St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church

Today is the feast day of St. Augustine, one of the pillars of the early Church and a Doctor of the same Church. This means he knows what he is talking about! We should all read his 'Confessions', which he talks about his conversion back to the Church he had left for 30+ years while he was wandering around searching for the Truth. He had gone through a time where he didn't know where to turn for help. He had questioned the earth, sky, the seas, and all the creatures of the earth trying to find that peace of mind of knowing what was going on around him, and where life and everything came from. They all answered him: "We are not what you seek; seek above us. Seek Him Who made us."

His mother, St. Monica, had prayed for him for 30+ years, to no avail. However, after that time, because of her prayers and enlisting St. Ambrose, another Doctor of the Church. He finally returned to his rightful place, within the fold of the True God. And boy, what a transformation! He became so fervent in his faith that he helped thousands come to that same Truth. He wrote many books and prayers; one of my favorites is the following. It's supposed to be after Holy Communion, but I think it should be before Confession. It was written in the year 430 AD. It pretty much sums up our weaknesses. His life and conversion should tell us NOT to give up on our children, however far they might have strayed from what we tried to instill in them when they were small. They are adults now, so I guess, in our case, they have to find the Truth in their own time. I just hope they get on board before they die. St. Monica, pray for our kids. Please?


St. Augustine's Prayer:

Before Thy eyes, O Lord, we bring our offenses, and we compare them with the stripes we have received.

If we consider the evil we have wrought, what we suffer is little, what we deserve is great.

What we have committed is very grave, what we have suffered is very slight.

We feel the punishment of sin, yet withdraw not from the obstinacy of sinning.

Under Thy lash our inconstancy is visited, but our sinfulness is not changed. Our suffering soul is tormented, but our neck is not bent. Our life groans under sorrow, yet mends not in deed.

If Thou spare us, we correct not our ways; if Thou punish we cannot endure it.

In time of correction we confess our wrong-doing; after Thy visitation we forget we have wept.

If Thou stretchest forth Thy hand we promise amendment; if Thou withholdest the sword we keep not our promise.

If Thou strikest we cry out for mercy; if Thou sparest we again provoke Thee to strike.

Here we are before Thee, O Lord, confessedly guilty; we know that unless Thou pardon we shall deservedly perish.

Grant then, almighty Father, without our deserving it, the pardon we ask for; Thou who madest out of nothing those who ask Thee.

Through Christ our Lord, Amen.



Following is a synopsis of his life.

SAINT AUGUSTINE
Bishop of Hippo and Doctor of the Church
(354-430)

Saint Augustine was born in 354 at Tagaste in Africa. He was brought up in the Christian faith but did not receive baptism, result of the practice, common in the first centuries, of deferring it until adulthood. An ambitious schoolboy of brilliant talents and violent passions, he early lost both his faith and his innocence. He pursued with ardor the study of philosophy. He taught grammar, rhetoric and literature for nine years in his native town of Tagaste, and in Carthage. He persisted in his irregular life and doctrinal errors until he was thirty-two. Then one day, stung to the heart by the account of some sudden conversions, he cried out, "The unlearned rise and storm heaven, and we, with all our learning, for lack of courage lie inert!" The great heart of this future bishop was already evident.

When as a genial student of rhetoric, he was at Milan, where Saint Ambrose was bishop, Augustine tells us later in his autobiography, the Catholic faith of his childhood regained possession of his intellect, but he could not as yet resolve to break the chains of bad habit. His mother helped him to separate from the mother of his son, Adeodatus, who had died as a young man; and she, after this painful separation, retired for life to a convent, regretting that she had long enchained this soul of predilection. Augustine's mother, Saint Monica, died soon afterwards.

Urged also by a friend who had decided to adopt a celibate life, Saint Augustine took up a book of the Holy Scriptures, and read the Epistles of Saint Paul in a new light. A long and terrible conflict ensued, but with the help of grace the battle was won; he went to consult a priest and received baptism, returned to Africa and gave all he had to the poor. At Hippo, where he settled, he was consecrated bishop in 395. For thirty-five years he was the center of ecclesiastical life in Africa, and the Church's strongest champion against heresy. His writings, which compose many volumes, have been everywhere accepted as a major source of both Christian spirituality and theological speculation. The great Doctor died, deeply regretted by the entire Christian world, in 430.

Reflection: Read the lives of the Saints, and you will find yourself living amid company to whose standards you will be forced to raise, at least in some measure, your own in your daily life.


St. Augustine's Sighs for Heaven


The heart pants after the fountain of water, so my soul pants after the strong living God. When shall I come and appear before the face of my God?

O Fountain of life, Source of living waters, when shall I pass from this desert, this pathless barren land, to the waters of Your sweetness, to gaze upon Your beauty and glory, and to slake my soul's thirst at the gushing streams of Your love! O when shall I come and appear before Your face? O bright and glorious day that knows no evening, whose sun shall never set, in which shall be heard the voice of praise, the voice of joy and thanksgiving, Your voice, O God, saying unto me: "Enter into the joy of the Lord!" Enter into joy everlasting, into tranquil joy, into ecstatic happiness, into a blissful eternity, into the house of the Lord, your God, where are things great and unsearchable, wonderful things without number.

Enter into joy wherein there is no sorrow, naught but untroubled gladness; wherein is all manner of good and nothing of evil; wherein all your heart's desires shall be satisfied, and all that you fear or hate shall be removed far from you; wherein life shall be calm, and glad, and thrilling; wherein the hateful enemy shall not enter, nor shall any breath of temptation come near you; wherein are supreme and unshaken security, an eternal blessedness, the Blessed Trinity, the Godhead in unity, the ecstatic vision of the Godhead! There you shall find gladness without sorrow, health without pain, light without darkness, life without toil, life without death. There the vigor of youth knows no decay, beauty withers not, love grows not cold, nor does joy pass away. O joy upon joy, Joy transcending all joys! When shall I enter into you, and behold my Lord Whose dwelling is in you?

O Christ, our Refuge and our Strength, hope of the human race, You Whose light shines from afar upon the dark clouds that hang around us, behold Your redeemed ones who cry unto You--Your banished ones whom You have purchased with Your own most Precious Blood! Hear us, O God, our Savior, Who are the hope of all the ends of the earth! Guide us amid the shoals and quicksands that beset our course, and bring us in safety to the haven for which we long. Amen.



St. Augustine, pray for us and help us come to the total Truth as you did. Amen!