Three Impediments to the Christian Faith that St. Augustine Overcame, and Why They Still Matter

By Adam Hincks, S.J.

Image: www.economist.com

Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear. – J.R.R. Tolkien

Many of the things get in the way of Christian faith and have remain remarkably consistent through the ages. Here are three roadblocks that St. Augustine, whose feast we celebrate tomorrow, had to overcome before fully embracing the Catholic faith, as described in his autobiographical Confessions.

1. Disordered Sexuality

When it comes to sex, St. Augustine wears his heart on his sleeve in the Confessions, speaking with remarkable frankness. He is famous for relating that as young man he used to pray, ‘Give me chastity and continence, but not yet’ (VIII, 7). Unfortunately, he lived in a culture, not unlike ours, in which chastity was seen as unmanly. When his friends boasted of their own conquests, he was eager not to lose face with them:

Setting my Missionary Heart Before the Open Road Ahead

By Br. Daniel Leckman, S.J.

Every year, around the time of Pentecost, I’m invited to reflect upon the work of the Spirit in my own life and how I respond to that work. It’s that second part that always troubles me. I know the spirit has done wonders in my life. The problem is I don’t always see the fruits of her work in my own response. Of course, me not seeing my response to the Spirit does not mean it’s not there. It just means I’m too impatient or restless to really see it.

This year, I feel I was able not only to see the fruits of the Spirit in my life: I could even taste them. In fact, it feels like all of my senses were involved in developing a greater consciousness and appreciation of both the gifts and my response to them. Two things helped me get to that point of awareness.

A New Approach to the Missions?

By Artur Suski, S.J.

On Monday of this week, I came upon a very inspiring article in the Toronto Star: “Good news from Canada's aboriginal communities” by Carol Goar. It is about a very ambitious project wherein the mission is to supply laptops to aboriginal children. It has been quite successful. “Since its founding in 2010, it has distributed 3,800 of the tough little computers,” writes Goar. But that’s not all; they’re not just on a mission to give out laptops to kids.

Positive and Frustrating Experiences around Evangelization on the Internet

By Brother Daniel Leckman, S.J.

tele.communication.net

For this entry, I'd like to muse about the Catholic Church and communications. More specifically, how do we communicate faith to a secular world that is slowly losing the art of elaborate and refined communication of complex ideas (which are needed to communicate the faith!), and that instead is more interested in “sound bites” and the 20 second summary of a complex issue?

Those of us who who have come to believe that Christ’s salvific love for us brings all people to new life and restores us to God’s light seem to be almost boxed out in this world and, as many agnostics and atheists would claim, have become irrelevant.

The New Evangelization

By Artur Suski, S.J.

The phrase “The New Evangelization” has been around for quite some time, and it seems to have originated at some point during the pontificate of the late Pope John Paul II. I have been pondering about the exact meaning of this phrase for a while, especially as to how it relates to my soon-to-be ministry to youth and young adults. So, how are we to understand “The New Evangelization”?

The first thing that undoubtedly comes to mind is that it is new because there has already been an initial evangelization movement, in which those that have never heard of Jesus were introduced to him and the Gospel. The novelty of this new evangelization is that it tries to evangelize a culture or a society that is already familiar with Jesus and the Gospel. This society, however, has for the most part embraced many of the values of the Gospel, yet it has left Christ behind as well as some of his more demanding teachings.

The question is then how to re-evangelize, to “put on the new man” (Eph 4:24)? The following are a few humble insights into the matter:

A Jesuit on Mars

By Eric Hanna, S.J.

I think I'd like to be
A Jesuit on Mars
To soar through that black, airless sea

And evangelize the stars



Perhaps some child of the red sands

Awaits the Word of God

They'll gape in amazement as I land

In my ecclesial space pod