In today's first reading, 1 Thes 2: 9-13, St. Paul exhorts and encourages the Thessalonians to "walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory!" "The word of God," which St.Paul preached, "is...at work in [those hearers] who believe," then and now!
Like the Thessalonians, you and I are also called to enter God's Kingdom and glory. We received that call at our baptisms. St. Paul asks us to "walk in a manner worthy of... God." Who, we might ask ourselves, comes to our mind when we think of someone who walks in a way worthy of God? In today's feast, that of St. Augustine, we are given an example of two persons--St. Augustine himself and his mother, St. Monica. Both walked worthily of their calling to enter God's Kingdom and glory.
"Walking in a manner worthy of the God who calls us into his Kingdom and glory" does not, obviously, mean always living an exemplary life! It does mean, however, turning from evil and choosing good, which St. Augustine did! Before his conversion, St. Augustine's life was anything but saintly. And some aspects of his life following his conversion have also been difficult to swallow, so to speak, namely, his use of "force to compel orthodoxy; his tendency to disdain sexuality, the body, and women's body, in particular" (Ellsberg, Robert, All Saint, the Crossroad Publishing Company, New York, 2004, p.372) taint his saintliness.
However, if Saint Augustine can turn from evil and do good, so, too, can you and I! Sinners, we all are! We are on a journey of faith, knowing that the "word of God is at work in those who believe." Isaiah tells us that God's Word does not return to God until it has done the work God sent it to do, that is, to turn our hearts from evil to good and to deepen our intimacy with the Lord. God waited for Augustine to turn to that which truly saves, God himself who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God-substitutes do not work!
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