THE RULE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE

UNITY AND PEACE IN THE RULE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE

Introduction

I would like to start this essay with these words of Pope Benedict XV from the Encyclical “Pacem, Dei Munus Pulcherrimum”: Peace, the beautiful gift of God, the name of which, as St. Augustine says, is the sweetest word to our hearing and the best and most desirable possession. Peace, which was for more than four years implored by the ardent wishes of all good peoples, by the prayers of pious souls and the tears of mothers, begins at last to shine upon the nations. At this we are indeed the happiest of all, and heartily do we rejoice.

In my previous essay I commented on the Rule of Saint Augustine as a way towards being lovers of the Spiritual Beauty. I want, in this one to settle on Peace, unity in the same Rule of our father Saint Augustine. We have to admit it that Saint Augustine was and still is one of the most prolific geniuses that humanity has ever known, and is admired not only for the number of his works, but also for the variety of subjects, which traverse the whole realm of his thought. The form in which he casts his work exercises a very powerful attraction on the reader. Talking about unity and peace in a community of brothers, Augustine links this notion to predestination and grace.

A necessary corollary of this doctrine of predestination is that saving grace is irresistible. If man is so corrupt that he no longer has free will to do good, grace must do all; and that this power is irresistible is a plain deduction from the divine decree of predestination, which otherwise would be frustrated. It is the purpose of God to bring His elect, infallibly, to a certain end. Accordingly, the empirical test of the operation of grace lies in man's consistent goodness of character right through to the end of his life, a "final perseverance" which is a foreordained gift of God, independent of merit.[1]

Unity and Peace is the heart of the community

            The very first sentence of the Rule of Saint Augustine states its whole theme. “Let us love God, dearest Brothers, then our neighbour, for these are the chief commandments given to us.” Actually, the Rule of Saint Augustine takes as its fundamental basis the principal commandments of the gospel. A matter of fact, in his teachings on the virtues, he makes love the pivot around which the entire life of a Christian revolves.

He is convinced that religious life is not reserved to souls already perfect. It is for the Christian decided to look for perfection using the means given by Christ himself to obtain it in a community. At the outset Saint Augustine places this sentence: The first purpose for which you have come together is to live in harmony in the house of the Lord, and to be of one mind and one heart in God ( R.L. I, 2). In this sentence St Augustine uses four times the  Latin word “one”: unum, unanimes, una unum. The purpose of this repetition is not hard to see. He wishes to emphasize the importance of developing unity of heart. It is a whole program of Augustine for the community life to present an entirely God-centered community. The religious community is not founded on material good, but rather has its root in God.

From what is said, Saint Augustine’s message sounds high that unity and peace in the community is not a human fabric based on goods, human relationship, interest or work. Unity and peace that should prevail in a community is divine, based on God as its beginning and its end.[2]  We have come together, not in order to constitute on cooperation of joint-stok; not for living in some merry-band of friends; not for the convenience of joining the forces of individuals so as to be more efficient; not in order to escape from the responsibilities of life; but in order to serve God and to dedicate our very existence to the service and needs of others.

            Deeply, this idea means that community life must signify more than only a way for reaching perfection. In the community man meets God. He says: “Whoever will live in the same roof with me has God as his possession for I am convinced that God dwells there”.[3] Here is the unique and specific quality of the Augustinian; the community is not simply a means, but an end for the lovers of the Spiritual Beauty.

To be of one mind and one heart is for Augustine's sons the primum propter quod, the primary purpose of coming together in religious life. In our reading from the Rule of Saint Augustine we have a discourse on love that has a number of familiar themes. He says: Let us love one another because love is of God. It is not that we have loved God but that God has loved us. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.[4]

In this line, Augustine takes Paul's teaching on the mysterious love of Christ to build his conception and understanding of unity and peace in a community. The religious community should be so intimate with Christ to the extent that our life and the lives of our confreres are no longer separate, but only one life in Christ. Love will lead us to the union of the Trinity if we, though many, have one mind and one heart in God.[5]

Unity and Peace is the wealth of the community

But the fundamental principles related to unity and peace in a community are timeless and as relevant today as they were then. Consider some of the ideas: You are brought together to dwell in unity in the house. Let all things be common. If you bring things with you, let them be for common use. Do not take pride in what you have brought with you and expect special privilege. Be of one mind and live in concord. Be faithful in prayer. Let each one be supplied according to his need. Dress modestly, without ostentation.[6]

In the first part of the Rule, Augustine proposed as our model the words of the Acts of the Apostles, “they had all in common... and distribution was made according as any one had need” (Acts 4:32). Here for Augustine it is the spirit which counts. Peace, unity and contentment must be the soul of our community life. There must be no murmurings in which someone complains that he has received worse clothing, or that it is beneath his dignity to be less dressed than some other confreres (R.L. V, 30). The Saint clearly shows how such discontentment is the sign of great imperfection because the person is troubled about the dress of the body and is not concerned about the garment of grace which make the soul beautiful not only to men but also of God. For Saint Augustine, a person who is busy in acquiring earthly goods is divided in himself and in the community.

            Augustine demands of us, not only community of possessions. We must freely and generously place our talents and abilities at the disposal of the community. No one shall do anything for himself alone, but all your work shall be for the community, done with more constant diligence than if each one worked for his own profit (R.L. V, 31). We must learn to feel more and more with the community asking ourselves “of what use can I be for the community?” not “what use is the community for me?” For Augustine, the more you care for the interests of the community before your own interests, the more you may know that you have made a progress in becoming a lover of the Spiritual Beauty.[7]

Unity and Peace is the life of the community

It is not only their fellow human beings that the beloved of God must treat with mercy and compassion; rather must they show forth the utmost loving-kindness to every living creature. In any group (religious, political, social) peace and unity are to be the core values to sustain harmony in life. If conflicts or misunderstanding occurs it is not a strange thing due to diversity of culture, human character, personality, historical background, etc. The need for a solid faith becomes more and more necessary in order to cope and to maintain our balance and harmony.  It is in the development of a global faith that we are able to live in Harmony.

Cultivating faith is not just a matter of being active all of the time in Church or community of worship.  We need times for prayer and/or meditation, times for reflection on what happens and for looking ahead to anticipate what is yet to happen.  As social being, Unity and peace are the only values to help us live in harmony and communion.

The idea of social harmony or tranquility has been intrinsic to peace for many cultures and religions. Harmony is conceived of at two levels: that in our objective relations and that which is mental or spiritual. Whatever the sense in which peace in the Old and New Testaments is used, the basic message is that peace is social harmony. For example, shalom, the Hebrew word for peace in the Old Testament, among other senses, means calmness and lack of social disturbance. One of the early meanings of pax, the Roman concept of peace, is of a state of relations free of conflicts.[8]

To be of one mind and one heart in God as lovers of Spiritual Beauty is the high ideal proposed to us by Saint Augustine. He knew weaknesses of human nature; he knew the tensions and strong emotions to which even a community of men consecrated to God can be exposed. At the outset of his sermon he says: “Either do not have quarrels, or if they begin, put an end to them at one” (R.L. VI, 41). Augustine's message is not only that there must be reconciliation, but that it must take place as soon as possible. He might have read the words of the Apostle of the gentles: “Let not the sun go down upon your anger” (Eph 4:26).

In the light of the gospel it is interesting to note the very first line of the Rule of Saint Augustine, which most of us can recite from memory, I am sure. Before all things, most dear Brothers, we must love God, and after Him our neighbor; for these are the principal commands which have been given to us. From this foundational principle of Christian life, rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, Augustine turns to the themes of unity and peace in community which are pervasive in his texts and which flow from the love that binds us together.

Adapted to our times these ideas and others are as valuable today as they were in the fifth century when they were written. Furthermore, they are all derivative from the very first principle: You must love God and after God your neighbor. But love does not stop until we understand that our love of neighbor breaks out of comfort in cloistered protective walls into our world where we find those neighbors that we are to love and with whom we must live in unity and peace in community.

In the fifth century the understanding of the world was fairly circumscribed but it is not today. Today the neighborhood reaches beyond the stars. And the whole of it is embraced in God’s love and ours. Living in unity takes on new significance. One writer puts it this way:

The one through whom all things were created is also the one in whom the enormous diversity of creatures is gathered and sustained as one coherent whole. No unimaginably distant galaxy, no inconceivably minute atomic element, no incomprehensibly sordid soul, is beyond the reach of Christ’s authority or outside the range of his dominion [and love]. In him, all that presses toward division, divergence, and discord in life is bounded by the infinitely gentle but eternally enduring embrace of love.[9]

And Augustine says: "He who hates his brother is a murderer." If anyone has injured another by reproachful or railing words or by false accusation, let him remember to apologize as quickly as possible, in order to heal the wound he has inflicted -- and the injured one must forgive without delay. And if the inquiry has been mutual, forgiveness must be mutual also and all the more on account of the many prayers you say, for the more frequent are your prayers, the more holy they ought to be. He who is more frequently tempted to anger, but is quick to beg pardon of him whom he has offended, is in a better state of soul than another who is slower in becoming angry, but slower also to beg pardon. But he who will never ask pardon, or at least not from his heart, has no business in a monastery even should he not be expelled from it. Keep yourselves, therefore, from harsh words. But if you should have uttered them, be not slow to remedy the injury by the same mouth that inflicted it. Superiors, however, are not bound to ask pardon of their subjects even though they may feel conscious of having used harsher words in correcting them than the necessities of discipline required, lest by an indiscreet exercise of humility the authority of the superior should be weakened. Still, he should ask pardon of the Lord of all who knows how tenderly you love those, whom you have rebuked, perhaps too severely your affection one for the other must not be carnal, but spiritual. Obey as a father your local superior and still more carefully your higher superior who has charge of you all.[10]

Have no disputes, but if any should arise, bring them to a speedy end, lest anger should grow into hatred, the mote into the beam, and should give you the soul of a murderer. 

A way to conclude

Living in a community where unity and peace prevail, we are called to be signs of unity and peace in the world. Is it not our mission as Augustinians of the Assumption to build the Kingdom of God in us, first and around? When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” he responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan who tended the injured Hebrew lying on the roadside. In an expanded view of neighborhood, there is much lying by our roadsides of life that need our compassionate care.

 The profound aim of anyone to embrace an Augustinian spirituality is: to search for and to honor God: This is why we say that an Augustinian life is first of all a consecration of the person to God; To commit the totality of one’s life to the service of the people of God: this is why we see an Augustinian religious life as a gift given from the Spirit to the Church for the good of all; To strive together, as united as possible, within the context of committed Christian, to develop intense spiritual friendships with everybody.

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[1] De praedestinatione Sanctorum XII, 23; XV, 31(P.L. 44, 977-983).

[2] ADOLAZ ZUMKELLER, The Rule of Saint Auggustine. With commentary (St. Norbert Abbey: De Pere, Wisconsin), p. 67.

[3] Sermon 355, 6.

[4] Commentary on the First letter of Saint John, Tract. XIV, 12.

[5] ADOLAZ ZUMKELLER, The Rule of Saint Auggustine. With commentary. P. 73.

[6] ADOLAZ ZUMKELLER, The Rule of Saint Auggustine. With commentary. pp. 131-132.

[7] ADOLAZ ZUMKELLER, The Rule of Saint Auggustine. With commentary. P.134.

[8] Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD (Oct 19, 2005)
Let us return to the writings of the Patristic scholar Henry Chadwick and his summary of St. Augustine's fully developed doctrine of salvation. Chadwick writes (p. 232)

[9] John S. Mogabgab, Introduction. Weavings. May/June, 1993. P. 2

[10] Pour les arguments respectifs, voir Marcel Neusch, L’énigme du mal (Bayard, 2007), pages 179-186 : « L’enfer, une question troublante ».