Confessions

Hello, brothers.

Before I give you some encouragement from Confessions by Saint Augustine, I wanted to introduce him, we all know him by name, and many stories have been shared. How much do we know about his life, personally?

I’ll keep this bit short and sweet, I’m fascinated by him, and his life. I think a lot of young men are, for obvious reasons.

Saint Augustine was born in 354, in Thagaste, Algeria. He was born to a Christian mother (Saint Monica), and a pagan father. He converted roughly around 386 AD, at the age of 31, in Milan. He was baptised by Bishop Ambrose, in around 387 AD.

Like a lot of young men, he struggled with things of this world, and a very good quote, well known, too, comes from Confessions. The quote reads: “I had prayed to you for chastity and said ‘Give me chastity and continence, but not yet’. For I was afraid you would answer my prayer at once and cure me too soon of the disease of lust, which I wanted satisfied, not quelled”. This quote shows St Augustine of Hippo’s struggle with lust. He was torn, divided in wills, the want to be released, but equally, the want to remain in this sin for a little longer. Augustine was saying: "Yes, Lord, transform me—but let me have a little more time with my passions first.". This is something all of us have struggled with at some point. It can be any sin, that pulls us away from God. Saint Augustine was no different. Easy for us to say when we’re not in this state, but no sin is worth being taken away from God, no matter how good or fun it feels at the time. It is humbling to see a Saint struggle with the same things as us, and I hope encourages us all to remember that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future (this is also attributed to him, but unsure of the source currently!).

Saint Augustine, pray for us!

God bless you all, may the Lord guide our steps, hearts and minds to let go of anything stopping us from saying “Yes!” to Him.