WORD ALIVE By FR. BEL SAN LUIS, SVD Fr. Bel R. San Luis, SVD When you tell a young man to be a saint, chances are he will look oddly at you and say, “What – to be a saint? That’s not for me. I’m too worldly for that.” Well, that’s exactly what Augustine said when he was a young man. For he was exactly the opposite of  being a saint.

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Tomorrow and the next day, we celebrate the feasts of Saints Monica and her son Augustine, respectively. The intellectually gifted Augustine led a restless, if not reckless, life. He fathered an illegitimate son whom he called ironically "Adeodatus" (God-given).

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Augustine, who used to joke, "Lord, make me chaste but not yet," shows how difficult it is to cut off his vices, which is true for many men. It was when he got sick and alone that he heard a voice which said: "Take and read." He picked up the book which happened to be a Bible. Opening it, his eyes fell on a passage of St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans: "Now is the hour to wake up from sleep. Let us stop doing the things that belong to the dark...Let us conduct ourselves properly, as people who live in the light of day; no orgies or drunkenness, no immorality or indecency..." (13, verses 11-13).

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The words so struck  Augustine personally that he broke down in tears, thinking of all his wrongdoings and profligate life. This became the turning point. In the end, he could only say "Too late have I known You, Lord…Our hearts are restless until they rest in You."

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Augustine rose to become one of the greatest saints of the Catholic Church. He influenced the minds of St. Thomas Aquinas, the angelic doctor, and all the great theologians, including Martin Luther, founder of Protestantism, who was himself an Augustinian priest. Did you know that the first missionaries to come to the Philippines were the Augustinans who arrived with Legazpi in 1565?

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LESSONS. One lesson we can learn from St. Augustine is that although he had all the defects, weaknesses, and foibles of an ordinary human being—perhaps even worse – he was able to overcome them through God's grace and a lifetime of struggle. Further, we should not think that their progress was a straight path. No it was marked by detours and occasional lapses.

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The moral and spiritual transformation of the saint is timely and relevant for people who are addicted to illegal drugs, gambling, alcoholism, and other forms of wrongdoing. There’s no need to despair. His mother Monica, who also became a saint, exemplified persevering prayer. For more than 15 years, she never gave up praying for her “black sheep” son and her pagan husband Patricius.

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There's  a little known fact about St. Monica worth imitating. When asked  by  other wives who were in trouble with their husbands–up to the point of being  maltreated, here’s Monica’s advice: "If you can  only  control your  tongue,  your  husbands will not beat you  and   they  will reform."

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Proof   that  it  worked effectively: Her cruel husband Patricius and her problem son Augustine  were converted to Christianity, becoming a model  father and son. So there you have it. Wives, control your tongue. Don’t nag!

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THE LIGHTER SIDE. A man goes to see a lawyer-friend. Pouring his heart out, he says:  “Kumpare, my wife is poisoning me.” The friend replies, “Are you sure?” The man pleads, “Yes, I'm certain she's poisoning me, what should I do?”

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The friend then offers, “Let me talk to her, I'll see what I can do.” A week later, the friend calls the man and says, “Well, I spoke to your wife. I spoke to her on the phone for five hours! You want my advice?' The man said yes and the friend replied, “Take the poison.”

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JOIN… a pilgrimage to the miraculous Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City with side trip to the USA on Nov. 7-17, 2018. I will serve as chaplain. For inquiries, call Fe Buenviaje at 09178194509 or e-mail: [email protected]