Journeying With The Saints

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back.  Power has a way of keeping us from God, but why is that? We'll discuss on the other side. We are reading from Book Eight, Chapter Four on page 163.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you for joining me today. Our reading is all about the lost and the found and how God rejoices when a lost sheep comes back to the fold. We are reading from Book Eight, Chapter Three on page 161. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a bit of a longer reading today, so I want to jump right in. We are reading from Book Eight, Chapter Two on page 159.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to Book Eight. This book has fewer chapters than most, so we will move through it pretty quickly.  Today, we are introduced to Simplicianus. He is going to be another spiritual mentor to St. Augustine and I find it interesting that we hear a lot about St. Ambrose helping to guide Augustine into the Church, but we don't really hear the name Simplicianus. He became Bishop of Milan after Ambrose died, so it's not like he was just an ordinary layman. Regardless, we will hear about him today.  We are reading from Book Eight, Chapter One on page 157.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to our last reading from Book Seven. St. Augustine starts to read the letters of St. Paul, so it will be interesting to hear what he thinks. We are reading from Book Seven, Chapter Twenty-One on page 155. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Only two more readings from Book Seven. As we round out this book, remember that St. Augustine is walking us through the slow, oftentimes painful, path of how he finally comes to the fullness of truth in the Catholic Church.  With that in mind, let's open to page 154 and read from Book Seven, Chapter Twenty. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to another great day to read from St. Augustine. We have a lot to talk about so let's get started by opening to Book Seven, Chapter Nineteen on page 152.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today's reading is just beautiful. I sat and tried and tried to think of how to reflect on it, but nothing was coming. I decided this meant that it needs no words from me.  Our reading today is all about Jesus and St. Augustine's discovery of Him. Let's just listen and let it sink in. We are reading from Book Seven, Chapter Eighteen on page 152.  

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. I'm glad to have you with me today.  Our reading can be found on page 151 from Book Seven, Chapter Seventeen. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. St. Augustine has been kind to you for the past few days in giving shorter readings. St. Augustine is still working out his new—correct—understanding of evil, so we will hear more about that today.  We are reading from Book Seven, Chapter Sixteen on page 150.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back. Today is another short reading from Book Seven, Chapter Fifteen on page 150. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a very short reading today. We are reading from Book Seven, Chapter Fourteen on page 149.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to another day. Thank you for joining me in these, I would say, more difficult passages.  We are reading today from Book Seven, Chapter Thirteen on page 148.     

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a dense reading today and to help us get our minds in the right place, I want to talk about it before we read it.  With that, let's read from Book Seven, Chapter Twelve on page 148.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Today is a big day! This is the 100th episode for Season Six. Crazy that we are already at 100. So, congratulations for showing up everyday.  We have a very short reading today, so let's get started by opening to page 147 to read from Book Seven, Chapter Eleven 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to our reading today. Today's theme is all about light—specifically God as Light.  We are reading from Book Seven, Chapter 10 on page 146.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today's reading is denser than others and I can see it being a hard one to get through if you don't know beforehand what you are reading. So, instead of my reflection at the end of the reading, I'll give it here to help you understand before we get started.  We will be reading from Book Seven, Chapter Nine on page 144.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. After some longer readings, we get a super short one today. So, let's jump into Book Seven, Chapter Eight on page 144.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. St. Augustine has dropped astrology, but he is still having a problem understanding the origin of evil.  Let's hear about this by reading from Book Seven, Chapter Seven on page 142.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome. If you have your book in front of you, you know that we have a long reading today. And I have found that with these types of books, long readings can make you zone out. With novels, we can read many, many pages, but with theological books, we struggle to keep our focus. Why is that? Well, because it's not riveting and there are no cliff hangers living you curious as to what happens next.  This is why I do my Seasons in bite-sized chunks. These types of books can't be devoured.  But, the good news is, is that this longer section isn't boring or tedious. At least, I don't think so. St. Augustine is going to explain to us how he came to leave astrology behind.  Let's get started by turning to page 139 and reading from Book Seven, Chapter Six. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, St. Augustine is struggling again with the problem of evil. It's a serious stumbling block for many people and not one we will fully understand in this life.  But, let's hear what he is thinking about in Book Seven, Chapter Five on page 138.  

Welcome, welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you for joining me today. St. Augustine has got it right when he says that God is immutable, meaning unchanging. This is just one of the attributes of God.  We are reading today from Book Seven, Chapter Four on page 137.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Hello, out there. Hope you are are having a good day.  Why, oh why is there evil in the world? That is what St. Augustine is writing about today. Let's read on page 136 from Book Seven, Chapter Three. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, welcome back. Today, St. Augustine has a harsh name for the Manichees—frauds. We will talk about that after our reading. We are reading from Book Seven, Chapter Two on page 135.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to Book Seven! There are Thirteen Books within "Confessions" and we are at Book Seven, which means that we are more than halfway through the Books.  Today is a bit longer, so let's get started by opening to Book Seven, Chapter One, on page 133.   

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, and welcome to our last reading from Book Six. Isn't that amazing? We are already done with six books.  Today, we will talk about Epicurus, a famous philosopher who lived from 270 BC to 341 BC. Let's hear about his beliefs by opening to page 131 and reading from Book Six, Chapter Sixteen. 

  Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. After yesterday's light-hearted reading, today is much more serious. Because Augustine is to be married, he has to let go of his long-time mistress. She goes back to Africa. And instead of trying to be chaste during this period of waiting, Augustine takes another mistress, which defeats the whole purpose of sending the other one away.  I imagine that these mistresses lived with him, especially his first mistress, because they had a son together. Because of the nature of the topic, I would caution having young ears around.  We are reading from Book Six, Chapter Fifteen on page 131. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. St. Augustine and his buddies are wishing to have basically a man cave in today's readings. This is a bit of a light-hearted reading and I think you'll get a kick out of a bunch of men, some married, all wanting to live in a space together so that they can have some peace.  We are reading from Book Six, Chapter Fourteen on page 130.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. We are going to hear how St. Augustine has proposed to a young lady in our reading today. Short reading today from Book Six, Chapter Thirteen on page 129.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. I hope you are well wherever you are in the great wide world.  Today, I would caution about having younger ears around. We will be reading from Book Six, Chapter Twelve on page 128. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today in our reading, St. Augustine is going to let us in on the dialogue that went on in his head from age 19 to his present age of 30 here in Book Six. It's so interesting and I think you will find it very relatable. Just imagine Augustine with a cartoon angel on his right shoulder and a cartoon devil on his left.  We are reading from Book Six, Chapter Eleven on page 126.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you again for joining me. I hope you all know how much I love reading these works for you and for myself. It's truly a delight for me and I'm just grateful that you are listening.  Integrity is the word of the day so keep that in mind as we read from Book Six, Chapter 10 on page 125.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back. Today, we are going to hear more about Alypius' story. If you remember yesterday, St. Augustine was telling us about how Alypius went to Rome before Augustine and he got caught up in the bloody arena spectacles. Today, we will go back a little further in time to when Alypius was still in Carthage. He gets accused of a crime and St. Augustine tells us the story.  We are reading from Book Six, Chapter Nine on page 123. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We are going to hear more about Alypius today and his fall into grotesque entertainment. It can be tempting to listen to how he gets caught up in the bloody, immoral gladiator spectacles and think that we are safe from such debauchery. But…that's not true.  We will talk about this on the other side of our reading today from Book Six, Chapter Eight on page 121. Also, as a word of caution, today's reading is not appropriate for children. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome. Today, we hear the name of two friends of St. Augustine—Alypius and Nebridius. We will mostly hear about Alypius and how he became someone that St. Augustine wanted to rescue from a life of frivolous pursuits.  Let's hear about that in Book Six, Chapter Seven on page 120.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you for joining me today.  God will often allow us to hit the bottom of the well before we can rise up out of it. That is exactly what you will hear about today in our reading. St. Augustine is at the bottom of the well, sunk in misery. He has chased all the things that he thought would make him happy and those things aren't working anymore.  Let's hear about this by turning to page 118, reading from Book Six, Chapter Six. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. I hope the day is treating you well. Today, we hear from St. Augustine that he has come to prefer Catholic teaching. Yay! He's getting there. We hear about the conclusions he makes.  We are reading from Book Six, Chapter Five on page 116.  Blog on Christopher Columbus

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. I hope all is well where you are. Today, we are going to hear about how St. Augustine had a lot of hang ups with Scripture because he thought all of it had to be taken literally. A lot of people believe this and it creates a lot of problems. So, that is what we will discuss on the other side.  Our reading today is found on page 115 and is from Book Six, Chapter Four.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back. Today, St. Augustine shares with us about how he was just looking for some time to spend one-on-one with St. Ambrose. Ambrose is a busy man, always reading, always receiving visitors, teaching, and preaching, and so, it's hard to find time to get an audience with him.  But, St. Augustine wants to and he goes and listens to his preaching and he finds that the Catholic Faith isn't what he had imagined in his head.  We are reading from Book Six, Chapter Three on page 113. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to another great day. Today, we are going to hear about how St. Monica was told by St. Ambrose, who was bishop, to stop practicing a certain custom and she is obedient. There's something really important about obedience that I want to talk about on the other side of our reading. We will be reading from Book Six, Chapter Two on 112. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. We have arrived at Book Six. Today, we are going to hear about how St. Augustine's mother, St. Monica, comes to Milan to be with him. She finds out that Augustine has left behind the Manichees and has been listening to Ambrose. She isn't super shocked by this news and continues to trust in God and have hope that He will lead Augustine into the fullness of the Catholic Faith.  We will be reading from Book Six, Chapter One on page 111. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, we finish up Book Five. Again, congratulations on finishing another book. Progress is being made. At the beginning of Book Five, St. Augustine was in Carthage, then he moved to Rome, and we end this book with him in Milan. And it's in Milan that he meets St. Ambrose.  He gives us more insight into this initial thoughts on St. Ambrose here in the last chapter. We are reading from Book Five, Chapter Fourteen on page 108.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. St. Ambrose shows up today! I think you are really going to enjoy this short reading where we hear about what St. Augustine initially thinks about St. Ambrose. We will be reading from Book Five, Chapter 13 on page 107. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Remember how St. Augustine wanted to teach in Rome because he heard that the students were less rowdy? Well, they are less rowdy, but they are quite dishonest and unscrupulous. Let's hear about this in Book Five, Chapter Twelve on page 106.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. After a couple of days of longer readings, today, we get a shorter one. St. Augustine has the desire to hear debates between Manichees and those that know Scripture well and, of course, that's a step in the right direction.  We will be reading form Book Five, Chapter 11 on page 105.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. So, St, Augustine heals up and lives to see another day. Remember, he is in Rome now and he shares with us how he is still lingering around with the Manichees, mostly because he just can't find any answers that are better. If you are confused by the beliefs he shares with us, well, I think that's the point. They are confusing. So, don't worry about trying to understand them.  We are reading from Book Five, Chapter 10 on page 103

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to our reading today. St. Augustine has arrived in Rome and he is deathly ill. Let's hear about this by opening to Book Five, Chapter Nine on page 101.

Welcome Catholic Pilgrims. Today, we will have read one hundred pages into the book, so congratulations on the milestone! In our reading, we learn that St. Augustine is leaving Carthage for Rome, against his mother's wishes. Why is he leaving? Because of rowdy students. Yes, you heard that right. So, let's hear about this move to Rome by reading from Book Five, Chapter Eight on page 99.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. It's a great day to read St. Augustine. We'll jump right into Book Five, Chapter Seven on page 98.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Today is such a good reading. So relevant to our times and it goes to show that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to humans and our struggles and the traps we fall into.  Let's go ahead and grab our books, open to page 96 and read from Book Five, Chapter Six.