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Augustine Discourse
The Journal of the Union of Augustinian Friars of Africa
24 Nov, 2023
SAINT AUGUSTINE ON CONTEMPLATION AND ACTION
By Anthony Ikechukwu Kanu, OSA
Contemplation occupies a very important place in Augustinian Spirituality. It is a spirit that echoes in all the letters, sermons, books and other works of Saint Augustine. It is in this sense that Saint Augustine is referred to as ...
24 Nov, 2023
THE TOTAL CHRIST: ‘I’ AND ‘THOU’ IN SAINT AUGUSTINE
By Anthony Ikechukwu Kanu, OSA
The African world thrives on the understanding that reality is interconnected, related and in harmony. A thing exists by belonging and suffers alienation by losing its belongingness. Thus, J. S. Mbiti reflecting the African structure of things would say that “I am because you are, and since you are, therefore, I am”. This is not just a philosophy for the African, it is a reflection of the organic harmony ...
24 Nov, 2023
THE SACRAMENT OF LOVE: CENTER OF AUGUSTINE’S SPIRITUALITY
By Anthony Ikechukwu Kanu, OSA
The Dutch Augustinian, Tarsicius van Bavel describes Christian spirituality as a response to the Gospel message; this response is always shaped by an outlook on a particular text of the Gospel. The consequence is that no two persons can understand a particular passage of the Gospel in the same way, as each person listens to it in a personal way and stresses particular contents. This understanding makes it inevitable to encounter different colors of the Christian spirituality. We can, therefore, talk about the Augustinian ...
24 Nov, 2023
AUGUSTINIANNESS: OUR SPIRITUALITY AND LIFE
By Anthony Ikechukwu Kanu, OSA
The idea of our Augustinianness borders on the identity and spirituality of the Augustinian Order, which is based on the original spirit of the Order, that is, the spirit and purpose set by Saint Augustine, our spiritual father, teacher and guide. It is from him that we have received not only the Rule but also his specific teachings and spirituality. This is neither altered by the changing conditions of each age or the natural desires of individual members of the Order. It is this Augustinianness that positions the ...
24 Nov, 2023
AUGUSTINIAN CHARISM AND PERSONAL CHARISMS
By Anthony Ikechukwu Kanu, OSA
Consecrated persons, as in the case of the Augustinians, commit themselves through the evangelical councils or vows for the realization of a particular charism or way of life. It is this charism, this particular way of life that gives the particular religious institute their peculiar identity and makes them different from other religious institutes in the Church. It is also this distinct charism that defines the contribution of the particular religious institute to the universal and local Church. The concept ‘charism’, ...
24 Nov, 2023
THE TEARS OF ST AUGUSTINE AND THE MYSTERY OF GRACE
By Anthony Ikechukwu Kanu, OSA
In the Confessions, there are several accounts of Saint Augustine giving way to tears. One of such moments is recorded in Book VIII, Chapter 12, while in the garden of his friend’s house in Milan. After long struggles with “old attachments” that kept him from embracing the life of continence, Augustine gave way to tears, expressing his great remorse for the sinfulness to which he was captive. In tears, he repeated: “How long shall I go on saying ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’? Why not now? ...
24 Nov, 2023
THE SOUL AND BODY OF THE AUGUSTINIAN APOSTOLATE
By Anthony Ikechukwu Kanu, OSA
The body and soul are two fundamental parts of the human person. The relationship between the body and the soul is such that without the soul the body cannot exist, and the soul also needs the body for several manifestations. The soul is the substantial form of the body; it is so united to the body that through it the body receives and possesses subsistence and life. From the union of these two realities, there results in a single substance, a person. The union of soul and body does not, then, mean a confusion of the ...
22 Nov, 2023
AUGUSTINE'S PEDAGOGY FOR PEACE-BUILDING
By Anthony Ikechukwu Kanu, OSA
Our Holy Father Saint Augustine in his De Civitate Dei (XIX, 12-13; X-XXII) understands peace as the harmonic interaction of individuals with each other who must work consciously towards the achievement of peace and harmony in human society, mediated by their relationship with God, who inspires the human person towards virtue. Peace is not only limited to human persons, it is the general characteristic of everything that exists, be they animate or inanimate. Augustine connects unity and order with peace, holding that ...
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