When Pope Leo XIV became our venerable leader 13 months ago, I knew he was an Augustinian priest. I also knew I had St. Augustine’s book “Confessions” on my bookshelf, unread. In wanting to know more about this man, Robert Francis Prevost from Chicago, I decided to read this renowned tome and try to understand him and his papacy in a more informed way.
This book was written approximately 1,600 years ago in North Africa, a region of the world that was under Roman domination at the time. St. Augustine’s mother was St. Monica, who prayed for her wayward, sinful son to become wise and embrace the Catholic-Christian faith. This book, “Confessions,” was written after St. Augustine’s conversion and includes his reflections on the choices he made before aligning his life with Christ.
It is clear in “Confessions” that St. Augustine had been searching, as his mother must have known. She witnessed her son’s decisions and noted how discordant they were from the way she hoped he would live. How many parents in our day and age have similar feelings that mirror St. Monica’s? As parents and grandparents, it breaks our hearts to experience the misgivings we may have regarding the ability of our children and grandchildren to avoid, or evade, the evil one who sets traps. Many ask, “What can we do? Certainly, prayer cannot be enough!”
And yet, if we trust the Holy Spirit, who was given to us on the first Pentecost, and believe he is the most powerful entity in the universe, then we trust he can do anything. The problem is that we often do not have faith that he is alive and well in our era, just as he was in the apostolic era of the years following Jesus’ resurrection. In fact, he has always been with us; it is our lack of faith or lack of trust that gets in the way of our asking for his help. St. James explains, “You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but do not receive because you ask wrongly,” (Jas 4:2-3). It is not what we seek that is wrong, but that we seek pleasure and enjoyment that is self-serving. St. Monica wanted her son, St. Augustine, to share in her joy as a Christian so he would experience her delight in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Do we have that same passion, and do we share it with our children and grandchildren? Do we have such a strong and vibrant faith that we put it before all other things in our lives? Are we witnesses to a faith that sustains us and grounds us through every trial we encounter? That lived faith is more appealing than any words we may utter by way of convincing our children and grandchildren to embrace these beliefs we hold sacred.
Father John Ricardo, a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit and the founder and executive director of ACTS XXIX, writes in his book “Rescued,” that it was the witness of truly Christian lives that helped the early Church grow. The Church grew through the passion of the early Christians who turned the world upside down and transformed the culture. Father Ricardo explains that is also what is needed today: people who will turn the world upside down by transforming the culture.
St. Augustine was one who lived his life with passion and commitment to turning the world upside down following his conversion to the Catholic-Christian faith. His mother’s prayers were instrumental in his conversion, and so was her witness. Trust the Holy Spirit, live your faith with enthusiasm, and allow him to work on the hearts of those you love and cherish. We are Easter people who live in the shadow of the cross redeemed!
Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist emerita and a member of St. Ambrose in Woodbury.
