August 28: St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, d. 430

On Thursday we give thanks to God for Augustine, the great late fourth-century theologian, whose writings have influenced the western Church perhaps more than any other Christian. In my collection of books is one I especially treasure: Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, ed. Allan D. Fitzherald, O.S.A, with a forward by Jaroslav Pelikan, who says:

[Augustine] is . . . "the only church father who even today remains an intellectual power." The reason for this unique position is that "irrespective of school and denomination [Augustine] attracts pagans and Christians, philosophers and theologians alike by his writings and makes them come to terms with his intentions and his person" (xiii). That being said by this century's most famous Church historian, I too like Augustine, not so much because he's brilliant (he is!), but because he's also so deeply human as a Christian. On his memorial day, I always read Chapter 9 of his Confessions and began doing so early this morning. In Chapter 9 Augustine tells the story of his turning to God, his baptism, and development of his new life in Christ. I hope a sentence or two will give you a sense of his new-found joy as he prays his autobiography to God:

During the days that followed [my baptism], I could not get enough of the wonderful sweetness that filled me as I meditated upon Your deep ddesign for the salvation of the human race. How copiously I wept at your hymns and canticles, how intensely was I moved by the lovely harmonies ofyour singing Church! Those voices flooded my ears, and the truth was distilled into my hdeart until it overflowed in loving devotion; my tears ran down, and I was the better for them.

Today lots of voices are thanking God for Augustine, and one of the best is that of Padre Mickey, a Panamanian missionary/priest who a year ago on his blog, Dance Party, nicely introduces us to the best of Augustine. Admiting that at first he didn't warm up to Augustine, his posting for the feast day will help you appreciate Augustine as much as Padre Mickey does now. Once there, you find that the collect of the day is at the top of Padre's posting:

Lord God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the hearts that serve you: Help us, following the example of your servant Augustine of Hippo, so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.