Day 16 - Feast of St. Augustine

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MariaChristi

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today as we celebrate the 16th day of our journey, we remember St. Augustine, great Bishop and Doctor of the Church. As on yesterday, the Feast of St. Monica, who prayed for her son St. Augustine we can be encouraged today. I’m reminded of St. John Vianney’s words that saints did not start out well but they all ended well! All of us (except Mary, our Mother) were conceived in original sin. None of us “started out well”, but washed in Baptism, we began a new life as did St. Augustine. In this saint we are encouraged by all the amazing work God did for him and for the Church.

Today, we are continuing, by God’s Grace, to seek true knowledge of ourselves, that we may repent of our sins and “end well”. Our focus is on our final end, so we persevere to live Christ’s Life more and more fully. He is our Way, our Truth, and our Life. We need to keep our eyes on Him, and listen to His Word as Mary did, pondering and keeping Him in our hearts. Today’s Gospel urges us:
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.Five of them were foolish and five were wise.The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked.Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!'But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.'Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
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Today’s commentary from Saint Gregory the Great (c.540-604), Pope, Doctor of the Church can helps us:
“Our lamps are going out”
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“The five foolish ones took no oil with them, but the wise ones took oil in their flasks with their lamps.” The brightness of glory is signified by the oil, and the small containers are our hearts, in which we carry all that we think. The wise virgins have oil in their flasks, because they keep the brightness of glory within their consciences. So Paul testified when he said: “Our glory is this, the witness of our conscience” (2Cor 1,12). But the five foolish virgins take no oil with them, because when they seek glory from the mouths of their neighbors they do not have it within their consciences…
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“At midnight a cry arose: ‘See, the bridegroom is coming; go forth to meet him’”… Then all the virgins arise… The lamps of the foolish virgins go out, because their works, which appeared outwardly evident to people at the judge’s coming, are hidden within; and they find no recompense from God, because they have received from men the praises which they loved.
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Come Holy Spirit, conform us to Jesus. Enable us to keep the glory of His Life shining within us. Litany to the Holy Spirit HERE
Mary, our Mother, your prayers are far more efficacious than St. Monica for her son. We need God’s Grace to persevere in seeking self-knowledge which is in fact humility, which you had from your beginning, pray for us to see our sins and repenting of them to live Christ fully, as you did. Ave Maris Stella HERE Litany of Our Lady HERE
 
To anyone who has yet to see the Ignatius Press film “Restless Heart” based on the Confessions of Saint Augustine, I cannot recommend it strongly enough. It is an incredible movie that does great justice depicting Saints Augustine, Monica, Ambrose, and many other people who had influence in their lives.

Link: ignatius.com/Products/RHRT-M/restless-heart.aspx
 
Dear rose kelly and Kenny Kamel,

Thank you both for your replies. Hope you also have great admiration for St. Louis de Montfort. He did not receive from God the same graces as did St. Augustine – because each of God’s saints is unique and unrepeatable (as are all of us: unique and unrepeatable). I thank God for all His Work in all the saints, and I have been blessed in many ways by all those saints whom I’ve come to know, especially through their writings.

I will always be especially grateful to St. Louis de Montfort for all he suffered for, and with, Jesus and Mary, and for his cooperation with the Holy Spirit in writing the treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Each time I read this book and each time I make the 33 Day journey to renew my Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, I learn more and am more grateful.

If you are on this 33 Day journey with me, thanks so much! If not, I hope you will consider reading the treatise and making your own Act of Total Consecration. St. John Paul II wrote that reading De Montfort’s True Devotion was a “turning point” in his young life. His papal motto “Totus Tuus” is taken from De Montfort.

Please, let us all pray for one another and for all those in most need of His Mercy.
 
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