The prayers of the righteous...
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The prayers of the righteous have great power. One of the greatest Christian theologians, Saint Augustine, admits this, not about his own prayers, but about the prayers of his mother, Monica.
For many years in his youth, Augustine lived a lewd, debaucherous life. He was the playboy of playboys with a "penthouse" attitude that would outdo anyone's fantasies. He also was an ardent opponent of the Christian faith. Monica, being a devout Christian mother, prayed constantly for her son, day after day, year after year.
In his classic autobiography Confessions, Augustine pays tribute to his mother with these words addressed to God: "You listened to the prayer of her heart ... For nearly nine years ... I wallowed deep in the mire and the darkness of delusion. Often I tried to lift myself, only to plunge in deeper. Yet all the time this chaste, devout, and prudent woman ... never ceased to pray at all hours and to offer you the tears she shed for me ... Her prayers reached your presence."
Augustine converted to Christianity and later became Bishop of Hippo at the close of the fourth century. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential Christian thinkers of the church. The prayers of the righteous have great power.
(Source: Confessions, by Saint Augustine, Penguin Classics, trans. R.S. Pine-Coffin, pp. 68-69.)
-- Molldrem
For many years in his youth, Augustine lived a lewd, debaucherous life. He was the playboy of playboys with a "penthouse" attitude that would outdo anyone's fantasies. He also was an ardent opponent of the Christian faith. Monica, being a devout Christian mother, prayed constantly for her son, day after day, year after year.
In his classic autobiography Confessions, Augustine pays tribute to his mother with these words addressed to God: "You listened to the prayer of her heart ... For nearly nine years ... I wallowed deep in the mire and the darkness of delusion. Often I tried to lift myself, only to plunge in deeper. Yet all the time this chaste, devout, and prudent woman ... never ceased to pray at all hours and to offer you the tears she shed for me ... Her prayers reached your presence."
Augustine converted to Christianity and later became Bishop of Hippo at the close of the fourth century. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential Christian thinkers of the church. The prayers of the righteous have great power.
(Source: Confessions, by Saint Augustine, Penguin Classics, trans. R.S. Pine-Coffin, pp. 68-69.)
-- Molldrem
