August 27, 2026
Memorial of Saint Monica
Gospel: Gospel: Mt 23:27-32

Today is Thursday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time. Today the Church celebrates the Memorial of Saint Monica. The recently published Roman Missal tells us: Saint Monica (c. 331–387) was born in Tagaste (in present-day Algeria, then part of the Roman province of Africa). She married Patricius and was the mother of Saint Augustine. She prayed and suffered for the conversion of her son, and rejoiced wholeheartedly when she baptized him in 387. She died shortly afterward at Ostia, and her relics were transferred to Rome in the 15th century. The passage taken from the Gospel of Saint Matthew presents us with Jesus’ eschatological teaching. Let us try to understand it.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the owner of the house knew in which hour the thief was coming, he would stay awake and not let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.” (cf. Mt 24:42-44)

The “staying awake” that Jesus speaks of is meant to keep our spirit vigilant. How, then, can we do this? It is by associating with Him through prayer. When a person offers prayer to God, his spirit is with God. We know that God is living; in Him there is fullness of life. He is not a lifeless God, but a God full of vitality. The God who is rich in mercy will never allow one who freely communes with Him to become lifeless.

The image of the thief spoken of by Jesus is very common in the New Testament. Paul also uses this image in his letter to the Thessalonians, saying: “For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.” We also find it in 2 Peter: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief.” And in the Book of Revelation, in the letter that the Risen Lord writes to those who are not vigilant in the Church of Sardis: “I will come to you like a thief, at an hour you do not expect.”

Today, on the Memorial of Saint Monica, let us imitate her virtuous example, persevering always in vigilant prayer:

O God, who console the sorrowful
and who mercifully accepted
the motherly tears of Saint Monica
for the conversion of her son Augustine,
grant us, through the intercession of them both,
that we may bitterly regret our sins
and find the grace of your pardon.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica