Our hearts are restless until they rest in you

Pastor’s Pen
St. Augustine Catholic Church
Sunday, August 29, 2021
Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Times

Dear Church Family,

OUR HEARTS ARE RESTLESS

“Our hearts are restless until they rest in you”, is a teaching from St. Augustine. Centering ourselves in Christ is the simplest way to find peace because when we make Jesus the center of our existence, anything that is not of Him disappears. In our first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses enjoins his people to follow the commandments given to him by God so as to remain in God’s graces. Moses tells his people that by following the laws of God they remain close to Him. Moses also says, “Therefore, you will not add to what I command you, nor subtract from it.”

By Jesus’ time, the scribes and pharisees had enlarged the total number of commandments to 613. In our Gospel reading from St. Mark, the scribes and pharisees are chastising Jesus and the Apostles for not following their law about handwashing before meals. Jesus says to them regarding their complaint, “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.”

Now in returning to St. Augustine’s wonderful teaching, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in thee”. When we lose our focus on God and begin to place that focus on ourselves or our world; we begin to implement our own rules.

Jesus, when asked what were the two great commandments? He responded, “Love your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself”.

So I, a simple deacon, enjoin you to set aside all differences and follow the words of Christ in loving Him and our neighbor, and in so doing we will find great rest and peace as expressed by St. Augustine. “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Happy 29th birthday to our parish and we honor our recent feast of St. Augustine!

Deacon Ed