Journeying With The Saints

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. We are starting to wind down this Book, so some of what we are going to read about is St. Augustine summarizing a little bit, the path that he took purge away a lot of sins. The reflection may not be suitable for young ears.  Let's read from Book Ten, Chapter Forty on page 248.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you for joining me today. We have another short reading on the temptation to be self-complacent.    Please open to page 248 to read from Book Ten, Chapter Thirty-Nine. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. After a few days of longer readings, today is very short. It's a continuation of yesterday's reading on the praise of men.    Let's open to page 247 to read from Book Ten, Chapter Thirty-Eight. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Why do we like the praises of men so much? I think it's because we are communal beings and we desire to belong. St. Augustine is going to talk more about how hard it is to let go of desiring the praises of men.    Let's open to Book Ten, Chapter Thirty-Seven on page 245.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. To be feared or loved by men. I think it's something that we all struggle with in some capacity.    Let's hear what St. Augustine has to say about it by reading from Book Ten, Chapter Thirty-Six on page 244. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. What is the sin of curiosity? Aren't we supposed to be curious? Well, let's see what St. Augustine has to say.    Please open to page 241 where we will be reading from Book Ten, Chapter Thirty-Five.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today is about our eyes and our sight. Our discussion afterwards will not be kid appropriate, just as a head's up.    We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Thirty-Four on page 239.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We are going to hear a lot about music today in our reading. Everyone has an opinion on music, so let's see what St. Augustine has to say.    Please open to page 238 to read from Book Ten, Chapter Thirty-Three. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you for joining me today. We have a short reading today on page 237, reading from Book Ten, Chapter Thirty-Two. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Do you like to eat? I bet you do. And I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I do, too. Today's reading is all about gluttony.  So, grab your books and open to page 234 to read from Book Ten, Chapter Thirty-One. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, St. Augustine is going to be talking more about overcoming his lustful ways, so I would caution about having young ears in the vicinity.    We must talk about these things, because they are real struggles and to ignore them is not helpful. We all know someone that struggles with lust.    So, let's turn to Book Ten, Chapter Thirty on page 233.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have another bite-sized reading today. Today's reading isn't too adult in theme, but I would maybe caution listening around young ears.    Let's open our books to page 233 and read from Book Ten, Chapter Twenty-Nine. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. How is your day going? It is crazy windy here and has been for days and, frankly, I'm tired of it.  Wind or no wind, we must carry on. We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter 28 on page 232.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, we get to hear a short reading about one of the transcendentals—beauty.  Let's open to Book Ten, Chapter Twenty-Seven on page 231.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome to another short reading today.  Let's open to page 231 and read from Book Ten, Chapter Twenty-Six. 

Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims. St. Augustine basically asks the question I asked yesterday. Where in the memory is God? How is the understanding of Him stored? Let's hear about that on page 230, reading from Book Ten, Chapter Twenty-Five.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back. Another very short reading today.  Let's open to page 230 and read from Book Ten, Chapter Twenty-Four.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. If there is any chapter to take and use it as a litmus test for our culture, this is the chapter. I'm anxious to get into it, so let's open to Book Ten, Chapter 23 on page 229.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a very short reading today that is a continuation of yesterday's reading.  We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Twenty-Two on page 228.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back. Can people really find joy in shameful things? Some will say that they can, but we'll discuss on the other side of our reading.  We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Twenty-One on page 227. Reading of "Hint of an Explanation" by Graham Greene

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, we are finally getting a glimpse into why St. Augustine has been talking so much about memory today. He's going to touch on happiness and how it is that we know what that is. Is it stored in our memory? It's a very very interesting reading and I think you're going to enjoy hearing his insights. We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Twenty on page 226.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you for joining me today.  We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Nineteen on page 225.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Very short reading today on lost things.  We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Eighteen on page 224. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. I hope all is going well out there for you and I hope that you are enjoying this book. I know I am and I'm so happy that we are reading it this season.  Let's get going and open to page 223 and read from Book Ten, Chapter Seventeen. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you for joining me today.  St. Augustine is still contemplating memories and he is really thinking hard on all of this. I'm curious to see where he is headed with this in depth analysis of memories, but I do trust that he is going somewhere.  We are reading today from Book Ten, Chapter Sixteen on page 222.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Super short reading today, where St. Augustine is basically just going to summarize all that he's been talking about with regards to memory.  Since there isn't much new here to cover, we will just read and leave it there for today.  We will be reading from Book Ten, Chapter Fifteen on page 221.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, welcome back. Today is all about feelings held in our memory and I think you'll find it very interesting.  We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Fourteen on page 220.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have another super short reading today, which we will get right into.  Please open to page 219 to read from Book Ten, Chapter Thirteen. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Who likes math? You? Me? No, I'm not that big of a fan. My husband? Loves it. He loves numbers and greek letters and equations and all that math-y stuff.  We have a short reading today where St. Augustine talks about numbers.  Our reading is from Book Ten, Chapter Twelve on page 219.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome. Today, St. Augustine will expound more on the amazing abilities of humans. Our ability to hear sounds, that form words, and understand that those words have meaning is truly remarkable.  We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Ten on page 217.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have another interesting reading on memory again, focused primarily on having to re-learn things that we've neglected to think about for a time.  We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Eleven on page 218.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We are hearing more about the incredible things our minds can do. This is important, because it shows the faculties that God gives us in order to help us come to know and understand Him, at least in some small way.  We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Nine on page 216.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. In continuation of yesterday, St. Augustine is going to be talking about how we humans have the amazing ability to hold things in our memory.  Have you ever thought about how fascinating it is that we have memories? Well, if you haven't thought about, you will after this reading.  We are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Eight on page 214. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a short reading today and we will go ahead and jump right in.  Please open to Book Ten, Chapter Seven on page 213. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. What does it mean to love God? We will discuss this after our reading.  Please open to page 211 where we are reading from Book Ten, Chapter Six. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome.  We have a short reading today all about self-knowledge.  Let's open to Book Ten, Chapter 5 on page 210.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. I hope you are having a good day out there.  We are going to head right into the readings by opening to page 209 and reading from Book Ten, Chapter Four.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Can our conversion story help others? Sure it can. I have no doubt that St. Augustine's confessions have helped countless people. But, we aren't required to share it.  Let's read from Book Ten, Chapter Three on page 208. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, welcome back. Confession, confession, confession. That is our topic today.  Let's open to Book Ten, Chapter Two on page 207.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to Book Ten. If you have the reading schedule for this book that I made, you will see that Book Ten has 43 chapters. That may seem daunting, but most of the chapters are very short.  You've made it more than halfway, so just realize that you've come a great distance with this book, probably farther than most. So, I thank you for continuing on with me.  From here on out, we are going to be a lot of teaching from St. Augustine. That's important, because I think we need to see how far he comes in his understanding of God and the Catholic Faith. For the most part, it will all be in digestible pieces that I don't think will overwhelm.  With that said, let's read our very short chapter today by opening to Book Ten, Chapter One on page 207. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to the last reading from Book Nine. This has been a full book: We've had the baptism of St. Augustine, he quits his job, his mother gets sick right before leaving for Africa, and then she dies.  Our reading today is the prayer of a son praying for his mom's soul, it's a beautiful reading.  Go ahead and open to page 203 where we will read from Book Nine, Chapter Thirteen. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you for joining me. We have a longer reading today where we will hear about how St. Augustine is trying to hold it together after his mother's death.  There will be a part in Latin that is an evening prayer written by St. Ambrose. Instead of me stumbling through it, I will play it being sung by a choir at a Benedictine Abbey in Germany. They do a much better job that I could ever do.  With that, let's read from Book Nine, Chapter Twelve on page 200. Sung Ambrose Evening Hymn:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjzwxCy-ksk

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, we will be at the deathbed of St. Monica as she declares her wishes to her sons. Yes, I said sons. We will be introduced to St. Augustine's brother.  We are reading from Book Nine, Chapter Eleven on page 199. Article on the Basilica of St. Augustine https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/praying-at-the-tomb-of-st-monica/

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, we have an endearing moment between St. Augustine and his mom. Let's hear what they are talking about as we read from Book Nine, Chapter Ten on page 196. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We are going to hear more about St. Monica's good virtues today and there's lots to talk about, so let's get started.  We are reading from Book Nine, Chapter Nine on page 194.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a sad reading today, as we will hear that St. Monica has passed away.  We are reading from Book Nine, Chapter Eight on page 192. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, welcome back. Today, in our reading, it's almost like St. Augustine is just gushing with all the news of the day. We are going to get all kinds of information about what is going on in the Christian world of Milan. I think you'll find it very interesting.  We are reading from Book Nine, Chapter Seven on page 191.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today is the day when we read about St. Augustine baptism. We are also going to hear about Adeodatus, St. Augustine's son. We haven't really heard much of anything about him, so I think you will be interested in this short reading.  We are reading from Book Nine, Chapter Six on page 190. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, we hear about how St. Augustine is leaving his job and he reaches out to St. Ambrose for some advice on Scripture.  We are reading from Book Nine, Chapter Five on page 189.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have quite possibly our longest reading today in the book. It's not deep theology or anything like that, so don't be scared away.  Since it is quite long, for times sake, I won't give a reflection. It's pretty self-explanatory.  So, with that said, we are reading from Book Nine, Chapter Four on page 185.