St. Augustine

St. Augustine grew up in a house divided. His mom (St. Monica) was a devout Catholic and his father was a pagan. His dad did not care about his spiritual life, but his mother encouraged him greatly to grow in holiness. But, he choose paganism because it fit his earthly desires. He lived a very wordly life full of sin.

St. Monica prayed for many years for his conversion. St. Augustine even tried to sneak away to Rome without her, so she just followed him on another boat. In Rome, she met St. Ambrose who encouraged her to continue interceeding for him. He told her, "Stop talking to Augustine about God, and talk to God about Augustine." St. Ambrose also helped St. Augstine in his conversion by his example and through many talks. Finally, Augustine came to Christ when he heard a voice telling him to "take and read" the Bible. He read from Romans 13:12-14, which encouraged him to put away his sinful life. He was baptized on Easter 387 AD.

There are two Scripture passages that apply to him. One is the prodigal son story (Luke 15:11-32) St. Augustine was lost in his spiritual life and then came to his senses and went home. Not only was he brought home, but he became a great theologian and scholar. He is a Doctor of the Church and Bishop. He even fought against two hereises; Donatism, which was extremely strict interpretation of Church's teaching and Pelagianism, which said that you did not need God's graces to get to heaven but could do it yourself.

The other scripture for him is Luke 7:11-17. In this story there was a widow who had lost her son and she had no other way to have an income, so she would have lived in poverty. Jesus was moved to pity for her and brought her son back to life. This applies to St. Augustine because he was dead spiritually and was raised to life through his mother's prayers.

From St. Augustine we can learn that you will not be at true peace until you follow God. As he says himself, "Too late have I loved you, O Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! Our hearts were made for you, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you."

St. Augustine and St. Monica, Pray for us!