It’s good to regularly read and meditate on the lives of the saints as we celebrate their feast days. For me, it is an exercise on how a particular person applied and lived the gospel in their age and time. They are our real heroes and role models.
On the feast day of St. Monica I read something that reminded me of my maternal grandmother, Margaret Moore Middleton. Three years before I entered the seminary, I received a phone call from my mother who said, “Your grandmother is dying and asking for you.” Because of the urgency of her voice, I rushed home from Milwaukee to Nebraska to be at her bedside.
After entering her hospital room, my 5’2” Irish grandmother with piercing steel grey eyes extended her right hand toward me and said in a weak voice, “Chris, always remember, it may not always be easy living as a faithful Catholic, but it sure is easy dying one.…” These were her last words to me, words that I often recall.
Many, I am sure, know about the details surrounding the death of St. Monica who prayed for decades for the conversion of her son St. Augustine. While on her deathbed, she stated unequivocally that all she wanted from her son Augustine was to remember her at Mass where all the angels, saints and souls in Purgatory are present. As I have never forgotten what my dying grandmother said to me on her deathbed, I am sure that St. Augustine did not forget what his mother said either, for he wrote about it in his famous book which is still in print, The Confessions of St. Augustine.
Recently a concerned pastor of a small town parish somewhere south of the Platte River called me about a family who was living on the edge because of a medical emergency. They needed help paying their rent. Because of the generosity of our donors we were able to respond. I often think that many of our benefactors are generous with us because of the loving example of their parents and grandparents and the things that they have said through the years, perhaps even on their deathbeds.
In addition to praying for the conversion of sinners, please remember to pray for the souls in Purgatory, for it is because of their love for us and their example we were brought up in the practice of the Catholic faith. Eternal rest grant unto their souls O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace, Amen!
