St Augustine , pray for us !

Today , August 28 , the church celebrates the feast of St Augustine of Hippo , bishop and doctor of the church . Many of us know him as the the son of St Monica whose feast day was celebrated yesterday , August 27 and who begged for God's mercy and strength for the conversion of her son Augustine . We also know him to be the rebellious lawyer who many a times in his life , faltered and fell into the horrendous web of sin by even fathering a child out of wedlock .

The turning point of his life was just after the death of his mother St Monica that St Augustine , at the age of 31 , Augustine had a supernatural experience " as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart " . It was then that " all the shadows of doubt were dispelled " and he accepted God as part of his life .

Life of St Augustine

Although Augustine would become a great man of faith , he continued to struggle with the obvious pain , suffering and evil allowed by God . In his first book , On Order ( 386 AD ) , Augustine wrote : -

' There is nothing that even the most gifted people desire more than to finally understand how , taking into account the amount of evil in this world , one can still believe that God cares about human affairs ' .

For the next forty years , Augustine grappled with the reality of this paradox. He focused on God's nature in scripture and God's apparent desire for humanity . He determined that God created us for a relationship with Him and that authentic relationship is impossible with puppets. Apparently , God wanted us to have the capacity to freely choose love or hate - good or evil . After four decades of writing on the subject , Augustine concluded that " God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil at all " .

Famous quotes of St Augustine

" He who sings , prays twice " .

On his journey

" Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee (GOD) " - Confession 1.1

Prayer

O great Augustine , our father and teacher ,

who knows the shining paths of God ,

and also the crooked paths of men ,

we admire the marvels that divine Grace

has worked in you

making you a passionate witness

to truth and goodness ,

at the service of your neighbour.

AMEN

by John Paul II