22] SPEAKER_10: I want to remember my mother.
[2:24] SPEAKER_10: Not only for me, but for you.
[2:28] SPEAKER_10: That her request to me may, through my confession, be more abundantly fulfilled to her through the prayers of many.
[2:37] SPEAKER_10: I don't know much of her life before I was born, partially because I was not there, and partially because once there, I was concerned solely with myself for most of my life.
[2:48] SPEAKER_10: But I will try to recall as much as I am able to catch up to my memory.
[2:52] SPEAKER_10: My mother Monica was like me born in Tagast, in the north of Africa, to Christian parents, and, despite an early fondness for wine, which I would come to share, proved herself quite temperate and devout.
[3:05] SPEAKER_10: Christianity was still quite new to the Roman Empire then, and she was early married off to my father, Patricius, a local official, still very pagan and given to violent bursts of temper and suspect moral choices.
[3:35] SPEAKER_12: Where's Monica?
[3:38] SPEAKER_12: Monica!
[3:42] SPEAKER_07: Yes, dear.
[3:44] SPEAKER_12: Have you been giving away my money to beggars who couldn't be bothered to help themselves?
[3:49] SPEAKER_07: No.
[3:50] SPEAKER_07: I was praying.
[3:52] SPEAKER_12: Oh, praying?
[3:53] SPEAKER_12: For what?
[3:54] SPEAKER_12: A new dress?
[3:56] SPEAKER_07: For you.
[4:00] SPEAKER_12: What are you doing?
[4:04] SPEAKER_07: I know you must have had a difficult day.
[4:07] SPEAKER_07: You must be hungry.
[4:12] unknown: I have.
[4:13] SPEAKER_11: I am.
[4:15] SPEAKER_11: Why are you so good to me?
[4:18] SPEAKER_11: When I am no good to you.
[4:21] SPEAKER_07: Oh, no one heals himself by wounding another.
[4:28] SPEAKER_10: And so it was.
[4:30] SPEAKER_10: Her almsgiving and prayers annoyed my father, but he nevertheless held her in a sort of reverence.
[4:37] SPEAKER_10: She wasn't the only wife in Tagast who was treated poorly.
[4:41] SPEAKER_10: But her grace and patience in the face of suffering inspired and uplifted the other women of the town to suffer their trials in hope.
[4:49] SPEAKER_10: She sowed seeds of faith, intended to them often.
[4:54] SPEAKER_10: Yet, as much as my father admired her virtue.
[5:01] SPEAKER_12: How many thousand times have I said Augustine will not be baptized?
[5:07] SPEAKER_12: I will not permit you to indulge in this silly superstition.
[5:12] SPEAKER_12: I don't want my son to grow into a soft-handed pitopaterer.
[5:16] SPEAKER_07: My dear husband, he is ill.
[5:19] SPEAKER_12: So he is ill.
[5:21] SPEAKER_12: All children fall ill.
[5:23] SPEAKER_07: He may not survive the night.
[5:26] SPEAKER_07: How have I not known of this?
[5:29] SPEAKER_07: You have not looked in on him in some time.
[5:37] SPEAKER_12: I I see.
[5:40] SPEAKER_12: You have my permission.
[5:42] SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
[5:44] SPEAKER_06: Oh, thank you, Patricius.
[5:47] SPEAKER_12: You're you're welcome.
[5:51] SPEAKER_12: Monica, I uh I don't deserve you.
[6:03] SPEAKER_10: Alas, words spoken in haste can be undone in haste.
[6:07] SPEAKER_10: And after I recovered, my father went back on his promise, and my baptism was deferred.
[6:22] SPEAKER_12: We needn't burden the boy.
[6:25] SPEAKER_12: He must be free to find his own way.
[6:28] SPEAKER_07: Yes, dear husband.
[6:30] SPEAKER_07: I suppose it better that unformed Clay should be exposed to temptation rather than damage the image itself.
[6:42] SPEAKER_10: My mother's heart shattered into a thousand pieces.
[6:46] SPEAKER_10: But as was her way, she did not seek to collect the shards by her power alone.
[7:01] SPEAKER_07: Oh dear Lord, heal my heart.
[7:05] SPEAKER_07: Preserve my family.
[7:08] SPEAKER_07: Teach me patience.
[7:10] SPEAKER_07: I promise.
[7:12] SPEAKER_07: I promise to persevere in prayer until they all rest safe in your arms.
[7:25] SPEAKER_10: However, this promise would prove hard to keep.
[7:32] SPEAKER_10: Yet try as she might.
[7:34] SPEAKER_10: I rather famously proved to be wayward and not a little lazy in finding my way.
[7:50] SPEAKER_07: Somebody stop that why did you steal that pear?
[8:09] SPEAKER_10: I didn't steal it, so much as borrow it indefinitely.
[8:13] SPEAKER_07: Why?
[8:14] SPEAKER_07: I don't know.
[8:15] SPEAKER_07: It was there.
[8:16] SPEAKER_07: Augustine, will you promise me that you will stop stealing?
[8:21] SPEAKER_07: I will promise.
[8:23] SPEAKER_03: But not yet.
[8:29] SPEAKER_10: Boys will be boys.
[8:32] SPEAKER_07: Where are you going?
[8:34] SPEAKER_10: I have a rendezvous.
[8:36] SPEAKER_07: With who?
[8:37] SPEAKER_10: A companion.
[8:38] SPEAKER_07: What is his name?
[8:41] SPEAKER_10: Antonia.
[8:42] SPEAKER_07: Oh, a female companion.
[8:45] SPEAKER_07: What is the nature of this rendezvous?
[8:48] SPEAKER_12: Oh, leave him alone, Monica.
[8:50] SPEAKER_12: Let him be young.
[8:57] SPEAKER_07: Patrick's permit me.
[8:58] SPEAKER_07: If he is to be given such liberty, perhaps he could be given it at school, sent to study, that he may not be wholly oblivious to the truth.
[9:11] SPEAKER_12: If I don't, I'll borrow.
[9:15] SPEAKER_07: Thank you, dear husband.
[9:19] SPEAKER_12: Are you off to pray for him?
[9:22] SPEAKER_07: Yes.
[9:23] SPEAKER_12: Um may I come with you?
[9:26] SPEAKER_07: You you uh you want to come?
[9:29] SPEAKER_12: I want to see where you get this love of yours.
[9:34] SPEAKER_07: Of course.
[9:41] SPEAKER_10: At long last, my father was baptized, and his mother, too, drawn by the light of my mother's gentle love.
[9:50] SPEAKER_10: Yet her joy was short-lived, as my father died not long after.
[9:58] SPEAKER_10: On that occasion, she made a resolution.
[10:06] SPEAKER_07: Lord, I promise to never take another husband, so that I may dedicate myself whole and entire to the care of Augustine's soul.
[10:38] SPEAKER_10: I, as you may guess, did not share in her zeal for my salvation.
[10:43] SPEAKER_10: You see, while at school in Carthage to study rhetoric, I was given over to wine, women, song, theater, every pleasure the city sent my way, I welcomed.
[10:55] SPEAKER_10: My mother heard of my ways and grew anxious.
[10:58] SPEAKER_10: And, as I remember, warned me privately with great solicitude.
[11:09] SPEAKER_07: Ah, my son, do not be so loose with your affections.
[11:13] SPEAKER_10: I prefer to think of it as generosity, mother.
[11:16] SPEAKER_10: Let us not argue.
[11:18] SPEAKER_07: I I just want you to be happy.
[11:20] SPEAKER_07: I worry that you'll be swept away in this world of.
[11:23] SPEAKER_10: I'm enjoying my studies.
[11:24] SPEAKER_07: You are?
[11:26] SPEAKER_10: Have you read much of Cicero?
[11:28] SPEAKER_07: The great Roman orator?
[11:29] SPEAKER_10: Yes.
[11:30] SPEAKER_10: I was reading his Hortensius, and my spirit was filled with an extraordinary desire for the eternal qualities of wisdom.
[11:38] SPEAKER_07: You will soon be a philosopher.
[11:40] SPEAKER_07: That fills my heart with happiness.
[11:42] SPEAKER_10: I thought I might.
[11:56] SPEAKER_07: Thank you for placing this seed in his heart.
[12:00] SPEAKER_07: May it grow and blossom.
[12:03] SPEAKER_10: The seed did grow.
[12:06] SPEAKER_10: I kept reading and rereading.
[12:09] SPEAKER_10: I felt a love of wisdom itself take hold of my heart, whatever it might be, and a yearning to search for it, pursue it, hold it and embrace it firmly.
[12:24] SPEAKER_10: Unfortunately, as the seed grew, the vines twisted in not altogether healthy directions.
[12:32] SPEAKER_10: In Carthage, I discovered the teachings of Manni, a man who claimed to be the final prophet in the line of prophets such as Buddha and Zoroaster.
[12:42] SPEAKER_10: Manni and his followers even thought Jesus was just a prophet.
[12:48] SPEAKER_09: The fundamental conflict, then, is between two opposite, everlasting principles: light and darkness.
[12:55] SPEAKER_09: Light is good, darkness is, of course, evil.
[12:58] SPEAKER_09: This material world is a union of light and darkness, good and evil.
[13:02] SPEAKER_09: Our goal must then, as men, be to release the light trapped within the darkness of the flesh, the material world.
[13:13] SPEAKER_10: I embraced this creed, this manichaeism, thinking myself quite sophisticated and modern for doing so.
[13:20] SPEAKER_10: I was drawn to its simple divisions and easy certainties.
[13:25] SPEAKER_10: Nothing so mysterious is what the Christians believe that the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[13:36] SPEAKER_10: After completing my studies in Carthage, I returned home to open a school.
[13:42] SPEAKER_10: My mother was happy for this.
[13:44] SPEAKER_10: But when I revealed to her my newfound religion, she was no longer so relieved to have me back home.
[13:55] SPEAKER_10: You must see this duality, mother.
[13:57] SPEAKER_10: How could eternal unchanging be contaminated with material changing flesh?
[14:02] SPEAKER_10: God become man?
[14:03] SPEAKER_10: It's nonsensical.
[14:09] SPEAKER_10: Oh I don't know what to say.
[14:13] SPEAKER_10: Please don't cry.
[14:14] SPEAKER_10: I have no objection to Christ as a metaphor.
[14:19] SPEAKER_07: You may have read in Plato and Cicero things that are wise and very beautiful.
[14:25] SPEAKER_07: But have you ever read in either of them, come on to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden?
[14:33] SPEAKER_10: I I I never said Jesus wasn't a wise teacher.
[14:38] SPEAKER_07: Oh, Augustine!
[14:39] SPEAKER_10: Why are you packing my things?
[14:41] SPEAKER_07: I love you more than life itself.
[14:43] SPEAKER_07: But if you plan on teaching heresy, then you can cook your own meals in your own house.
[14:51] SPEAKER_10: Mother!
[14:52] SPEAKER_07: Please go.
[15:01] SPEAKER_10: So I left.
[15:06] SPEAKER_10: And my mother wept, as if I had died.
[15:10] SPEAKER_10: Her tears flowed down from her eyes and watered the earth beneath.
[15:14] SPEAKER_10: In whatsoever place she prayed for me.
[15:21] SPEAKER_10: I went about my business, teaching, pining after the honors of the world.
[15:27] SPEAKER_10: I loved nothing more than the praise of the crowns and the delights gold could afford.
[15:33] SPEAKER_10: And she continued to pray.
[15:36] SPEAKER_10: In time, God answered her.
[15:39] SPEAKER_10: And after that answer, I heard a knock at my door.
[15:48] SPEAKER_10: Mother?
[15:50] SPEAKER_07: I want you to come home.
[15:54] SPEAKER_10: I will not be baptized.
[15:57] SPEAKER_07: I know.
[15:58] SPEAKER_10: Then why?
[16:00] SPEAKER_07: The Lord sent me a dream.
[16:05] SPEAKER_07: I saw myself standing on a certain wooden wall, a measure, and coming toward me was a young man, splendid, joyful, and smiling, although I was crushed with grief.
[16:19] SPEAKER_07: When he asked me the reason for my tears, I replied that I lamented your perition.
[16:26] SPEAKER_07: Then he bade me rest secure and instructed me that I should attend and see that where I was, there you were also.
[16:35] SPEAKER_07: And when I looked, there I saw you standing on the same rule.
[16:41] SPEAKER_07: The same wooden measure.
[16:53] SPEAKER_10: And do you think the rod represents the right rule of the truth?
[16:59] SPEAKER_07: You will come home to the church, Augustine.
[17:04] SPEAKER_10: I was moved by her faith, by her love for me.
[17:08] SPEAKER_10: But I did not tell her this.
[17:10] SPEAKER_10: I had by now left Tagast for Carthage and built quite the career as an orator and teacher.
[17:17] SPEAKER_10: But it was not enough.
[17:18] SPEAKER_10: Encouraged by wealthy Maniche friends, I announced my intention to go to Rome, where the students and pay were of a higher order.
[17:27] SPEAKER_10: My mother still could not but go.
[17:30] SPEAKER_10: Quite literally, in fact.
[17:35] SPEAKER_10: If I stay, I'll be no good to you or anyone.
[17:38] SPEAKER_10: I must follow my heart.
[17:40] SPEAKER_10: Now let go of my cloak.
[17:43] SPEAKER_07: If you will not return, then take me with you!
[17:48] SPEAKER_10: Mother! Alright, alright.
[17:51] SPEAKER_10: You may come.
[17:52] SPEAKER_10: But I promised a friend I would not leave without him.
[17:55] SPEAKER_10: And he will not leave unless the wind is right.
[17:57] SPEAKER_10: His stomach is very sensitive.
[18:00] SPEAKER_07: What friend?
[18:02] SPEAKER_10: Art Bartolomaeus.
[18:06] SPEAKER_10: Art Bartolomaeus.
[18:09] SPEAKER_10: I did not have a friend named that.
[18:11] SPEAKER_10: Nor is it a real name.
[18:13] SPEAKER_07: I will not go home without you.
[18:16] SPEAKER_07: I promise I I will not leave without you.
[18:20] SPEAKER_10: Then let us stay the night at the chapel of St.
[18:22] SPEAKER_10: Cyprian.
[18:28] SPEAKER_10: I did not take her.
[18:30] SPEAKER_10: Secretly, I set out that night while she was praying.
[18:34] SPEAKER_10: When she found out, she wept and wailed.
[18:37] SPEAKER_10: And yet, after blaming my cruel deception, she turned again to begging God for me.
[18:45] SPEAKER_10: For she loved me as much as a mother can.
[18:50] SPEAKER_06: Please, oh God.
[18:53] SPEAKER_06: Please be with him.
[18:55] SPEAKER_06: Oh, please be with me.
[18:58] SPEAKER_10: She went about her usual practices, and I went to Rome.
[19:12] SPEAKER_10: When in Rome, however, I became deathly ill.
[19:15] SPEAKER_10: Day upon day.
[19:19] SPEAKER_10: One night, I thought that surely my death was upon me.
[19:24] SPEAKER_10: My head pounded with fever.
[19:34] SPEAKER_10: But by morning, I was completely healed.
[19:37] SPEAKER_10: I knew I could have only survived by the grace of my mother's prayers for me.
[19:42] SPEAKER_10: She could not have known of my sickness, but through her prayers and tears, God healed my body.
[19:49] SPEAKER_10: The seed of faith in me was slowly beginning to grow.
[19:57] SPEAKER_10: Still, when I recovered, I refused to be baptized.
[20:02] SPEAKER_10: I continued to teach in Rome, and my mother soon sought to follow me there.
[20:07] SPEAKER_10: But by the time she arrived in Rome, Augustine!
[20:12] SPEAKER_07: I brought you a gift.
[20:15] SPEAKER_08: May I help you?
[20:17] SPEAKER_07: I am looking for my son, Augustine.
[20:20] SPEAKER_08: He is not here.
[20:23] SPEAKER_07: I can see that.
[20:24] SPEAKER_07: Do you know where I might find him?
[20:27] SPEAKER_07: I do not.
[20:30] SPEAKER_07: He is a teacher.
[20:32] SPEAKER_07: Do you know where he taught?
[20:35] SPEAKER_07: I do not.
[20:38] SPEAKER_07: If I give you this bottle of wine, do you think you could help me find out?
[20:44] SPEAKER_07: I do.
[20:53] SPEAKER_04: A shoe that is too large is apt to trip one and too small to pinch the feet.
[20:59] SPEAKER_04: So it is whose fortune does not suit them.
[21:02] SPEAKER_04: Any questions?
[21:04] SPEAKER_04: Yes, you middle-aged woman in the back.
[21:08] SPEAKER_07: Do you know where I might find Augustine?
[21:11] SPEAKER_07: He taught here.
[21:12] SPEAKER_04: That is not what I meant.
[21:14] SPEAKER_07: Did you not mean any questions?
[21:18] SPEAKER_04: Fair enough.
[21:20] SPEAKER_04: May I ask who's asking?
[21:22] SPEAKER_07: His mother.
[21:25] SPEAKER_04: Well, he has been appointed imperial professor of rhetoric in Milan.
[21:30] SPEAKER_04: Now, if that is all.
[21:31] SPEAKER_07: That is not all.
[21:32] SPEAKER_07: Now, could you please point me to the closest port?
[21:37] SPEAKER_10: She did not rest her feet.
[21:39] SPEAKER_10: She set off to pursue me to Milan, the customary residence of the Emperor at the time, de facto capital of the Western Roman Empire, and the place where careers were best made.
[21:49] SPEAKER_10: I expected no less than a provincial governorship as the eventual and lucrative reward for my merits.
[21:55] SPEAKER_10: I did not expect my mother to follow me.
[22:03] SPEAKER_09: Waste that main town!
[22:05] SPEAKER_07: What for?
[22:06] SPEAKER_07: We're doomed! Hey, pull yourself together! Why did you slap me?
[22:13] SPEAKER_07: Sorry! I did not want to! But I did so to bring you to your senses! We are not doomed!
[22:20] SPEAKER_08: We're not?
[22:22] SPEAKER_07: No! I promise! We'll come through safely! God has promised me an avision! Now, hoist the veins down! You heard the woman! Hoist the veins down!
[22:53] SPEAKER_10: And so she pursued me to Milan, much to my continued chagrin.
[23:03] SPEAKER_07: Please, please come to church with me just once.
[23:09] SPEAKER_07: You must hear Bishop Ambrose speak.
[23:11] SPEAKER_07: He is renowned for his intellect, as much as his holiness.
[23:16] SPEAKER_10: Mother, I appreciate your concern.
[23:19] SPEAKER_10: I simply do not have the time or desire.
[23:22] SPEAKER_07: He is well read in philosophy.
[23:23] SPEAKER_07: You might just go to hear his skill of his oratory.
[23:27] SPEAKER_10: Perhaps.
[23:28] SPEAKER_10: Later.
[23:29] SPEAKER_07: Your heart will be restless until it rests in God, Augustine.
[23:36] SPEAKER_07: Then you should be in bed.
[23:38] SPEAKER_10: Even moderation in moderation.
[23:41] SPEAKER_10: Good night, Mother.
[23:48] SPEAKER_07: If you will not go to him, I will just have to bring him to you.
[24:01] SPEAKER_07: Your Excellency, Mr.
[24:03] SPEAKER_07: Ambrose.
[24:04] SPEAKER_07: I didn't know where else to turn.
[24:07] SPEAKER_07: May I speak with you?
[24:10] SPEAKER_07: Of course.
[24:16] SPEAKER_07: And so I do not know what else to do.
[24:19] SPEAKER_07: Please, would you speak with him?
[24:23] SPEAKER_02: I told you, he won't hear me.
[24:25] SPEAKER_02: Not yet.
[24:27] SPEAKER_07: What am I to do?
[24:29] SPEAKER_07: I have tried everything in my power, but still he wonders.
[24:35] SPEAKER_02: Perhaps it's not for you to do.
[24:40] SPEAKER_02: Not in your power.
[24:42] SPEAKER_02: But his.
[24:45] SPEAKER_02: Do you think he may be calling you to surrender even this to him?
[24:54] SPEAKER_07: Perhaps.
[24:56] SPEAKER_07: Or perhaps I should have been a better mother.
[24:59] SPEAKER_02: If Augusta had been an easier child, God would not have given him a mother like you.
[25:07] SPEAKER_02: Come, as you live, it is impossible that the son of such tears should perish.
[25:25] SPEAKER_07: Dear God, I kept him so tight, so close, so close to my heart, but I opened my hands to you and let go of him.
[25:42] SPEAKER_06: Take care of my son.
[25:54] SPEAKER_10: She had surrendered her will to God's, and her heart was at peace.
[25:59] SPEAKER_10: Mine was not as yet.
[26:01] SPEAKER_10: But I heeded her and came under the influence of Ambrose.
[26:05] SPEAKER_10: Strangely, slowly, the more intently that I listened to Ambrose, the more I began to reconsider my doubts.
[26:11] SPEAKER_10: His teachings led me to cast aside Manicheaism, and his reading of the scriptures, more mystical than literal, began to open my mind and eventually my heart.
[26:25] SPEAKER_03: When we speak about wisdom, we are speaking of Christ.
[26:31] SPEAKER_03: When we speak about virtue, we are speaking of Christ.
[26:38] SPEAKER_10: I could feel the seed growing, bursting, brimming in my soul, until I had no room left in it for wine or for women.
[26:45] SPEAKER_10: Yet still my pride kept holding on to my own understanding.
[26:50] SPEAKER_10: But my mother's prayers kept invading my heart.
[26:57] SPEAKER_07: God, I know he is ready.
[27:00] SPEAKER_07: Please move his restless heart into your embrace.
[27:04] SPEAKER_07: May he rest and stay with you.
[27:29] SPEAKER_10: I wanted my wanderings in the desert to end.
[27:37] SPEAKER_10: Oh Lord, how long?
[27:40] SPEAKER_10: How long?
[27:41] SPEAKER_10: Tomorrow and tomorrow.
[27:43] SPEAKER_10: Why not now?
[27:45] SPEAKER_10: Why is there not this hour an end to my uncleanness?
[27:51] SPEAKER_00: Take up and read.
[27:53] SPEAKER_00: Take up and read.
[27:55] SPEAKER_10: Huh?
[27:57] SPEAKER_10: Who is that?
[27:58] SPEAKER_00: Take up and read.
[28:00] SPEAKER_00: Take up and read.
[28:07] SPEAKER_10: Immediately my frown softened, and I began most earnestly to consider whether it was usual for children in any kind of game to sing such words.
[28:17] SPEAKER_10: I couldn't remember having ever heard them.
[28:20] SPEAKER_10: So restraining the torrent of my tears, I rose up, interpreting it no other way than as a command to me from heaven to open the book and to read the first chapter I should light upon.
[28:30] SPEAKER_10: I grasped, opened, and in silence read that paragraph on which my eyes first fell.
[28:37] SPEAKER_10: Not in carousing in drunkenness, not in lust, not in quarreling and jealousy.
[28:44] SPEAKER_10: Rather put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
[28:51] SPEAKER_10: I read that and no further.
[28:54] SPEAKER_10: I can't explain it, but something blossomed in my heart.
[28:59] SPEAKER_10: What was restless was at rest.
[29:03] SPEAKER_10: All the gloom of doubt vanished away.
[29:07] SPEAKER_10: A ray of grace pierced my heart.
[29:12] SPEAKER_10: And my spirit soared.
[29:37] SPEAKER_07: Oh Augustine, how I have prayed for this day! Longed for it.
[29:44] SPEAKER_10: I know, Mother.
[29:46] SPEAKER_10: Forgive me, I know.
[29:48] SPEAKER_10: Do you think you could come with me?
[29:51] SPEAKER_07: Anywhere.
[29:52] SPEAKER_07: Where do you want to go?
[29:54] SPEAKER_10: To be baptized, Mother.
[29:56] SPEAKER_10: I want to be baptized.
[30:00] SPEAKER_07: Praised be Jesus Christ.
[30:02] SPEAKER_07: Now and forever.
[30:08] SPEAKER_03: I baptize thee in the name of the Father.
[30:14] SPEAKER_03: And of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[30:27] SPEAKER_10: So it was that at the Easter Vigil in the year 387, Ambrose baptized me in Milan.
[30:35] SPEAKER_10: It was the happiest day of my life and of my mother's.
[30:40] SPEAKER_10: Yet only the joy of the next life lasts forever.
[30:44] SPEAKER_10: As we made preparation to return home, she and I stood alone, leaning in a window, looking at the garden.
[30:52] SPEAKER_10: We spoke, seeking between ourselves the presence of the truth, thinking of the beauty of creation, the sun and moon and stars.
[31:03] SPEAKER_10: Then we imagined heaven.
[31:05] SPEAKER_10: And we soared higher, higher to the angels and beyond, straining after God.
[31:20] SPEAKER_10: Are you all right, Mother?
[31:24] SPEAKER_07: Son, for myself, all my hopes in this world are satisfied.
[31:31] SPEAKER_07: There was indeed one thing for which I wished to tarry a little in this life, and that was that I might see you a Catholic before I died.
[31:42] SPEAKER_07: My God has exceeded this abundantly.
[31:45] SPEAKER_07: So seeing the seed of truth has blossomed full in your heart.
[31:52] SPEAKER_07: What have I left to do here?
[31:56] SPEAKER_10: Oh Mother, come here.
[32:04] SPEAKER_10: Not long after, my mother grew very ill.
[32:08] SPEAKER_10: I tried to care for her, to repay in some small way the hurt I caused her.
[32:13] SPEAKER_10: Even then she tried to comfort me.
[32:20] SPEAKER_06: You are kind, Augustine.
[32:24] SPEAKER_10: But too late.
[32:26] SPEAKER_06: Love is not bound by time.
[32:32] SPEAKER_06: My dear one.
[32:35] SPEAKER_10: I closed her eyes, and there flowed a great sadness into my heart as she passed.
[32:42] SPEAKER_10: But she neither died unhappy, nor did she altogether die.
[32:49] SPEAKER_10: I cried for her.
[32:51] SPEAKER_10: I cried for my mother.
[32:53] SPEAKER_10: As she had cried all those years for me.
[32:58] SPEAKER_10: Oh my God, who made us?
[33:00] SPEAKER_10: How can the honor which I paid to her be compared with her care for me?
[33:08] SPEAKER_07: Will you promise me that you will stop stealing?
[33:12] SPEAKER_10: I will promise, but not yet.
[33:18] SPEAKER_10: And do you think the rod represents the right rule of the truth?
[33:24] SPEAKER_07: You will come home to the church, Augustine.
[33:28] SPEAKER_07: Dear God, I open my hands to you and let go of him.
[33:35] SPEAKER_07: Take care of my son.
[33:44] SPEAKER_10: Little by little, I thought of her life, her love of you and of us, her holy tenderness.
[33:52] SPEAKER_10: And it was pleasant to me to cry in your sight.
[33:56] SPEAKER_10: For her and for me, spreading my tears beneath my heart.
[34:02] SPEAKER_10: And it rested in them, for your ears were near me.
[34:07] SPEAKER_10: Oh, may she rest in peace with you, and inspire, O my Lord, inspire your servants, my brethren, that they may at your altar remember Monica.
[34:19] SPEAKER_10: Remember her wish, the seed of truth, the heart of your Christ, may bloom in the hearts of all men, that we may all one day rest in the garden of heaven with you.
[34:51] SPEAKER_08: Saint Monica is the patron saint of mothers, conversion, married women, and alcoholics.
[34:57] SPEAKER_08: And her feast day is celebrated on August 27th.
[35:01] SPEAKER_08: Monica had every reason to lose hope, but knew that God's grace and mercy were infinitely greater than the sins of her son.
[35:10] SPEAKER_08: She was persistent, obedient to God, and strong in carrying out his will.
[35:16] SPEAKER_08: What is something that you are persevering through or struggling through right now?
[35:20] SPEAKER_08: Maybe you're trying to change a habit of your own or praying for someone in need.
[35:25] SPEAKER_08: Turn to Saint Monica in your prayer and ask for her guidance to persevere in doing God's will.
[35:33] SPEAKER_08: Saint Monica, pray for us.

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