Gospel Delights!

Monday, August 28, 2023

Feast of St. Augustine!

1 Jn 4:7-16; Mt 23: 8-12

If there is a major figure whose authority on Christian theology is indisputable, it is St. Augustine! He shaped the theology of the Church on grace, salvation, sin, free will, the Trinity, baptism etc. Looking at St. Augustine’s legacy spanning many theological formulations, I only remember the title of one of Fr. James Martin SJ’s book: The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. St. Augustine was ‘almost everything’ to theology! Of the many sayings of St. Augustine, for me, one quote stands out from the rest: ‘Love and do what you will.’ 

What a best way to summarize Christian faith! The ‘permissible sense’ that one can deduct from the second part of the sentence remains crippled by the word that precedes it. St. Augustine has so worded the sentence that much to the chagrin of the one who is lured by the seeming permissiveness to ‘unconditional anything,’ love commands obedience to its attendant virtues.  

For me, the dual possibility of the statement is just amazing!

 1. Love can liberate us to virtues. With love, only what the virtue inspires becomes possible. Whatever is contra to love is no option. A person of love can only be compassionate, forgiving, charitable, kind, hospitable, inclusive, etc. In short, one who is engulfed by it is lost in it. A happy loss!

2. Love can cripple us to vices. Just as it can liberate us to virtues, love, by what it symbolizes, cripples us to vice. That one word makes impossible what the ‘do what you will’ seems to permit. It is as if St. Augustine sets up a booby trap in order that only love explodes and it explodes into many other virtues.