Feast of St Monica, mother of St Augustine. For years she wept over his sins and prayed that he might share her faith. She lived to see his baptism, only to die soon after. He describes a conversation in her last days in which they imagined the happiness of the saints in heaven.

The “flame of love” burned brighter as their talk took them higher. Oblivious of time they continued their ascent. “At length we came to our own souls and passed beyond them.” Still their conversation went on, rising ever higher.

“And while we spoke of the eternal Wisdom, longing for it and straining for it with all the strength of our hearts, for one fleeting instant we reached out and touched it.” Then with a sigh, “leaving our spiritual harvest bound to it, we returned to the sound of our own speech.”