Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 08-28-14, M, St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

USCCB.org/RNAB ^ | 08-28-14 | Revised New Americann Bible

[Salvation]

August 28, 2014

Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

 

 

Reading 1 1 Cor 1:1-9

Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
and Sosthenes our brother,
to the Church of God that is in Corinth,
to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,
with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

R. (1) I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds
and declare your greatness.
They publish the fame of your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.

Gospel Mt 24:42-51

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant,
whom the master has put in charge of his household
to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.
Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’
and begins to beat his fellow servants,
and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day
and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely
and assign him a place with the hypocrites,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

[Salvation]

Saint Augustine, Bishop & Doctor of the Church

Saint Augustine,
Bishop & Doctor of the Church
Memorial
August 28th

Saint Ambrose baptizing Saint Augustine
Benozzo Gozzoli (1464-65)
Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano, Italy

"Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord"
Augustine opens his Confessions with praise of God, and follows this with of the best-known passages in all of Christian literature -- his introductory observations about man's restless search for God.

Prayers, readings - Excerpt from "Confessions" - Recipe

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Augustine, one of the most influential thinkers in the entire history of the Church, was born at Tagaste, North Africa, on November 13, 354. His father, Patricius, a city official was not a Christian, though his mother, Monica, was a woman of strong Christian faith. (She eventually led her husband to be baptized, and he died a holy death circa 371.)

Though Augustine received a Christian upbringing, he led a very dissolute life as a youth and young man, according to his "Confessions". Augustine gives an account of his spiritual development in the first nine Books of the "Confessions" -- a work that has engrossed readers for 1600 years, and are as fresh and immediate today as when they were written.

As a nineteen-year old student at Carthage, he espoused the Manichaean heresy, a form of Gnosticism founded in Persia in the late third century, which claimed to be a religion of reason as contrasted with Christianity, a religion of faith. Manichaeism aimed to synthesize all known religions. Its basic dualistic tenet is that there are two equal and opposed Principles ("gods") in the universe: Good (Light/Spirit) and Evil (Darkness/Matter).

After nearly ten years as a Manichaean, Augustine, who taught in Milan, visited Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, became a regular attendant at his preachings, and through his influence became convinced that Catholic teachings are true, and that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Still, he found himself conflicted -- unwilling to give up his desire to satisfy his sexual lusts.

An interview with Simplicianus, spiritual father of St. Ambrose , who told Augustine the story of the conversion of the celebrated neo-Platonic rhetorician, Victorinus (Confessions, VIII, i, ii), and later, a chance visit by a Christian, Ponticianus, who told him of other conversions, led Augustine to a crisis:

I was greatly disturbed in spirit, angry at myself with a turbulent indignation because I had not entered thy will and covenant, O my God, while all my bones cried out to me to enter, extolling it to the skies. The way therein is not by ships or chariots or feet--indeed it was not as far as I had come from the house to the place where we were seated. For to go along that road and indeed to reach the goal is nothing else but the will to go. But it must be a strong and single will, not staggering and swaying about this way and that--a changeable, twisting, fluctuating will, wrestling with itself while one part falls as another rises. (Confessions, Book VIII.8.19)

I was ... weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when suddenly I heard the voice of a boy or a girl I know not which--coming from the neighboring house, chanting over and over again, "Pick it up, read it; pick it up, read it."[260] Immediately I ceased weeping and began most earnestly to think whether it was usual for children in some kind of game to sing such a song, but I could not remember ever having heard the like. So, damming the torrent of my tears, I got to my feet, for I could not but think that this was a divine command to open the Bible and read the first passage I should light upon. ...

So I quickly returned to the bench where Alypius was sitting, for there I had put down the apostle's book [Paul's letter to the Romans] when I had left there. I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which my eyes first fell: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof."[Romans 13:13] I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away. (Confessions, Book IX.29)

Augustine was thirty-three when he was moved to act on his convictions in that garden at Milan in September, 386. A few weeks later, during the autumn "vintage" holiday, Augustine, resigned his professorship at Milan, resolving to devote himself to the pursuit of true philosophy, now inseparable from Christianity. After a vacation at Cassisiacum, Augustine returned to Milan with Monica, Adeodatus (his son) , and his friends, where the new converts were baptized. Soon after, while preparing to return to North Africa with her sons and grandson, Monica died at Ostia, near Rome. (A moving account of her final days is found in Confessions Book IX, 8-12)

Augustine returned to Africa in August 388, and, with the objective of living a life of poverty and prayer, he sold his property and gave the proceeds to the poor. Although he did not think of becoming a priest, during a visit to Hippo, as he was praying in the church, people suddenly gathered around him and persuaded the bishop of Hippo, Valerius, to ordain Augustine. He was ordained in 391, and in Tagaste, established a monastery, and preached against Manichaeism with great success. When he was forty-two, he becme co-adjutor bishop Hippo, where he was bishop for thirty-four years.

During his years as bishop, Augustine combatted the Manichaean heresy, strongly affirming free will and expounding on the problem of evil; he struggled against the Donatist heresy that attacked the divine institution and hierchical nature of the Church. In later years he would confront the Pelagian heresy that denied the doctrine of original sin and the effects of grace; and the heresy of Arianism, which denied that the Son is of the same substance as the Father.

Augustine died August 28, 430 at the age of seventy-five. His perennial contribution to and influence on Catholic doctrine and thought and on Christian belief and piety is incalculable, and his many theological and philosophical works, especially the Confessions and the City of God have continuee to captivate and inspire mankind for more than fifteen-hundred years.

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Prayers, Readings

Collect:
Renew in your Church, we pray, O Lord,
the spirit with which you endowed
your Bishop Saint Augustine
that, filled with the same spirit,
we may thirst for you,
the sole fount of true wisdom,
and seek you, the author of heavenly love.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.

First Reading:
I John 4:7-16
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Gospel Reading:
Matthew 23:8-12
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

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Prayers of Saint Augustine:

God of life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and wear us down; when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies gray and threatening; when our lives have no music in them and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, we beseech you; turn our eyes to where the skies are full of promise.

(From Prayers of the Saints: An Inspired Collection of Holy Wisdom, ed. Woodeene Koenig-Bricker - San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1996)

*****************************************************************

"Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or
weep tonight, and give your angels charge over
those who sleep.
Tend your sick ones, O Lord Christ.
Rest your weary ones.
Bless your dying ones.
Soothe your suffering ones.
Pity your afflicted ones.
Shield your joyous ones.
And for all your love's sake.  Amen."

***********************************************************

"Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in you."

Augustine opens his Confessions with praise of God, and follows this with of the best-known passages in all of Christian literature -- his introductory observations about man's restless search for God.

Excerpt from:Confessions

Excerpt from Confessions, Book I, Chapter I

"Great art thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is thy power, and infinite is thy wisdom." And man desires to praise thee, for he is a part of thy creation; he bears his mortality about with him and carries the evidence of his sin and the proof that thou dost resist the proud. Still he desires to praise thee, this man who is only a small part of thy creation. Thou hast prompted him, that he should delight to praise thee, for thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee. Grant me, O Lord, to know and understand whether first to invoke thee or to praise thee; whether first to know thee or call upon thee. But who can invoke thee, knowing thee not? For he who knows thee not may invoke thee as another than thou art. It may be that we should invoke thee in order that we may come to know thee. But "how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher?" Now, "they shall praise the Lord who seek him," for "those who seek shall find him," and, finding him, shall praise him. I will seek thee, O Lord, and call upon thee. I call upon thee, O Lord, in my faith which thou hast given me, which thou hast inspired in me through the humanity of thy Son, and through the ministry of thy preacher.

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Excerpt from:Confessions -Book VI

Chapter I.--His mother, Monica, having followed Augustine to Milan, declares that she will not die before her son shall have embraced the Catholic Faith.

I. O Thou, my hope from my youth, where wert Thou to me, and whither hadst Thou gone? For in truth, hadst Thou not created me, and made a difference between me and the beasts of the field and fowls of the air? Thou hadst made me wiser than they, yet did I wander about in dark and slippery places, and sought Thee abroad out of myself, and found not the God of my heart;' and had entered the depths of the sea, and distrusted and despaired finding out the truth. By this time my mother, made strong by her piety, had come to me, following me over sea and land, in all perils feeling secure in Thee. For in the dangers of the sea she comforted the very sailors (to whom the inexperienced passengers, when alarmed, were wont rather to go for comfort), assuring them of a safe arrival, because she had been so assured by: Thee in a vision. She found me in grievous danger, through despair of ever finding truth. But when I had disclosed to her that I was now no longer a Manichaean, though not yet a Catholic Christian, she did not leap for joy as at what was unexpected; although she was now reassured as to that part of my misery for which she had mourned me as one dead, but who would be raised to Thee, carrying me forth upon the bier of her thoughts, that Thou mightest say unto the widow's son, "Young man, I say unto Thee, arise," and he should revive, and begin to speak, and Thou shouldest deliver him to his mother? Her heart, then, was not agitated with any violent exultation, when she had heard that to be already in so great a part accomplished which she daily, with tears, entreated of Thee might be done, -- that though I had not yet grasped the truth, I was rescued from falsehood. Yea, rather, for that she was fully confident that Thou, who hadst promised the whole, wouldst give the rest, most calmly, and with a breast full of confidence, she replied to me, "She believed in Christ, that before she departed this life, she would see me a Catholic believer." And thus much said she to me; but to Thee, O Fountain of mercies, poured she out more frequent prayers and tears, that Thou wouldest hasten Thy aid, and enlighten my darkness; and she hurried all the more assiduously to the church, and hung upon the words of Ambrose, praying for the fountain of water that springeth up into everlasting life. For she loved that man as an angel of God, because she knew that it was by him that I had been brought, for the present, to that perplexing state of agitation I was now in, through which she was fully persuaded that I should pass from sickness unto health, after an excess, as it were. of a sharper fit, which doctors term the "crisis."

Link to Confessions on Fordham's website.

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A recipe for celebrating the Feast of Saint Augustine

Chiles En Nogada (Stuffed Peppers in Walnut Sauce)
(from Cooking with the Saints, Ignatius Press)

This recipe is from the Mexican state of Pueblo, where the Feast of St. Augustine is celebrated with this dish. An unsusal mix of ingredients produces a tasty and filling dish. It requires a bit of effort, shelling and skinning the walnuts. It is important to use fresh walnuts, because it is almost impossible to remove the skin from store-bought shelled walnuts, which tend to be older and may also have an off-flavor. If shelling and skinning the nuts are too cumbersome, shelled or ground walnuts may be used, or even blanched almonds. The flavor will be somewhat different, but the work is considerably less.

Serves 6 - 8 people.
Sauce:
50 walnuts, shelled, or 2 cups (200g) ground walnuts or ground blanched almonds
Milk (if using fresh walnuts)
1/4 lb (100g) goat cheese, or, if not available, cream cheese
1 hard roll or crust end of bread soaked in milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of cinnamon

To make the sauce:
If starting with fresh walnuts, soak the shelled nuts in milk for about 20 to 30 minutes to loosen the skin and then remove the skins.
Using a blender, grind the nuts, cheese, hard roll in milk together to make a sauce. The sauce should be thin enough to pour; if not, add some more milk. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and a pinch of cinnamon.

Stuffing:
3 tomatoes, or 8 oz (300 g) can of tomatoes, drained
1/2 cups (100 g) almonds, whole, blanched
2 peaches, peeled, chopped
2 pears, peeled, chopped
1/2 cup (100g) raisins
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 lb (250g) pork, ground
1/2 lb (250g) beef, ground
4 tbsp onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/4 tsp saffron
Salt and pepper to taste

To make the stuffing:
Peel tomatoes and chop them. Chop almonds. Peel fruit and chop. Soak raisins in hot water. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and brown the meat. Add tomatoes, onion and garlic. Cook covered for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Add the almonds, drained raisins, saffron and fruits. Season to taste with salt and pepper and cook till the filling is quite thick and most of the liquid has evaporated.

Peppers:
7 to 8 peppers, medium size, different colors

Put the peppers into boiling water for a couple of minutes, till they have softened somewhat. Remove the top and the seeds.

Coating:
3/4 cup (100g) flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
2 tsp sugar
2 eggs

Garnishes:
parsley and pomegranate seeds

1. Prepare the coating mixture by mixing together all the dry ingredients. Beat the 2 eggs slightly.

2. Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture. Make sure the outside of the peppers is wet before dipping them in the flour spice mixture and then into the egg. Sprinkle again with the flour mixture.

3. Fry in hot fat at 375°F (190°C) until browned. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve with the cold sauce, garnished with pomegranate seeds and parsley.

Plain or Mexican rice goes nicely with this dish.

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Related Links on the Vatican Website:

Benedict XVI, General Audience, Paul VI Audience Hall, Wednesday, 9 January 2008, Saint Augustine of Hippo (part 1)

Benedict XVI, General Audience, Paul VI Audience Hall, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, Saint Augustine of Hippo (part 2)

Benedict XVI, General Audience, Paul VI Audience Hall, Wednesday, 30 January 2008, Saint Augustine of Hippo (part 3)

Benedict XVI, General Audience, Paul VI Audience Hall, Wednesday, 20 February 2008, Saint Augustine of Hippo (part 4)

Benedict XVI, General Audience, Paul VI Audience Hall, Wednesday, 27 February 2008, Saint Augustine of Hippo (part 5)

BENEDICT XVI, GENERAL AUDIENCE, Wednesday, 25 August 2010, St Augustine

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Related links on New Advent website:

St. Augustine writing:

- Confessions
- Letters
- City of God
- Christian Doctrine
- On the Holy Trinity
- The Enchiridion
- On the Catechising of the Uninstructed
- On Faith and the Creed
- Concerning Faith of Things Not Seen
- On the Profit of Believing
- On the Creed: A Sermon to Catechumens
- On Continence
- On the Good of Marriage
- On Holy Virginity
- On the Good of Widowhood
- On Lying
- To Consentius: Against Lying
- On the Work of Monks
- On Patience
- On Care to be Had For the Dead
- On the Morals of the Catholic Church
- On the Morals of the Manichaeans
- On Two Souls, Against the Manichaeans
- Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus the Manichaean
- Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental
- Reply to Faustus the Manichaean
- Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichaeans
- On Baptism, Against the Donatists
- Answer to Letters of Petilian, Bishop of Cirta
- Merits and Remission of Sin, and Infant Baptism
- On the Spirit and the Letter
- On Nature and Grace
- On Man's Perfection in Righteousness
- On the Proceedings of Pelagius
- On the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin
- On Marriage and Concupiscence
- On the Soul and its Origin
- Against Two Letters of the Pelagians
- On Grace and Free Will
- On Rebuke and Grace
- The Predestination of the Saints/Gift of Perseverance
- Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount
- The Harmony of the Gospels
- Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament
- Tractates on the Gospel of John
- Homilies on the First Epistle of John
- Soliloquies
- The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms

[Salvation]

Information: St. Augustine

Feast Day: August 28

Born: November 13, 354, Tagaste, Numidia (now Souk Ahras, Algeria)

Died: August 28, 430, Hippo Regius, Numidia (now modern-day Annaba, Algeria)

Major Shrine: San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia, Italy

Patron of: brewers; printers; theologians

[Salvation]

Information: St. Moses the Black

Feast Day: August 28

Born: 330; Ethiopian ancestry P> Died: 405, Scetes, Egypt

Major Shrine: Paromeos Monastery, Scetes, Egypt

Patron of: Africa

[Salvation]

Interactive Saints for Kids

St. Augustine

Feast Day: August 28
Born: 354 :: Died: 430

St. Augustine was born in Tagaste in modern Algeria. This famous son of St. Monica spent many years living a wicked life and in false beliefs. He was one of the most intelligent persons who ever lived.

Augustine was brought up in a Christian atmosphere by his mother. But he became so proud and bad that in the end he could not see or understand holy truths anymore.

His mother Monica prayed daily for her son's conversion. The marvelous sermons of St. Ambrose made their impact too. Finally, Augustine became convinced that Christianity was the true religion.

Yet he did not become a Christian then, because he thought he could never live a pure life. Then one day, he heard about two men who had suddenly changed and became good Christians after reading the life of St. Anthony of the Desert.

Augustine felt ashamed. "What are we doing?" he cried to his friend Alipius. "Unlearned people are taking heaven by force. Yet we, with all our knowledge, are so weak that we keep rolling around in the mud of our sins!"

Full of bitter sorrow, Augustine went into the garden and prayed, "How much longer, Lord? Why don't I stop committing sins now?" Just then he heard a child singing, "Take up and read!"

Thinking that God wanted him to hear those words, he picked up the Bible and opened it. His eyes fell on St. Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 13. It was just what Augustine needed. Paul says to stop living bad lives and to live like Jesus. That did it! From then on, Augustine began a new life.

He was baptized and ordained a priest and later became a bishop. He was a famous Catholic writer and started the Augustinian order. He became one of the greatest saints who ever lived.

On the wall of his room, he had the following sentence written in large letters: "Here we do not speak evil of anyone." St. Augustine corrected strong false teachings, lived a simple life and cared for the poor.

He preached very often, and prayed with great feeling right up until his death. "Too late have I loved you," he once cried to God. But Augustine spent the rest of his life in loving God and leading others to love him, too.

[annalex]

Matthew
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Matthew 24
42.	Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come.	Vigilate ergo, quia nescitis qua hora Dominus vester venturus sit.	γρηγορειτε ουν οτι ουκ οιδατε ποια ωρα ο κυριος υμων ερχεται
43.	But know this ye, that if the goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open.	Illud autem scitote, quoniam si sciret paterfamilias qua hora fur venturus esset, vigilaret utique, et non sineret perfodi domum suam.	εκεινο δε γινωσκετε οτι ει ηδει ο οικοδεσποτης ποια φυλακη ο κλεπτης ερχεται εγρηγορησεν αν και ουκ αν ειασεν διορυγηναι την οικιαν αυτου
44.	Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come.	Ideo et vos estote parati : quia qua nescitis hora Filius hominis venturus est.	δια τουτο και υμεις γινεσθε ετοιμοι οτι η ωρα ου δοκειτε ο υιος του ανθρωπου ερχεται
45.	Who, thinkest thou, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath appointed over his family, to give them meat in season.	Quis, putas, est fidelis servus, et prudens, quem constituit dominus suus super familiam suam ut det illis cibum in tempore ?	τις αρα εστιν ο πιστος δουλος και φρονιμος ον κατεστησεν ο κυριος αυτου επι της θεραπειας αυτου του διδοναι αυτοις την τροφην εν καιρω
46.	Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come he shall find so doing.	Beatus ille servus, quem cum venerit dominus ejus, invenerit sic facientem.	μακαριος ο δουλος εκεινος ον ελθων ο κυριος αυτου ευρησει ποιουντα ουτως
47.	Amen I say to you, he shall place him over all his goods.	Amen dico vobis, quoniam super omnia bona sua constituet eum.	αμην λεγω υμιν οτι επι πασιν τοις υπαρχουσιν αυτου καταστησει αυτον
48.	But if that evil servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming:	Si autem dixerit malus servus ille in corde suo : Moram fecit dominus meus venire :	εαν δε ειπη ο κακος δουλος εκεινος εν τη καρδια αυτου χρονιζει ο κυριος μου ελθειν
49.	And shall begin to strike his fellow servants, and shall eat and drink with drunkards:	et cœperit percutere conservos suos, manducet autem et bibat cum ebriosis :	και αρξηται τυπτειν τους συνδουλους εσθιειν δε και πινειν μετα των μεθυοντων
50.	The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not:	veniet dominus servi illius in die qua non sperat, et hora qua ignorat :	ηξει ο κυριος του δουλου εκεινου εν ημερα η ου προσδοκα και εν ωρα η ου γινωσκει
51.	And shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.	et dividet eum, partemque ejus ponet cum hypocritis : illic erit fletus et stridor dentium.	και διχοτομησει αυτον και το μερος αυτου μετα των υποκριτων θησει εκει εσται ο κλαυθμος και ο βρυγμος των οδοντων

[annalex]

42. Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come.
43. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44. Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man comes.

JEROME; Having declared that of that hour knows no man but the Father only, He shows that it was not expedient for the Apostles to know, that being ignorant they might live in perpetual expectation of His coming, and thus concluding the whole, He says, Watch therefore, &c. And He does not say, 'Because we know not,' but Because you know not, showing that He Himself is not ignorant of the day of judgment.

CHRYS. He would have them ever ready and therefore He says, Watch.

GREG. To watch is to keep the eyes open, and looking out for the true light, to do and to observe that which one believes, to cast away the darkness of sloth and negligence.

ORIGEN; Those of more plain understanding say, that He spoke this of His second coming; but others would say that it applies to an intellectual coming of the word into the understanding of the disciples, for as yet He was not in their understanding as He was to be.

AUG. He said this Watch, not to those only who heard 'Him speak at the time, but to those who came after them, and to us, and to all who shall be after us, until His second coming' for it touches all in a manner. That day comes to each one of us, when it comes to him to go out of the world, such as he shall be judged , and therefore ought every Christian to watch that the Lord's coming may not find him unprepared ; and he will be unprepared for the day of His coming, whom the last day of his life shall find unprepared.

AUG. Foolish are all they, who either profess to know the day of the end of the world, when it is to come, or even the end of their own life, which no one can know unless he is illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

JEROME; And by the instance of the master of the household, He teaches more plainly why He keeps secret the day of the consummation.

ORIGEN; The master of the household is the understanding, the house is the soul, the thief is the Devil. The thief is also every contrary doctrine which enters the soul of the unwary by other than the natural entrance, breaking into the house, and pulling down the soul's natural fences, that is, the natural powers of understanding, it enters the breach, and spoils the soul. sometimes one takes the thief in the act of breaking m, and seizing him, stabs him with a word, and slays him.

And the thief comes not in the day-time, when the soul of the thoughtful man is illuminated with the Sun of righteousness, but in the night, that is, in the time of prevailing wickedness; in which when one is plunged, it is possible, though he have not the power of the sun, that he may be illuminated by some rays from the Word, as from a lamp continuing still in evil, yet having a better purpose, and watchfulness, that this his purpose should not be broken through. Or in time of temptation, or of any calamities, is the time when the thief is most found to come, seeking to break through the house of the soul.

GREG. Or, the thief breaks into the house through the neglect of the master of the house, when the spirit has slept in upon its post of guard, and death has come in unawares into the dwelling house of our flesh, and finding the lord of the house sleeping, slays him; that is, the spirit, little providing for coming evils, is taken off unprepared, to punishment, by death. But if he had watched he would have been secure from the thief; that is, looking forward to the coming of the Judge, who takes our lives unawares, he would meet Him with penitence, and not perish impenitent. And the Lord would therefore have the last hour unknown, that it might always be in suspense, and that being unable to foresee it, we might never be unprepared for it.

CHRYS. In this He rebukes such as have less care for their souls, than they have of guarding their money against an expected thief.

45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he come shall find so doing.
47. Verily I say to you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming;
49. And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

HILARY; Though the Lord had given above a general exhortation to all in common to unwearied vigilance, yet He adds a special charge to the rulers of the people, that is, the Bishops, of watchfulness in looking for His coming. Such He calls a faithful servant, and wise master of the household careful for the needs and interests of the people entrusted to Him.

CHRYS. That He says, Whom think you is that faithful and wise servant, does not imply ignorance, for even the Father we find asking a question, as that, Adam, where are you?

REMIG. Nor yet does it imply the impossibility of attaining perfect virtue, but only the difficulty.

GLOSS. For rare indeed is such faithful servant serving his Master for his Master s sake, feeding Christ's s sheep not for lucre but for love of Christ, skilled to discern the abilities, the life, and the manner of those put under him, whom the Lord sets over that is who is called of God, and has not thrust himself in.

CHRYS. He requires two things of such servant, fidelity and prudence, e calls him faithful . because he appropriates to himself none of his Lord s goods, and wastes nothing idly and unprofitably. He calls him prudent as knowing on what he ought to lay out the things committed to him.

ORIGEN, Or, he ought progress in the faith, though he is not yet perfect in it is ordinarily called faithful, and he who has natural quickness of intellect is called prudent. And whoever observes will find many faithful, and zealous in their belief, but not at the same time prudent; for God has chosen the foolish things of the world. Others again he will see who are quick and prudent but of weak faith; for the union of faith and prudence in the same man is most rare. To give food in due season calls for prudence in a man; not to take away the food of the needy requires faithfulness.

And this the literal sense obliges us to, that we be faithful in dispersing the revenues of the Church, that we devour not that which belongs to the widows, that we remember the poor, and that we do not take occasion from what is written, The Lord has ordained, that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel, to seek more than plain food and necessary clothing, or to keep more for ourselves than we give to those who suffer want. And that we be prudent, to understand the cases of them that are in need, whence they come to be so, what has been the education and what are the necessities of each.

It needs much prudence to distribute fairly the revenues of the Church. Also let the servant be faithful and prudent, that he lavish not the intellectual and spiritual food upon those whom he ought not, but dispense according as each has need; to one is more necessary that word which shall edify his behavior, and guide his practice, than that which sheds a ray of science; but to others who can pierce more deeply let him not fail to expound the deeper things, lest if he set before them common things only, he e despised by such as have naturally keener understandings, or have been sharpened by the discipline of worldly learning.

CHRYS. This parable may be also fitted to the case of secular rulers; for each ought to employ the things he has to the common benefit, and not to the hurt of his fellow-servants, nor to his own ruin; whether it be wisdom or dominion, or whatever else he has.

RABAN. The lord is Christ, the household over which He appoints is the Church Catholic. It is hard then to find one man who is both faithful and wise, but not impossible; for He would not pronounce a blessing on a character that could never be, as when He adds, Blessed is that servant whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing.

HILARY; That is, obedient to his Lord s command, by the seasonableness of his teaching dispensing the word of life to a household which is to be nourished for the food of eternity.

REMIG. It should be observed, that as there is great difference of desert between good preachers and good hearers, so is there great difference between their rewards. The good hearers, if He finds them watching He will make to sit down to meat, as Luke speaks; but the good preachers He will set over all His goods.

ORIGEN; That he may reign with Christ, to whom the Father has committed all that is His. And as the son of a good father set over all that is his, He shall communicate of His dignity and glory to His faithful and wise stewards, that they also may be above the whole creation.

RABAN. Not that they only, but that they before others, shall be rewarded as well for their own lives as for their superintendence of the flock.

HILARY; Or, shall set him over all His goods, that is, shall place him in the glory of God because beyond this is nothing better.

CHRYS. And He instructs His hearer not only by the honor which awaits the good, but by the punishment which threatens the wicked adding, If that evil servant shall say in his heart, &c.

AUG. The temper of this servant is shown in his behavior, which is thus expressed by his good Master; his tyranny, and shall begin to beat his fellow servants, his sensuality, and to eat and drink with the drunken. So that when he said, My Lord delays His coming, he is not to be sup supposed to speak from desire to see the Lord, such was that of him who said, My soul is thirsty for the living God; when shall I come? This shows that he was grieved at the delay, seeing that what was hastening towards him seemed to his longing desires to be coming slowly.

ORIGEN; And every Bishop who ministers not as a fellow servant, but rules by might as a master, and often a harsh one, sins against God; also if he does not cherish the needy, but feasts with the drunken, and is continually slumbering because his Lord comes not till a after long time

RABAN. Typically, we may understand his beating his fellow servants, of offending the consciences of the weak by word, or by evil example.

JEROME; The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for Him, is to rouse the stewards to watchfulness and carefulness.

He shall cut him in sunder, is not to be understood of execution by the sword, but that he shall sever him from the company of the saints.

ORIGEN; Or, He shall cut him in sunder, when his spirit, that is, his spiritual gift, shall return to God who gave it; but his soul shall go with his body into hell. But the righteous man is not cut in sunder, but his soul, with his spirit, that is, with his gift, spiritual gift which was from God, but there remains to them that part which was their own, that is, their soul, which shall be punished with their body.

JEROME; And shall appoint him in the portion and the hypocrites, with those, namely, that were in the field, and grinding at the mill, and were nevertheless left. For as we often say that the hypocrite is one who is one thing, and asses himself for another; so in the field and at the mill he seemed to be doing the same as others, but the event proved that his purpose was different.

RABAN. Or, appoints him his portion with the hypocrites, that is, a twofold share of punishment, that of fire and frost; to the fire belongs the weeping, to the frost the gnashing of teeth.

ORIGEN; Or, there shall be weeping for such as have laughed amiss in this world, gnashing of teeth for those who have enjoyed an irrational peace. For being unwilling to suffer bodily pain, now the torture forces their teeth to chatter, with which they have eaten the bitterness of wickedness. From this we may learn that the Lord sets over His household not the faithful and wise only, but the wicked also; and that it will not save them to have been set over His household, but only if they have given them their food in due season, and have abstained from beating and drunkenness.

AUG. Putting aside this wicked servant, who, there is no doubt, hates his Master's coming, let us set before our eyes these good servants, who anxiously expect their Lord's coming. One looks for His coming sooner, another later, the third confesses his ignorance of the matter. Let us see which is most agreeable to the Gospel. One says, Let us watch and pray, because the Lord will quickly come; another, Let us watch and pray, because this life is short and uncertain, though the Lord's coming may be distant; and the third, Let us watch, because this life is short and uncertain, and we know not the time when the Lord will come.

What else does this man say than what we hear the Gospel say, Watch, because you know not the hour in which the Lord shall come? All indeed, through longing for the kingdom, desire that that should be true which the first thinks, and if it should so come to pass, the second and third would rejoice with him; but if it should not come to pass, it were to be feared that the belief of it supporters might be shaken by the delay, and they might begin to think that the Lord's coming shall be, not remote, but never. He who believes with the second that the Lord's coming is distant will not be shaken in faith, but will receive an unlooked for joy. He who confesses his ignorance which of these is true, wishes for the one, is resigned to the other, but errs in neither, because he neither affirms or denies either.

Catena Aurea Matthew 24

[annalex]

Last Judgement Triptych (central panel)

Hieronymus Bosch

1504-08
Mixed technique on panel, 163 x 128 cm
Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna

[Salvation]

CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Thursday, August 28

Liturgical Color: Green

Today the Church recalls St. Augustine,
bishop and Doctor of the Church.
Augustine led a wild early life and then
converted to become one of the Church’s
greatest writers and philosophers. He
died in 430 A.D.

[Salvation]

Day 259 - What is regulated by the 7th Commandment: You shall not steal? // Why is there no absolute right to private property?

What is regulated by the Seventh Commandment: "You shall not steal" (Ex 20:15)?

The Seventh Commandment not only forbids taking something away from another person, it also requires the just management and distribution of the earth's goods; it regulates the question of private property and the distribution of the proceeds from human work. The unjust distribution of raw materials is also indicted in this commandment. In the first place, the Seventh Commandment actually forbids only taking someone else's property unlawfully. However, it also addresses the human endeavor to make just social arrangements in the world and to plan for its beneficial development. The Seventh Commandment says that we are obliged in faith to advocate the protection of the environment as part of creation and to conserve the earth's natural resources.

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Why is there no absolute right to private property?

There is no absolute but only a relative right to private property because God created the earth and its goods for all mankind. Before parts of created reality can "belong" to individuals, because they have been obtained legally, inherited, or received as gifts, these owners must know that there is no property without social obligation. At the same time, the Church contradicts those who conclude from the social obligation associated with property that there should be no private property and that everything should belong to everybody, or to the State. The private owner who manages, tends, and increases a plot of land in keeping with the Creator's plan and divides the proceeds in such a way that each person gets what is his due is by all means acting according to the divine commission for creation. (YOUCAT questions 426-427)

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Dig Deeper: CCC section (2401-2406) and other references here.

[Salvation]

Part 3: Life in Christ (1691 - 2557)

Section 2: The Ten Commandments (2052 - 2557)

Chapter 2: You Shall Love Your Neighbor as Yourself (2196 - 2557)

Article 7: The Seventh Commandment (2401 - 2463)

Jesus said to his disciples: "Love one another even as I have loved you."¹ ⇡

You shall not steal.¹⁸⁶ ⇡

1807
952
(all)

2401

The seventh commandment forbids unjustly taking or keeping the goods of one's neighbor and wronging him in any way with respect to his goods. It commands justice and charity in the care of earthly goods and the fruits of men's labor. For the sake of the common good, it requires respect for the universal destination of goods and respect for the right to private property. Christian life strives to order this world's goods to God and to fraternal charity.

1.

Jn 13:34.

186.

Ex 20:15; Deut 5:19; Mt 19:18.

I. THE UNIVERSAL DESTINATION AND THE PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF GOODS ⇡

1939
226
(all)

2402

In the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their fruits.¹⁸⁷ The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race. However, the earth is divided up among men to assure the security of their lives, endangered by poverty and threatened by violence. The appropriation of property is legitimate for guaranteeing the freedom and dignity of persons and for helping each of them to meet his basic needs and the needs of those in his charge. It should allow for a natural solidarity to develop between men.

187.

Cf. Gen 1:26-29.

2403

The right to private property, acquired or received in a just way, does not do away with the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind. The universal destination of goods remains primordial, even if the promotion of the common good requires respect for the right to private property and its exercise.

307
(all)

2404

"In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself."¹⁸⁸ The ownership of any property makes its holder a steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its benefits to others, first of all his family.

188.

GS 69 § 1.

2405

Goods of production — material or immaterial — such as land, factories, practical or artistic skills, oblige their possessors to employ them in ways that will benefit the greatest number. Those who hold goods for use and consumption should use them with moderation, reserving the better part for guests, for the sick and the poor.

1903
(all)

2406

Political authority has the right and duty to regulate the legitimate exercise of the right to ownership for the sake of the common good.¹⁸⁹

189.

Cf. GS 71 § 4; SRS 42; CA 40; 48.

[Salvation]

Catholic Culture

 

Daily Readings for:August 28, 2014
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Renew in your Church, we pray, O Lord, that spirit with which you endowed your Bishop Saint Augustine that, filled with the same spirit, we may thirst for you, the sole fount of true wisdom, and seek you, the author of heavenly love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o    Lion Cake

ACTIVITIES

o    Religion in the Home for Elementary School: August

o    Religion in the Home for Preschool: August

PRAYERS

o    The Immaculate Heart

o    Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit

o    Litany of Saint Augustine

LIBRARY

o    Saint Augustine of Hippo (1) | Pope Benedict XVI

o    Augustine of Hippo (Augustinum Hipponensem) | Pope John Paul II

o    Saint Augustine of Hippo (2) | Pope Benedict XVI

o    Saint Augustine of Hippo (3) | Pope Benedict XVI

o    Saint Augustine of Hippo (4) | Pope Benedict XVI

o    Saint Augustine of Hippo (5) | Pope Benedict XVI

·         Ordinary Time: August 28th

·         Memorial of St. Augustine, bishop, confessor and doctor

Old Calendar: St. Augustine; St. Hermes, martyr

St. Augustine (354-430) was born at Tagaste, Africa, and died in Hippo. His father, Patricius, was a pagan; his mother, Monica, a devout Christian. He received a good Christian education. As a law student in Carthage, however, he gave himself to all kinds of excesses and finally joined the Manichean sect. He then taught rhetoric at Milan where he was converted by St. Ambrose. Returning to Tagaste, he distributed his goods to the poor, and was ordained a priest. He was made bishop of Hippo at the age of 41 and became a great luminary of the African Church, one of the four great founders of religious orders, and a Doctor of the universal Church.

According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is also the feast of St. Hermes, a martyr of Rome, probably in Diocletian's persecution. He was buried in a cemetery on the Salarian Way. He is mentioned in the Depositio Martyrum of the year 354.

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St. Augustine of Hippo
Augustine Aurelius was born on November 13, 354, in Tagaste, North Africa. His father was a pagan, his mother, St. Monica. Still unbaptized and burning for knowledge, he came under the influence of the Manicheans, which caused his mother intense sorrow. He left Africa for Rome, deceiving his mother, who was ever anxious to be near him. She prayed and wept. A bishop consoled her by observing that a son of so many tears would never be lost. Yet the evil spirit drove him constantly deeper into moral degeneracy, capitalizing on his leaning toward pride and stubbornness. Grace was playing a waiting game; there still was time, and the greater the depths into which the evil spirit plunged its fledgling, the stronger would be the reaction.

Augustine recognized this vacuum; he saw how the human heart is created with a great abyss; the earthly satisfactions that can be thrown into it are no more than a handful of stones that hardly cover the bottom. And in that moment grace was able to break through: Restless is the heart until it rests in God. The tears of his mother, the sanctity of Milan's Bishop Ambrose, the book of St. Anthony the hermit, and the sacred Scriptures wrought his conversion, which was sealed by baptism on Easter night 387. Augustine's mother went to Milan with joy and witnessed her son's baptism. It was what it should have been, the greatest event of his life, his conversion — metanoia. Grace had conquered. Augustine accompanied his mother to Ostia, where she died. She was eager to die, for now she had given birth to her son for the second time.

In 388 he returned to Tagaste, where he lived a common life with his friends. In 391 he was ordained priest at Hippo, in 394 made coadjutor to bishop Valerius, and then from 396 to 430 bishop of Hippo.

Augustine, numbered among the four great Doctors of the Western Church, possessed one of the most penetrating minds of ancient Christendom. He was the most important Platonist of patristic times, the Church's most influential theologian, especially with regard to clarifying the dogmas of the Trinity, grace, and the Church. He was a great speaker, a prolific writer, a saint with an inexhaustible spirituality. His Confessions, a book appreciated in every age, describes a notable portion of his life (until 400), his errors, his battles, his profound religious observations. Famous too is his work The City of God, a worthy memorial to his genius, a philosophy of history. Most edifying are his homilies, especially those on the psalms and on the Gospel of St. John.

Augustine's episcopal life was filled with mighty battles against heretics, over all of whom he triumphed. His most illustrious victory was that over Pelagius, who denied the necessity of grace; from this encounter he earned the surname "Doctor of grace." As an emblem Christian art accords him a burning heart to symbolize the ardent love of God which permeates all his writings. He is the founder of canonical life in common; therefore Augustinian monks and the Hermits of St. Augustine honor him as their spiritual father.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Brewers; diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut; Cagayan de Oro, Philippines; diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan; printers; city of Saint Augustine, Florida; diocese of Saint Augustine, Florida; sore eyes; diocese of Superior, Wisconsin; theologians; diocese of Tucson, Arizona.

Symbols: flaming heart pierced by two arrows; eagle; child with shell and spoon; word Veritas with rays of light from Heaven; chalice; dove; pen and book; scroll; scourge; model of a church; Bible opened to Romans XIII; child; shell.

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St. Hermes
St. Hermes was prefect of Rome. Along with Pope Alexander I, he was put to death about the year 116. A cemetery on the Salerian Way bears his name. The Roman Martyrology reads: "At Rome the birthday of St. Hermes, a man of rank, who (as the Acts of the martyr-pope St. Alexander I narrate) was first cast into prison and then beheaded along with many others. He gained the martyr's crown under the judge Aurelian." His body rests in the Church of St. Mark, Rome.

[Salvation]

Doctors of the Catholic Church

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Also known as

• Aurelius Augustinus
• Doctor of Grace

Memorial

• 28 August
• 5 May (his conversion)

Profile

Son of a pagan father who converted on his death bed, and of Saint Monica, a devout Christian. Raised a Christian, he lost his faith in youth and led a wild life. Lived with a Carthaginian woman from the age of 15 through 30. Fathered a son whom he named Adeotadus, which means the gift of God. Taught rhetoric at Carthage and Milan, Italy. After investigating and experimenting with several philosophies, he became a Manichaean for several years; it taught of a great struggle between good and evil, and featured a lax moral code. A summation of his thinking at the time comes from his Confessions: “God, give me chastity and continence – but not just now.”

Augustine finally broke with the Manichaeans and was converted by the prayers of his mother and the help of Saint Ambrose of Milan, who baptized him. On the death of his mother he returned to Africa, sold his property, gave the proceeds to the poor, and founded a monastery. Monk. Priest. Preacher. Bishop of Hippo in 396. Founded religious communities. Fought Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism and other heresies. Oversaw his church and his see during the fall of the Roman Empire to the Vandals. Doctor of the Church. His later thinking can also be summed up in a line from his writings: Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.

Born

• 13 November 354 at Tagaste, Numidia, North Africa (Souk-Ahras, Algeria) as Aurelius Augustinus

Died

• 28 August 430 at Hippo, North Africa

Canonized

• Pre-Congregation

Patronage

• against sore eyes
• against vermin
• brewers
• printers
• theologians
• —
• Bridgeport, Connecticut, diocese of
• Ida, Philippines, diocese of
• Kalamazoo, Michigan, diocese of
• Laredo, Texas, diocese of
• Saint Augustine, Florida, diocese of
• Superior, Wisconsin, diocese of
• Tucson, Arizona, diocese of
•  
• Cagayan de Oro, Philippines
• Carpineto Romano, Italy
• Isleta Indian Pueblo
• Ponte Nizza, Italy
• Saint Augustine, Florida
• San Austin, Ibiza, Spain
• Valletta, Malta

Representation

• child
• dove
• eagle
• pen
• shell
• flaming heart, an allusion to a passage in his Confessions

Images

• Gallery of images of Saint Augustine

Prayers by Saint Augustine

• Act of Hope
• Act of Petition
• Breathe in Me, Holy Spirit
• Lord Jesus, Let Me Know Myself
• Prayer for the Indwelling of the Spirit
• Prayer for the Sick
• Prayer of Joy at the Birth of Jesus
• Prayer of Trust in God’s Heavenly Promise
• Prayer on Finding God after a Long Search
• Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Mercy
• Prayer to Seek God Continually
• Watch, O Lord

Additional Information

• Ad Salutem, by Pope Pius XI
• Augustinum Hipponensem, by Pope John Paul II
• Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
• Catholic Encyclopedia
• Golden Legend
• Handbook on Faith, Hope and Love, by Saint Augustine
• In God’s Garden, by Amy Steedman
• Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
• New Catholic Dictionary
• Roman Martyrology, 1914 edition
• books
  • Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
• other sites in english
  • 1001 Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, Australian Catholic Truth Society
  • Augnet
  • Catholic Ireland
  • Catholic News Agency
  • Christian Classics Ethereal Library
  • Christian Iconography
  • CRadio
  • Documenta Catholica Omnia
  • Early Church
  • Encyclopedia Brittanica
  • Father Edmund Hill
  • Finding Augustine
  • Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Augustine
  • Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Political and Social Philosophy
  • James J O’Donnell
  • Jimmy Akin
  • Nigerian Observer News
  • Orthodox Christian Information Center
  • Passionist Nuns
  • Renew America: Augustine and the Theocratic Worldview
  • Saints Alive, by Father Robert McNamara
  • Sant Agostino
  • Thinking Faith
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • uCatholic
  • Vatican Lenten Reflection, 2014
  • Villanova University
  • Wikipedia
  • Wikiversity: Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge
• e-books
  • Augustine the Man, by Amelie Rives
  • Augustine the Thinker, by George W Osmun
  • Concept of the Human Soul According to Saint Augustine, by Father William P O’Connor
  • Confessions
  • Conversion of Augustine, by Blessed John Henry Newman
  • Enchridion
  • Explanation of the Rule of Saint Augustine, by Canon Hugh of Saint Victor
  • Leaves from Saint Augustine
  • Letters of Saint Augustine, by W J Sparrow-Simpson
  • Life and Labors of Saint Augustine, Dr Philip Schaff
  • Life of Saint Augustine, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church, by P E Moriarty
  • Political Aspects of Saint Augustine’s ‘City of God’, by John Neville Figgis
  • Political Ideas of Saint Augustine’s De Civitate Dei, by Norman H Baynes
  • Saint Augustin, by Louis Bertrand
  • Saint Augustine, by A D Hatzfeld
  • Saint Augustine, A Biographical Memoir, by Rev John Baillie
  • Saint Augustine, A Poem in Eight Books, by Henry Warwick Cole
  • Saint Augustine, Aspects of His Life and Thought, by W Montgomery
  • Saint Augustine and African Church Divisions, by W J Sparrow-Simpson
  • Saint Augustine and His Age, by Joseph McCabe
  • Saint Augustine the Preacher, by John M Ashley
  • Saint Austin and His Place in the History of Christian Thought, by William Cunningham
  • Sermon on the Mount Expounded; Harmony of the Evangelists
  • Seventeen Short Treatises
  • Sources of the First Ten Books of Augustine’s De Civitate Dei, by S Angus
  • Studies in Saint Augustine, by Father Augustine F Hewit
  • Studies in the Confessions of Saint Augustine, by R L Ottley
  • Study of Augustine’s Conception of the Natural Order, by T A Lacey
  • Study of Augustine’s Definition of the Commonwealth, by Hans Daniel Friberg
  • Study of Augustine’s Versions of Genesis
  • Teaching and Influence of Saint Augustine, by James Field Spalding
  • The Augustinians from Saint Augustine to the Union, 1256, by Father E A Foran
  • Thirteen Homilies of Saint Augustine on Saint John XIV
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 1 – City of God, part 1
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 2 – City of God, part 2
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 3 – On the Donatist Controversy
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 4
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 5
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 6 – Letters, part 1
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 7 – On the Trinity
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 8
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 9
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 10 – On the Gospel of John, part 1
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 11 – On the Gospel of John, part 2
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 12
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 13 – Letters, part 2
  • Works of Aurelius Augustine, volume 15
• audio
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  • Works
  • Novena day #1
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  • Novena day #3
  • Novena day #4
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  • Novena day #6
  • Novena day #7
  • Novena day #8
  • Novena day #9
• sites en français
  • <Fête des prénoms
• siti in italiano
  • Documenta Catholica Omnia
  • L’Enciclopedia Italiana
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• notitia in latin
  • Documenta Catholica Omnia

Readings

God has no need of your money, but the poor have. You give it to the poor, and God receives it. - Saint Augustine

The honors of this world, what are they but puff, and emptiness and peril of falling? - Saint Augustine

Daily advance, then, in this love, both by praying and by well doing, that through the help of Him who enjoined it on you, and whose gift it is, it may be nourished and increased, until, being perfected, it render you perfect. - Saint Augustine

What do you possess if you possess not God? - Saint Augustine

Unhappy is the soul enslaved by the love of anything that is mortal. - Saint Augustine

The love of worldly possessions is a sort of bird line, which entangles the soul, and prevents it flying to God. - Saint Augustine

This very moment I may, if I desire, become the friend of God. - Saint Augustine

God bestows more consideration on the purity of the intention with which our actions are performed than on the actions themselves. - Saint Augustine

I will suggest a means whereby you can praise God all day long, if you wish. Whatever you do, do it well, and you have praised God. - Saint Augustine

This is the business of our life. By labor and prayer to advance in the grace of God, till we come to that height of perfection in which, with clean hearts, we may behold God. - Saint Augustine

God in his omnipotence could not give more, in His wisdom He knew not how to give more, in His riches He had not more to give, than the Eucharist. - Saint Augustine

God does not command impossibilities, but by commanding admonishes you do what you can and to pray for what you cannot, and aids you that you may be able. - Saint Augustine

Our life and our death are with our neighbor. - Saint Augustine

Conquer yourself and the world lies at your feet. - Saint Augustine

O eternal truth, true love and beloved eternity. You are my God. To you do I sigh day and night. When I first came to know you, you drew me to yourself so that I might see that there were things for me to see, but that I myself was not yet ready to see them. Meanwhile you overcame the weakness of my vision, sending forth most strongly the beams of your light, and I trembled at once with love and dread. I sought a way to gain the strength which I needed to enjoy you. But I did not find it until I embraced “the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who is above all, God blessed for ever.” He was calling me and saying: “I am the way of truth, I am the life.” Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed you fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. - from the Confessions of Saint Augustine

Neither are the souls of the pious dead separated from the Church which even now is the kingdom of Christ. Otherwise there would be no remembrance of them at the altar of God in the communication of the Body of Christ. - from The City of God by Saint Augustine

A Christian people celebrates together in religious solemnity the memorials of the martyrs, both to encourage their being imitated and so that it can share in their merits and be aided by their prayers.” - from Against Faustus the Manichean, by Saint Augustine

There is an ecclesiastical discipline, as the faithful know, when the names of the martyrs are read aloud in that place at the altar of God, where prayer is not offered for them. Prayer, however, is offered for the dead who are remembered. For it is wrong to pray for a martyr, to whose prayers we ought ourselves be commended. - from Sermons by Saint Augustine

At the Lord’s table we do not commemorate martyrs in the same way that we do others who rest in peace so as to pray for them, but rather that they may pray for us that we may follow in their footsteps. - from Homilies on John by Saint Augustine

Since we cannot, as yet, understand that He was begotten by the Father before the day-star, let us celebrate His birth of the Virgin in the nocturnal hours. Since we do not comprehend how His name existed before the light of the sun, let us recognize His tabernacle placed in the sun. Since we do not, as yet, gaze upon the Son inseparably united with His Father, let us remember Him as the ‘bridegroom coming out of his bride chamber.’ Since we are not yet ready for the banquet of our Father, let us grow familiar with the manger of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Saint Augustine

He prays for us as our priest, prays in us as our Head, and is prayed to by us as our God. Therefore let us acknowledge our voice in him and his in us. - Saint Augustine

Question the beauty of the earth, the sea, the air distending and diffusing itself, the sky, question all these realities. All respond: ‘See, we are beautiful.’ These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change? - Saint Augustine

One and the same Word of God extends throughout the Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since He who was in the beginning God with God has no need for separate syllables; for he is not subject to time. - Saint Augustine

Jesus Christ will be Lord of all, or he will not be Lord at all. - Saint Augustine

If physical things please you, then praise God for them, but turn back your love to Him who created them, lest in the things that please you, you displease Him. If souls please you, love them in God; for in themselves they are changeable, but in Him they are firmly established. Without Him they pass away and perish. In Him, then, let them be loved, and carry along with you to Him as many souls as you can, and say to them, “Let us love Him, let us love Him; He made the world and is not far from it. He did not make all things and then leave them, but they are of Him and in Him. See, there He is wherever truth is loved. He is within the very heart, yet the heart has strayed from Him. Return to your heart, O you transgressors, and hold fast to Him who made you. Stand with Him and you will stand fast. Rest in Him and you shall be at rest.” - Saint Augustine, from The Confessions

Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation. - Saint Augustine

O Sacrament of Love! O sign of Unity! O bond of Charity! He who would have Life finds here indeed a Life to live in and a Life to live by. - Saint Augustine

If you see that you have not yet suffered tribulations, consider it certain that you have not begun to be a true servant of God; for Saint Paul says plainly that all who chose to live piously in Christ, shall suffer persecutions - Saint Augustine

I speak to you who have just been reborn in baptism, my little children in Christ, you who are the new offspring of the Church, gift of the Father, proof of Mother Church’s fruitfulness. All of you who stand fast in the Lord are a holy seed, a new colony of bees, the very flower of our ministry and fruit of our toil, my joy and my crown. It is the words of the Apostle that I address to you: Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh and its desires, so that you may be clothed with the life of him whom you have put on in this sacrament. You have all been clothed with Christ by your baptism in him. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor freeman; there is neither male nor female; you are all one in Christ Jesus. Such is the power of this sacrament: it is a sacrament of new life which begins here and now with the forgiveness of all past sins, and will be brought to completion in the resurrection of the dead. You have been buried with Christ by baptism into death in order that, as Christ has risen from the dead, you also may walk in newness of life. You are walking now by faith, still on pilgrimage in a mortal body away from the Lord; but he to whom your steps are directed is himself the sure and certain way for you: Jesus Christ, who for our sake became man. For all who fear him he has stored up abundant happiness, which he will reveal to those who hope in him, bringing it to completion when we have attained the reality which even now we possess in hope. This is the octave day of your new birth. Today is fulfilled in you the sign of faith that was prefigured in the Old Testament by the circumcision of the flesh on the eighth day after birth. When the Lord rose from the dead, he put off the mortality of the flesh; his risen body was still the same body, but it was no longer subject to death. By his resurrection he consecrated Sunday, or the Lord’s day. Though the third after his passion, this day is the eighth after the Sabbath, and thus also the first day of the week. And so your own hope of resurrection, though not yet realized, is sure and certain, because you have received the sacrament or sign of this reality, and have been given the pledge of the Spirit. If, then, you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your hearts on heavenly things, not the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. - from a sermon by Saint Augustine

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Meditation: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

You are not lacking in any spiritual gift. (1 Corinthians 1:7)

Scientists tell us that DNA is the master plan behind every living organism—including ourselves. This one tiny molecule holds all the data that determines a person’s gender, eye color, height, susceptibility to various diseases, and, according to some researchers, parts of the individual’s personality. In a number of ways, DNA is what makes us—us. It’s all there ready to burst out. We have no control over it, but in God’s perfect plan, it comes out at just the right moment.

Did you know that you also have a spiritual DNA? Scripture tells us that God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens … before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:3, 4). That’s you! You have every heavenly grace you will ever need. It’s all there, inside of you, ready to burst out at just the right moment. Grace to say no to temptation? It’s already there. Grace to share your faith? That too! What about the grace to love someone who gets on your nerves? Yes, even that!

What’s more, you have the Holy Spirit at work in your heart, cultivating it so that all these spiritual gifts can have the greatest effect possible.

So why don’t we always see this grace active in us? It could be because we’re too busy. It could be because we’re not used to looking for grace. But another key reason may be that we are used to focusing on our failings and weaknesses more than on the grace that is in us. But even when we lose sight of our great potential, God doesn’t! Like any good architect, he knows exactly how he built us, and he longs to see us use every tool he has given us.

Today, make it a point to repeat this statement over and over: “I am loved by God. He has a perfect plan for my life. He has equipped me for every challenge I may face. I am fearfully, wonderfully made!” Never forget that God sees your potential. Never forget that his Son gave up his life so that you can become the you he created you to be!

“Thank you, Father, for all the grace and blessings you have given me. Teach me how to open these mighty gifts and use them for your glory.”

Psalm 145:2-7; Matthew 24:42-51

[Salvation]

A Christian Pilgrim

[Salvation]

Marriage=One Man and One Woman 'Til Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for August 28, 2014:

Technology and media are useful for connecting and inspiration but they can also rob you of precious couple time. A few seconds can easily morph into an hour. Evaluate your media use, individually and as a couple.

[Salvation]

Insight Scoop

The Scriptural Roots of St. Augustine's Spirituality

The Scriptural Roots of St. Augustine's Spirituality | Stephen N. Filippo | IgnatiusInsight.com

Perhaps of all the Church Fathers, none shone so brightly as St. Augustine (351-430). Augustine's spirituality has deeply pervaded the Church right up to this very day. Two great Orders in the Church (just to cite a few), the Benedictines and the Franciscans took their spirituality directly from St. Augustine. St. Augustine's spirituality came into the Benedictine Order primarily through St. Anselm (1033-1109) and into the Franciscans primarily through St. Bonaventure (1221-1274). Both these men were in themselves, also great lights in the Church.

Of course, no discussion of Church giants can be complete without mentioning St. Thomas Aquinas, who is best described as 'following St. Augustine in Theology and Aristotle in Philosophy.' In sum, the Church gets her Dogmatic Theology primarily through St. Augustine. Since Spiritual Theology is based upon the correct Dogmatic Theology, it only makes sense that one of the Church's greatest Theologians, St. Augustine, is also responsible for a great deal of her Spiritual Theology.

And for St. Augustine, as it should be for all Catholics, this means a deep concentration and constant reflection on Sacred Scripture. The scriptural roots of St. Augustine's spirituality can be clearly seen by examining one of his greatest, yet lesser known works, De doctrina Christiana, literally "On Christian Doctrine," but actually "On how to read and interpret Sacred Scripture."

In De doctrina Christiana (henceforth "DDC"), St. Augustine lays the groundwork for a good, spiritual exegesis by elucidating on the virtue of charity, and all that means. Then, in order to begin the climb to spiritual perfection, he explains a scripturally based seven-step ladder. Lastly, he gives seven rules that are helpful in reading and understanding Sacred Scripture correctly.

Charity Towards God, Neighbor And Self

St. Augustine teaches that there are four possible objects of human love: 1. The things above us, 2. Ourselves, 3. Things equal to us, and 4. Things below us. Since all men by nature love themselves, there was no need to give the human race precepts about self-love. And, since it is obvious to most men that they should not love that which is below them, namely lesser objects, but merely use them, fewer precepts are given in the Bible concerning these. But about the love of things above us, namely God and His Angels, and things equal to us, namely other men, Sacred Scripture has everything to say. Our Lord Himself tells us the two greatest commandments are: "You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Upon these the whole law and the prophets depend" (Mt. 22: 37-40).

Then, Augustine makes the distinction between enjoyment and use: "Some things are to be enjoyed, others to be used, and there are others which are to be used and enjoyed. Those things which are to be enjoyed make us blessed. Those things which are to be used help and, as it were, sustain us as we move toward blessedness in order that we may gain and cling to those things which make us blessed . . . To enjoy something is to cling to it with love, for its own sake. To use something, however, is to employ it in obtaining that which you love, provided it is worthy of love." (DDC I, iii, 3. iv, 4.) And, for St. Augustine, as it should be for us, the only thing worthy of his love, the only "thing" to be "enjoyed for its own sake" is the Holy, Blessed Trinity, the One True God.

Concerning love of our neighbors, St. Augustine reminds us that "all other men are to be loved equally; but since you cannot be of assistance to everyone, those are especially to be cared for who are most closely bound to you by place, time or opportunity, as if by chance. Just as if you had an abundance of something special that you could only give enough of to one other person, yet two came asking, neither of whom deserved it more or less. You could do no more than choose by lot. Thus, among all men, not all of whom you can care for, you must consider those in your life as if chosen by lot, who, in reality, are chosen by God." (DDC I, xxviii, 29). Therefore, the second great pre-requisite of St. Augustine's for interpreting Sacred Scripture is charity to every person in your life.

Continue reading "The Scriptural Roots of St. Augustine's Spirituality"

[Salvation]

Regnum Christi

No Sleeping on the Job

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

August 28, 2014. Memorial of Saint Augustine, bishop and doctor of the Church

Matthew 24:42-51

Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ´My master is long delayed,´ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant´s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I come to you again in prayer. Even though I cannot see you, I know through faith that you are present in my life. I hope in your promise to be with me. I love you, and I know you love me. Accept this prayer as a token of my love.

Petition: Lord, help me to remain alert, keeping the goal of heaven always in mind.

1. Days and Hours: None of us knows how long we have to live, nor did Jesus reveal how long human history would continue before he came again for the Final Judgment. This should make us realize we need to be always ready to meet Our Lord, to have our actions true, and our conscience always clear. We need to be living as if each day were our last, as if our eternal happiness depended on the choices and actions of this very day. Every moment is precious and important in God’s eyes, and the one necessary thing is working to attain our salvation. This is more important than anything else we can accomplish in life.

2. True Prudence: The servant who is constant and steady, who does what he is supposed to do at each moment, is the truly prudent person. God wants us to be faithful and follow his will every single day. This is the path to holiness and union with God; there is no other way we can be close to God except by doing his will, out of love and gratitude. How do my actions today reflect loving obedience to God’s will? Am I putting God at the center of my life, or do I have him and his will relegated to the margins, paying attention to what he wants of me only from time to time?

3. A Long Delay: Often it can seem that God is distant and not involved in our lives. It can seem that he is not coming back anytime soon, and this can lead us to become distracted with many other things. Every day we need to renew our spirit of faith in God and in his constant presence, living each day to please him, no matter how long the delay seems to be. We need to live in his presence through faith in him and his revelation, which guides us along the pathway to eternal life. We need to keep a lively, operative faith in God and in his presence every day.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, teach me to pray with real faith in you and in your word which gives life. Help me believe at every moment so that I can please you, do your will and grow in holiness.

Resolution: I will renew my faith each day, frequently making conscious and fervent acts of faith.

[Salvation]

Homily of the Day

August 28, 2014

We hear this gospel every year but we take God’s message for granted. While we are young, we want to enjoy what the secular world offers. We always rationalize that we will turn to God when the right time comes, and usually our notion of the right time is when we are already old. But the Gospel says the Son of Man will come at the hour we least expect. So we must always be ready for anything to happen at any time. We do not know what the future holds but what we can do is to be prepared. We should be good and do good always according to God’s will, so that we will always be ready for any eventuality that calls for our faith response no matter what happens.

In the past two years, four of our closest friends succumbed to cancer. Three of them suffered for almost two years and the most recent one suffered for only three months. They were not in their old age, but they admirably faced their sickness with acceptance. In spite of their sufferings, they were cheerful and grateful for their life. In the midst of their pains, they did not dwell on self-pity, but offered them for others. We look up to them for their courage and their faith.

God promised us eternal life in heaven. Knowing that our earthly lives are temporary, we should be excited to be with God in heaven. This is not easy for us if we are attached to the world, but not if we put Jesus Christ in the center of our life. He will call us and say, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Español

All Issues > Volume 30, Issue 5

<< Thursday, August 28, 2014 >>

St. Augustine

1 Corinthians 1:1-9
View Readings

Psalm 145:2-7

Matthew 24:42-51
Similar Reflections

COMING SOON

"He will strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus." —1 Corinthians 1:8

We know that Jesus is coming a second and final time, but we don't know when. "You cannot know the day your Lord is coming" (Mt 24:42). This motivates us to "stay awake" and be prepared. "Happy that servant whom his master discovers at work on his return!" (Mt 24:46) We try not to fight with our fellow servants (Mt 24:49). The awareness of Jesus' final coming helps us see things in the right perspective. Time and eternity are too precious for us to be entangled with petty disagreements and selfish jealousies. Also, we refrain from getting involved with the foolish pleasures of the world. In the light of Jesus' Second Coming, material things lose much of their value. Jesus' final coming is not only concerned with life after death but also transforms our lives before death.

His Second Coming is and will be such a wonderful part of God's plan of salvation. We rejoice in the final day the Lord has made and try to hasten it by our repentance, intercession, and evangelization (2 Pt 3:12). With the believers of all time, we cry out: "Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!" (see 1 Cor 16:22) He answers: "Soon and very soon" (see Rv 1:1).

Prayer: Lord, I want to be ready. I give my life to You. Do with me as You want.

Promise: "I continually thank my God for you because of the favor He has bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, in Whom you have been richly endowed with every gift of speech and knowledge." —1 Cor 1:4-5

Praise: After much struggle, St. Augustine was awakened to the truth of Christianity and prepared for Jesus' coming to him through the sacrament of Baptism.

[Salvation]

Prayer for the Helpless Unborn

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life.

Touch with pity the hearts of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood.

Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image - as well as theirs - made for eternal life.

Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed care that a mother can give.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen