In the year 354 A.D. a young Christian lady in Africa gave birth to a son.  Her heart’s desire was to see her son become a faithful Christian man, so she diligently taught him the story of creation, fall, and redemption—as it is recorded in the Bible.  She taught him to worship, love, and serve the Lord Christ, the Redeemer of the world. 

But… her husband was a pagan.  The boy would have a choice to make.

As the boy grew, it became obvious to everyone that he had a brilliant mind.  So, at the age of sixteen, he was sent away to study under the best of tutors, in the hopes that he would go on to do great things. 

His mother urged him to cling to Christ, but he was now away from home with the enticements of being in a big city.  Temptations overpowered him, and he later confessed that though he loved her dearly, “I despised my mother’s advice and went headlong on my way.”

Eventually he rejected Christianity altogether and embraced the popular pagan philosophies of his day.  The mother was completely distraught over her son’s chosen path and told him of her fears.  She also went to the local bishop and begged for his help. 

“He is not yet ready to be taught,” the bishop told her.  “He is full of self–conceit with the novelty of these new ideas.  But leave him alone for a while.  Only pray to the Lord for him; he himself will find out by his reading what his mistake is and how great is its sinfulness.”

The mother was unwilling to accept this answer.  She pleaded again, but the bishop stood surprisingly firm by today’s pastoral expectations:  “No!  Now go away and leave me.  It is impossible that the son of these tears should perish!”

The mother clung to those words as if they came from heaven itself:  “It is impossible that the son of these tears should perish.” She prayed and wept for her son continually.  And she would often tell her beloved child, “The son of these tears shall not perish.”

Eventually the brilliant son became a well–respected teacher.  At the age of thirty, he moved to a big city in Italy, bringing his now–widowed mother with him.  With his intellectual gifts he was beginning to earn a great name for himself, and through it all his mother continued to pray for his salvation and urge him to return to Christ. 

And one day, he became a Christian.  (We’ll come back to that in the future.) After his conversion, he rushed into the house to tell his mother the news.  Full of joy, she embraced him saying, “This is what I have prayed for all these years!” Lifting her hands to heaven, she prayed, “Praise to you, O Lord, for you are able to do far more that we can even imagine.  You have turned my weeping into joy!”

The mother’s name was Monica.  The son’s name was Augustine—he would later become known as “Saint Augustine,” the man whose work would shape much of the western world… even down to the present. 

This is also part of the story in which today’s church finds itself—a story of parents faithfully praying and leading their children into the joy of knowing Christ. 

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
—Proverbs 22.6