August 31, 2021 Reflection – St. Augustine – Part 2

Dear Family of Mary!

Here is the August 25, 2021 Message from Our Lady, Queen of Peace:

“Dear children! With joy I am calling all of you, little children, who have responded to my call: be joy and peace. Witness with your lives Heaven, which I am bringing to you. It is time, little children, that you be a reflection of my love for all those who do not love and whose hearts hatred has conquered. Do not forget: I am with you and intercede for all of you before my Son Jesus, that He may give you His peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (August 25, 2021)

On Saturday, the Feast of St. Augustine (August 28), Fr. Kevin McKeever gave a most spectacular homily in St. Augustine’s honor. I have transcribed it for us. Here is part 2!!

Homily for August 28, 2021, English Mass, Medjugorje – Fr. Kevin McKeever – Part 2

Like the servant with only one talent, we might feel weak, we might think we are useless, But we are not. We are not left totally helpless or deprived of God’s grace. Our ability to help improve our times may indeed be modest, but it exists, none the less. And we cannot let fear or despair drive us to give in and do nothing. Letting our talent go to waste, like the servant who hid his talent in the ground.

It can be so tempting to be like him. To become discouraged. Life can seem hard at times. Maybe even God could seem absent, or uncaring, or unfair. But that is the devil’s temptation to discouragement. Instead let us heed St. Paul, in our first reading, who urges us to knuckle down to the unglamorous task of trying to live our faith in the midst of the little duties of our everyday life conscientiously and with love.

Don’t think for a single moment that living a life of virtue in your home or your workplace is something insignificant or not worth while. Never think that any of your prayers are wasted or in vain. If you say the Memorare and your mean it, you will soon find that the opposite is true. No prayer is left unanswered, no petition is in vain.

Augustine teaches us what to do: “Men are saying, ‘bad times, troublesome times!’ Let our lives be good and the times are good. We make our times. Such as we are, such are the times. But what can we do? We cannot convert the mass of humanity to the good life. But let the few who do listen, listen well. Let the few who live well endure the many who live badly. Let us as I have said, while we live, pour out our groans before the Lord and endure the evils that we may attain to the things that are good. The Master of the household is loving to us. He carries us, and now we Him. He knows how to govern what He has made. Do what He has commanded and hope for what He has promised.”

As today’s Gospel reminds us, the Lord is Master of the Church and of the whole world, and He is in charge. And if he seems asleep as He was in the boat with the disciples on the stormy sea, then yet again listen to Augustine’s advice: “Sail across this world in the boat of your interior peacefulness without losing site of the harbor. when the strong winds of the world’s desires try to take hold of you, call for help and awake Christ who is sleeping in the cabin of your heart.”

How easy it is to forget that Christ dwells in us. He is closer to us than our own flesh. He is our life. No wonder he commanded us at the Last Supper to celebrate the Eucharist in memory of Him. Because when we come before Jesus in the Eucharist we are reminded that He loved us so much that He died for us and that His power is so great that He conquered death by His resurrection.

Christ’s love, His power, His grace can do for us what we cannot hope to do for ourselves. St. Augustine is known in the Church as the Doctor of Grace. And he reminds us never to forget or forsake the grace of God. He experienced the power of grace in his own life as Christ enabled him to face the temptations and challenges that he could never hope to defeat on his own. He said, “You commanded me and since you give me the power, it was so done.”

I like to think that the talents in today’s Gospel symbolize God’s grace. A talent, you see, was an immense amount of money. A huge amount. That in itself reminds us that God’s grace is far more precious than anything this world has to offer. And like the servants in the Gospel, we receive grace in the measure in which we are open to receive it and are able to profit by it. Those who are entrusted with heavy crosses or important tasks are given sufficient grace to carry them. No matter how able we are by nature, we need everyday to beg God for the help of His grace as we set out on our tasks, that we will use our gifts and abilities well. With His grace, all things are possible. Without it we labor in vain.

As St. Augustine commented on the story of David and Goliath, “All our strength lies in the knowledge of God and the reception of His grace, in which David placed all His confidence. Goliath on the contrary, counted only on himself, on his own strength.” And we know how that turned out for him.

With the help of God’s grace let us not fear our sufferings, or the challenges of being a good Catholic today, but like St. Augustine, bear them with a stout heart, with a fortitude that finds its strength in faith. Amen

(Homily of Fr. Kevin McKeever, August 28, 2021 – English Mass Medjugorje)

https://marytv.tv/english-homily-in-medjugorje-2/?smid=iAzb9cs0lQW&slid=IRBKmbjFsDA

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
Mary TV 2021