By Christina Bagaglio Slentz
The restless life journey of Saint Augustine is a story of “fits and starts,” moving ever closer to God and reflecting the Augustinian values of unity, truth and charitable love. Augustine’s path to conversion, however, is by no means “pretty” and should give us all hope that we, too—in spite of all our imperfections—might someday attain greatness if we only dare to trust in our God-graced capacity to become what we are not yet.
While many are familiar with Augustine’s notorious pre-conversion life of wine, women and a song of irresistible temptation, as well as his (truly) saintly mother’s best efforts to pray him into salvation, the influential role of creation in his faith formation is lesser known but arguably positions Augustine as an excellent candidate for patron saint of climate-deniers-turned-eco-spiritualists.
You see, as a brilliant academic, Augustine was inherently skeptical, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Rather, his desperate search for truth and propensity for critical questioning doggedly propelled him forward, fueled by blessedly high expectations and an insatiable demand for well-reasoned explanation. Like many skeptics, Augustine’s dissatisfaction with the en vogue belief systems of the day was born of his innermost desire to believe; he profoundly yearned for satisfactory answers that would bring him peace.
The only thing holding him back was Augustine, himself.
As Augustine did, turn your heart to eco-spirituality during this Season of Creation
In spite of his growing awareness of the truth of Christianity, Augustine quite openly admitted his unwillingness to concede to a key tenet of faith, praying to the Lord: “Give me chastity and continence, but not yet!”. Addicted to the consumption of pleasure, Augustine was blinded from seeing the joy of becoming an adherent to what he increasingly suspected to be the truth he sought.
Buoyed by the fellowship of companion converts —aren’t we all?— Augustine “got by with a little help from his friends” and a mysterious childlike voice, which he heard at a moment of profound crisis, drawing him to a line of Scripture from St. Paul that admonished precisely the waywardness to which Augustine had clung and encouraged, rather, a life in Jesus Christ.
Augustine surrendered.
After his conversion and ordination, Augustine delved deeply into the study of creation, taking both literal as well as allegorical approaches to his interpretation of the book of Genesis. Through his scriptural analysis and observations of the world, Augustine expanded his understanding of God, the Trinity, time, the relationship between heaven and earth, and God’s intention for humanity.
Having recognized God as existing outside of time and therefore unchanging, Augustine concluded time is born of earthly change, which unfolds as a result of seminal seeds planted in our world at the beginning of creation, subsequently yielding opportunity for our growth, development and transformation. In this gift of time, we are invited to see, believe, and become more like God.
As Augustine attributes creation to the will of God —a chosen act and out of goodness— this gift and invitation reflect God’s love for us and desire for us to respond with love in return. This eco-spiritual positioning of creation at center in the dynamics of a loving relationship with God suggests once Augustine abandoned his self-centered view of a “good life”, he was free to see true goodness in all that surrounded him, materially and spiritually, and to respond to God’s loving call for relationship and communion.
Follow the steps of St. Augustine in this Season of Creation
Similarly, when we liberate ourselves from consumptive pleasures that obscure our full view of the Risen Christ in everything around us, we find unending peace in our spiritual interconnectedness with all of creation and escape the restless, endless pursuit of short-lived earthly reward. Therefore, those struggling with skepticism of human-caused environmental devastation, blocked from seeing the truth for the sake of their own addiction to consumption and material comfort might find in Augustine a role model for the promise of eco-conversion and transformation.
For the times we choose not to see our Risen Lord in all of creation and fail to live in unity with our brothers and sisters of our common home, Saint Augustine, pray for us!