Before 27 August

For a child who has wandered.

Nine days for parents whose children have left the faith, prayed before her feast on 27 August. Monica prayed for Augustine for seventeen years, followed him across the Mediterranean, and lived to see him baptised.

Prayer for Each Day

St. Monica, mother of Augustine,
you prayed for years without seeing an answer
and did not stop.

Pray for me and for my child [name].

When I want to argue, teach me to pray.
When I want to control, teach me to trust.
When I am tempted to give up on them,
remind me how long you waited.

Obtain for them the grace of conversion,
and for me the grace of patience
and of loving them exactly as they are
while I wait. Amen.

Her Words

Nothing is far from God.

About This Novena

Monica died at Ostia within months of her son’s baptism, and told him not to trouble about where to bury her — only to remember her at the altar of God. Augustine’s account of her, in the ninth book of the Confessions, is worth reading if you are praying this novena: it is the most honest portrait of a mother in ancient literature.