Monday, August 28, 2017

- August 27, 2017

FEAST OF ST. AGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Psalm 22, verse 24:

²⁴You who fear the LORD, give praise! All descendants of Jacob, give honor; show reverence, all descendants of Israel!

This verse was fulfilled on Palm Sunday, which we reflect on Christ’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Let us honor and praise our Lord Jesus Christ everyday as we rise by saying Shema Yisrael which is the same prayer the Christ most likely prayed every morning Himself and is still prayed by pious Jews today.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your Heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind, and with all your strength.

My question is how does, one Love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.

Perhaps to understand this better we should ask ourselves:

1. What are the desires of our heart?

2. Whose flag are we following?

3. What consumes our mind?

4. How do we use our gifts?

God created us to be a priestly people and the world was designed to be our temple. We will never find true happiness except through God because He hardwired us for the priesthood. We are called to make an offering of our life; our dreams & desires, our total loyalty to Him and His church, our thoughts and the gifts of mind and body He has given us.

Feast of St. Augustine of Hippo[1]

St. Augustine (354-430) was born at Tagaste, Africa, and died in Hippo. His father, Patricius, was a pagan; his mother, Monica, a devout Christian. He received a good Christian education. As a law student in Carthage, however, he gave himself to all kinds of excesses and finally joined the Manichean sect. He then taught rhetoric at Milan where he was converted by St. Ambrose. Returning to Tagaste, he distributed his goods to the poor, and was ordained a priest. He was made bishop of Hippo at the age of 41 and became a great luminary of the African Church, one of the four great founders of religious orders, and a Doctor of the universal Church.