Augustine’s End

Here is some Karl Rahner, to prepare your heart for worship:

�Feast of St. Augustine�

When Augustine, a tired old man of seventy-five, lay down to die in 430, he had to await death in his city under siege. And when he looked back upon his life’s work, from his human viewpoint at that time, he could really speak his words: nihil sum nisi quod expecto misericordiam Dei*. I am no longer anything; yet only one thing am I: a clinging to the mercy of God.

His African church at the beginning of the end, the parties of the Arians and the Donatists, whom he might have believed to have eliminated by his spirit, again in ascendancy; the world of an ancient culture waning, everywhere dark night and terrestrial hopelessness. And his embattled heart often put itself the question whether the last judgment stood before the door: �Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me.� Augustine did not doubt that he would not stray when it came to his God. The light of eternity lit up for him the darkness of his times, and faith’s hope in the eternal sabbath helped him endure courageously the heavy darkness of the six terrestrial days of unhappiness and need. For him the God of unfathomable ways and judgment was still also the God of love and mercy.

*[I am nothing but what I expect of the mercy of God {Editors Note}]