Memorial of Saint Augustine, bishop and doctor of the Church
(I Corinthians 1:17-25; Matthew 25:1-13)
It is said that after Jesus the most important persons in
Christianity are St. Paul and St. Augustine.
Paul evangelized western Asia and the Greek peninsula (Europe). As much as he was an apostle, however, he was
equally a theologian. His presentation
of Christianity was the earliest and one of the most insightful ever made. Augustine is the preeminent theologian of the
western church, at least until Aquinas.
Yet his story has evangelized many.
Who is not impressed by the way Augustine asked for chastity “but not
now”?
In today’s first reading Paul expresses the centrality of
the cross to Christian faith. To the
wise -- that is, the successful -- the cross scandalizes. It reveals Jesus as a criminal, not as a
saint. But to believers, Paul intimates,
the cross signifies the power of love to conquer death. After all, Paul encountered the risen
Christ.
Augustine appears at a critical time in western
history. Christianity had emerged from
persecution to enjoy a favored-religion status.
But free thinkers were propagating
new ideas which corrupted the faith. Augustine successfully refuted a number of
these ideas. Also, the Roman empire in
the West was crumbling. Augustine
endeavored to explain this momentous change by contrasting Rome with the City
of God. The former, constructed by fallible humans, was bound to fall. The latter, epitomized by the Church and
animated by grace, can only thrive.
