Lesson 8

THE SPIRITUALITY OF
SAINT AUGUSTINE
OF HIPPO
 Lesson 8
Objectives:
1. Acquire knowledge on the meaning and importance of
the spirituality of Augustine of Hippo and the roots of
Augustinian spirituality.
2. Show appreciation on the characteristics of the
spirituality of Saint Augustine of Hippo, and of the story of his
restless conversion.
3. Plan out their own strategy on how they could develop or
strengthen their own spirituality through prayer.
What is prayer?
And why do we pray?
A. AUGUSTINE ON PRAYER
Prayer is given considerable attention in a
number of Augustine's writings. Augustine wrote
no treatise on prayer, yet it is not surprising
that, among over 6,000,000 words of his that
still exist, prayer is given considerable attention
in a number of his writings.
The most known source about prayer in Augustine is:
1. Letter 30 to Proba, which progressively goes
through the lines of the Lord’s Prayer.
2. Although not a treatise on prayer, his
Enarrationes in Psalmos gives an insight into
Augustine’s understanding of the relationship of
Christ and the church in prayer.
3. As well, his Confessions is regarded as a lengthy
written prayer.
Prayer as Holy Desire
● Although references to prayer are frequent in many of
his writings, it must be admitted that he did not describe
or promote any method or system of praying.
● He did, however, make a few distinctions between types
of prayer, such as laus (Latin for “praise”) and oratio (A
Latin word he used generally for prayers of petition).
● In different writings, he covered various aspects of
petitionary prayer.
● He described prayer as yearning – our desire for God
was in itself a form of petitionary prayer without words.
● Prayer as pedagogy, because what we sought
was refined (and maybe even our petitions
changed) under promptings from a responsive
God that strengthened and modified our
yearning.

● Prayer was instructional, because through our

prayer relationship, God directed and
strengthened our desire for eternity. For
Augustine, the Christian life on earth was a
pilgrimage towards heaven,
● Prayer was a way that a Christian
maintained and increased his desire
for the goal of eternal happiness.

● Prayer was the heart’s yearning for

God.
 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SPIRITUALITY
OF AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
There are a variety of specific CHARACTERISTICS
associated with Augustine of Hippo which, when
taken together, constitute his distinctive spiritual
vision. They find expression in all his writings, but are
particularly noteworthy in the Confessions, his
preaching on John's Gospel and the Psalms, the
Trinity, and his Sermons.
The following are considered the most important:
1. CHRISTOLOGICAL- Christ as the Way, Christ as
the Homeland (Via and Patria )—this is one of
many Christological titles used by Augustine
both to affirm and to explore the central
place and role of Jesus Christ in the Christian
life.
To affirm the centrality of Christ is likewise to
affirm the centrality of the Trinity for Augustine's
spirituality, since it is Christ who reveals the
Father and promises the Spirit, it is the Father who
sends the Son, it is the Spirit who inflames the
hearts of the followers of the Son.
Every dimension of Augustine's vision of the spiritual
life is vitally linked to and grounded in his profound
sense of the identity and work of the Son of God,
expressed in key affirmations such as Christ-Physician
(medicus ), Teacher (magister ), Word (Verbum ), and
the uniquely rich Christus totus —the whole Christ.
2. GRACE-CENTERED- From his earliest writings to
his final work Augustine provocatively placed
God's gratuitous initiative (grace) at the center of
the divine-human relationship. This emphasis on
grace is both profoundly Christological and deeply
Anthropological, for it reveals both God's gracious
initiative in Christ and total human dependence
upon this initiative.
"Without me you can do nothing" is equally,
for Augustine, an affirmation of God's
absolute sovereignty in the process of
salvation and a confirmation of the total
incapacity of human nature without this
sovereign initiative.
3. INNER-DIRECTED- Drawing upon the
affirmation of Genesis that humans are created
in God's image (imago Dei ), Augustine
continually calls the Christian to turn within to
discover that divine presence, seal, and
identity. The heart (cor) becomes for Augustine
a key term and symbol for the profound and
challenging depths every human being finds
and faces within.
However, "Return to yourself" is never
for Augustine a selfish movement of
escapism but a true opening to and
discovery of authentic human identity.
4. SCRIPTURAL- The New and Old Testaments
provide the vocabulary, ideas, and content of
Augustine's spirituality. Sharing with all patristic
authors a profound sense of the centrality of the
Word of God for worship, prayer, and daily living,
Augustine's spiritual writings are so filled with
Scripture that it is often difficult to know when
Augustine ends, and Scripture begins.
5. COMMUNAL-The community of Adam
and Eve in the garden of Paradise is
profoundly emblematic for Augustine of
humanity's communal nature. "You have
made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart
is restless until it rests in you."
Augustine's own human make-up was
decidedly social, poignantly portrayed in
the Confessions as he shares both grace
and sin. Augustine took a communal key
text from Acts 4:32, describing the early
apostolic community in Jerusalem, as a
guidepost for not only his monastic
community but the Church as a whole.
6. LOVE-MOTIVATED- Both enthralled and terrified
with the scriptural affirmations that "God is love" (1
Jn 4:16) and Christ's own description of the Final
Judgment in terms of love of the poor Christ (Mt
25), Augustine saw love as the central command
of Jesus that summed up the whole Christian life.
"Love and do what you will" was, for Augustine, an
affirmation not only of the centrality of love but of
its nature as guarantor of the Christian life.
7. PROGRESSIVE- The "restless heart" that Augustine
places within every true Christian, marks his
spirituality with a fundamental dynamism and vitality
that is expressed in his frequent use of the word
"pilgrimage" to describe the life of the Christian.
Following Christ is always a matter of ongoing
conversion, taking up new challenges in response to
God's call. Conversion, progress, ascent—Augustine's
model for the Christian life demands an ongoing
journey of transformation.
THE AUGUSTINIAN SPIRITUALITY
Augustinian spirituality is a unique lens through which one can
discover God. Stemming from Saint Augustine’s own life, his writings,
and his teachings, Augustinian spirituality can largely be summed
up as the act of journeying together in search of the truth that is
God. This journey, as Augustine’s own life gives example, was not
merely a communal and internal journey toward God, but rather a
communal and outward journey. Augustine took scripture as a
guide for truth, and specifically followed the example of the first
Christian community described in the Acts of the Apostles. As such,
he and the communities in which he lived followed Christ’s outward
model of love through service to others.
THE AUGUSTINIAN SPIRITUALITY
The Augustinian identity may be summed up as “The
Search for God Together” by means of a community
through which we share our faith and life in a nurturing
environment, and out of which is mutually generated our
wholehearted service to society, the Church and world.
Augustinian Spirituality does not take us out of the world
(into the cloister or desert) but places us firmly in the
midst of life to form community in the face of the
individualism and competitiveness of our post-modern
society.
Augustinian Spirituality takes its inspiration from
Augustine’s encounter with God’s Mystery as it is
revealed in his writings and prayers. Among the ruins
of the Basilica of Peace which lie in the Algerian city
of Hippo (present day Annaba) on the shore of the
Mediterranean Sea, you can still see signs of
Augustine’s hand at work in the design of hearts that
he had carved into the decorative supports which
were used to hold up the roof of his small cathedral.
The heart is the enduring symbol for Augustine’s love
ablaze a] for God, b] for Scripture and c] for the
Community of friends and strangers that surrounded
him at every stage of his life. Instead of making a
sharp distinction between the love we have for God
and the love we have for people, Augustine
concluded that ‘authentic love for a human being is
at the same time love of God’.
The Search for God: [the Movement OUT] this experience is
described as “the affectionate reaching out of the mind for
God”. This very desire for God is itself a prayer, and he
writes: “if you have an unceasing longing for God then you
also pray unceasingly”. (Sermon 80, 7) It is just this ability
when we allow our attention to go out in delight at
recognizing God’s presence in the world around us or
observe and wonder at God’s beauty in Nature and in our
relationships with others, as well as in the wisdom we glean
from Sacred Scripture, this becomes the starting point of
our spiritual discovery.
The Search for Truth: (the Movement IN) Augustine then invites us
to bring our life experience into an inner room of the heart to
ponder and digest what has been happening. It is this “going
inside” which is so characteristic of Augustine’s spirituality. The
technical term for this is “Interiority” as he takes what is going on
outside of himself and brings it inside and there discovers that it is
not his alone. We go from the outer experience to an inner place
where the one whom Augustine calls “The Teacher Within” will
surface for us what we are meant to know. “Enter then into your
heart, (he tells us) and if you have faith, you will find Christ there.
There he speaks to you. I, the preacher, must raise my voice, but
he instructs you more efficiently in silence. I speak in sounding
words. He speaks within”. (Sermon 102:2)
The Graced Community of the Trinity: [The Movement
Beyond] This third movement of St Augustine’s approach
to prayer takes him beyond or upwards into a graced
silence that has about it a promise that can only be fully
achieved in heaven, but glimpsed from time to time, if
only for a moment, here on earth. “Standing on the earth
you are in heaven if you love God”, as we allow God to
draw us into the mystery of God’s own love dwelling
indelibly in each human heart. When we arrive at this
threshold, our attitude becomes one of awe, silent
communion and praise.
The Total Christ: Saint Augustine is credited with
coining the phrase “Totus Christus” (The Whole
Christ) who is at the center and heart of the Trinity from
all eternity; is dynamically One in his humanity during
his historical time on earth; and continues to be at the
center of our interacting and entwining lives throughout
all of history “We are Christ, and we are of Christ
because in some way the whole Christ is head and
body”. (Exposition on the psalms 26, 22) For this reason,
Augustine was able to meet Christ present each day in:
1. Community: “By loving us he has bound us
together by mutual love, and by joining the
members together in this gentle bond he has
made us the body of which he is the noble head”.
(Homily on John’s Gospel 65, 3)
2. The Word of Scripture: “Don’t be lazy, gather the
grains from the Lord’s threshing floor; the words of
God from the Church of God, gather them and
store them away in your heart”. (Sermon 38, 2)
3. The Eucharist: Christ is present not just in the bread
and wine placed on the altar, but the people
assembled are changed (or at least reminded) that
they are the Body of Christ. “Just as communion turns
into you when you eat and drink it, so you, for your
part, turn into the Body of Christ when you live devout
and obedient lives” (Sermon 228 B, 3)
4. The Poor and Suffering Members of Society: “Christ is
present in the poor; when you give to the poor it is
Christ’s hand which accepts”. (Sermon 86, 3,3)
For this reason and impelled by communal love,
Augustinian Spirituality finds its expression in
acting justly and peacefully with all of humanity.
Augustinians are called to live harmoniously in
oneness of mind and heart intent upon God.
They observe a shared identity in their common
journey through and towards God.
The journey enables the Augustinians to search
for Truth, who is God, and to unite themselves in
Love as the foundation of being in a community
and in communion with one another in the
community. They are those who are called and
had freely answered that call with all humility -
to follow the life,works, teachings, and
spirituality of Saint Augustine of Hippo.
 Thus, Augustinians are expected to live the values,
virtues, and legacies which Augustine of Hippo had
demonstrated and expressed during his time. His
valuable contributions to the life of the Church are
clear signs that he had a strong spirituality through his
sermons, preaching, treatises, writings, and books. It
has been made clear as well that the building up of a
real community where solidarity and fellowship, and
communion are apparent in all walks of life is central
to Saint Augustine’s spirituality.
Augustinians in words and in deeds, are
moreover, expected to be agents and
instruments of building the city of God in
their areas of apostolate; be it in the areas
of education or in a pastoral ministry.
Reflection:
How can you make St. Augustine’s
spirituality relevant today?