Burial Testimonials

Having Trouble with Your Children? Praying to St. Monica can Help

Do you have willful children? Are you constantly upset because your children disobey you and make bad choices without taking any advice? If you’re at your wit’s end with your kids  and you’re worried about what will happen to them and what types of choices they will make later in life you’re not alone. Keep a statue of St. Monica in your home and pray to her for guidance and support if you are having problems controlling wild children or children that act out and make bad decisions.   Saint Monica knows a thing or two about dealing with difficult children. St. Monica of Hippo was the mother of St. Augustine.  St. Augustine grew up to become a famous theologian and philosopher whose works are still read today and taught in philosophy and religious studies classes around the world. But St. Augustine started out as a problem child that caused a lot of worry and stress for St. Monica.

St. Monica was raised in a Christian home but she was married at a young age to a Pagan man that was much older than her and had a reputation as a strict disciplinarian who also had several adulterous affairs.  St. Monica stayed true to her Christian faith and raised her son to be a Christian.  St. Augustine had a good education and St. Monica hoped that he would become a successful family man. But St. Augustine began to act out and become committed to living a very unhealthy lifestyle full of excess. He drank to excess, lived with a woman he wasn’t married to, and indulged in every whim or excess that he could think of.

Distraught over her son’s behavior and poor choices she sent him to a bishop that she hoped would make him see the error of his ways but St. Augustine seemed more determined than ever to live a life of debauchery.  The bishop told St. Monica that she should continue praying for her son and not to give up on him.  Saint Monica did keep asking God to help her son realize his mistakes and eventually her prayers were answered.  St. Augustine, after realizing that the lifestyle he was living was harmful to his health, his spirit and his relationship with God became a new man and turned his back on his old lifestyle. Through the years St. Augustine’s faith didn’t waver and he became one the most eloquent and most read theologians in history.

So if you have children that are making poor choices, abusing drugs or alcohol, or are disrespectful and disobedient and you can’t seem to reach them don’t give up. Follow Saint Monica’s example and begin praying as hard you can for your children. Keeping a statue of St. Monica in your home and praying to her for help with your children will help you find the strength that you need to continue believing that your children will eventually figure out what they are doing wrong and start to make the right choices and live healthy, productive lives.

It’s not always easy to continue believing that your children can change, but when it seems like it’s just too hard and you’re tempted to give up on your kids pray to St. Monica and find inspiration in her story. It wasn’t easy for her to watch her son throw his life away making bad choices but because she never gave up on him and continued to ask for God’s help eventually her son straightened his life out and became a devout man who used his gifts and talents to help others and is still respected around the world as a philosopher and a writer.

Prayer is a mysterious thing, and often your prayers might not get answered in the way that you think they should. But keep praying for your children, and ask St. Monica for her help because even if it doesn’t seem to be helping it might be putting things in motion that will eventually lead your child to realize the error of his or her ways. If you have a friend or neighbor that is having trouble with their children buy that friend or neighbor a statue of St. Monica and tell your friend or neighbor how St. Monica never gave up on her son. Maybe that will be enough to inspire them not to give up on their children.

Erica Meyer