Sermon: St. Monica – 2023

27 Aug 2023

Text: Luke 7:11-17 (1 Sam 1:10-20, 1 Tim 5:3-10)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

You may have never heard of Monica of Thagaste.  She died 1,636 years ago at the age of fifty-five.  She was not a famous actress or athlete or ruler of a country.  She didn’t invent anything or break some kind of glass ceiling.  But by the standards of our current culture, she was a rebel.  She changed the world.  And though the world doesn’t remember her, we do, dear brothers and sisters.  We call her Saint Monica, and today is her feast day in the church year.

Monica grew up in northern Africa under the Roman Empire.  She was married to an adulterous, pagan man with a violent temper.  Monica was a devout Christian and mother.  She prayed constantly for her husband and her children – and her husband, Patricius, found her annoying, but respected her for her Christian life. 

Their son Augustine was brilliant, but lazy, had bad morals, fathered a child out of wedlock, never married the child’s mother, and joined a cult.  What did Monica do?  She prayed.  And prayed.  And prayed.  In time, Augustine would become a teacher in Rome.  He began to doubt the teachings of the Manichaean cult.  Monica moved to Rome with her son, and then to Milan, where they both heard the preaching of Bishop Ambrose: a faithful proclaimer of the Scriptures, of the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins, of Jesus.

The Lord was compassionate toward Monica, and her prayers were answered, as Augustine converted to Christianity, as had Monica’s husband years earlier on his deathbed.  Saint Augustine went on to change the world as a Christian pastor, bishop, and theologian – one of the original four “doctors of the church.”  He wrote many books on the Christian faith, and is respected even by non-Christians as a philosopher.  For hundreds of years, monks dedicated their lives to a religious order that followed in his footsteps.  One of these Augustinian monks who lived a thousand years later was a preacher named Martin Luther.

The world today does not respect either prayer or motherhood.  When a tragedy happens, our own modern pagans make fun of the idea of prayer.  But prayer truly changes the world – unlike protesting, dying your hair, and screaming profanities on social media.  Motherhood also truly changes the world – unlike sexual promiscuity and gender confusion.  St. Monica boldly lived out the Christian life.  As we might say today, St. Monica was “based.”  And she secured the love and respect of her husband and children, and ultimately, of the entire Christian church.

Monica makes us think of many other women of faith, and how their prayers were answered.  In our Gospel, we call to mind the widow of Nain whose only son had died.  “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’”  And Jesus proceeded to raise her son from the dead.  Jesus did the same thing for Monica, whose son was lost, but then was found.  Her prayers mattered.  Her love for her son mattered.  Her daily work as a wife and mother mattered.  And Jesus had compassion on her and heard her prayers.  Jesus promises to raise all who confess Him on the Last Day: children of mothers and fathers.  For Jesus hears our prayers and has compassion.  Dear mothers, your prayers for your children are heard by your compassionate God.  Your prayers are not in vain.  Your prayers matter, no matter what our mocking, pagan world says.

In our Old Testament lesson we call to mind the great woman Hannah, who wanted children, but was barren.  Hannah prayed fervently.  She wanted to present her husband with a son.  She wanted her shame taken away from her.  Her prayers were so unusual that Eli the priest first thought that she was drunk.  She explained to Eli, “I am a woman troubled in spirit… I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.  Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.”  The Lord had compassion on Hannah.  She gave birth to a son named Samuel: a great prophet of the Lord.

St. Monica reflects the godly widow that St. Paul talks about in our epistle reading: “having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and devoted herself to every good work.”

Monica lived to see both her husband Patricius and her son Augustine baptized.  She died shortly after Augustine’s baptism.  But God continued to answer her prayers even after her death, for indeed, we know that Augustine became a teacher of the faith, was ordained a priest, and became the bishop of Hippo, near where Monica raised him in northern Africa.  Bishop Augustine’s sermons were written down by secretaries, and we still have many of them today, along with his books and spiritual writings.  Augustine debated the heretic Pelagius, and Augustine’s teachings – drawn directly from the Scriptures, that we are saved by grace and not by works – were the official teaching of the Roman Church for hundreds of years, a teaching that was recovered at the Reformation.  For just as Monica faithfully prayed every day, attended the Divine Service and heard the Scriptures read every week, and centered her entire life on the Christian faith and the nurture of her family, so also did Augustine devote his life to Jesus and the church.  Augustine’s sister Perpetua likewise became a devout Christian: a nun and a writer.

We live in a day and age where children are seen as a nuisance, where Christianity is seen as a silly superstition (or a threat to our modern American way of life), where women are told that unless they have a career, they are unimportant.  We live in a culture that denigrates motherhood, and encourages women to make their mark in the world by imitating men.  Monica lived in not only a pagan culture, but a pagan family.  But she was a Christian, and boldly practiced her faith no matter what anyone thought about it.  Monica loved her family, did not give up on them.

St. Monica is not just a role model for mothers, or for women, but for all parents and all Christians.  St. Monica teaches us the importance of prayer, of the faithful day-in-and-day-out practice of the Christian faith and life.  Monica confessed Jesus, and did so boldly.  She threw herself into her vocation as a wife and mother.  And indeed, it is a brave calling to be a spouse and a parent, and to be a confessing Christian in a pagan culture.  Our modern pagan culture despises women like Monica – and in fact, despises womanhood.  But we know better, dear friends.  We know just how powerful women are: bearers of life, nurturers of the family, and faithful Christians whose prayers arouse the Lord’s compassion, changing the course of history.  Let us honor St. Monica, all Christian women and mothers, and the prayers of all Christians.  For even as the world mocks, God uses this great power to change and shape the world through His own power and compassion.  Thanks be to God!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.