[Land of the Irish]

There is a lesson for us in this. In our times when the new Vandals are destroying both the cultural values and actual material buildings of Christian Civilization, we should carry on our work with faith and confidence knowing that it will serve to build the Reign of Mary when God so decides.

[Land of the Irish]

Ping

[freedom44]

Interesting to hear Catholics even consider themselves Christians.

[giotto]

Reading St. Augustine's Confessions, I was struck by the fact that Augustine seemed to be in no great hurry to abandon his wastrel ways. He prayed, "Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet." For what seems like years, he "struggled" with his demons, kept a mistress who bore his son, while continuing his wild batchelor life, and all the time his mother Monica was hanging around, pleading with him to mend his ways and praying for him night and day. This is one of the reasons I've always loved St. Augustine--He lived passionately. His withdrawal from earthly pleasures was all the more meaningful.

[Salvation]

American Catholic’s Saint of the Day

August 28, 2007

St. Augustine

(354-430)

A Christian at 33, a priest at 36, a bishop at 41: many people are familiar with the biographical sketch of Augustine of Hippo, sinner turned saint. But really to get to know the man is a rewarding experience.

There quickly surfaces the intensity with which he lived his life, whether his path led away from or toward God. The tears of his mother, the instructions of Ambrose and, most of all, God himself speaking to him in the Scriptures redirected Augustine’s love of life to a life of love.

Having been so deeply immersed in creature-pride of life in his early days and having drunk deeply of its bitter dregs, it is not surprising that Augustine should have turned, with a holy fierceness, against the many demon-thrusts rampant in his day. His times were truly decadent—politically, socially, morally. He was both feared and loved, like the Master. The perennial criticism leveled against him: a fundamental rigorism.

In his day, he providentially fulfilled the office of prophet. Like Jeremiah and other greats, he was hard-pressed but could not keep quiet. “I say to myself, I will not mention him,/I will speak in his name no more./But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,/imprisoned in my bones;/I grow weary holding it in,/I cannot endure it” (Jeremiah 20:9).

Comment:

Augustine is still acclaimed and condemned in our day. He is a prophet for today, trumpeting the need to scrap escapisms and stand face-to-face with personal responsibility and dignity.

Quote:

“Too late have I loved you, O Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! Too late I loved you! And behold, you were within, and I abroad, and there I searched for you; I was deformed, plunging amid those fair forms, which you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you. Things held me far from you—things which, if they were not in you, were not at all. You called, and shouted, and burst my deafness. You flashed and shone, and scattered my blindness. You breathed odors and I drew in breath—and I pant for you. I tasted, and I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for your peace” (St. Augustine, Confessions).