YEAR A: HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (2)

YEAR A: HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: MONICA: MODEL WOMAN OF FAITH AND PATIENCE

BY: Rev Fr Jacob Aondover ATSU

HOMILY: MEMORIAL OF ST. MONICA

YEAR A: HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 21ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: MONICA: MODEL WOMAN OF FAITH AND PATIENCE

BY: Rev Fr Jacob Aondover ATSU

 

HOMILY: MEMORIAL OF ST. MONICA
READINGS: 1THESSALONIANS 2:1-8, PSALM 139, MATTHEW 23:23-26

Today I celebrate most profoundly, one of my best female saints, Monica; a model for Christian wives (suffering ones especially), a true example of motherhood and widowhood. How I love this woman whose patience wasn’t earthly, her softness and gentility, simply sublime; her spirituality, divine! More so, I love her endlessly because she neither gave up on her immoral and high tempered husband Patricius nor her intelligent but wayward and irreligious son, Augustine.

Today therefore I celebrate her and invite you my dearly beloved friends to celebrate and implore her help and intercession for wives and mothers who are not at peace with their husbands and children. I beckon on you all to seek her help in marriages where husbands/fathers and the children or the family at large is experiencing torrid situations.

Were I a wife/mother, Monica would have been my patroness; as a man too she challenges me along these lines:
1. That I believe God too much to doubt whether or not he’d answer my prayers.
2. That I pray persistently until my prayers are attended to. She prayed for her son and husband for almost her whole life without ceasing.
3. That I give up neither on God nor my fellow man. As long as God seemingly delayed in answering her, so long was her faith in him; and as long as Patricius and Augustine misbehaved, so long was her hope alive that they would change someday.
4. That I accept every situation that comes my way in life. She endured a very difficult marriage and later on, widowhood without derailing from her faith.
5. That my life and spirituality wins souls for Christ. Through Monica’s prayers and conduct, Patricius was converted and baptized a year before he died and the worldly Augustine is today the saintly Augustine.

What conditions are you passing through? Is your marriage falling apart, your spouse unfaithful, your children irreverent, and everything simply impossible? Are you giving up hope in God and your brethren? Does the thought of disowning your child or spouse come to your mind now and then? Monica has become your model and guide. Pray through her to God; be inspired by her patient suffering, loving care, prayerfulness, undying hope and her never say never attitude. Beloved, yours is not too difficult a case for God not to handle. Just believe in the words of Isaiah 60:22 “At the right time, I the Lord will make it happen for you.” Pray and wait.

May Monica help us understand Jesus’ message better; that we love and embrace justice, mercy and faith, and stop being pretentious Christians. Amen. May she come to the aid of the many mothers whose children are thorns in there flesh, wives whose husbands qualify for the unkind expression; ‘good for nothing’ and indeed all those experiencing perilous times in their lives. Amen.

FEED AND EDUCATE ONE!

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