Augustine Feastday

Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

MT 23:27-32

While in Korea, my brother gave me The Confessions of St. Augustine, which profoundly affirmed my priestly vocation. I have learned many great things from Augustine’s confessions. One of the most significant insights I gained from reading about his life was his profound transformation. In his youth, he sought pleasure, achievement, truth, and fulfillment outside of himself. in other words, he was seeking fulfilment in the created things, not the creator.

Augustine loved the world more than God.

After many years of searching, Augustine, by God’s grace, discovered that true fulfillment and the light he sought were within him, close at hand. The light and the truth were God himself, who alone could satisfy his deepest longings. As Augustine states, “God, you made us for yourself; our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Augustine’s final conversion is poignantly described at the end of Book 8 of The Confessions. One day, while spending time outdoors, he heard a child’s voice singing, “Take up and read, take up and read.” Interpreting this as a divine command, he found a Bible, opened it, and read the first passage he saw. It was from the Letter of Paul to the Romans: “Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh” (Romans 13:13-14).

Augustine’s discovery also illuminated my own understanding. Like him, I had sought fulfillment in worldly and created things, not realizing that only God could satisfy my deepest longings and desires. True fulfillment comes from within, where the light of God shines. This realization led me to decide to become a priest.

Reflecting on Augustine’s life and conversion, two things we can take away:

1. Only God, who resides within us, can fulfill our quest for truth, fulfillment, and light. Our fulfillment begins from within.

2. Augustine’s conversion reminds us that no sinner is beyond the reach of God. Regardless of our past mistakes, everyone has the potential to become a saint.

Finally, I would like to recite one of the most beautiful passages from The Confessions:

“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.”

Next year:

Belong

Before conversion, Augustine belonged to the world, after his conversion, he belonged to God and this is what make him a saints, he decided to be a saint after his conversion

Movies story, “I was a sinner, and am a sinner,….