St. Augustine

St. Augustine shares the top spot on my Top 10 Saints with St. Vincent de Paul. These two saints have impacted me the deepest (after Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, of course). St. Vincent's life taught me how to live the Christian life in practical terms, but it is St. Augustine who taught me about the Trinity.

I was in college when I first read one of St. Augustine's most famous quotes: "You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." (Confessions, Book 1). "Wow!" I thought, "That one line says it all." I sat at in my dorm room and contemplated that one line for a long time. The world is full of restless people - they are all around us - and it's hard to convince restless people to resign to God; it seems antithetical. St. Augustine knew what it felt like to be restless. He wasn't born a saint, just like the rest of us, but he grew into being a saint. He looked for peace in so many arenas, but they all left him empty. Finally, he picked up a Bible and his life was changed.

During my second year in grad school I had a semester long class on the Doctrine of the Trinity and it changed my life. I think I drove most of my other classmates crazy because I LOVED this class; this class brought me to tears! It is impossible to study the Trinity without reading Augustine. The easiest way to encapsulate what Augustine taught me is: relationship and love. The Persons of the Trinity are in relationship with one another and it is perfect love that binds them. This is our example for life.

St. Augustine, pray for us that we may love the Mystery of the Trinity as you do.