St Monica Sodality of Michigan

For those who pray for souls to return to the Catholic Faith, and for conversion of sinners

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

Remember to continue to ask until you receive, to continue to seek until you find, and continue to knock until the door is opened. Do not grow weary in asking, seeking or knocking. Advent is a time of waiting for His coming, to strengthen you to persevere.

Jesus heals the paralytic because He saw the faith of those who lowered him through the roof.

In their own hearts they have seen "the glory of the Lord", and that is why they are so eager to make firm, knees that are weak and to say to their frightened friend, "Be strong, fear not! Here is your God."

Today we see young mothers bring their infants and toddlers to the altar to be blessed by the priest when they receive Communion. So, too, can we bring to the altar those we are praying to return to the Catholic Faith and return to union with us, their family.

We can do this in many ways: by reciting the St. Monica Sodality Prayer every day, by reciting the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet for their intention, by writing their names on the petitions slips found at the Petition Box in the hallway. We can also attend the monthly Mass where our petition slips will be placed in a covered album and brought to the altar during the Mass which is offered for the intention of the St. Monica Sodality. And, when possible, we can ask them to attend Mass with us.

The Holy Mass is the most powerful prayer this side of Heaven because our prayers are united to the offering of Jesus, to His Father and our Father.

Jesus healed the paralytic because He saw the faith of those who brought him. We assume they are his friends, but they could easily have been family, or even strangers who took pity on him.

At first, we generally ask the intercession of St. Monica and St. Augustine for a person we love most dearly. Soon, we begin to pray for family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. And each time we pray the St. Monica Sodality Prayer, we are also praying for total strangers on whom we take pity because we know their only true happiness is to be united with God, the Catholic Church and their loved ones who are also praying the St. Monica Sodality Prayer.

God creates us out of love, we return His love in our acts of mercy. Each act offered for love of another strengthens us to persevere and increases the depth of our love.

Union of persons is agreement of mind and heart and will with the one it loves. Supernaturally it is union of the soul with God. In growth in the spiritual life, it is the last stage of sanctity which follows the purgative and illuminative way. In it one is constantly aware of God's presence, and becomes habitually conformed to the will of God.

A Statue of Saint Monica

At Sts. Cyril & Methodius a statue of St. Monica is venerated after Mass. It is a third-class relic, which means it has been touched to a bone of St. Monica. It is a sacramental. Sacramental as defined in the Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J, Modern Catholic Dictionary states: “ Objects or actions that the Church uses . . . in order to achieve through the merits of the faithful, certain effects, mainly of a spiritual nature. They differ from sacraments. . . Their efficacy depends not on the rite itself, as in the sacraments, but on the influence of prayerful petition; that of the person who uses them and of the Church in approving their practice. . . (and) draw not only on the personal dispositions of the individual but on the merits and prayers of the whole Mystical Body of Christ.” Fr. C. Frank Phillips, C.R. International Director of the Sodality located in Chicago, has stated that our prayers, with faith in God and His Saints, can bring answers above and beyond what we have petitioned, even physical healings. An important action on our part after our prayerful petition, is to seal this exchange with St. Monica by a touch to her statue.

REFLECTIONS

God creates us out of love and we return His love with acts of charity.

Each act offered for love of another strengthens us to persevere and increases the depth of our love.

And what great love and reward awaits those who bring lost souls to You Heavenly Father,

for is it not said that all of Heaven rejoices over the return of just one lost sinner?

“The more God wishes to bestow on us, the more does He make us desire (it)” St. John of the Cross

Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Remember to continue to ask until you receive, continue to seek until you find, and continue to knock until the door is opened. Do not grow weary.

Please recite this prayer DAILY for your intentions and in union with all those also saying this prayer:

Eternal and merciful Father, I give You thanks for the gift of Your Divine Son Who suffered, died and rose for all mankind. I thank You also for my Catholic Faith and ask Your help that I may grow in fidelity by prayer, by works of charity and penance, by reflection on Your Word, and by regular participation in the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.

You gave Saint Monica a spirit of selfless love manifested in her constant prayer for the conversion of her son Augustine. Inspired by boundless confidence in Your power to move hearts, and by the success of her prayer. I ask the grace to imitate her constancy in my prayer for [name(s)] who no longer share(s) in the intimate life of Your Catholic family. Grant through my prayer and witness that (he/she/they) may be open to the promptings of Your Holy Spirit, and return to loving union with Your Church. Grant also that my prayer be ever hopeful and that I may never judge another, for You alone can read hearts. I ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The Saint Monica Sodality of Michigan, at this time, consists of two local chapters of the St. Monica Sodality, the international organization that was formed in 1995 out of St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. Fr. C. Frank Phillips, C.R. is the director of the Sodality, as well as pastor of St. John Cantius.

THE LOCATION OF THE TWO LOCAL CHAPTERS IN THE DETROIT METROPOLITAN AREA THAT OFFER MONTHLY MASSES ARE:

The Assumption Grotto Roman Catholic Church, a national shrine, located in Detroit (directions). This first chapter started in November of 2003 with encouragement from the pastor, Fr. Eduard Perrone. The monthly Mass for the Sodality's intention is First Saturday at 4:00 p.m. The person of contact is Mary (313) 885-6910 St. Monica Sodality at Assumption Grotto is First Saturday of each month at 4:00 P.M.

The second chapter started in January of 2004 at Sts. Cyril & Methodius Roman Catholic Slovak Church in Sterling Heights (directions) was welcomed by the pastor, Fr. Ben Kosnac. Their monthly Mass for the intention of the Sodality is the Fourth Sunday of the month at 1:30 p.m. St. Monica Sodality at St. Cyril, is the fourth Sunday of each month at 1:30 P.M. The person of contact is Jerry (586) 883-1721 St. Monica Sodality at St. Cyril

Both churches offer Confession and recitation of the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the St. Monica Sodality Prayer. During Mass a covered album, with petition lists and photos for those being prayed, is brought to the altar where your petitions are united with the most sacred offering of Christ.

On a table near the entrance, both churches have Petition Slips at the St. Monica Sodality Petition Box to write the names of those who are no longer practicing the faith. Just place the slip in the box and take a St. Monica Sodality Prayer Card.

St. Monica was born of devout parents who educated her in the Catholic Faith in Tagaste, North Africa (now known as Algeria) around 332 A.D. She was given in marriage to Patricius, a pagan Roman official of violent temper. Their first child was Augustine born in 354. They also had another son, Navigius and a daughter, Perpetua. In time, her pagan mother-in-law would come to live with them. St. Monica exercised much patience and prudence in dealing with her husband and his mother. They, and Augustine, would convert through her virtuous life which gave them a living example of the Way of Christ.

Even as a child Augustine showed signs of possessing a great intellect so he was sent to the best schools to train him in the disciplines necessary for a promising career. His search for knowledge and truth took him down many different paths, most were scandalous to his virtuous mother and brought her great sorrow. She continually offered prayers and tears for her son to find his way to the Truth he was so desperately seeking.

For years she begged clergy to convince him to turn away from his way of life. She was told by one bishop that "the heart of this young man is at present too stubborn, but God's time will come". When she persisted the bishop dismissed her with the words, "Go now, I beg of you; it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish".

And so it was to be, to the joy of St. Monica who would witness St. Augustine's baptism in answer to her years of prayer, fasting and tears. This was the second birth of her son, and the most important for it brought Life to his eternal soul. In 387, she could now rest from her labors and

Her perseverence in prayer and sacrifice won for him the grace of conversion. This is why we have her as our intercessor with God for all those who have gone astray. If her life of prayer brought about the conversion of her son, who became a priest, bishop and Doctor of the Church, how much more powerful are St. Monica and St. Augustine's prayers for us today!

In November 2004 Pope John Paul II received the relics of St. Augustine at the Vatican. The initiative marked the celebration of the 1,650th anniversary of the birth of the bishop, philosopher and theologian, as well as one of the most influential Fathers of the Church of the West. The Holy Father was so moved when viewing the relics that he composed this prayer to St. Augustine:

"Great Augustine, our father and teacher, knowledgeable in the luminous ways of God and also in the tortuous paths of men; we admire the wonders that divine grace wrought in you, making you a passionate witness of truth and goodness, at the service of brothers.

At the beginning of the new millennium marked by the cross of Christ, teach us to read history in the light of Divine Providence, which guides events toward the definitive encounter with the Father. Direct us toward peaceful ends, nourishing in our hearts your own longing for those values on which it is possible to build, with the strength that comes from God, the 'city' made to the measure of man.

May the profound doctrine, that with loving and patient study you drew from the ever living sources of Scripture, enlighten all those tempted today by alienating illusions.

Give them the courage to undertake the path toward that 'interior man' where the One awaits who alone can give peace to our restless hearts.

Many of our contemporaries seem to have lost the hope of being able to reach -- amid the numerous opposing ideologies -- the truth, of which their innermost being still keeps a burning nostalgia.

Teach them to never cease in their search, in the certainty that, in the end, their effort will be rewarded by the satisfying encounter with the supreme Truth who is source of all created truth.

Finally, St. Augustine, transmit to us also a spark of that ardent love for the Church, the Catholic Mother of the Saints, which sustained and animated the toils of your long ministry.

"Have us, walking together under the guidance of legitimate Pastors, reach the glory of the heavenly Homeland, where, with all the Saints, we will be able to join the new canticle of the everlasting alleluia. Amen."

..... Pope John Paul II November 2004