2 Thessalonians 3:6-10,16-18; Psalm 127(128):1-2,4-5; Matthew 23:27-32
On of the great doctors of the Church, Augustine is rightly honoured for his copious writings, many of which survive to this day, and are often used in the daily office of readings. We celebrated his Mother yesterday - in her own right an important saint, and Patron Saint of Mothers.
His life is much more typical of many of us that we might want to believe: how many of us have never had doubts, and how many of us have not followed wrong paths in our lives at times? We all live with the consequences, and Augustine in his landmark work Confessions offers an honest reflection on how to travel as a real human in this complex world.
Augustine was born in Thagaste in Africa of a Berber family. He was brought up a Christian but left the Church early and spent a great deal of time seriously seeking the truth, first in the Manichaean heresy, which he abandoned on seeing how nonsensical it was, and then in Neoplatonism, until at length, through the prayers of his mother and the teaching of St Ambrose of Milan, he was converted back to Christianity and baptized in 387, shortly before his mother’s death.
Augustine had a brilliant legal and academic career, but after his conversion he returned home to Africa and led an ascetic life. He was elected Bishop of Hippo and spent 34 years looking after his flock, teaching them, strengthening them in the faith and protecting them strenuously against the errors of the time. He wrote an enormous amount and left a permanent mark on both philosophy and theology. His Confessions, as dazzling in style as they are deep in content, are a landmark of world literature. The Second Readings in the Office of Readings contain extracts from many of his works.
He was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Boniface VIII in 1308.
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