Word to the Wise
Thursday, August 28, 2014 - Thursday in the 21th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Cor 1:1-9 and Matt 24:42-51]I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge..... [1 Cor.]
AUGUST 28 ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO [bishop and doctor of the Church]
Every year I go to our novitiate community in Irving, TX, a suburb of Dallas, to make some presentations to our novices on the subject of the Rule of St. Augustine. While Augustine's contributions to and influence on Christian theology are enormous, his contribution to religious life is less well-known except among religious orders who have adopted his "rule" as the fundamental statement of community life. St. Dominic and his little group adopted this rule in response to Pope Innocent's request that they choose an "existing rule" rather than creating a new one. Since Dominic had been a Canon of St. Augustine, he was familiar with this rule and I suspect that is why the brethren adopted it. In any case, the Rule of St. Augustine is printed at the front of our constitutions and our novices are expected to have a basic knowledge of it.
I think the novice brothers are amazed that a document written in the 5th century A.D. could be as relevant as Augustine's rule is! At first it seems quaint until I start giving examples from my own 50 years in our order that show how basic the rule is to organizing life and accomplishing the goal of "living with one heart and one mind in community." I recently gave a retreat for a congregation of sisters that has no relationship with Dominican tradition and was surprised to find that the Rule of St. Augustine is also printed in the front of their constitutions!
Although we live every day in the Catholic Church under the influence of the teaching of St. Augustine, the same is true for many Protestant traditions, and millions of students who have read Augustine's classic CONFESSIONS. He was truly "enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge..." AMEN
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