Aug 28 - St. Augustine of Hippo

­+ St. Augustine of Hippo was born in Tagaste (modern Algeria, Northern Africa) in 354, of a pagan father named Patricius, who converted on his deathbed, thanks to the prayers of his literally sainted wife, Monica, who was the mother of three sons: one of whom was Augustine.

Yesterday, we had an historical peek behind the sanctoral curtain and saw that Monica was as human as the rest of us, and even had the honor of being the first alcoholic saint in church history – but she became before she died – a recovering alcoholic – and mostly by her life of deep prayer and meditation and thinking and praying for her son and her husband, she left the wine behind!

Now history also tells us that Augustine, was “no saint” either in his early adult years. He led a very wild life indeed and played with many things including philosophies and even heresies (Manichaen), before his final Conversion to the faith and baptism by St. Ambrose of Milan.

Augustine was a very sexually active young man, and even after his conversion always was tempted until he died with an unceasing appetite for sin in this regard. This though maybe surprising, on second thought, should not be so surprising. He is a saint in part because he dealt successfully with the temptations until the end.

Of course, later in life, Augustine, became, not only a great preacher, but a great teacher and resource for the early Church to “get its bearings” morally, doctrinally and spiritually. His Book entitled: “Confessions” is a classic in the Christian way of life.

Now, what would against say and do about the moral catastrophe that has exploded in our church today in the area of sexuality, and sexual abuses and transgressions that apply not only to lay people, but also to the clergy, even the hierarchs, even allegedly the Pope of Rome himself?

He would say: while it is understandable how things could have happened: i.e. the seminary system is very very broken, and the diocesan networking of subcultured sex mongers (among clergy with not only children, and not only among themselves, but with men and women) – so now the time has come to deal with the whole stinking mess. A clearing out and resignation of any involved needs to happen, a new layer of good shepherds and helpers needs to be installed: and for God’s sake, the finger pointing and whistleblowing and witch hunting that is inevitable needs to be curtailed at the outset.

There is no one on the planet who does not have some “skeletons in the closet” – it just comes with the mistake-making human species that we are – some of us are just lucky enough not to get caught. That these things have happened is reprehensible, but how we deal with them will prove how Christian we really are. We need to deal with them honestly, forthrightly, and swiftly, both canonically, and civilly And then move on to steady the “bark of Peter” – which is withstood many more catastrophes than this one.

With St. Augustine praying for us – let us go forth with Charity first guiding our actions, but actions that will bring about the just sentencing of all involved: spiritually and temporally.

St. Augustine, pray for us today; help us to know that it is normal for our hearts to experience a certain and raw kind of persistent restlessness, otherwise we would not want to join you in heaven – but let this not negatively influence our thoughts and words, our appetites, our desires and our actions!

With all our hearts, we seek you, Lord; let us find you in the perfect way, and in the perfect time you have in mind for us!