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GEMS
FROM SAINT AUGUSTINE
Saint
Augustine (354-430), one of the Fathers of the Church, Bishop of
Hippo, and one of the most outstanding personages of Early Christian
Thought was prolific writer, and defender of the Catholic Church. In
many writings, he mentioned the Catholic Church by name, more than
300 times. His capital work, "Confessions" is a 13 volume
series considered to be among the greatest writings of all time -
addressed entirely to GOD. Although he is quoted both by Catholics
and non-Catholics alike, the samplings shown here, would serve as an
admonition - if I were a non-Catholic, and determined to remain one -
I would never quote from him. These 'gems' from St. Augustine are
from The Catholic Treasure Chest by B. Stanley, this selection is
edited by the Rev. Msgr. Keith P. Steinhurst, P.A.
"We
must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her
Church which is Catholic, and which is called Catholic not only by
her members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the
adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with
strangers, willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For
they would not be understood unless they distinguish her by this name
which the whole world employs in her regard." The True Religion,
7,12, 397 A.D.
"This
Church is Holy, the One Church, the True Church, the Catholic
Church, fighting as she does against all heresies. She can fight, but
she cannot be beaten. All heresies are expelled from her, like the
useless loppings pruned from a vine. She remains fixed in her root,
in her vine, in her love. The gates of hell shall not conquer
her." Sermon to Catechumens, on the Creed, 6,14, 395 A.D.
"But
in regard to those observances which we carefully attend and which
the whole world keeps, and which derive not from Scripture but from
tradition, we are given to understand that they are recommended and
ordained to be kept either by the Apostles themselves or by plenary
Councils, the authority of which is quite vital to the Church."
Letter to Januarius 54,1,1, 400 A.D.
"I
believe that this practice comes from apostolic tradition, just as
so many other practices not found in their writings nor in the
councils of their successors, but which, because they are kept by the
whole Church everywhere, are believed to have been commended and
handed down by the Apostles themselves." Baptism 1,12,20, 400 A.D.
"Before
His suffering the Lord Jesus Christ, as you know, chose His
disciples, whom He called Apostles. Among these Apostles almost
everywhere Peter alone merited to represent the whole Church. For the
sake of his representing the whole Church, which he alone could do,
he merited to hear, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven
(Matt 16:19)." Sermons 295,2, 391 A.D.
"What
they found in the Church they kept; what they learned, they taught;
what they received from the fathers, they handed on to the sons."
Against Julian, 2,10,33, 421 A.D.
"Since
by Christ's favor we are Catholic Christians:" Letter to
Vitalis, 217,5,16, 427 A.D.
"By
the same word, by the same Sacrament you were born, but you will not
come to the same inheritance of eternal life, unless you return to
the Catholic Church." Sermons, 3, 391 A.D.
"Tell
us straight out that you do not believe in the Gospel of Christ; for
you believe what you want in the Gospel and disbelieve what you want.
You believe in yourself rather than in the Gospel." Against
Faustus, 17, 3, 400 A.D.
"Do
you claim to be strong? You will be beaten by beasts. Do you claim
speed? Flies are faster. Do you claim beauty? What great beauty there
is in a peafowl's feathers. How are you better, then, than these? By
the image of GOD. And where is GOD's image? In your mind, in your
intellect." Homilies on the Gospel of John, 3,4, 416 A.D.
"Adam
sleeps that Eve may be formed; Christ dies that the Church may be
formed. Eve is formed from the side of the sleeping Adam; the side of
the dead Christ is pierced by the lance, so that the Sacraments may
flow out, of which the Church is formed." Homilies on the Gospel
of John, 9,10, 416 A.D.
"What
the soul is to man's body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ,
which is the Church. The Holy Spirit does in the whole Church what
the soul does in all members of one body. But see what you must
beware of, see what you must take note of, see what you must fear. It
happens that in the human body, or rather, off the body, some member,
whether hand, finger, or foot, may be cut away. And if a member be
cut off, does the soul go with it? When the member was in the body,
it lived; and off, its life is lost. So too, a Christian man is
Catholic while he lives in the body; cut off, he is made a heretic;
the Spirit does not follow an amputated member." Sermons, 267,
4, 391-430 A.D.
"Let
us not listen to those who deny that the Church of GOD is able to
forgive all sins. They are wretched indeed, because they do not
recognize in Peter the rock and they refuse to believe that the keys
of the kingdom of heaven, lost from their own hands, have been given
to the Church." Christian Combat 31,33, 396 A.D.
"If
you want GOD to forgive, you must confess. Sin cannot go unpunished.
It were seemingly, improper, and unjust for sin to go unpunished.
Since, therefore, sin must not go unpunished, let it be punished by
you, lest you be punished for it. Let your sin have you for its
judge, not its patron. Go up and take the bench against yourself, and
put the guilt before yourself. Do not put it behind you, or GOD will
put it in front of you." Sermons, 20,2, 410 A.D.
"The
Catholic Church is the work of Divine Providence, achieved through
the prophecies of the prophets, through the Incarnation and the
teaching of Christ, through the journeys of the Apostles, through the
suffering, the crosses, the blood and the death of the martyrs,
through the admirable lives of the saints. When, then, we see so much
help on God's part, so much progress and so much fruit, shall we
hesitate to bury ourselves in the bosom of that Church? For starting
from the Apostolic Chair down through successions of bishops, even
unto the open confession of all mankind, it has possessed the crown
of teaching authority." The Advantage of Believing, 391 A.D.
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