Prayers of The St. Monica Novena

Prayer For Faith

Holy Mother Monica, • we admire your unwavering faith in God. • The light of truth eternal enlightened your soul and your life. • You lived your faith • and remained always loyal to God and His Church. • Your entire life was a profession of faith. • For your son, Augustine, • you stormed heaven with your prayers and tears • that he might not be lost • in the shallow waters of heresy and unbelief • but find the harbor of light and truth. • You worked and prayed • like a true Apostle of the Church • that all people might be united in the true faith, • give glory to God, and save their immortal souls.

Intercede for us, St. Monica, • that we may stand fast in the faith. • We wish to give up all indifference • toward our holy Church and always profess our faith. • Since it is impossible to please God without faith, • give us a firm and living faith. • Henceforth we promise to live our faith • without fear and shame before men. • We are willing to suffer and even die for our holy faith. • We offer our prayers and actions • for the conversion of all sinners and unbelievers.

Our Father…, Hail Mary…, Glory be…

Saint Monica, pray for us.

Prayer For Hope

Holy Mother Monica, • we admire your great trust and confidence in God. • In the midst of trials and tribulations • you were not discouraged, • and in success you did not forget God. • Your confidence in God was not shaken, • when His loving Providence sent you disappointments, • and you did not despair when, • to your deep sorrow, • your erring husband refused to embrace the true religion, • and your son Augustine, • strayed far from the path of virtue. • You hoped in the Lord and you were not confounded.

Intercede for us, St. Monica, • that we may always place our trust in God, • and that we will not be discouraged • in the trials and sufferings of this world. • For God is our loving Father who watches over us. • The good example of your holy life • teaches us to despise all worldly and vain things. • From now on we wish to mind the things that are above • and not the things that are below. • We are pilgrims and wayfarers in this world, • seeking heaven, our true home. • God is our beginning and our end. • In Him we live and move and have our being. • Therefore, let us cling to God • and completely trust in Him.

Our Father…, Hail Mary…, Glory be…,

Saint Monica, pray for us.

Prayer For Charity

Holy Mother Monica, • we admire your virtue and charity. • You loved God above all things. • Earthly pleasures and honors did not captivate you. • Your heart was free • from all inordinate self-love. • Genuine love of God prompted you to love also your neighbor. • Throughout your life, you were kind and considerate • and served all people in humility and unselfishness. • You were a real mother, • not only to your own children, • but especially to little orphans, • to the poor and this sick. • The commandment of Christ, • love God and your neighbor, • was first in your mind. • You proved yourself as a true disciple of Christ, • because you fulfilled His words: • “love one another, as I have loved you.”

Intercede for us, St. Monica, • that we may follow your example • and practice Christian charity, • in thought, word, and deed. • Henceforth we will love God • with all our hearts and above all things. • We will see Christ in our neighbor • and do good to him. • We will love whatever God loves, • and hate whatever God hates. • Never will we forget that God is charity • and he who abides in charity • abides in God and God in him.

Our Father…, Hail Mary…, Glory be…

Saint Monica, pray for us.

Let us pray: • O God, • look graciously down on your children • who sigh in this valley of tears. • Hopefully we pray for our daily bread, • for the forgiveness of our sins, • for the never-failing help of your grace, • and for the faithful fulfillment of your promises: • to find life everlasting • and a happy abode with you in heaven, • through the merits of Jesus Christ, • our Lord and Redeemer. •May God, • through the merits and intercession of St. Monica, • increase our faith, • strengthen our hope, • enkindle the fire of your love in our hearts. AMEN

Prayer Of Petition

Holy Mother Monica, • great friend of God and worthy mother of St. Augustine, • we salute you. • We rejoice with you because of the many gifts and blessings • which the good and merciful God • has bestowed upon you. • We love you and venerate you. • Many people have implored your help • and obtained special favors through your powerful intercession. • Today, we come to you with filial love and childlike confidence, • pleading for help in our misery and need. • Be a loving mother to us. • Listen to our prayers • which we humbly place before you, • and present our petitions to God. • We implore and beseech you, • obtain our requests for us. (Mention silently your request)

You were twice a mother to your child Augustine. • Look with a mother’s loving care and interest upon us, • who wish to be your children. • Pray for us that we, • like your son Augustine after his conversion, • may adhere to God and conquer all sins and temptations.

Intercede for us, loving Mother Monica, • that the miracle of grace which brought about a complete change • in the heart of your son Augustine, • may be repeated in out hearts • and in the hearts of all men. • May we cling to God an never turn away from Him. • He alone is all good and perfect • and worthy of all our love. • This is our request of you, St. Monica. • Protect us that we may walk securely • through the dangers of life • and be united with you in heaven, • to praise the goodness of God forever and ever. AMEN

Dedication To Saint Monica

Holy Mother Monica, you are a bright mirror of sanctity, a shining example of piety, a sure guide on the road to heaven. Tears of joy streamed forth from your eyes, and prayers of gratitude to God from your heart and the conversion of your son. We rejoice with you, happy mother, St. Monica. It is impossible that this child of so many tears and prayers should perish. Pray also for us that we may grow in the grace and love of God and like your son give ourselves generously to God.

Today we recommend ourselves to you and ask that you be a kind mother to all of us. We recommend ourselves wholeheartedly to your loving care and protection. Guide us and protect us, our bodies and souls, our hearts, our minds, our life and our death, our time and eternity, all we are and possess. We also recommend to your prayers and intercession our parents, friends, relatives, and all those near and dear to us. Give comfort to the sorrowing. Help the afflicted and save us all from sin and eternal damnation.

We promise to imitate your virtues, which gracefully adorned your earthly life and were more glorious than the most heroic deeds. Henceforth, with your help and intercession, we will place all our trust and confidence in God, and endeavor most ardently to fulfill His Holy Will. Holy Mother Monica, We beseech you, obtain for us the grace that we may live like you a holy life, die a happy death, and attain the everlasting joys of heaven. AMEN

Prayer For Perseverance

Holy Mother Monica, we admire the patience and perseverance with which you endured the sufferings of your life. In all your trials and hardships you were resigned to the holy will of God. You accepted disappointments, sickness, and suffering without complaint. For thirty-three years you persevered, appealing to God with an endless stream of bitter tears to convert your son who lived in the darkness of error and vice. Without interruption you kept on praying so that the son of so many tears should not be lost. In the end, God heard your prayers and turned your sorrow into joy.

Intercede for us, St. Monica, what we may accept the crosses and sufferings from the loving hand of our heavenly Father and bear them in all patience. Never again will we question the goodness and mercy of God. When sickness and misery befall us, we will pray with patience and resignation “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Crosses are blessings in disguise. May we use them as stepping stones to perfection and holiness.

Let us pray: Oh God, look graciously down upon us, who sigh in this valley of tears. Give us the grace to embrace the cross and love it as your Divine Son did. In the cross alone there is salvation. It is no longer a sign of shame but the symbol of God’s love and redemption. May we learn and practice the lessons of the Cross so that by sharing Christ’s sufferings on earth, we may enjoy His never ending glory in heaven. AMEN

May God through the merits and intercession of Holy Mother Monica give us the grace to bear the sufferings of this life with patience and perseverance. AMEN

A Mother’s Prayer For Her Children

Holy Mother Monica, by your unceasing prayers and countless tears, you saved your son Augustine from the punishment of eternal perdition. I rejoice with you. God in His mercy has also blessed me with motherhood. Obtain for me the grace that I may understand and fulfill my obligations as a Christian mother. Ask God to help me to train my children by word and example in the holy Christian religion. May God enlighten their minds that they may walk the path of virtue. Please God, protect their innocence, and keep them from all evil of body and soul. May I be able to give my children a happy and secure home and an edifying life, so that they may learn by example, to love God and to keep His commandments, which is the surest path to eternal salvation. Holy Mother Monica, grant me the grace that none of my children will be lost, and that I may joyfully return them all to God. AMEN.

A Child’s Prayer For Parents

Holy Mother Monica, help me love, honor, and obey my parents, who, next to God, are my greatest benefactors. God has given them to me for my physical and spiritual well being. They have made many sacrifices for me, and I am unable to repay them. Hence, I ask you, Holy Mother Monica, pray for them and ask our Heavenly Father to bless and reward them for all t he troubles and sorrows I have caused them. May God, through your merits and intercession, find them health of body and mind and a long life. Keep all evil from them. Give them success in all their undertakings. Console them in their tribulations and sorrows. Let them grow in piety and holiness. St. Monica, pray for me that I may never offend or sadden my parents by heedless words or careless deeds, but that I may be to them the staff of support, comfort, and joy in their old age, so that God’s blessing, for which they have so often prayed, may remain with me. Heavenly Father, bless my dear parents. Lead them safely through this valley of tears into the everlasting joy of Paradise. AMEN.

Prayer Of A Husband

Holy Mother Monica, you suffered greatly under your husband’s indifference toward God and the harshness of his uncontrolled nature. Through your humble prayer, you obtained from God the grace of his conversion. Pray now for me that I may become a devoted husband and father, and an example of patience and charity in my home. Assist me to keep the commandments of God faithfully, and to live a holy life and die a happy death. AMEN.

Prayer Of A Wife

Holy Mother Monica, by your good example and the practice of every virtue, you obtained from God the conversion of your husband and the grace to live in harmony and peace with him. Help me to love my husband with a pure and holy love, and respect and obey him in everything that is good and right, since God has appointed him to be the head of our home, as Christ is the head of the Church. Help me to be kind and patient and understanding. Obtain for me the grace to be a good helpmate and show him by my conduct the way of Christian living, that true charity, unity, and peace may reign in my family. AMEN.

Prayer Of The Married

Holy Mother Monica, obtain for us the grace to fulfill our duties in the state of matrimony. God has instituted this great sacrament for the sanctification of husband and wife, for the preservation of the human race, and for our mutual consolation and help. Let us conquer all selfishness and vice. Protect us from the snares of the devil and the weaknesses of our own flesh, that we may remain loyal to our solemn promises and faithful to each other. May we live in peace and mutual love and lead a life of edification as we become children of God, and reach our eternal salvation together. AMEN.

Litany Of St. Monica

(For Private Devotion)

Lord, have mercy on us!

Christ, have mercy on us!

Lord, have mercy on us! Christ, hear us!

Christ, graciously hear us!

God the Father of Heaven,

Have mercy on us.

God the Son, redeemer of the world,

Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Spirit,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,…………………………….Pray for us

St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, chaste spouse of Mary,…………….….Pray for us

St. Augustine, triumph of divine grace,………………….Pray for us

St. Monica, devout mother of St. Augustine,

St. Monica, converting husband and son,

St. Monica, pattern for wives,

St. Monica, exemplar of widows,

St. Monica, mother of saints

St. Monica, diamond of unwavering faith,

St. Monica, gem of chaste love,

St. Monica, mirror of patience,

St. Monica, devoted to prayer,

St. Monica, patient in trials,

St. Monica, resigned to sorrow,

St. Monica, comfort of the afflicted,

St. Monica, friend of the poor,

St. Monica, peace-maker in quarrels,

St. Monica, fountain of tears,

St. Monica, handmaid of the Lord,

St. Monica, lover of the Holy Eucharist,

St. Monica, longing for God,

St. Monica, renouncing all worldliness,

St. Monica, happy in death,

St. Monica, refuge of sinners,

That we may have true sorrow for our sins,

That we may do penance for our sins,

That we may avoid the dangers and occasions of sin,

That we may renounce all evil desires,

That we may practice every virtue,

That we may always fulfill the Holy Will of God,

That we may work out our salvation in fear and trembling,

That we may live a holy life,

That we may persevere to the end,

That we may die a happy death,

That we may escape eternal damnation,

That we may reach Heaven,

That we may enjoy your protection at all times,………..Pray for us

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

Spare us, O Lord!

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

Graciously hear us, O Lord!

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

Have mercy on us, O Lord!

V.—Pray for us Holy Mother Monica,

R.—That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray…O God, You are the comforter of the sorrowful and the salvation of those who put their trust in You. You looked with mercy upon the loving tears and prayers of our holy mother Monica, in bringing about the conversion of her son, Augustine. Grant us the favor that, by the united intercession of these two saints, we may repent of our sins and obtain grace and forgiveness from You, through the merits of Christ, Our Lord.

AMEN.

The Saint Monica Society Prayer

Eternal and Merciful Father, I give You thanks for the gift of Your Divine Son Who suffered, died, and rose for all mankind. I thank You also for my Catholic Faith and ask Your help that I may grow in fidelity by prayer, by works of charity and penance, by reflection on Your Word, and by regular participation in the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist.

You gave Saint Monica a spirit of selfless love manifested in her constant prayer for the conversion of her son Augustine. Inspired by boundless confidence in Your power to move hearts, and by the success of her prayer, I ask the grace to imitate her constancy in my prayer for (name) who does not share in the intimate life of Your Catholic family, through neglect or ignorance of the faith.

Grant through my prayer and witness that they will be open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to return to loving union with Your Church. Grant also that my prayer be ever hopeful and that I may never judge another, for You alone can read hearts. I ask this through Christ, our Lord. AMEN.