August 27, 2023
On this final weekend of August, we celebrate the 21st Sunday in the Ordinary Time of the Year. As we continue our chronological reading of St. Matthew’s Gospel, we reach a turning point in the Gospel when Jesus asks the disciples to profess their faith. He asks two questions. First, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And then a second, more direct question, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter steps forward and speaks for the group, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus responds by entrusting Peter with the leadership of the church. Even though Peter would fail again and again before his final profession of faith by his death, Jesus entrusted him with the leadership of the church. As a church, we trace our roots back to this awesome profession of faith.
There is no cross, big or small, which the Lord does not share with us.
Pope Francis
On this final weekend of August, we celebrate the 21st Sunday in the Ordinary Time of the Year. As we continue our chronological reading of St. Matthew’s Gospel, we reach a turning point in the Gospel when Jesus asks the disciples to profess their faith. He asks two questions. First, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And then a second, more direct question, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter steps forward and speaks for the group, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus responds by entrusting Peter with the leadership of the church. Even though Peter would fail again and again before his final profession of faith by his death, Jesus entrusted him with the leadership of the church. As a church, we trace our roots back to this awesome profession of faith.
Normally at this time of year, we celebrate the feasts of two great saints in our church – saints who were related to each other. Monday, August 28 is the feast of St. Augustine. And this Sunday, August 27 is usually the feast of his mother, St. Monica. But with the 27th being a Sunday, Monica’s feast is not observed this year. Still, we can find some inspiration in the life of this great 5th century saint.
Monica’s non-Christian husband had no interest in a life of faith, and she struggled to raise and educate her son as a Christian. Augustine was gifted with a sharp mind and a passion for learning. The secular honors that went with learning attracted him early on and he resisted taking the Christian way of life seriously. While he studied at Carthage, he lived a wild and secular life, living with a woman who bore him a son. His intelligence and thirst for truth eventually led him into the company of St. Ambrose. It was through him that St. Augustine’s remarkable conversion took place. Not only was he baptized into the Christian faith, but he was also ordained a priest and later became bishop of Hippo, North Africa. Once the light of faith illuminated his mind and transformed his life, Augustine directed his passion for learning into studying the mysteries of faith and teaching what he had learned. He remains, to this day, a classical thinker and teacher of Christian truth and is revered as a Doctor of the Church.
Augustine was both a philosopher and a theologian. He wrote extensively. One of his better-known books is his Confessions. There, he wrote about his own personal restlessness and struggles that led him to a great realization: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Many of us can readily identify with this profound statement of faith. Our restless moments are invitations from God and often lead us to God!
Behind the conversion of Augustine was the influence of his mother. She followed his intellectual career with genuine pride, unhappy only that he had wandered from God into immoral living. She prayed for him constantly, as a mother would. Initially she had hoped that a good marriage would change his life and settle him down. But God answered her prayers in ways far beyond her hopes and dreams. We honor her as the patron saint of troubled parents.
Many parents are drawn to the life and story of St. Monica. Parents constantly struggle with the issue of passing on the faith to their children. It is very natural for us to desire that our children adopt the values and principles of life that provide meaning and direction in our own lives. Monica gives us a very powerful example of a parent who prayed ceaselessly for her child. But I suspect that it was not only her prayers that helped in Augustine’s conversion, but also her example. It is one thing to “talk the talk” and a totally different matter to “walk the walk.” While our words are important, people notice what we do far more than listen to what we say. The steady and consistent witness of quietly living the values of our faith and regularly joining with the community at Sunday Mass is a much stronger invitation to embrace a life of faith than even the most eloquent words we can come up with.
Enjoy this last week before the Labor Day holiday. As always, I pray that God continue to bless us with all that we need, and more.
-Father Jim Murphy