Day 14 – Caritas
Day 14 – Caritas Another Augustinian value is caritas, the Latin word for love. Love accepts everyone for exactly who they are. It is a culture of graciousness, a generous donation of time, and a climate of friendship.
34 days
Day 13 – UNITY
Day 13 – UNITY An Augustinian value for education is teaching people how to live together, is unitas, the Latin word for unity. This unity implies a respect for diversity, the way people think, and the way they act. In the desire to build unity, we need community to go beyond ourselves. Community is where the common interest is put first over individual needs. Unity with one another allows us …
Day 12 – SEARCH FOR TRUTH
Day 12 – SEARCH FOR TRUTH Veritas is the Latin word for truth and Augustine described his life as a restless search for truth. He was a life-long learner who tried to find this truth in his studies, the Manichean cult, his political career, and in living a sinful life. It was not until he turned within himself and discovered Jesus Christ, the Inner Teacher, that he found truth. He …
Day 11 – HUMILTY and POVERTY
Day 11 – HUMILTY and POVERTY Humility and poverty are the foundation of Augustinian common life and spiritual life, and are so closely related that no one can be called a “poor man of God” as was Augustine, without being humble. By reason of poverty and humility we consider all of our possessions, both material and spiritual, as the possessions of all, for we do not hold them as personal …
Day 10 – COMMUNITY
Day 10 – COMMUNITY Community is the axis around which Augustinian life turns: a community who live harmoniously together, united by a single soul and a single heart, seeking God together and open to the service of the Church. This community is the fruit of charity and is expressed in friendship, which brings forth and nourishes loyalty, trust, sincerity and mutual understanding. Charity unites us in Christ, helping us to …
Day 9 – WILL
Day 9 – WILL Another aspect of the Augustinian spirituality is the will. As he says, the will is all important. Will originates for Augustine in the emergence of thought from being. It is found in their unification from out of their distinction. It means that the practical, decision, and the works of love can have, and do have, and must have their ground in the revelation of being in …
Day 8 – SACRAMENTS
Day 8 – SACRAMENTS Augustinian interiority is a necessity for the future in respect to liturgy and the sacraments. For Augustine sacraments are effective signs of God’s love. To participate in them we must enter by knowledge and love into spirit’s signifying activity. Knowledge of, and love for, what the sign intends is essential. Subjective, interior participation is essential. Being and self are never separated for Augustine. Knowledge of their …
Day 7 – CHRIST
Day 7 – CHRIST For Augustine teaching was only possible because of Christ, the LOGOS, and ultimately when Christ became our teacher. For only Christ as God and man spoke to us both from within and from without at once. Only Christ the Son of the Father, incarnate of the Virgin Mary, joined our internal and external discourses. Only because of Him, and ultimately by Him, can we discover from …
Day 6 – MEMORY
Day 6 – MEMORY The culture of our time is a culture of experiences, of facts, of information. We have self-consciously turned against our Augustinian origins, deconstructing the self, in order to live at the surface in passions and poses. We deny metaphysics and ontology and thus have lost our memory. For us thoughts do not reveal the structure of the self. At best we have only diverse ‘insights’.
Day 5 – FALL and CONVERSION
Day 5 – FALL and CONVERSION Augustinian spirituality is one of fall and conversion, of grace and forgiveness. The human which is without intermediary the mirror of God’s Trinitarian life is abased when it sees its actual ignorance and enslavement in that light. Memory becomes guilt and shame; its essential activity is confession.