Fr. Ryan Lerner, Chaplain
As we lace up for the start of a new academic year, we do so on the feast day of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. One of the greatest minds in western civilization, Augustine’s sublime treatises on the Blessed Trinity, love, virtue, the sacraments, scripture, human society, justice, and the role of the state, continue to inspire us. They are relevant and applicable onto this very day. St. Augustine was a wise, compassionate, and courageous shepherd, a unifier and reconciler, and is an awesome patron saint for all of us—especially students.
But before he became the great bishop, saint, and Doctor of the Church whom we celebrate today, he was Augustine—a brilliant young man, full of potential, yet broken. His early life was marked by intellectual confusion, immorality, and sensual excess. He sought truth, love, meaning, and fulfillment in all the wrong places. Augustine experienced a restlessness and sickness of soul that almost destroyed him, if not for the grace and mercy of God, and the prayers, persistence, and unconditional love of his mother, St. Monica (whose feast we celebrated yesterday).
St. Augustine’s profound story of conversion is captured in his spiritual masterpiece, The Confessions, which every Christian should read at least once in their lifetime. It is a powerful, personal account of how God pursues each of us, even when we run from Him. Augustine famously wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” So true. We were made for God, and our restless hearts will wander endlessly if we try to fill that space with anything less than God. In Book VI of The Confessions, Augustine prayed:
“Behold, Thou art at hand, deliverest us from our wretched wanderings,
and placest us in Thy way, and dost comfort us, and say, “run, I will carry
you, yea I will bring you through.”
I think each of us can relate to St. Augustine, and I believe that each of us knows someone like Augustine—someone with tremendous potential who may be wandering or struggling in their own search for truth and meaning. And following the example of Saint Monica, we must pray for the Augustine’s in our lives, love them, and be a steady witness to Christ – confident, that with the help of God’s grace, we might plant seeds in the hearts of those God has entrusted to our care or friendship.
As we begin this new academic year, many of us will feel that restlessness—whether it’s the challenges that lie before us, the weight of our many responsibilities, our desire to do our best and to excel in all our endeavors. Let’s take a moment today, and each day, to bring our restless hearts to God and rest in Him, knowing that God alone can give us the peace we seek. As we hit the ground running, let’s remember that we are not running alone. God is with us every step of the way, ready to carry us when we can’t carry ourselves, and guiding us as we learn and grow this year.
Godspeed.
