Today is the memorial of St. Augustine of Hippo. His Confessions alone enriched the lives of many Christians - He is mentioned in this website of saints here.The Catholic Encyclopedia wrote about him here. Years ago I wrote how St. Augustine interpreted the Parable of the Good Samaritan here...A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho; Adam himself is meant; Jerusalem is the heavenly city of peace, from whose blessedness Adam fell; Jericho means the moon, and signifies our mortality, because it is born, waxes, wanes, an dies; Thieves are the devil and his angels who stripped him, namely; of his immortality; and beat him, by persuading him to sin; and left him half-dead, because in so far as man can understand and know God, he lives, but in so far as he is wasted and oppressed by sin, he is dead; he is therefore called half-dead. The priest and the Levite who saw him and passed by, signify the priesthood and ministry of the Old Testament which could profit nothing for salvation. Samaritan means Guardian, and therefore the Lord Himself is signified by this name. The binding of the wounds is the restraint of sin. Oil is the comfort of good hope; wine the exhortation to work with fervent spirit. The beast is the flesh in which He deigned to come to us. The being set upon the beast is belief in the incarnation of Christ. The inn is the Church, where travelers returning to their heavenly country are refreshed after pilgrimage.
Probably the most cherished words on the degrees of love of God come from St. Bernard of Clairvaux; the great French abbot who lived in the 12th century and was a leader in the reform of the Church. St.Bernard wrote his much-loved "The Four Types of Love" that Christians experience as they grow in their relationship with God - They can be read here.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Can we interpret these words of the Lord for us weak humans of today?
It is not up to me to judge anyone. However, I know that I have been blessed by God since I was in the womb of my mother. In her first heavy pregnancy my mother made a vow to Saint George that she would name her first son after him while my dad who wanted to bring the memory of his dad, as per tradition, decided to name his first son after his dad. Surprisingly God brought a twin to the home: the first was called after his dad "Chaker" - "Shaker" in English and the second was named George (me).
For my health problems that started in 1986, I wrote a post in July 2008 here, followed by another post on June 16, 2019 here.
Today, I recognize the miracles that the Lord my saviour has been carrying me through. He knows that as we get older, we need Him more. In fact I believe that my health problems helped three close persons suffer for me in my life: my mother of blessed memory; my mother-in-law of blessed memory; and my wife...Suffering is not limited to them but it is the way that I believe God gets us to be close to each other as we are inter-related, and through His love "May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:2-4). The above is possibly applied to every person that seriously seeks to know God the Merciful and Generous Father of all (here)...
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