Chris Willertz, High School Principal
Back on August 27th, the Church celebrated the feast of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine.
As most of us know, St. Monica spent a great deal of her life praying for her son, Augustine, hoping and trusting that he would reform his life, turn to goodness and become a follower of Christ. Years and years of prayer, sacrifice and trust (17 years in total) eventually, and finally resulted in Augustine turning to Christ and ironically becoming one of the greatest saints of the Catholic Church.
I know many of us follow St. Monica’s example and pray for our children… constantly. It’s something we feel we are called to do. But do we really believe our prayers can help make our children saints? Do we really believe our prayers can make US saints? Maybe, St. Monica realized her prayers for her son would help her son be a great saint.
Maybe she didn’t.
Maybe, she realized her prayers would help herself become a saint.
Maybe she didn’t.
Regardless, St. Monica prayed… and she prayed… and she prayed. We are called to do the same. And we are not only called to pray for our own children, we are called to pray for many, many others, like our children’s friends, our children’s classmates, even our children’s teachers. Could your son’s or daughter’s classmates become better with and by your prayers for them? Even saints? Could your children’s teachers become better with and by your prayers? Them too even becoming saints? Would that be a good thing if they did?
Yes it would!
Maybe, St. Monica realized her prayers would help create so many, many, many other saints through what St. Augustine became, just because she decided to make a commitment to praying for him without ceasing.
Let’s make sure we are aware of a reality in our children’s lives. The people our children are MOST around on a day-to-day basis are their friends, their classmates and their teachers. They are interacting with them, learning from them, being affected by them……WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT. And sure, we can email and/or call the parents of those students to make sure they are “safe” for our kids, setting up “play dates”, or email and/or call our children’s teachers to make sure they are doing everything we want them to do for our children so they can give our children the best learning experiences possible. But, ultimately, what is the best way to help them?
Prayer.
At Royalmont Academy, we WANT our parents praying for their children and for our school. We WANT them involved. But we want our parents to take it to the next level, we want them also praying for their children’s classmates and teachers. We have very powerful parent prayer warriors, why not ask them to pray for all our community and not just their own kids? Why not, especially because we have many students and teachers in need of prayers, literally, we have potential St. Monica’s and St. Augustine’s in our midst.
But, HOW DOES one foster that type of prayer that can make a bigger difference, a difference that literally made Monica and Augustine saints?
We at Royalmont have decided it is time to do something; to do something more with intentional prayer in our learning community. Therefore, we have decided to start a High School Parent/Student Prayer Program so our parents can not only pray for their own children, but where they can choose to pray for other Royalmont students and teachers. These may be people they know or may not know.
We want to wrap our community up in prayer.
Because, after all, isn’t that what an effective school is? A community of people-students, teachers, parents alike- that actively work, learn, and pray together for the benefit of all.
We hope you seriously consider taking our lead at Royalmont Academy and commit yourself to more and better prayer. Just ask St. Monica, you won’t regret it.
Back on August 27th, the Church celebrated the feast of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine.
As most of us know, St. Monica spent a great deal of her life praying for her son, Augustine, hoping and trusting that he would reform his life, turn to goodness and become a follower of Christ. Years and years of prayer, sacrifice and trust (17 years in total) eventually, and finally resulted in Augustine turning to Christ and ironically becoming one of the greatest saints of the Catholic Church.
I know many of us follow St. Monica’s example and pray for our children… constantly. It’s something we feel we are called to do. But do we really believe our prayers can help make our children saints? Do we really believe our prayers can make US saints? Maybe, St. Monica realized her prayers for her son would help her son be a great saint.
Maybe she didn’t.
Maybe, she realized her prayers would help herself become a saint.
Maybe she didn’t.
Regardless, St. Monica prayed… and she prayed… and she prayed. We are called to do the same. And we are not only called to pray for our own children, we are called to pray for many, many others, like our children’s friends, our children’s classmates, even our children’s teachers. Could your son’s or daughter’s classmates become better with and by your prayers for them? Even saints? Could your children’s teachers become better with and by your prayers? Them too even becoming saints? Would that be a good thing if they did?
Yes it would!
Maybe, St. Monica realized her prayers would help create so many, many, many other saints through what St. Augustine became, just because she decided to make a commitment to praying for him without ceasing.
Let’s make sure we are aware of a reality in our children’s lives. The people our children are MOST around on a day-to-day basis are their friends, their classmates and their teachers. They are interacting with them, learning from them, being affected by them……WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT. And sure, we can email and/or call the parents of those students to make sure they are “safe” for our kids, setting up “play dates”, or email and/or call our children’s teachers to make sure they are doing everything we want them to do for our children so they can give our children the best learning experiences possible. But, ultimately, what is the best way to help them?
Prayer.
At Royalmont Academy, we WANT our parents praying for their children and for our school. We WANT them involved. But we want our parents to take it to the next level, we want them also praying for their children’s classmates and teachers. We have very powerful parent prayer warriors, why not ask them to pray for all our community and not just their own kids? Why not, especially because we have many students and teachers in need of prayers, literally, we have potential St. Monica’s and St. Augustine’s in our midst.
But, HOW DOES one foster that type of prayer that can make a bigger difference, a difference that literally made Monica and Augustine saints?
We at Royalmont have decided it is time to do something; to do something more with intentional prayer in our learning community. Therefore, we have decided to start a High School Parent/Student Prayer Program so our parents can not only pray for their own children, but where they can choose to pray for other Royalmont students and teachers. These may be people they know or may not know.
We want to wrap our community up in prayer.
Because, after all, isn’t that what an effective school is? A community of people-students, teachers, parents alike- that actively work, learn, and pray together for the benefit of all.
We hope you seriously consider taking our lead at Royalmont Academy and commit yourself to more and better prayer. Just ask St. Monica, you won’t regret it.
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