Nothing is far from God. -St. Monica
Augustine of Hippo is arguably the most prominent scholar/theologian that the church has ever known outside of the ministries of the apostles and Jesus himself. Born in 354 in Thagaste, a Roman colony in North Africa, Augustine was afforded a first-class education at the expense of his parents, Monica and Patricius. Monica was a Christ-follower, having been raised by a loving Christian maidservant who cared for her during her formative years. She was given in marriage to Patricius Aurelius, a pagan man who, although a non-Christian, was accepting of Monica's faith. Monica prayed for her husband for many years, loving and caring for him as Peter exhorts wives to do in 1 Peter 3, and eventually, her love and prayers prevailed. Patricius gave his life to Christ not long before his death.
Augustine, however, followed in his father's footsteps and sought the pleasures of this world, in spite of his great love and respect for his mother. Where she counseled chastity and humility, he threw himself at sensual pleasures and at his studies, which led him to a vast knowledge and a great teaching gift, and the pride that so often follows in their footsteps. Augustine lived with a mistress for many years who bore him a son, and during these wandering years, he sought knowledge, pleasure, and an opportunity to teach at a prestigious school. His chance came when he was offered a teaching position in Rome itself. At thirty years of age, he had won what was widely considered the most prominent and visible teaching post in the Latin-speaking world. It was quite an honor, and one he felt he deserved.
During these years his father died and his mother left Africa to follow her son to Rome, where she sat under the preaching of the venerable Saint Ambrose and prayed daily for her son's salvation. Monica did not have the words to convince her son of the truth of Christianity, but she determined never to stop praying that he would turn to God. Augustine eventually did come to believe on Christ, but not before many years of wandering through heretical faiths and licentious living. Monica died when he was 34, and he grieved her loss greatly, but she lived long enough to see her son's conversion to Christianity, something she had prayed for since he was a child at her breast. Augustine wrote this about his mother at the news of her death: "She died a happy woman for she had seen her prayers answered, and both her husband and her son were won to the Lord."
Monica is a fine example to us of the power of prevailing in prayer. She did not win the people she loved in life to the Lord through debating, cajoling or words of great wisdom, but through the most important weapon we have at our disposal when it comes to evangelism, the power of a righteous man or woman in prayer before Almighty God (James 5:16). The longer I am in ministry, the more convinced I am that prayer is the most important "step" in the process of evangelism. We can talk to people, we can use solid apologetics, and we can live out our faith appropriately, but it is all for naught if the work of God is not present. It is God himself who takes off the blinders, not our words of wisdom. If you want to see a person know the hope you have found in Christ, the most important work you can do on their behalf is to get on your knees and ask God to have mercy on their souls. Such was the life and ministry of Saint Monica.
By a work of God's grace Augustine came to faith; the same work of grace that led you to faith if you read this as a believer today. I close with Augustine's own words concerning his conversion written in his Confessions:
Late have I loved you, O Lord; and behold, you were within and I without, and there I sought you. You were with me when I was not with you. You called, and cried out, and burst my deafness. You did gleam, and glow, and dispel my blindness. You did touch me, and I burned for your peace. For you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.
Our hearts rest in Christ, but we must not be at rest when there are loved ones that remain lost. Do not rest, but prevail in prayer like Monica, a hero of our faith.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym