Valentine's Day Disappointment? Consider St. Monica

OK, so Valentine's Day is over and it may not have been a super special one for you. Don't get discouraged – it's not the only hope for single people. But I know how disappointing that can be.

As a matter of fact, I remember sometime in the 1990s going stag to a black tie Valentine's Day event in New York with great excitement because someone I really liked and who had indicated he liked me would be there. I had high hopes for the evening but just about died when he showed up with a date! I will never forget going home that evening and having an internal melt-down as I complained to God about it all.

Really, God? What am I doing wrong? Is there something I should change? Do differently? I know you hear my prayers so obviously you haven't brought the right one into my life yet for some reason...

I remember being so mad that I swore off men and the idea of romance forever.

Kinda.

That memory always leads me to reflect on how important it is to never become discouraged in prayer. Never give up!

Take St. Monica, for example. She begged her husband to have their son, Augustine, baptized and he vehemently refused. Sad but not hopeless, she began to pray for both her husband's conversion and her son's future. She prayed for years, and when Augustine was of age and could make his own decision about being baptized, she asked him to go to the priest, but he flatly refused!

Monica continued to pray.

At 17, Augustine began living with a woman he was not married to and after some years, his brokenhearted mother convinced him to stop the relationship he did, but simply proceeded to move in with someone else. But Monica continued her prayer campaign full speed ahead only prayed harder for her son to find faith. Augustine did finally find religion, but it was not the answer his mother had been praying for. Augustine had become a member of a pagan cult. Can you imagine the sorrow St. Monica felt? The disappointment, the terrible sadness!

But true to her faith, she never stopped praying.

When Augustine was 32-years-old he finally became a Christian.

My point is simply this: What if St. Monica had stopped praying? What if she became so discouraged about her son's behavior that she gave in to the feeling of hopelessness and gave up  altogether? Well, then we Catholics wouldn't have St. Augustine, doctor of the Church! What an incredible loss that would have been for the world.

If you are wondering why God hasn't brought someone special into your life yet, don't get discouraged. Pray and never stop!

By the way, that guy I liked who showed up to the Valentine's event with a date? We're celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary in June.

Never give up!