FORMATION IN HEAVENLY TRADITION

SAINT MONICA

1 Cor 1:1-9; Ps 145:2-7; Mt 24:42-51

The Riches of Heavenly Tradition

The true tradition of the Church of Jesus Christ is the Gospel tradition. It is a heavenly tradition because its source is God. We do not just imbibe the heavenly tradition by baptism at the profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Our baptism is rather the beginning of our inculturation into the heavenly culture and tradition. The commencement of this inculturation is not merely the ritual of baptism, but the truthful confession of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Just as we heard him say to Peter at his confession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, ‘Upon this rock I will build my Church,’ our inculturation into the Gospel tradition begins with our genuine confession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. The features that make our confession genuine are the acknowledgment of our sins and our nothingness without God, sincere sorrow, repentance, confession of our sins to him, and a true resolution to reject or abandon sins, a sinful lifestyle, and the devil who instigates them. Because the foundation of sinful life in us is deep, the digging of a new foundation for the heavenly culture and tradition is not a once-and-for-all thing, but a gradual and steady exercise directed by the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell within us to supervise the divine project—the building of the Church of Jesus Christ.

The word of God does the digging and reconstruction within us. The commencement and progress of the work require our continued attention to the word. The construction work stops when we turn away from the word of God, from Jesus Christ to creatures. We imbibe a culture only by paying attention and living out what we have received or learnt. Thus, we learn the Gospel tradition by attending to the Gospel delivered to us through words, letters, and actions of the preachers. So, everything in our world today that competes for our attention aims to introduce us to different traditions. Only a prayerful attendance to Jesus Christ will guarantee our reception of the Gospel tradition with its rich and heavenly contents. Our Lord emphasised this in the Gospel. “Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house.” We are the householders because the house of God is under construction within us. Our steady and continuous attention allows the Lord to continue the work of construction of his Church within us. Only the completion of our heavenly inculturation would make us brides of Jesus Christ, participants in his communion.

We must live by faith, not by the senses, to be open to the ongoing spiritual construction within us. Our faith and continuous attention to the Lord would not only guarantee the completion of the Church in us, but also ensure that our lives become a living tradition for others to receive. Hence, the Lord talked of the faithful and wise servant who gives food to the household at the proper time. Saint Paul was an example of such a faithful and wise steward. His solicitude for the churches was second to none. He writes thus to the Corinthians: “I never stop thanking God for all the graces you have received through Jesus Christ. I thank him that you have been enriched in so many ways, especially in your teachers and preachers; the witness to Christ has indeed been strong among you so that you will not be without any of the gifts of the Spirit while you are waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” So, our continuous attention to the Gospel of our Lord ensures our spiritual growth, through the continual reception of the spiritual riches of Jesus Christ by which we are transformed in him daily. In this way, we grow in the heavenly tradition and culture until the dawn of the Day of the Lord in us, when we shall see him as he really is.

Saint Monica worked very hard in her interior life to form herself in the culture and tradition of heaven and pass them to her son, Augustine. She was born in Thagaste, Africa, of a Christian family. She got married to Patricius. Augustine was one of their children, had a brilliant intellect, and uncertain morals and a wayward spiritual career due to diverse and wrong traditions he imbibed. He was a Manichean at some point, a Neoplatonist, before he finally found his way back to the Church through the instrumentality of Saint Ambrose. It was the many tears of Saint Monica that won Augustine the grace of conversion to Catholic tradition and spirituality. She prayed unceasingly for the conversion of her son, and God heard her prayers and answered them shortly before she died. She had a deep faith, an outstanding virtue, a wonderful example of a Christian mother, and an excellent teacher of Catholic tradition in family life. May her prayers aid all who are struggling in their married life or having difficulties with the salvation of their children.

Let us pray: 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.