Happy St. Augustine's Day!

Here’s a look at 15 Augustine quotes that have helped shape modern Christian thought.

On a Reading Scripture

The Bible was composed in such a way that as beginners mature, its meaning grows with them. - Confessions

On the Self-Reflection

Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought. - Confessions

On Prestige in Ministry

No man can be a good bishop if he loves his title but not his task. – City of God

On Serving Those in Need

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.

On Time

For You [God] are infinite and never change. In You, 'today' never comes to an end: and yet our 'today' does come to an end in You, because time, as well as everything else, exists in You. If it did not, it would have no means of passing. And since Your years never come to an end, for You they are simply 'today'... You yourself are eternally the same. In Your 'today' You will make all that is to exist tomorrow and thereafter, and in Your 'today' You have made all that existed yesterday and forever before. - Confessions

On Not Self-Editing the Bible

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. - Sermons

On Science and the Supernatural

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature. – sourced in The Westminster Collection of Christian Quotations

On Being Open to New Interpretations of Scripture

In matters that are obscure and far beyond our vision, even in such as we may find treated in Holy Scripture, different Interpretations are sometimes possible without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such a case, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search of truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it. That would be to battle not for the teaching of Holy Scripture but for our own, wishing its teaching to conform to ours, whereas we ought to wish ours to conform to that of Sacred Scripture. - Genesi Ad Litteram

Read more at http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/15-augustine-quotes-helped-shape-modern-christian-thought#UoVCD1De0sTYQHPb.99

Congratulations Taylor on your 1st Communion today! I love you, and I'm so proud of you. Love, Mom:)

The Spendor of Heaven's Presence in the Tabernacle

 

 

 

 

            Jesus says: “If you could only see My splendor in the tabernacle... My power and My tenderness and the guard of honor formed by My hosts of angels burning with zeal. What reverence, what a sense of nothingness you would feel! (...) You would see the utter unimportance of everything that is not love. You would realize too, that nothing could possibly give you more joy than to give Me joy. And you could no longer cease to gaze on Me and on Me alone. For I am all attractiveness. I am Charm and the Charmer. I am Heaven itself.

            Heaven is inside the tabernacle. Adore with all the heavenly hosts. Love with them. Sing. Praise. Never can you overdo it, since all you have is what I have given you and all My merits are yours for the taking.

            Do you know about My merits? Only the Father knows them all. And do you realize that if it were necessary I would begin all over again? Find a new way of praising Me every day. Keep on exploring My hidden treasures. You can never come to the end of them. Discover, discover, until fires undreamed of are kindled within you, and you will say, 'It was you, Lord. How blind I was! The best of me is always You.'

            And while you are talking to Me, I'll continue to heap blessings upon you, for My heart is filled with them, and to give eases it of its burden. It takes a mere nothing from you to make it overflow. If you only knew! My poor little ones, wake up to your power over Me. Get to know Me a little better. Stammer out your words of love. I'll complete them. You've seen the great sun dancing in tiny mirrors? Who can bear its dazzling brilliance? But what is a mirror without the sun?

 

 

***Message of Jesus given to Gabrielle Bossis in France on June 25, 1942.

Imprimatur: Msgr. Jean-Marie Fortier, Archbishop of Sherbrooke, November 14, 1969***

A great Article about the Assumption of Mary:

Mary was assumed into heaven.

 

 It’s one of the more difficult teachings for converts to grasp. But there are ways to approach the Assumption so that non-Catholics may come to believe.

 

 In 1995, I wrote an article for Protestant newspapers called “Trends in Christian Fiction” which considered the possibility that a Christian fiction book might hit the New York Times Bestseller List. I traveled to key Protestant publishers — Tyndale, Crossway, Moody, Victor and Bethany House — to interview editors. The publishers handed me galleys, and they all believed their books had that crossover appeal. Only one actually did. Left Behind was on the publishing turnpike back then, and it was among the galleys I brought home with me after that Chicago-Minneapolis trip. Tyndale released the book within six months of my visit, and the book (and subsequent series) was a huge success.

 

 Nicholas Cage and Lea Thompson star in a screen adaptation of that book. The movie opens Oct. 3. So the Left Behind craze continues.

 

 I have one question.

 

 And it isn’t about whether or not the idea of Rapture is biblical. My question has nothing to do with Christians disappearing when Christ returns. I’m not going to take the time to explain why Catholic teaching on eschatological things is solid and Left Behind theology is Hollywood science fiction.

 

 No. I’m pondering something else.

 

 Why is it so easy for people to believe that Jesus Christ will return and “rapture” those who love Him, leaving behind the rest of the world, but those same people find it impossible to believe that Jesus Christ came for His mother and assumed her, body and soul, into heaven?

 

 Why is that harder to believe?

 

 When I ponder the glorious Assumption of Mary into Heaven, I have to smile. It fits. It makes sense. A perfect and loving son would do that if he could.  A divine Son did do it because He could.

 

 Jesus Christ looked upon His mother, and Love broke through the veil.

 

 Jesus, the perfect Son of God, would not let His mother’s body know corruption. Not this mother who was so carefully created — so immaculately formed.

 

 In May, I traveled to the Holy Land. We visited many places, but one place that stands out in my mind is Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion (Jerusalem)

 

 Let me take you there for just a moment. Step with me into the Tomb of King David. Let’s pray there, together. Let’s think of David’s descendent, the Christ, who was given an eternal throne.

 

 Now, let me lead you just a few steps from the place where David is buried. There, you will find the doors to Dormition Abbey. According to tradition, Mary fell asleep and was assumed into heaven here.

 

 There is a place in Ephesus that also makes this claim, but many Catholic sources say Mount Zion is more likely. And I agree.

 

 The one who is Daughter Zion and mother of David’s eternal heir should end her earthly life here — and be visited by the Lord who lovingly laid claim to His mother — right here.

Come to me, my beloved mother. Come and see the place I have prepared.

 

 With angelic shouts and trumpet blast, she was raised and crowned Queen. Earth was silent. But heaven erupted with great jubilation.

 

 Why is it so easy to imagine a silly story about Jesus coming to Earth and Christians across the world disappearing? Airplanes crashing as pilots disappear into thin air. Cars crashing as drivers disappear. Students leaving behind open books and laptops? Why is that easier to imagine, but Mary’s Assumption seems far-fetched?

 

 I stood in the crypt of Dormition Abbey. I thought of King David’s bones which were just a few steps away. And yet, in this crypt, there are no bones. Mary is not here. And nobody has claimed to have Mary’s remains. Why? Because there are no remains.

 

 In fact, the disagreement about a possible site for the Assumption exists because there are no bones to settle the matter. The dueling claim underscores the reality of the Assumption. She is not here — or there!

 

 Yes, Jesus Christ will return again. And He will raise the living and the dead. It won’t follow the plotline of a Hollywood thriller. But there is precedent for our rising to meet the Lord. Although Mary’s Assumption is unique, the One who assumed His own mother will return — for us. The dead in Christ will be raised to new life. But the unfaithful won’t be left behind — although they probably will wish they had been left. Earth is preferable to eternal separation from God. The Bible tells us we will be divided — the faithful going one way, the unfaithful another.

 

 Leave the Left Behind hoopla in Hollywood.

 

 Turn your eyes to the Holy Land, or Ephesus, or even toward heaven. And celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What Jesus did for Mary — in a unique and special way — gives us hope that one day Christ will return. So let’s model our lives after the Blessed Mother — remaining faithful until the end.

 

By Denise Bossert

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