Word to the Wise
Monday, August 28, 2017 - Monday in the 21th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Thess 1:1-5, 8b-10 and Matt 23:13-22,]For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. [1 Thessalonians]
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2017 ST. AUGUSTINE, bishop and doctor of the Church
[1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8b-10 and Matthew 23:13-22. Because the feast of St. Augustine is celebrated with greater solemnity in the Dominican calendar than in the Roman calendar, the scriptures at Dominican locations will be different from the ones given here.]
For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. [1 Thessalonians]
It would be difficult to underestimate the influence of St. Augustine of Hippo in the life of the western branch of the Catholic church! We Dominicans and many other religious orders use the "rule" that he wrote for his community in North Africa. Roman Catholic theology is indebted to him in ways almost too numerous to count! Even political scientists and historians are in debt to him for his famous work, The City of God. Students everywhere around the world have found his Confessions inspiring because they identify with his youthful struggles to come to terms with his inner conflicts and passions. If nothing else, the sheer volume of his works that have been preserved from an age when there was no printing press is amazing. His influence can be detected in the great number of his statements quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica. A quick glance at the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the documents of the Second Vatican Council will reveal that same influence.
The quotation from St. Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians describes Augustine's life and writings well. He was a teacher of rhetoric who had gone from North Africa to Rome to make a living teaching. He had a mistress and fathered a son. His mother, St. Monica, is noted for her lifetime of prayer for her unbelieving son until he finally heard a voice in his head that told him to pick up a book which turned out to be scripture. He brought all of the passion and enthusiasm of his life to bear on his conversion and subsequent service as bishop and teacher in North Africa.
Today we can celebrate this great bishop and theologian whose influence touches us even if we are not often aware of it. At least we can meditate on this famous line, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts cannot find rest until they rest in you." AMEN
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