“For this child I prayed” (1st Samuel 1:27)

The mother was Monica, an extraordinarily devout North African Christian who was bitterly disappointed by her marriage to the spiritually careless Patricius.

Augustine was her son. He was a brilliant academic who rejected his mother’s Christian faith. She became particularly concerned for her son’s soul, when he followed the religious group known as Manichaeism. Rejecting Christ, Augustine pursued deeper knowledge through rational means. Yet Augustine’s attraction to the Manichaeans revealed something important. His longing for deeper truth showed a searching mind and a seeking soul that God would later graciously satisfy. Such was Monica’s zeal for Christ that she could not permit her son to remain under her roof while he persisted in this false religion.

As his academic career progressed Augustine relocated together with his mistress and son to the city of Milan in Italy. Rejecting the Manichaeans , he was by now only intent on scholarly pursuits amid the culture of old Roman paganism. His immoral way of life bore witness to a heart far from God and only deepened his mother’s sorrow.

Monica certainly did not give up on her son. She pursued him across the Mediterranean to Italy, where she discovered him attending the ministry of Ambrose. This was the beginnings of God awakening the soul of Monica’s son. Where he had once found Monica’s pious soul to be off putting, Augustine discovered a masculine and scholarly depth in the preaching of Ambrose that appealed to his seeking soul.

Monica in spiritual distress sought out Ambrose as she longed for Augustine’s conversion. The Bishop was deeply impressed by the Christian devotion of Monica as he reputedly spoke these words of encouragement, which continue to encourage mothers who earnestly long for the souls of their lost children:

“The child of so many tears shall never perish”

Through heartbreak and rebellion, God was at work—using a praying mother and a faithful preacher to reach the soul of a prodigal scholar. That same Augustine would go on to become one of the most influential Christian thinkers in Western history, shaping the Church for centuries to come. In the same way, God is still working out His purposes in families today. Dear mother—keep praying.

“Tell my mother what her boy has done, 
God has spoken to her wayward son;
To be faithful till my crown is won,
Lord I am coming home.”
(Alfred Henry Ackley)