THE WORD
Jer 15,10.16-21 / Mt 13,44-46
The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in the field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of a great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
IN OTHER WORDS
Fr. Jose Vicente Braganza SVD, our former novice master and philosophy teacher, told us repeatedly, “In order to be known, one must be either a great thinker or a great lover.” For St. Augustine, however, it was not a case of “either/or,” but of “both/and.” Yet the way to greatness was not easy.
In his youth St. Augustine searched for what was really precious and lasting. For truth he delved into philosophies which were enticing but dangerous. For beauty that he could love passionately and for always, he sank into a dissolute life. Yet, while he was “sowing his wild oats” he felt an immense abyss in his life, a yearning so intense that more than once he exclaimed, “I was in misery, and misery is the state of every soul overcome by friendship with mortal things and lacerated when they are lost…Thou hast made our hearts for Thee, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”(Confessions)
He was fortunate to have a mother who, borne by her faith in God and love for her son, prayed earnestly and shed tears copiously for so many years. By the grace of God and through the unwavering faith of a loving mother the son received the blessing of a true conversion.
When he finally saw the light, St. Augustine gloriously proclaimed as one who had discovered at
last “the treasure buried in a field”, “Late have I known Thee, O Beauty ever ancient yet ever new, late have I known Thee.”(Confessions)
The world has been truly blest with the gift of a St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, who—in the words of Fr. Braganza—was an extremely great thinker and equally a passionate lover of the
Beauty that is truly divine.
- Fr. Florencio Lagura, SVD | U.S.A
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience. The Word in other words 2016
