There is something deeply moving in today’s Gospel. A
mother, already broken by the loss of her husband, is now accompanying her only
son to the grave. The text tells us that Jesus “was moved with compassion.” He
did not remain distant, nor did He offer words from afar. He stepped right into
her grief, touched the bier, and gave her back her son.
On this day we remember St. Monica, we cannot help but
see her in that widow of Nain. Monica too knew tears, long nights of prayer,
the loneliness of carrying sorrow in her heart for her son Augustine. She
refused to give up. She carried him not on a bier but on her knees, year after
year, until God intervened. And just as Jesus restored the widow’s son to life,
He restored Augustine to the life of faith.
This Gospel reminds us that our tears are never
wasted. Compassion is God’s language. Jesus does not pass by our grief, our
waiting, or our prayers for those we love. He sees, He stops, and He acts, sometimes
in ways hidden and slow, but always with the same tenderness that moved Him at
Nain.
St. Monica teaches us that love does not give up. She
is a witness that faith can hold steady even when everything looks dead and
buried. Today, we are invited to bring to Jesus the names, faces, and stories
of those we carry in our hearts. Like Monica, we may not know when or how God
will answer, but we can trust He will.
May her example encourage us to pray with patience and
tears, and to believe that the God who raised the widow’s son, who brought
Augustine to faith, is still at work in the lives of those we love.🙏🙏🙏
