Dear friends… Dear listeners to Rim Catholic Radio. This is Deacon Tom with another Deacon Moment… This is Deacon Moment number 1 or a series — perhaps 3 or so in length. And the topic of these is about conversion… conversion of our hearts and minds to a greater… a deeper… a real belief in Jesus Christ and in the teachings of His holy Catholic Church.
I have been a very frequent reader of conversion stories… perhaps hundreds of them. And I listen to them on podcasts and other sources. They may not be your cup of tea… but the beginnings of my journey to deeper conversion started when I read the beautiful story of St. Augustine going from a worldly, sinful man of the flesh and ego — to one of the greatest and holiest of Catholic convert’s.
What brings this topic up to start Deacon Moment Number 1, is that I just read about a book written by a lady that I’ve had contact with in my earlier years. Her name is Patti Maguire Armstrong. And the book she’s written is entitled WHAT WOULD MONICA DO? Monica was Augustine’s mother… she prayed for something like 17 years for her sinful son. In the interview with Patti Maguire Armstrong, I found out that she had been a sort of ‘floating’ Catholic… What’s that mean? She and her new husband at the time considered themselves good Catholics because they went to Church… to Mass … sometimes. They were not very catechized and as things go — she and her husband found that they wanted and needed to learn the truths of the faith. They wanted to know how to be real Catholics. Patti said she learned that you don’t go from Point A to point C… It happens little by little.’ And that’s the way for many converts and reverts.
Patti her husband wound up having ten children — a journey that not every Catholic Christian is called to… and in that journey — Patti and Mark had some experience with children who don’t practice the faith. And after much prayer, Patti and a friend wrote the book WHAT WOULD MONICA DO… this is a handbook.. a guide.. a thoughtful guide for how parents and grandparents can process and live with the fact that there is a guilt that we bring on ourselves… ‘what did I do wrong?’
I close this first Deacon Moment with a reminder of what Augustine said to his mom Monica long before he converted. Augustine said: You need to talk less to your son about God and more to God about your son.