A Mother’s Prayer

In His Confessions, St. Augustine tells the tale of his conversion.  In this important book St. Augustine sets a precedent for the Christian autobiography that does not whitewash blemishes and portray oneself in a grand light, which lends to its believability as a historical narrative and as well as its relatability as a Christian confession.  

In this account, St. Augustine acknowledges the important role of his mother, Monica, "who brought me to birth, both in her flesh, so that I was born into this temporal light, and in her heart, that I might be born into eternal light" (Conf. 8, 17).  Like so many of us, St. Augustine regards the prayers and faith of his mother as essential to him finding his faith.

Born around the time of Augustine's conversion in 387 AD, St. Patrick was also a son to Christian parents, but also like St. Augustine, Patrick did not share their faith as a young man.  In St. Patrick's Confessions, St. Patrick tells his own tale of conversion, acknowledging the dark times of slavery in Ireland as the path by which God brought him to saving faith and eventually back to his family and home in Roman Britain.

The point is that we need the prayers of our parents!  I'm grateful to the group of mothers who have been coming together on Wednesday mornings at the school to pray together.  We covet your prayers.  If Knox Academy is serving your home and supporting you as you educate your children, then please hold us up in prayer.  And we will pray for you.  

We live in difficult days, but that is not unique to our time.  Tales of old, like those of St. Augustine and St. Patrick, supply us with hope.  God uses dark and wayward times to draw his people to himself.  Be encouraged, and pray!