Friday
of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial
of St. Augustine
August 28, 2015 8:30am
Saint Augustine lived an
unsettled, searching life as a young man.
Finally, he was converted to the
faith and baptized at age 33.
We know that he became a priest,
a bishop, and became renowned for his theological writings.
In one of those writings,
Augustine talks about his long search for God in words that have become rather
famous.
Augustine says: “Too late have I loved you, O beauty of
ancient days, yet ever new!
Too late have I loved you!
And behold, you were within, and I abroad, and there I searched for
you.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
Things held me far from you.”
Augustine came to be aware of God
and of so much about God.
He became aware that God and not
material things or physical pleasures or anything else brings us the deepest
satisfaction of our desires.
He became aware that we do not
need to search outside ourselves for what brings fulfillment.
We need only look within.
And he became aware that God is
within us, at the core of our being, and that is why we need only look within.
This is why for each of us, time
alone with self is so important.
That quiet, silent time with self
is also time with God who is within.
In this quiet and through our
inner self God speaks, energizes, enlightens, guides and comforts us.
With Augustine as our example,
may we love the God within ourselves and within others.
May we allow our reception of the
Eucharist to place us in touch with the God who is within.
May we allow the Eucharist to
awaken in us the satisfaction and happiness that only God can give.
