The son of these tears

For those of you who have not read The Confessions of St. Augustine, it’s a fascinating sort of autobiography in the form of a prayer to the Lord. Augustine (354 A.D. – 430 A.D) recounts to the Lord the sins of his youth, the wickedness of his heart, the struggles that led to his conversion, his conversion experience and many other great things that the Lord had done in his life; all the while praising the Lord for His goodness, might and wisdom. It is truly one of the great books of Church history!

But perhaps one of the most striking things in the life of Augustine was his mother Monica. Once, upon visiting the Bishop of a Church and begging him to go and speak to her son and rescue him from the errors he had involved himself in, the Bishop looked at her and said "Go your ways, and God bless you, for it is not possible that the son of these tears should perish."

In book (chapter) three of The Confessions Augustine, speaking of his mother, says this to the Lord:

“But You sent "thine hand from above" (Ps. 144:7) and drew my soul out of that profound darkness because my mother, Your faithful one, wept over me to You, more than mothers weep when their children die. She, by that faith and spirit which she had from You, discerned the death in which I Lay, and You heard her, Lord. You heard her and did not despise her tears when, streaming down, they watered the ground under her eyes in every place where she prayed.”

What a testimony to the power of God working through a mother!