You Have Made Us for Yourself
A simple reflection on the Feast Day of Saint Augustine
Thank you Lord for your servant, Saint Augustine.
The Christian life is one of constant renunciation. If we are being honest, it is a life full of failure in many ways. Why? Because the life of beatitude seems almost impossible to live. When one measures themselves by the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, it is disheartening. Right?
Jesus knows this.
I think our Lord is not disappointed in our failure to live heroically. What troubles Him is that we get caught up in the poisonous thinking that we can live the Christian life on our own. You know what I mean…the sort of living in which we grind it out, day in and day out. We set our faces like flint against the world’s chaos, attempting to use or own abilities, our skills, our talents, in order to please God. This, of course, is impossible and a recipe for burnout, depression and a sort of giving up that runs counter to the virtue of hope.
There is no way in Hell we can do anything on our own. When Christ adopted us, we were granted divine power to become partakers of the divine nature. It is in this adoption that we can escape the corruption of the world and enter into a deep and intimate friendship with Him. Thanks be to God. Holiness does not come from what we do, but rather the work that Christ can do within us.
On this particular feast day of Saint Augustine, I think this is what he came to know in the deepest recesses of his heart. Here is one who had enormous mental acuity and an unfathomable intelligence. Yet, even Saint Augustine with all his brain prowess could not find rest until he totally yielded to Christ. I wonder if this is why spent his life fighting the heresy of Pelagianism which made the claim that one could attain grace by their own effort and agency.
I know that all of us have heard the infamous Augustine quote about how the heart will not rest until it rest in Him. Has it become so cliche to miss these words and realize that it is in the Sacred Heart of Christ that we can be changed…transformed into Him?
O Lord, let these words permeate the deepest part of our hearts. Let it be a cry to you that we cannot do anything apart from You. Lord, let us make a daily renunciation that it is You who will do the work of conversion in our heart. Yes, grace comes to us all and when it comes, can we say yes to it?
Flannery O’Connor once said, “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.”
Jesus, help me say yes.
© 2025, Lawain McNeil, Mission Surrender, LLC.
What a great devo to reflect on daily! Thanks, Lawain, for sharing!