Following St Augustine

by Editor · February 13, 2002

IN his Confessions, St Augustine narrates the personal story of how his life of sensual pleasure and intellectual pride left him spiritually empty.

Although he knew the rudiments of Christian doctrine, he found the Church’s beliefs hard to swallow. It was only gradually that he began to appreciate that those doctrines answered the teeming questions that worried his inquiring mind.

He specifically mentions that he found himself no longer condemning Christian teachings as “childish absurdities.” It took him many years of soul-searching, study and anguish to draw the decided conclusion that the mysteries of the Christian faith provided him with more satisfaction than the theories of science or the patent errors of charlatans.

Consequently in the first lines of his Confessions, in which he addresses God, he remarks: “The thought of you stirs man so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.”

The contents of the Confessions, written in the 5th century, make sound spiritual reading for the season of Lent now, especially because in baring his soul so honestly, St Augustine reveals an optimism and sense of Christian hope, which is exactly what the Church celebrates and works towards at this time.

Many Catholics today speak more of hope than expectation when they consider the mysteries of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection and the promise they contain for the final peace when our hearts will rest in God.

In fact, there is the constant danger that Lenten practices and Easter joy may be hollow and habitual practices rather than a hope-filled confidence that the risen Christ will be true to his promises.

The current Lenten Appeal lays stress on the renewal and latent excitement that is at the core of Christianity. We do not curb our bodily urges in fasting and prayer simply because that is the done thing. We do so with a Christian confidence that is no different from St Augustine’s, notwithstanding the many centuries that separate our time from his.

The message of hope and final happiness for the human race, which has been redeemed by the love of God the Father through his Son in human flesh, is perennial and never-changing.

It is up to each of us to live in the spirit of Lent in the hope and expectation of everlasting happiness and peace.