Mercy in the face of evil - Tomorrow's reading reflection

God is good to the unjust as well as the just. His love embraces saint and sinner alike. God seeks our highest good and teaches us to seek the greatest good of others, even those who hate and abuse us. Our love for others, even those who are ungrateful and selfish towards us, must be marked by the same kindness and mercy which God has shown to us. It is easier to show kindness and mercy when we can expect to benefit from doing so. How much harder when we can expect nothing in return.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) describes Jesus double precept to give and forgive as two essential wings of prayer: 

"Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given you. These are the two wings of prayer on which it flies to God. Pardon the offender what has been committed, and give to the person in need."  [Sermon 205.3] "Let us graciously and fervently perform these two types of almsgiving, that is, giving and forgiving, for we in turn pray the Lord to give us things and not to repay our evil deeds." [Sermon 206.2]

Our prayer for those who do us ill both breaks the power of revenge and releases the power of love to do good in the face of evil.

(Adapted from Don Schwager)

Oh proud Christians, the tombs or icons we can choose to be - Tomorrow's reading reflections

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth."

It's never good to hear that from the lips of God.  But as St. Augustine found out, every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.  A whitewashed tomb today might not be so a year from now.  In fact, he/she may not be a tomb at all but a living icon of St. Augustine and every sinner who has walked the road of redemption.

Dear You, From St. Augustine - Tomorrow's reading reflection

If you ever feel like you can't seem to many any progress in the spiritual life; if you feel like doubt in your faith and in God are stronger than truth at times; if you feel like sin dominates your life and there's no hope, then listen to what St. Augustine wrote in his book The Confessions.

O Hope from my youth,
where wast thou to me
and where hadst thou gone away?
For hadst thou not created me
and differentiated me from the
beasts of the field and the birds of
the air, making me wiser than they?

And yet I was wandering about in a
dark and slippery way, seeking thee
outside myself and thus not finding
the God of my heart.  I had gone down
into the depths of the sea and had
lost faith,
and had despaired of ever
finding the truth.

One only knows what he means if they themselves have been in the same place.  It's an experiential knowledge that comes through suffering. Maybe you have been where he was.  Maybe you are.  Maybe you will.  But remember this.  That was only one point along the remarkable timeline that was his life. Listen to what he went on to become after being baptized and ordained a bishop.

The great St. Augustine's life is unfolded to us in documents of unrivaled richness, and of no great character of ancient times have we information comparable to that contained in the Confessions. (NewAdvent.com)  

St. Augustine was early recognized as the first of the Western Fathers.  There are only four.

St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is "a philosophical and theological genius of the first order, dominating, like a pyramid, antiquity and the succeeding ages. Compared with the great philosophers of past centuries and modern times, he is the equal of them all; among theologians he is undeniably the first, and such has been his influence that none of the Fathers, Scholastics, or Reformers has surpassed it." (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church)(NewAdvent.com)

He is the first and only to be named a Doctor of Grace; but he is also officially named the Doctor of the Church.

And there was a time when he said, "I had gone down into the depths of the sea and had lost faith, and had despaired of ever finding the truth."  

Take hope.  St. Augustine, whose feast we celebrate today, shows us there's plenty of it to go around.