November 2025 Reading on St. Augustine

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

“As for myself, I meditate on the law of God, if not day and night, at least during the few moments of time that I can, and lest my meditations escape me through forgetfulness, I hold on to them by my pen. I am confident that God in his mercy will make me remain steadfast in all the truths that I regard as certain, but if I am minded otherwise in any point, he will make it known to me, either by his own secret inspirations, or through his own lucid words or through discussions with my brethren. For this do I pray, and I place this trust and my own desires in his hands, who is wholly capable of guarding what he has given and of fulfilling what he has promised.” (On the Trinity, 1.3.5)

St. Augustine’s duties as a bishop were enormous. In addition to the liturgies, homilies and spiritual care he gave his flock and the broader Latin-speaking Church, Augustine, like all bishops in the fifth century, was busy deciding legal disputes. St. Augustine can serve as a model for the laity who wish to grow in their relationship to Christ in the midst of the various demands on their time.

We see here practices that we might all find helpful in our prayer lives. In our lectio divina on Fridays, the students and I meditate on God’s word, asking him to bring us to him and to gain insight into his Word. The Church has always practiced this and in fact we see this in scripture itself. Augustine further reflects on the help that writing, pen in hand, can give us to remember the insights God has given us in study and contemplation.

We hope to create an environment at St. Augustine School that is slower, with fewer distractions and more time for contemplation for our students, but even they have a number of responsibilities. We hope that our students, like St. Augustine, can develop habits that help them better understand the mystery of being.

As we all know, reading scripture and coming to know Christ more intimately often leads to difficulties in understanding. St. Augustine tells us that, in addition to Christ’s illumination, discussion with his friends can help him better understand the mystery of Christ and the Trinity.

At St. Augustine School, we do the practices that Augustine models. We meditate on scripture, we write, both in the classroom and beyond, to record our thoughts and to remember them, we discuss with our friends our thoughts on God and the world, and we ask Christ to illumine our enquiries.