Day 34 – Experience and Freedom Augustine knew the emptiness of a libertine’s life. His escapades both in boyhood and young adulthood gave him much to lament on in his maturity about that slavery which paraded itself as freedom. Augustine saw his possibilities as a young man and made his choices, choices that he regretted afterwards realizing how a false notion of human life and God and has led him …
Day 33 – The Role of Scriptures The descriptions of prayer that we find in Augustine’s works should not distract us from the idea that prayer is “your speaking with God: when you read (the Scriptures), God speaks to you, when you pray, you speak to God”(In Ps. 86). Christian prayer is a dialogue with God; it is a “speaking with” Him who is revealed in the Sacred Scriptures. In …
Day 32 – Prayer It is not possible to synthesize all that Augustine thinks of prayer in just a few paragraphs. Augustine’s concept of prayer does not substantially differ from the one which Catholic doctrine teaches us. However, Augustine does say certain things about prayer which need to be pointed out. For Augustine, prayer is not an imposed ritual “to be carried out daily from a sense of obligation. Rather, …
Day 31 – Friendship Our Augustinian life of fraternity and community leads us to the careful cultivation of the values of friendship. Friendship begets and nourishes loyalty, trust, sincerity and mutual understanding. It joins us together in Christ, for God fastens us in friendship by means of the love poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The idea of friendship evolved in the mind of Augustine. It is …
Day 30 – Intellectual Augustinian spirituality is by nature intellectual. Augustine deeply thought about, widely borrowed from, and fundamentally transformed the pagan intellectual heritage in its most comprehensive result. His is not spirituality as opposed to critical thought, but living in that very element. This is so much specifically the character of his thought that from it emerges Modern western enlightenment and secularity
Day 29 – Augustinian idea of leadership There are three ideas in elaborating the Augustinian idea of leadership: (a) The Leader is a Companion; (b) The Leader is an Animator; (c) Leadership is a Burden of Love. The Leader is a Companion. Augustine insists on this idea when he refers to his office of bishop. The one who presides must stay at the side. He is not one who …
Day 28 – Leadership The idea of “leadership” is derived from the social sciences. Leadership is one of the elements that shape the life of a society. Jesus gave it a new meaning; to the disciples, he said: “You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to …
Day 27 – Work Within the context of service, human work assumes a different meaning. The Augustinians explain their perception of work in the following way: In harmony with Augustine’s thinking, we look upon work as important, as something that is an expression of one’s human nature and person. We do not view it as a burden or simply a means of sustenance, but as cooperation with the Creator in …
Day 26 – Service is love in action It is not the “service” offered in gas stations for the customers. This latter refers to the added attention given to those who patronizes one’s products. This kind of “service” is offered in the hope that customers keep coming and sales do not diminish. Augustinian service is explained by T. van Bavel thus: As far as material provisions are concerned, a person …
Day 25 – Common Good “Sharing of goods” is the same as “working for the common good.” By working for the common good, the Augustinian performs his/her duties as service to the Church and to humanity. Rule 7, 2 of the Augustinian rule states: “The degree to which you are concerned for the common good (rem communem) rather than for your own, is the criterion by which you can judge …
