Rayo, Robert Jonnydel Maningas Section: AUG-L

Master of Arts in Education major in English Augustinian Spirituality

Activity: Write a reaction paper on the movie “Restless Heart: The

Confessions of Augustine.”

The story goes as Augustine was trying to persuade the Vandal king not
to destroy the city of Hippo. Then it continued to the early life of Augustine and
his attitudes towards his mother Monica. During his early years, he is seen as
someone who is rebellious towards his mother, but despite of that, Monica
remained a loving mother throughout Augustine’s early life. As what a mother
seems to be, her love and care towards Augustine were unwavering.

Augustine ventured into different beliefs, even to the point of opposing

the Roman Catholic Church. There is also a moment in the movie where he
said, “…thus the emperor, and not the bishop, shall hear our prayers, our
petitions, our invocations. He is our faith, our comfort, our hope. The fields,
houses, also the churches are his. If the emperor decides to requisition them, no
one can oppose him, not even bishop Ambrose. Because whoever isn't with us is
against us. Me, you, all of us we belong to him (emperor).”

But then, after he was immersed deeply into sin, left his wife, go along
with different prostitutes, and ultimately, casted away his mother, he
eventually realized that his life shouldn’t go that way. He eventually realized
that he needs God more than everything, that what he knows won’t be enough
for he to become happy and contented in life. Eventually, he was converted into
Christianity, with the words, “belatedly I loved thee. Her beauty so ancient and
so new, belatedly I loved thee, thou this to cry loud and force open my deafness,
thou didst shine and chase away my blindness, thou just breathe fragrant
odors, and I drew in my breath, and now I painfully, I tasted, and now I hunger,
and thirst thou didst touch me and I burned for thy peace.” Surely God is with
him all the time even through the times he didn’t belief in Him.

Later, he become a priest whom the people loved. He is eloquent, he

surely knows a lot especially in scriptures, that is why he persuaded people
easily with his charisma.

There was a moment in the movie where the Carthaginians debate over
the purity of the Christian faith. Bishop Donatus debated with Augustine over
the validity of his episcopacy since he was a sinner and a number one
contender of the Catholic faith. But in the end, Donatus and the Donatists
conceded the embraced the argument of Augustine and the Catholics.

Truly faith can move mountains, and even the once sinner like Augustine
can become a saint, once he was touched by the Holy Spirit and will become
transformed into the likeness of God.