Good Morning, digital neighbors! Happy Shabbat and Saturday to all of you milling about on the internet. Today’s reflection comes from St. Augustine, one of the most devout and brilliant minds in the ancient Church. It was part of my morning prayers before sailing forth on the internet.

In the 1970s he got a very bad rap because everyone was excited about sex without consequence (there is no such thing) and free-for-all fornicating. While I would happily don my curmudgeon crown and talk about how the ’70s wrecked our lives, I would rather simply say that Augustine was not wrong about the power of sexuality (concupiscence). I would venture to say we are more damaged culturally in that area than we imagine. As long as we have distractions (and there are plenty) we can live an unexamined life of comfortable denial.

Many forget that Augustine’s rejection of Christianity for so many years was not only because he couldn’t control his libido, but also because he was brilliant and prideful. Most Christians could not answer his questions or objections to the faith. It took many years of prayer from his mother, Monica, and finally encountering a mind and passion equal to his own (Ambrose) to bring about his friendship with Christ. He is one of my favorite authors of the ancient Church, right after Chrysostom. On to St. Augustine and his discourse on the Psalms.

Such is the meaning of the Alleluia we sing. Both these periods (Lent and Easter) are represented and demonstrated for us in Christ our Head. The Lord’s passion depicts our present life of trial—it shows how we must suffer and be afflicted and finally die. The Lord’s resurrection and glorification show us the life that will be given to us in the future.

Now therefore, brethren, we urge you to praise God. That is what we are all telling each other when we say Alleluia. You say to your neighbor, “Praise the Lord!” and he says the same to you. We are all urging one another to praise the Lord, and in doing so we are all doing what each of us urges the other to do. But see that your praise comes from your whole being; in other words, see that you praise God not with your lips and voices alone, but with your minds, your lives, and all your actions.

We are praising God now, assembled as we are here in church; but when we go on our various ways again, it seems as if we cease to praise God. Yet provided we do not cease to live a good life, we shall always be praising God. You cease to praise God only when you swerve from justice and from what is pleasing to God. If you never turn aside from the good life, your tongue may be silent but your actions will cry aloud, and God will perceive your intentions; for as our ears hear each other’s voices, so do God’s ears hear our thoughts.

Mountain morning - Joshua Earle - Unsplash