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2 Thessalonians 3: 6-10, 16-18
We instruct you, brothers and sisters,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to shun any brother
who walks in a disorderly way
and not according to the tradition they received from us.
For you know how one must imitate us.
For we did not act in a disorderly way among you,
nor did we eat food received free from anyone.
On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked,
so as not to burden any of you.
Not that we do not have the right.
Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you,
so that you might imitate us.
In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that
if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.
May the Lord of peace himself
give you peace at all times and in every way.
The Lord be with all of you.
This greeting is in my own hand, Paul’s.
This is the sign in every letter; this is how I write.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.
The Word of the Lord.
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Saint Augustine is one of the most influential thinkers the Catholic Church has ever known. Over five million of his words, either written or preached, have been preserved for nearly two thousand years.
One of his most famous works is his memoir titled, Confessions, which Augustine wrote while he was the bishop of Hippo in Northern Africa. In this book, he confesses his storied past, his dramatic conversion, and ultimately, comes to the conclusion:
“Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O LORD.”
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No one had a greater impact on Catholic theology than Augustine until Saint Thomas Aquinas, who lived 800 years later. Like Augustine, Aquinas was a towering intellect and a prolific writer, who wrote more than 100,000 pages of his own philosophy and theology.
And yet, while celebrating Mass one day, Aquinas received a revelation that affected him so profoundly he never wrote another word.
“The end of my labors has come,” he said. “All that I have written appears to be as so much straw after the things that have been revealed to me.”
Three months later, Aquinas breathed his last.
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What do the lives of these two towering Saints have in common? What can they teach us today?
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While you and I could only dream of impacting the Church the way either Augustine or Aquinas has, our reward is still the same:
Eternal life in the kingdom of God.
Saint Paul reminds us in our first reading that there is work to be done, but, “the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.”
Whatever God has given us to do, may we do it all. The reward far outweighs the effort.
Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas, pray for us.
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Image credits: (1) (2) Saint Augustine, by Claudio Coello (3) La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church