Dalman, Gian Andrei G.

BSN 1-I
ASF 1
II
Agustine’s Spirit and Spirituality
In this chapter, Saint Agustine first talked about God, and faith towards God. He said that
it’s easy to claim that we love God, but he was trying to convey that, if we really believe in God,
not just in words, but also in our actions. He talked about “love of God” is the very first
commandment, I agree with that. We should always put God first in everything that we do, in
prayer, in times of happiness, and distress. I trust God, in everything that I do, in times where I
feel down, in danger, or when I’m happy, I still remember God, not just in bad times. Saint
Agustine made me realized that loving our neighbor means that we also love God, because he
created all of us, that is why we should respect and love each other, I learned that from Saint
Agustin. He also talks about, that God seems like he does not answer our prayers, and I have
wondered about that before on why my prayers weren’t answered, but then God works in
mysterious ways, God knows what’s best for us and he will answer our prayers at the right time.
Saint Agustine also talked about humility, and why is it the key to life, and why it is
important quality that we should possess. He talked about that humility is a very misunderstood
Christian virtue, he talked about that a lot of people mistake humility as downing oneself,
lacking of confidence. I agree with Saint Agustine that we should have humility as our quality,
because it teaches us on recognizing the truth, and the truth about ourselves. Jesus lived a humble
life, Jesus has humility, and what saint Agustine was trying to tell us, is that we should allow
ourselves to be humble, and to live a simple life, like the Agustinian life, simple and humble.
Saint Agustine highlighted ways to find God, he stated that we can find God through
people, friends, family, peers. Personally, I found more about God and more of the bible through
a friend of mine, he taught me about the deeper version and meaning of the bible, and there I
realized the prophecies and revelations. Saint Agustine said that each of us has been made God’s
temple, I think that, that should be brought to light more often because nowadays we are careless
about our actions and what we do, we say mean things, we do bad things, and that reflects badly
on us.
Saint Agustine also mentioned the great value of friendship. He said that he could not live
happily without friends. For me, making friends from the past was really difficult, I had to make
a lot of effort in order to fit in, sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t. Although yes, friendship can
make anyone happy, even Saint Agustin. He also clarified the “whole Christ”. He clarified that
Christ is the head of the church, and we the baptized Catholics are the body, we follow Jesus in
his footsteps. He said that there is no way we can honor and love God as our father without
likewise honoring and loving the church as our mother.
Mother Mary was very special to Saint Agustine after he read about the scriptures.
Experiencing a close relationship to mother Mary through prayer. I remember the time where I
used to pray the holy rosary because that time in my life, I went to Holy Rosary Academy in
Molo, and we are required to pray the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, and that made my
relationship towards God closer. Praying makes me calm and it brings peace to me.
And lastly, thank God that Saint Agustin’s works were saved. Because his works teaches
us the value and importance of living a humble life, and his teachings about the catholic faith, his
ways of life, and his teachings. I have grown to adore and respect Saint Agustine’s way of life.