AUGUST 27, 2026 CARDINAL THOMAS COLLINS
Today, we celebrate the feast of the great Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine. She was truly a great saint and is one that we need to look to, all of us, in different ways, throughout our life here on this earth, in our brief journey through this valley of tears.
I like to think of two incidents in her life. She was the mother of Augustine and Augustine was raised Catholic more or less, sort of. Then he drifted off. He went after all the trendy philosophies. He got involved in some pretty immoral behaviour, and he began to have doubts about his faith, and he drifted and drifted, and, basically left the church.
But his mother never forgot him, never gave up on him. She prayed for him constantly. She followed him, praying for him, when he went off to the big city, off to Milan, to the centre where the emperor’s court was-was found, where all the chances of worldly ambition were at the very best, not in his little hometown in northern Africa.
She was there praying for him and one day she was in the cathedral weeping for her son who had left the church. She loved him so very much and the great Bishop Ambrose came to her and saw her at the back of the church weeping and he asked her why. And she spoke of her amazing, beautiful, beloved son Augustine and how he had left the church. And Ambrose said to her, “Do not fear. The son of those tears will never perish.”
And sure enough, by the intercession of his mother, and by the grace of God above all, that young man finally came to see the will of God, and experienced a great conversion, and became one of the great teachers of the church, a great and wonderful saint.
I often think of this when people come, as a priest often hears from parents, “What have I done? I’ve done my best. I’ve tried to raise my children as Catholics and now they’ve drifted away.” So I always say, “Pray for the intercession of Saint Monica. She knows what you’re going through.”
She prayed for her son Augustine and by God’s grace, indeed, the son of those tears did not perish at all, but became a great saint. So, that’s one thing to think about, on this feast of Saint Monica, and ask her intercession for the children, or for families, especially any who have kind of drifted away, as they’re tempted to so much in this world, as much as in his world.
The other thing is, at the end, when Augustine did come to the Lord, and was transformed, was baptized by Ambrose, and became a great teacher of the faith, and Monica was with him when he was still in Italy. But she got ill, and, and the two of them, they had a kind of a joint mystical experience, which was hardly ever heard of before, but she was dying.
Augustine’s brother said, ” We’ll take your body back to home, to Africa, to bury you there.” And Monica said “..No, no, no, bury me wherever you want. I don’t care, but do not forget me at the altar of the Lord.”
She had her perspective correct, as Augustine reminds us. She had a sense of the coming of the Lord. That’s what matters. “Bury me wherever you want, but don’t forget me at the altar of the Lord.” We pray for those who have died, and we pray for the repose of their souls, and so, she had her perspective right, which is focused not on this world, “Bury me wherever you want. Doesn’t matter.” but on the world to come, the heavenly city, Jerusalem.
And her son wrote a great book about the city of God. Ultimately, our hearts are set on Jerusalem, and as the Lord says in the gospel, “Keep awake. You do not know on what day your Lord is coming, but understand this, if the owner of the house had known what part of the night the thief was coming, he would’ve stayed awake.”
Stay awake. Be ready for the coming of the Lord. Our life is short. Tick, tick, tick, time’s up. We’re not at home here. Our home is in the heavenly city Jerusalem. This is just a hotel room. We’re passing through.
We take care of this world we live in. Of course, we’re called to. We behave rightly. How could we love the God we do not know if we don’t care for the people we do see? But, it’s not our home. We’re heading home. That’s why I always think the final hymn of a funeral, a Catholic funeral, should be something about Jerusalem. Homeward bound.
And Monica saw that, and Augustine did of course as well. We’re on our way, and this world is just a hotel room we’re passing through before we head for home. This world is just an image she didn’t know. Nor did Augustine. Like a runway, and the plane takes off. But, this isn’t the journey. This is just the runway. Not an image Saint Monica used.
“Bury me wherever you want, but remember me at the altar of the Lord.” For this world is greater than just this earthly world which we see. Our hearts are set on Jerusalem. And that’s what guides us in this world not to beat up the other servants, and things like that, because we’re on our way home.
Some of the great saints would keep a skull on their desk to remind them “Don’t get all cozy in this world as if it is your home. It’s not your home. It’s just you’re passing through.”
An old monk once said in the time of Anglo-Saxon England, He was talking to the king, and there was these windows. They didn’t have glass in those days, and a little bird went right through. And all these big lords were there and he monk said, “Look at that bird.” “That’s what our life is, in one window and out the other, so pay attention. Be awake. Be ready. For the Lord comes at an hour you do not know.”
So, we confine our past to God’s mercy, our future to God’s providence, and we live ready to meet the Lord at any time. Our bags are packed. We’re ready to go. That’s the attitude of a Christian. That’s what Monica reminded her son Augustine. That’s what Augustine and all the great saints teach us, and that’s what the Lord says to us in the gospel today. “Be awake, for the Lord is coming at an hour we do not know.”
