Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Monica,
who is celebrated as a widow.
For that reason, we see in the Gospel,
in the Gospel reading, is mention of the widow of name,
and also in the first reading, the Epistle,
Saint Paul exhorts us to honor those who are widows indeed,
that is, those who sanctify their widowhood.
So Saint Monica was born in the year 332 of Christian parents
in northern Africa.
She was given in marriage to a pagan man named Patricius,
with whom she had three children,
and none of whom were allowed to be baptized.
Patricius, being a pagan, would not allow his children
to be baptized and to become Christians.
So this was a great suffering for Saint Monica,
to deny her children that first and greatest grace of baptism.
So she set out to win her husband's conversion
by means of her good example, by her holy life,
and eventually he did convert, and he himself was baptized
about a year before his death.
Now after her husband's death, Saint Monica then had the next task
to convert her wayward son, Augustine,
who had embraced the Manichean heresy,
and also an impure lifestyle.
Now this, to win his conversion, the superabundance of grace it took
to bring him back to the true faith and back to a pure lifestyle,
it took 17 years of prayers and of tears to finally get that grace.
And she, after having seen her son's conversion,
said there was really nothing left on this earth for her to do,
for her to do.
For her to accomplish.
And so she died shortly thereafter.
Saint Augustine then, of course, went on to become
one of the greatest doctors of the church.
And so just looking at Saint Monica's life,
we can draw out three lessons or reflect on three different things.
Number one, the difficulty of mixed marriages.
Number two, the power of prayers and tears.
And number three, the sanctification of widows.
First of all, the difficulty of mixed marriages.
I meet many people who were not exactly fervent in their faith
when they entered into marriage,
and they married someone who was not a Catholic or not a Christian.
Then later on, they themselves have a conversion,
come back to the faith,
and their spouse then becomes,
an enormous cross.
That marriage becomes very, very difficult.
For this reason, the church discourages mixed marriages.
Canon Law, Canons 1124 and 1125,
discourages mixed marriages.
Why?
Because if two people don't see eye to eye
on that one thing that should be most important in their life,
namely, their faith in God,
then they are already set out on a difficult course.
And really, we see that if two people are willing to enter into marriage,
a lifelong bond with one another,
and they aren't in agreement about God,
then really, what is that a sign of?
It's a sign that one or the other or both
really aren't that serious about marriage.
They're not that serious about their faith in God.
And in fact, that's how it happens so often.
And then, as I said, if one comes back to the faith later on,
then it becomes a real burden,
a real difficulty,
a real cross,
that you have chosen.
Notice that that's not a cross that God has sent,
but that you have freely chosen.
Okay, so let's be prudent,
let's be wise in counseling those
who are not in agreement with God.
Those who are considering entering into such a marriage.
The Church bases her teaching off of St. Paul in 2 Corinthians.
He says,
Bear not the yoke with unbelievers.
For what participation hath justice with injustice?
Or what fellowship hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
Or what part hath the faithful with the unbelievers?
The difficulty of mixed marriages.
Number two, the power of prayers and tears.
We see that we can really obtain anything from God.
If we persevere at it,
if we pour forth our prayers with all of our hearts,
we can even obtain what seems to be impossible conversions.
Number three, how widows,
especially loved by God,
are called to sanctify themselves.
Remember that God does have a special love for widows.
In the Scriptures it talks about God's particular solicitude and care
for who? The poor, the orphans, and the widows.
And so it is also with the Church.
We honor them, as St. Paul says in today's epistle.
And widows are also an officially recognized order within the Church.
That is, they're an established group,
such as catechumens, virgins, spouses.
So within the Church we also have the order of widows.
They, like virgins, can consecrate themselves
to live perpetual chastity
and become a sign,
a shining light of holiness within the Church.
As the Catechism says,
From apostolic times,
Christian virgins and widows,
called by the Lord to cling only to Him
with greater freedom of heart, body, and spirit,
have decided, with the Church's approval,
to live in the respective status
of virginity or perpetual chastity
for widows,
for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
That's the Catechism, paragraph 922.
That is, widows, who are inspired by God,
can choose to live for the rest of their lives
in perpetual chastity,
not to remarry.
And they can consecrate this chastity to God
for the sake of the kingdom of heaven
and be officially recognized as such by the Church
and be a shining light
of the Church's holiness.
Regarding consecrated widows,
which are, as I said,
an enormous gift of the Church,
St. Ambrose says this,
There are three forms of the virtue of chastity.
The first is that of spouses,
the second that of widows,
and the third that of virgins.
We do not praise any one of them
to the exclusion of the others.
That is what makes for the richness
of the discipline of the Church.
So today, with the intercession of St. Monica,
we pray and honor all of the Church's widows
and that they sanctify themselves
and become shining lights of holiness in the Church.
St. Monica, pray for us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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