August 27, 2026, Feast of St. Monica, Holy Rosary (Luminous Mysteries)

Friends of the Rosary,

Today, August 27, the Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Monica (333-387), who, through prayer and tears, gave the great Augustine to the Church of God.

We also celebrate today the feast of the Seven Joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Franciscan, and the feast of Mary, Health of the Sick.

St. Monica prayed, endured, hoped, and trusted God for years, especially for the conversion of her son, Saint Augustine, one of her three children, as well as for Navigius and Perpetua, who later became a nun.

At about the age of sixteen, Augustine fell in with bad companions and took a concubine. Monica greatly desired that her son become a Christian, and for this she labored long—praying, pleading, weeping.

To her joy, Augustine was baptized in Milan by Saint Ambrose at the age of thirty-two. She died in Ostia in 387. Augustine praised God for his mother: “Graciously you heard her, and you did not despise her tears when they flowed down from her eyes and watered the earth beneath, in whatsoever place she prayed.”

St Monica was born in Tagaste, northern Africa, and died in Ostia, near Rome. Monica was a Christian, but her husband Patricius was a pagan and a man of loose morals. Monica's virtues and prayers, however, converted him, and he was baptized a year before his death. When her son, Augustine, joined the Manichean sect and went astray in faith and morals, Monica's tears and prayers for her son were incessant. She followed him to Milan, where Augustine went to teach, and there continued to storm heaven with her prayers for her son.

In today's readings from the Gospel, Saint Paul reminds the Corinthians that God has enriched them with grace and will keep them firm to the end. In parallel, Jesus tells His disciples to stay awake and be ready, like faithful servants waiting for their master. Ultimately, God asks us to stay awake in love, keep doing what is right, and trust His timing.

We ask Lord Jesus to give us the patient faith of Saint Monica, helping us to stay awake in prayer, faithful in our duties, and steady in hope while we wait for His grace to bear fruit.

Ave Maria!
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
To Jesus through Mary!

Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Please give us the grace to respond with joy!

+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New York

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