August 28
St. Augustine, Doctor Of The Church
Preparation. - “By the grace of God I am what I am” (2 Cor. 15. 10). St. Augustine could say the same. Wherefore let us admire in him, first, the power of grace in his conversion, and secondly, the power of love in his perseverance. Let us learn therefrom never to attribute to ourselves the good we do, but to glorify the Holy Ghost for it. “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
I. Power Of Grace In Augustine’s Conversion
St. Augustine was born with a natural talent so quick, so keen, so sublime and so vast that he had already, at the age of twenty years, mastered rhetoric and all the sciences of his time without teacher and with but little labor. Should not so exalted a reason and such vast learning have apparently preserved him from the dangers of error and corruption? But this was not the case, for experience shows that, without grace and prayer, the most exalted mind and the most excellent heart cannot escape the snares of their spiritual foes. And who would have fallen into the absurd heresy of the Manicheans, and remained in it for nine years without being able to give it up! He, at the same time, was so firmly attached to creatures that, notwithstanding his desire and efforts to break these bonds asunder, he had to acknowledge that this was beyond his power.
It was the tears and supplications of his mother, St. Monica, that drew the divine mercy upon him. The combat between nature and grace was truly formidable. Grace, however, finally triumphed, and this was, when imploring the divine assistance, a voice from heaven bade him read. He read a few verses of Scripture and was at once converted. O how great is the power of prayer, which draws grace upon us!
Let us never despair of making progress in virtue, if we know how to converse with God, to lay our wants before Him, and to ask Him with confidence for His heavenly gifts. Prayer and confidence possess all power over His heart; no one ever employed these means without being heard. Augustine’s mother is a proof of this, for, by her constancy in imploring heaven, she obtained that her son should be converted, and become a doctor and a saint spreading glory over the whole Church.
O my God, I acknowledge, with the author of the Imitation, that no holiness can subsist, unless it be upheld by Thee; that no strength can keep from falling, unless it be sustained by Thee; that no chastity can remain unblemished, unless it be preserved by Thee; and that no watchfulness can preserve us from snares, unless it be assisted by Thee. Wherefore, deign to grant me the gift of prayer and confidence in Thee; help me to mistrust myself, and enable me always to have recourse to Thy goodness and to rely on Thy grace which alone can change me, a sinner, into a saint.
II. Augustine’s Perseverance Through Love
After overcoming Augustine by the splendor of its light and the power of its unction, divine grace enabled him to persevere by replacing in his heart profane with holy love. Scarcely had he been baptized, than the new convert could not listen to the chanting of the psalms without being moved to tears. The great mystery of the Incarnation so absorbed him, that he could not sufficiently meditate upon it. Hence how powerfully and irrevocably he clung to the infinitely good God, who so profoundly abased Himself, in order to raise us to Himself! The love of the God-man made him humble, chaste and mortified, and filled his heart with the most excellent virtues.
Zeal especially was enkindled in his soul and armed his pen for the defense of the Church and the truths of faith, and this with a prodigious success. At his school and under his influence the wicked were converted, and the good became more virtuous. “My God,” he would exclaim, “Thou hast shot a fiery dart into my heart, and it has so deeply penetrated into it, that its point has remained in the wound.” After forty years of labors, sufferings and a penitent life, the holy Doctor received the reward of his love for God and souls, dying the death of the just and leaving to us all a great example of the power of grace in converting and sanctifying souls.
We should never lose the desire and hope of becoming saints. We shall succeed therein in a short time, if we faithfully profit by the lights and helps God sends us to enable us to be united with Jesus Christ. In fact, the love of the Redeemer purifies our soul of all its stains, and fills it with the spirit of penance and sacrifice. It urges us to mortify our senses, to repress our perverse inclinations, and to practice all the virtues of which it is the bond and perfection. That we may acquire it, let us exert ourselves, first. to love solitude, silence, recollection and mental prayer; secondly, often to think on our Redeemer’s perfections, sufferings and benefits; and thirdly, frequently to ask Him for a spark of His divine love.
“Lord,” I say to Thee with St. Augustine, “Thou art meekness and beauty itself; deign to give me the grace to love Thee with all my heart, with my whole soul, with all my strength and all my intentions. May I always and every where have Thee in my heart, on my lips, and interiorly in my soul, so that no foreign affection may ever remove me from Thee.” O Mary, obtain for me the most ardent love for Jesus, my Saviour. Make me docile and faithful to His light, punctual in fulfilling His commands, assiduous in meditating on His doctrine, virtues and sufferings, and in praying to Him for the gift of His love.
