St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

August 28, 2008 · Filed Under Homilies, Saints

Life’s lessons are most often clearer in hindsight. Toward that end, St. Paul begins his letter to the Corinthians today with almost a litany of thanks. He thanks God for all of the members of the Church who have responded to his tireless preaching of the Gospel. For Paul, thankfulness was the only response possible to God’s grace, and he sees it at work everywhere.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Augustine. Augustine was a man who thought he had everything figured out at a young age. He was prideful, caught up in the world’s pleasures and focused solely on what could be learned from his own reasoning. He had no room for the religion of his mother, St. Monica, whose feast we celebrated yesterday. But through her tireless prayers, Augustine began to come to know the God she worshipped, and began to respond to grace. He was baptized at 33 years of age, became a priest at 36, and a bishop at 41. Grace can work fast in a person’s life.

St. Augustine’s Confessions are among the best works on the spiritual life. In that work, he reflects, among other things, on his conversion, and how he felt called to repentance, but did not want to give up the world’s pleasures just yet. But throughout the work, he praises God for God’s work in his life. One of the best-known sections speaks of how the beauty of God was near, yet seemed beyond him:

Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!
Lo, you were within,
but I outside, seeking there for you,
and upon the shapely things you have made
I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you,
those things which would have no being,
were they not in you.
You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.

St. Paul and St. Augustine were always grateful for the grace they saw at work in the world. Today, may we all be mindful and grateful for those gifts in our lives.

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Tags: gratititude, St. Augustine, thanksgiving

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comets 2 months ago 1 point
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St. Paul spent a lot of time giving thanks, even though he was imprisoned and suffered a lot for following Christ. I am reading a book now, called "The Last Lecture", by Randy Pausch. While not a Christian per se, he does write about how good life is and gives lessons for daily living. All this while dying of cancer. It always impresses me when I see people who don't give up and feel sorry for themselves. We can all learn a thing or two from St. Paul, and from Randy. I recommend the book.
One of the saints that we had at St. Raphael was Cathy Daren. She was the most upbeat person I ever knew with cancer. She died almost 5 years ago. The fact that these people are able to give thanks even when it seems like they don't have things to give thanks for. It makes me realize I need to look closer. We all have things to give thanks for.

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