Novena Chaplet to St. Monica – Mp3 Audio and Text

Novena Chaplet to St. Monica

~ from the Triduum prayers of the Sodality of St. Monica

Introductory 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 the 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(s)] who no longer share(s) in the intimate life of Your Catholic family. Grant through my prayer and witness that (he/she/they) may be open to the promptings of Your Holy Spirit, and 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.

Prayer for Faith

O glorious St. Monica, transfixed with sorrow when you saw your beloved child Augustine living in the dark and gloomy abyss of error and vice, and straying far from the right path which leads to true fidelity in the possession of God and his holy grace, hear our prayer, O afflicted mother.
By that cruel sorrow which, with so much patience, you bore; and by those earnest sighs and bitter tears with which you appealed to God to change the heart of your prodigal son; by your wondrous confidence in God, which was never shaken, O grant to us, that we may, like you, place all our trust in God, and in our trials and troubles be ever resigned to His holy will; while we ask you, O glorious St. Monica, to supply for us our special needs, we here earnestly ask you to pray for the erring children of Jesus, so many Augustines, straying from God and hurrying to ruin. Let that earnest prayer of yours go forth once more for us and for sinners, that we may live in the light of divine grace, and be united again thereafter to bless the bounty of a loving God for eternity. Amen.

Followed by:
Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . .Saint Monica, pray for us.

Prayer for Hope

O glorious, St. Monica, who, despite the many means you employed to accomplish the conversion of your son Augustine seemed fruitless, though for a long time God himself appeared deaf to your earnest prayer and unmoved by your ever-flowing tears, did never lose confidence in obtaining the long-sought grace for Augustine.
You did lovingly and tenderly admonish your erring son; you did watch over him ever with all a mother’s love, and fearless of danger and heedless of fatigue, followed him from place to place in his weary and wayward wanderings; in a word, all that a mother’s tender love could suggest, all that a mother’s anxious solicitude could inspire, all that a wondrous prudence and true wisdom could dictate, you, O great St. Monica, cheerfully did to effect the return to God of your firstborn and darling child.
By all these generous efforts, so happily crowned in the end, hear, O St. Monica, the petitions we make to you. Pray for us, too, and pray especially for those who are unmindful of and ungrateful to God. To you,  we are especially dedicated; look upon us, then, as your children, and win for us the grace we need. Regard mercifully the most destitute amongst us, that sin being diminished, the number of the faithful may increase, and greater glory may be given to Him who is the best of friends, the truest of benefactors, our first beginning and last end, the source of all our hope, our Savior, our God. Amen

Followed by:
Our Father . . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . . Saint Monica, pray for us.

Prayer for Charity

O glorious St. Monica, who can conceive the consolation that abounded in your heart, so long the home of brooding sorrow, when you saw your child Augustine rising in the light of grace and giving himself generously to God; when you held your converted son in your arms, and as tears of joy streamed forth to tell the glowing jubilee of your heart.
Oh, how in that moment God in his mercy recompensed your years of sorrow and anxiety, your long and weary days of racking suspense. It was impossible that a child of tears like yours should perish; and when your son Augustine heard the call of God, he obeyed it, and his life and his deeds flung a luster all their own on you, St. Monica.
O fortunate mother, twice mother of your child, deign to listen to our prayers and present our petitions to God; look lovingly, and with all a mother’s interest on us, under your protection, to honor you. We love you; let us become, as St. Augustine of old, the objects of your maternal love. Pray that we, too, like St. Augustine, may have strength to cling to God, and triumph over sin and temptation. By your prayers break the fetters of sin that hold in cruel bondage the souls of your sinful children in this world.
O St. Monica, pray that the miracle of grace in the heart of Augustine may again and again be repeated in these days of universal sin, and that the erring children of Jesus may be led back to the fold; that, united here on earth, we may securely go through the dangers of life and be united with you and all the Saints in heaven for ever. Amen

Followed by:
Our Father. . . Hail Mary . . . Glory Be . . . Saint Monica, pray for us.

Concluding Prayers

O God, look graciously down upon 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 Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts.

Amen