"Let it be done for you as you wish."
These Gospel words remind me of a story about someone walking on the beach who saw an oil lamp. He picked it up, and a genie appeared telling him he'd be granted one wish. The man said, “I want to live forever.” The genie replied, “I’m not allowed to give eternal life.” “OK," said the man, "I want to die after Congress balances the budget and erases the debt.” The genie nodded, “Well, that definitely will take an eternity!” The point is, there is something in our DNA that seeks eternal life.
The word of God carries us back to the sixth century before Jesus. Salvation, the Isaiah author proclaims, is for all people who try their best to do the right thing. This shocked many Jews who thought salvation was exclusively theirs. The author challenges us to be fair and compassionate, as all of us are made in God's likeness.
Paul in his letter to the Romans speaks about his successful ministry to the Gentile Christians. Through Jesus’s dying and rising, all people are called to be in relationship with God forever. Paul prays that his fellow Jews will see in Jesus their promised Messiah. And here Paul may ask what kind of missionary disciples are we today?
In the Gospel, an assertive parent from Canaan seeks out Jesus. She wants her child healed and she'll do whatever it takes, even get past disciples who want her sent away. There’s a startling turnaround. The mother prays to Jesus: “Lord, help me.” They engage in conversation. Jesus then replies: “Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the child was healed.
This faith-filled mother segues easily into heroes and heroines in Christianity who can guide or coach us about the spiritual life and such questions as “what is my purpose?”
St. Augustine, whose feast day we celebrate August 28, is one of many great faith heroes. So is his mother, St. Monica.
So, who is Augustine? He was born in the fourth century in Africa. After many detours, he found his purpose. “God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you,” the saint wrote.
Yes, no matter who we are, what we do, our true purpose is to be in relationship with God.
Augustine symbolizes the search for God in one's own life. Among numerous writings, he is best known for Confessions and City of God. Confessions is a spiritual autobiography, his dialogue with God; City of God is his interpretation of the Church, a community on pilgrimage to the heavenly City of God. Worthwhile summer reading. And spiritual masterpieces.
The persuasive homilies of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan in Italy, led Augustine to focus on the direction of his life.
Augustine describes his conversion graphically. He went into his garden and just sat... he heard a voice saying, “Take and read, take and read.” So, Augustine picked up the Bible. And, he noted, “I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: 'conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ....' Instantly at the end of the sentence, by a light, as it were... all the darkness of doubt vanished away.”
Augustine became a passionate disciple. After Ambrose baptized him, Augustine went back to Africa and founded a monastic community. Soon, ordained bishop, he proved a prolific author.
A haunting question was the problem of evil: how can there be an all-good God when there's such incredible human suffering. The universe, the work of God, Augustine argued, is essentially good, and a provident God guides this universe to the fullness of the kingdom. The Church community of disciples is holy but is made up of saints and sinners.
Augustine acknowledged that some people choose evil over good, wrong over right, falsehood over truth. Why? Because there's a tendency to sometimes choose their worse rather than their better selves. He called this “original sin.” Augustine looked to an all-good God who became “one of us” in Jesus and is alive by the power of the Spirit in human beings. By God's grace, Augustine argued, human beings are in relationship with God. But they must struggle to choose well.
Yes, what we wish should be to know the goodness of God in whose likeness we are made.
Augustine, a faith hero like the Canaanite woman, challenges us to focus on the quality of our life and our soul’s destiny. Both will be measured by our character: going the extra mile to help someone in need; being faithful in our relationships and responsibilities; doing ordinary things well; and trusting always in an all-good and compassionate God who is ever near and who will guide us safely to our heavenly dwelling place.
