Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Augustine of Hippo is a consummate example of a restless heart. His writing of the Confessions literally set a course for Christianity for ages to come. I thought I would get tired of hearing about Augustine’s Confessions one day after I started reading it. I have come back to the Confessions again and again, and I can say that I never tire of reading it. Augustine’s writing was the work of high Latin. It is rightly called a classic, both for its beauty and the truth of his story. Let us draw faith from Augustine’s example.
Augustine had many characters in his story who guided him along the way. There is Monica, his mother, who prayed for years for his conversion to Catholicism. He was in love with a woman for years, and together they had a son, Adeodatus. Alypius was his friend who supported him on his path to conversion, and Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, who acted as his mentor. All of these people influenced his life on the path to his conversion. Augustine was indeed the perfect example of a repentant sinner. He seemed to do everything that he could to get away from God. In the end, he found God waiting for him in everything he did, even in his sin. He knew he couldn’t hide from the important decision he had to make in regards to his conversion. He chose to ultimately come to faith in his own way, reading Romans 13: 13-14 in a house garden in Milan and choosing to convert along with Alypius. His mother’s faith in his conversion was finally rewarded.
“Late have I loved thee, beauty ever ancient and ever new… I gasped and panted, you reached out, and shattered my deafness. Now I am awake and alive.”[1]
Let us give thanks for Augustine’s example of repentance and holy desire.
St. Augustine of Hippo, Pray for us. Amen.
Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB
[1] Saint Augustine: Confessions, Translated by Henry Chadwick, Oxford World Classics, Book X, paragraph 38,
pg. 201.
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