St Monica's kinda...hot?

It's the feast day of St Monica and this rendering is simply stunning. She could be a model on the cover of Vogue and nobody would question it. Head on over to The Deacon's Bench and find out more information on this icon and the great Saint.

One of the many cool stories about St Monica, who was the mother of St. Augustine was that she was very concerned about his filandering ways as a young man and constantly prayed for his conversion. It was never her intention for him to so radically convert and become a priest and then, a bishop. (My own editorial comment would be that she wanted him to settle down and give her some grandchildren!) She was told that she prayed too hard!

I often wish that I had that kind of persistence in prayer. I often give up much too easily and think situations are hopeless. Today I pray that I have that Monica-like persistence to pray without ceasing.

Second funny aside: I remember once in college being very down about something at work. I then remember one of our managers was trying to motivate us a bit and make things a bit fun while we worked. So she started cutting out headlines from the paper that referred to all of us. Mine was "Mike: Don't Worry, Be Happy!"
Funny thing is that I still have that headline and it instantly made me laugh, fell better and it did in fact bring me out of my funk and helped me do a better job that day. The woman's name who gave it to me? You guessed it: Monica.

So today pray for people who don't much like themselves and get down on themselves--sometimes for no good reason. All they need some days are a Monica.