Seeking truth

Augustin will remain nine years as a Manichean auditor (the lowest level in the sect's hierarchy). During this period, he forms strong and durable relationships that will help him launch his career. In the summer of 383, deeply bothered by unruly students, he leaves Carthage for Rome. His mother, initially opposing his project, ends up joining him there. Augustine's ambition enables him to fill a prominent position as a rhetorician in Milan. There, he is in charge of writing the official speeches. 

At the same time, Augustine listens to the sermons of Bishop Ambrose. Perhaps because he heard that the Bishop is an outstanding orator?  Without even having considered the possibility, Augustine realizes that Bishop Ambrose is offering solutions to his personal hardship: it is possible to read the Old Testament in a spiritual, symbolical light, instead of trying to comprehend it literally. Thanks to his studies of Platonist literature, Augustine doesn't consider God as a purely material entity anymore. A path of interiority opens before him. God's knowledge isn't only intellectual work, but also matter of the heart.

Augustine is not Manichean anymore but isn't Christian either. The priest Simplicianus encourages him to read the Prologue of John: the Word became flesh. Christ is at the same time the Word and its human manifestation. The last objections Augustine had against Christ's persona are now irrelevant. How many discoveries in so little time! Augustine needs to undertake one more step on his conversion path: to live in compliance with the Truth he just found. 

To be continued...

Prayer for the seekers of God

All his life, Augustine sought God, but it took him time to recognize Him. 

Lord our God, whether we are aware of it or not, we tirelessly seek you. Grant us to look for you in the right place, to dare go through our doubts and overtake them with confidence. 

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

Artwork: Mural art by Benozzo Gozzoli, 15th century. St. Augustine Chapel, San Gimigniano, Tuscany.