+ When one combines one of the greatest minds that ever lived with the lifestyle of one of the greatest sinners that ever lived into the same person you come up with St. Augustine of Hippo. Sometimes it takes the smart ones longer to "get" the faith – if they even allow themselves to "get it" at all! This famous son of St. Monica (whose feast we celebrated yesterday) was born in North Africa in the early fourth century. While his mother and siblings lived pious and holy lives, Augustine on the other hand was the black sheep, taking after his father: his young life was full of loose living, which included wild parties, drunken orgies, entertainment and worldly ambitions. He even fathered a child with a concubine. Though brought up a Christian, his sins of impurity and his pride darkened his mind so much, that he could not see or understand the Divine Truth anymore. It was through the prayers of his holy mother and the marvelous preaching of St. Ambrose, that Augustine finally became convinced that Christianity was the one true religion. His moment of conversion came when he was crying out to God for mercy over his past sinfulness and he heard a child singing the words: Take up and read! Thinking God intended him to hear those words, he picked up the book of the Letters of St. Paul, and read the first passage his gaze fell on. He read the part where St. Paul says to put away all impurity and to live in imitation of Jesus. That did it! From then on, Augustine began a new life.
He was baptized, by St. Ambrose whom he admired greatly, became a priest, a bishop and a forceful Catholic writer, especially in areas of the moral and spiritual life, a founder of religious priests, and one of the greatest saints that ever lived. He became very devout and charitable, as well. "Too late have I loved You!" he once cried to God; but with his holy life, he certainly made up for the sins he committed before his conversion. He is considered one of the first four Western Doctors and Fathers of the Church.
The greatest lesson that St. Augustine ever learned was, as St. John tells us in the first reading today, GOD IS LOVE – and that we know this, and experience this in his acts of mercy towards us, and our acts of self-sacrificial loving service (mercy) to one another. If we help someone out and do not feel the presence of God in the process then we have not done it as it could have been done! "Joy in giving and helping" is not just a slogan: it is the reality of God's presence!
And once we have learned our lesson and we wish to convey it to others, the gospel passage tells us that, like St. Augustine, we must do it in a humble, non-prideful sort of way: we are just passing along to others what was freely gifted and given to us by God. We are not the teacher or the master: there is only one of those and it is God!
St. Augustine pray for us who have constant need of conversion about stubborn aspects of ourselves to some degree. Let us be ready for the moment that a child sings to us: Take up and read! and then let us take up the words of life that only Jesus can speak to our hearts and let us live a full, happy and productive day of service to others!
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