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If You Love Me, Do Not Weep

“Thou hast made us, O Lord, for Thee, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in Thee.” With these words, Aurelius Augustinus, the great St. Augustine, began his Confessions, the most honest and impressive autobiography in the literature of the world.

Born in 354 in what is modern day Algeria, Augustine led an ambitious and unbridled youth. He had no peace of soul and vainly sought it in the heretical sect of the Manicheans. He went to Italy where he taught rhetoric. In 386 by the grace of God, the tearful prayers of his holy mother Saint Monica, and the influence of saintly friends, he was converted. He was baptized, along with his son, by St. Ambrose. He devoted himself entirely to God and in 391 he was consecrated priest and in 394 bishop in Hippo. Today, Saint Augustine is known as one of the greatest of the Doctors of the Church.

After his baptism, Augustine and his mother set out to return to Africa. In his writings, he records that at the port city of Ostia on the Tiber, he and his mother joined in a moving conversation on the everlasting life of the blessed. Five days later she fell ill and died there.

One of the most beautiful passages in all literature are the words of St. Monica’s Soul to Saint Augustine: 

“If you love me, do not weep. If you only knew the gift of God and what Heaven is! If only you could hear the angels’ song from where you are, and see me among them! If you could only see before your eyes the eternal fields with their horizons, and the new paths in which I walk! If only you could contemplate for one moment the Beauty that I see, Beauty before which all others fail and fade ! Why do you who saw me and loved me in the land of shadows, why do you think you will not see me and love me again in the land of unchanging realities ? Believe me, when death breaks your chains as it has broken mine, when, on the day chosen by God, your soul reaches Heaven where I have preceded you, then you will see her who loved and still loves you. You will find her heart the same, her tenderness even purer than before. God forbid that on entering a happier life, I should become less loving, unfaithful to the memories and real joys of my other life. You will see me again transfigured in ecstasy and happiness, no longer waiting for death, but ever hand in hand with you, walking in the new paths of light and life, slaking my thirst to the full at the feet of God from a fount of which one never tires, and which you will come to share with me. Wipe away your tears, and if you love me truly, weep no more.”

Through the centuries, St. Monica’s words of hope and consolation have comforted those who grieve for the loss of a loved one. A 5x7” copy of the consoling words of St. Monica with the photo of your loved one, suitable for framing (see illustration), will be sent to you on request. Just write to me and enclose a clear photo. The photo will be returned with your copy.

Father John R. Whitley, C.S.B.