Theow

• St. Augustine of Hippo: '"Too late I have loved You, O Beauty so ancient, yet ever new… You were with me, but I was not with you… You touched me, and I burned for Your peace."'
• His father's name is Patricius, and his mother, Monica
• His siblings are Navigius and Perpetua
• He was born on November 13, 354 in Thagaste (modern day Souk Ahras, Algeria). There he received his early education
• He met a woman, whom she never named. They had a son and his son's name is Adeodatus, meaning God-given, a gift from God
• Manichaeism


  A type of Gnosticism that teaches the world is evil, and that knowledge is the only way to salvation
• St. Augustine's conversion


  1. Left Manichaeism

  2. Slowly embraced Christianity

  3. Bonded by sexual pleasures, he was in agony

  4. Prayed Psalm 13: How long, O Lord?

  5. Heard a child's voice singing tolle lege, tolle lege (take up and read)

  6. Drawn to Rom. 13:13-14

  7. Turned away from sin and was baptized
• St. Monica prayed fervently for her son's conversion
• Between April 24-25, 387 A.D., he was baptized by St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan
• In 391 A.D., Valerius ordained St. Augustine to the priesthood
• He became the Bishop of Hippo, modern day Annaba, Algeria
• St. Augustine countered Pelagianism, that denied original sin and the need for God's saving grace, that human effort is necessary to be saved
• Evil

  The absence of good, the absence of God
• St. Augustine: '"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind… You shall love your neighbor as yourself."'
• Christian love


  Love for God, for one's neighbor and for one's self
• Cupiditas


  Clings to worldly things
• Caritas


  Love that leads to good and to God
• Love must be directed towards the right object, God. All our loves must be rooted on our love for God
• We must love uninterestedly and uninterestedly, without expecting something in return
• Extending compassion and kindness are also a form of love
• Philia


  The Greek word for friendship
• Amicitia


  The Latin word for friendship
• Friendship rooted in the Christian faith

  • The highest manifestation of love for neighbor
  • Mutual correction and rebuke is part of Christian friendship
  • Concordia is an essential element of friendship, being of one heart
  • Benevolence is characteristic of friendship. It is wishing the salvation of our friends; bringing friends to God
  • Friendship must be based on TRUTH and ACCEPTANCE of strengths and weaknesses
• St. Augustine: '"The eyes of friendship neither look down nor look up to a friend; they look at the friend."'
• 1 John 4:7-8: 'Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.'
• Fraternal correction


  To correct someone or one's friend from wrongdoing is an act of charity or love
• Everyone has to be helped by others to attain their goal, because no-one can see themselves objectively, nor is it easy to recognize one's own faults
• 1 Corinthians 6:19: '"Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit."'
• Augustine's view on the union of the body and the soul

  There is a natural relationship between the body and the soul, similar to that of marriage!
• For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church (Eph 5:29)
• Augustine's view on the source of evil

  The source of evil is not matter or the human body but a movement of free will
• Augustine's view on sin and the rupture of the union of the body and the soul

  • All human sin and suffering is a result of the fracturing of the original unity and harmony of creation, "a gaping fissure between body and soul caused by the pride of the soul"
  • Loss of union between the human person and God's Spirit = disintegration of the body and soul (sickness, post-fall sex, and death)
• Augustine's view on sex


  • The human body and sexuality originally belonged to paradise
  • The original purpose of intercourse in marriage is the procreation of children
  • Three goods of marriage: (1) offspring, (2) fidelity, and (3) the sacramental bond
  • Concupiscence of marriage (for the purpose of having children) is not the same as the disordered or indiscriminate desire for intercourse
  • What is evil and the effect of original sin is how the human desire for sex (cf. animal instinct) impinges on the mind and asserts itself apart from any assent of the will
• Chastity


  • Includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom
  • Christ is the model of chastity. Every baptized person is called to lead a chaste life, each according to his particular state of life
  • Man and woman are equally created in the image and likeness of the personal God
  • Chastity means the integration of sexuality within the person. It includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery
• Qualities of chastity


  • Self-Mastery – Allows us to be free
  • Chastity – Fulfill our baptismal promises and resist sexual temptations
  • Patience - self-mastery requires discipline and much effort
• Violations of chastity


  • Concupiscence – intense form of human desire and particularly targeted by 9th commandment
  • Lust – craving for sexual gratification
  • Masturbation – erotic stimulation of genital organs achieved by means other than sexual intercourse
  • Fornication – Sexual intercourse between an unmarried man and unmarried woman
  • Pornography – Display of erotic behavior in written and pictorial form
  • Prostitution – the practice or the act of engaging in sexual relation for money
• God created man in his own image, in the image of God, He created him (Genesis 1:27)
• Free will


  In creating man, God bestowed on man free will, the power to choose. Yet, being lesser in perfection than God, man can use his or her will for or against God, to disobey Him
• Sin


  An act of pride, man seeing himself as equal to God, and act of disobedience to God's laws. Because of the disobedience of our first parents, humanity became wounded or became inclined to evil and sin
• Fallen person


  Our tendency to disobey God, to do harm towards ourselves, others and the world