A Room with a View: DoC: Part 61; Continuation of St. Augustine

Our last pope, Benedict XVI, is a great Augustinian scholar. I am sure he will have time to read this Doctor of the Church in the next two months, with this room with a view, if Benedict so desires.

Thagaste, birthplace of Augustine

Augustine is called the "African Doctor" and the "Doctor of the Catholic World". But for my purposes here, and for the modern person, his works reveal a combination of psychology  the movement of the heart and mind, grace and free will, and the strength of the combination of  doctrine and mysticism so needed in the journey to perfection. His appeal is understandable. This appeal streams from all those areas of human experience, conversion. loss, commitment, and he articulates the human struggle for perfection, not merely the glory.

As with the other Doctors, St. Augustine has written much on perfection. I can only highlight a few sections in the next few days.

Roman mosaic from ruins of Carthage, not to far from Hippo

Already, one sees a dialectic pattern: grace and will, heart and head, doctrine and mysticism, psychology and simplicity, loss and gain. This is the pattern of activity and contemplation, referred to in this series through both Albert the Great and Bernard of Clairvaux.

Looking at a sermon of St. Augustine's (his works took over long aisles in the Notre Dame library when I was there), one can perceive this dialectic in his thought. In this perfection series, I am addressing the laity, so that we can understand our way to God.

Tractate on John's Gospel (Tract. 124, 5, 7: CCL 36, 685-687) My comments are in non-italics.

There are two ways of life that God has commended to the Church. One is through faith, the other is through vision. One is in pilgrimage through a foreign land, the other is in our eternal home; one in labour, the other in repose; one in a journey to our homeland, the other in that land itself; one in action, the other in the fruits of contemplation. Here, in this dualism, one sees the day of work and prayer, so loved by the Benedictines. But, the lay path to perfection is similar: work and prayer. The first life, the life of action, is personified by the Apostle Peter; the contemplative life, by John. The first life is passed here on earth until the end of time, when it reaches its completion; the second is not fulfilled until the end of the world, but in the world to come it lasts for ever. For this reason Peter is told “Follow me”, but Jesus adds, “If I want John to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me”. I have referred to this on line before. The progress is from purgation to action to contemplation. But, without the purgation, our actions are no more than vain operations of our own necessities, rather than the work of God. You are to follow me by imitating me in the enduring suffering; he is to remain till I come to restore the blessings that last for ever. To put it more clearly: let action, which is complete in itself, follow me and follow the example of my passion; but let contemplation, which has only begun, remain until I come, wait until the moment of its completion. This is subtle: suffering is the purgation of the mind, body, soul, and will. Action must follow this, must follow the Passion, and contemplation will follow. Now, Christ comes to us at death, but He also comes to us in our daily lives, if we allow Him to enter into these lives.  View of ancient Hippo ruins-the ancient cathedral of Augustine Sometimes, He enters like lightening, striking the very core of our beings. Sometimes, he comes like the soft wind in the Old Testament. But, if one is open, He responds to that open heart, soul, mind and will. It is the fulness of patience to follow Christ loyally even to death; the fulness of knowledge lies in wait until Christ comes again, when it will be revealed and made manifest. The ills of this world are endured in the land of the dying; the good gifts of God will be revealed in the land of the living. One cannot run away from suffering. No. Some people go through life without any consolations. These are the white, or green martyrs. They suffer daily, and remain in love and even joy. St. Augustine knew this way. We should not understand “I want him to stay behind until I come” as meaning to remain permanently but rather to wait: what is signified by John will not be fulfilled now, but it will be fulfilled, when Christ comes. On the other hand, what is signified by Peter, to whom Jesus says “follow me”, must be realised now or it will never be fulfilled. The boldness of this statement is keen. One is asked to follow Christ and if one is baptized, that promise has already been made in one's life. The now is all one has to follow Christ. One has NO other time, but the now. The ruins of Augustine's cathedral in Hippo In order to fulfil the quest for perfection, one must say say YES today and all days. Each individual strives for perfection in the sacramental life of the Church. This is my duty and challenge, as it is yours. But we should not separate these great apostles. They were both part of the present life symbolized by Peter and they were both part of the future life symbolized by John.  Considered as symbols, Peter followed Christ and John remained; but in their living faith both endured the evils of the present life and both looked forward to the future blessings of the coming life of joy. Peter was crucified on the upside down cross. He followed the way of perfection through martyrdom. John, who experienced the Death of Christ on the Cross by staying with Him on Golgotha, did not die a martyr, but was exiled. Sometimes, one has to choose exile, self-exile, like Benedict has done. Mosaic from ruins of ancient Hippo It is not they alone that do this but the whole of the holy Church, the bride of Christ, who needs to be rescued from the trials of the present and to be brought to safety in the joys of the future. Individually, Peter and John represent these two lives, the present and the future; but both journeyed in faith through this temporal life and both will enjoy the second life by vision, eternally. What we do, each one of us, we do for Christ's Bride, the Church. As seen in the passage below, each one of us has a call. Peter was married, had a business; he followed Christ's call. John was celibate, and had a special love for Christ. He is like Bernard and Augustine. All the faithful form an integral part of the body of Christ, and therefore, so that they may be steered through the perilous seas of this present life, Peter, first among the Apostles, has received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, to bind and loose from sin. And also for the sake of the faithful, so that they may keep the still and secret heart of his mode of life, John the evangelist rested on Christ’s breast. Fresco of St. Augustine blessing his people in Hippo in the Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano It is not Peter alone who binds and looses sins, but the whole Church. It is not John alone who has drunk at the fountain of the Lord’s breast and pours forth what he had drunk in his teaching of the Word being God in the beginning, God with God, of the Trinity and Unity of God — of all those things which we shall see face to face in his kingdom but now, before the Lord comes, we see only in images and reflections — not John alone, for the Lord himself spreads John’s gospel throughout the world, giving everyone to drink as much as he is capable of absorbing. This is key. Let God purify you so that you can absorb all that is to be in your lives... We are all called to perfection. To be continued....