At his regular weekly public audience on February 27, Pope Benedict XVI offered a 5th and final talk on the influence of St. Augustine, "one of the great converts of Christian history."Anyone who reads St. Augustine's Confessions knows that his conversion "was neither sudden nor fully achieved right from the start," the Holy Father observed.
The life story of the great Bishop of Hippo shows a "journey," he said, "and remains a model for each one of us."
Long before embracing the faith, the youthful Augustine was "an impassioned searcher after the truth," the Pope said.
His mother, St. Monica, gave him a solid grounding in the faith, and he "always felt a profound attraction to Christ."
In time, the Pope continued, St. Augustine's "faith in Christ led him to understand that the apparently distant God is not in fact distant."
Even after his conversion, St. Augustine "reluctantly" entered into priestly ministry, which at first he found difficult, the Pope said.
But he recognized that in serving others he was serving Christ.
"Renouncing a life of pure meditation he learned, often with difficulty, to place the fruits of his intellect at the service of others, to communicate his faith to the common people."
This, the Pope said, marked the saint's "second conversion."
Yet another conversion came, the Pope added, when St. Augustine developed a spirit of repentance that "brought him daily to ask forgiveness of God."
All Christians, Pope Benedict said, should strive to acquire the same depth of conversion-- "the humility to recognize that we are all sinners."
Today's world, the Pontiff concluded, needs to discover the same truths that impelled St. Augustine on his journey closer to Christ.
Mankind is always restlessly searching for truth and happiness, as the young Augustine did.
Eventually the Bishop of Hippo found and taught that "God is love and meeting Him is the only answer to the disquiet of our hearts."
Pope Benedict, who has devoted his Wednesday audiences to a series of talks on the early Church fathers, had begun speaking on St. Augustine at his weekly audience of January 9.
He continued with further thoughts on St. Augustine for his audiences on January 16 and January 30 - breaking from his regular series on January 23 to discuss the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
At his January 30 audience, the Pontiff said that he would conclude his consideration of St. Augustine with one more address. But in fact - after a 2 week hiatus caused by Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Retreat - he gave 2 more talks on the subject, February 20 and 27.
The Holy Father split his Wednesday audience into two sections because of an unusually large number of people attending the midday session.
First the Pontiff greeted a large group of pilgrims in St. Peter's basilica, speaking briefly there.
Then he continued his series of catechetical talks to an audience in the Paul VI auditorium. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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