MEMORIAL ST AUGUSTINE, WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, AUGUST 28, 2024

St Augustine (430) Bishop of Hippo, Doctor of Grace

MASS READINGS:

Gospel

MT 23:27-32

Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood. ’Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets; now fill up what your ancestors measured out!”

REFLECTION

“Woe to you"

Every four years, I scream at the television: no, not a sporting event, nor the Olympics. The political conventions can bring out the best and the worst. Politicians gloss over or whitewash their errors, their forgotten or broken promises, brag of their blasphemous actions against God and His Creation, and avoid the truth of what they have accomplished or what their policies will be.

St Augustine whitewashed his sins, his actions during his youth. Searching for the truth, St Augustine sought and pursued different religions, with zeal and passion. He attributed His walking away from the wrong paths and worldly life to God who sought him out.

"As I first began to know you, you lifted me up and showed me that, while that which I might see exists, indeed I was not yet capable of seeing it." ( St Augustine, Confessions)

Through the prayer of St Monica, his mother, and the teachings of St Ambrose, his spiritual advisor, St Augustine met Jesus Christ, the incarnate God. He made a profound conversion, abandoning his heretical beliefs and empty life.

Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Woe to us if we do not pray for one another for the conversion of souls, to change mangled ideas and ways. Pray as St Monica without giving up on each other. Surrender to the Lord everyone, entrusting their salvation totally to Him. Abandon yourselves to Him, knowing that He loves us and knows what is best for us and those whom we pray for.

God Bless You