Writings of St. Augustine -- The Sufferings of Christ

St. Augustine, bishop

St. Augustine, bishop

From a commentary on the psalms

The sufferings of Christ are not in Christ alone

Jesus Christ is one man with head and body, the Savior of the body and the members of the body, two in one flesh, in one voice, in one passion, and, when wickedness has passed away, in one state of rest.  

The sufferings of Christ are therefore 

not in Christ alone; 

yes, but the sufferings of Christ are only in Christ.

               
If by Christ you mean both head and body, the sufferings of Christ are only in Christ.  But if by Christ you mean only the head, then the sufferings of Christ are not in Christ alone.  For if the sufferings of Christ are in Christ alone, how can the apostle Paul, as a member of Christ, say this: That I may fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the sufferings of Christ?

If then you are among the members of Christ, whatever human being you are, whoever you are that hears this, whoever you are that does not hear this (but if you are among the members of Christ you do hear this), whatever you suffer at the hands of those who are not among the members of Christ was lacking to the sufferings of Christ.

Your sufferings are added because they were lacking.  

You fill up a measure; 

you do not pour something that overflows.  

You suffer as much as needed 

to be added from your sufferings 

to the total suffering of Christ, 

who suffered as our head, and

 suffers in his members, that is, in ourselves.

Each one of us in his own measure 

pays his debt to what may be called 

this commonwealth of ours.  

In proportion to our store of strength we contribute as it were a tax of suffering.  The final reckoning of all suffering will not take place until the world has come to an end.

Do not then imagine, brethren that all the just who suffered persecution at the hands of the wicked, even those who were sent to foretell the coming of the Lord before he came, did not belong to the members of Christ.  God forbid that one who belongs to the city which has Christ for king should not belong to the members of Christ.

In the blood of Abel, the just one, the whole city speaks, and so on until the blood of Zechariah.  From then, it is the same city that goes on speaking in the blood of John (the Baptist), in the blood of the apostles, in the blood of the martyrs, in the blood of Christ’s faithful people.

Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours, According to the Roman Rite, Ordinary Time, Catholic Book Publishing Corp.  New York, 1975

Writings of St. Augustine, bishop Suffer My sheep

St. Augustine, Bishop

Writings of 

St. Augustine, bishop

Homily for Ordination

Suffer for my sheep

                The Son of Man has come not to be served, but to serve, and to give his own life as a ransom for many.  Consider how the Lord served, and see what kind of servants he bids us to be.  He gave his own life as a ransom for many, he ransomed us.

                But who of us is fit to ransom anyone?  By his blood, by his death we were ransomed from death; and we who lay prostrate were raised up by his humiliation.  And yet we too, have a duty to contribute our meager offerings to his members, for we have become his members.  He is the head; we are the body.

                In his letter, the apostle John holds up the Lord as our model.  Jesus said:  Whoever wishes to be the greater among you will be your servant, just as the Son of Man has come not to be served by to serve and to give his own life as ransom for many.  So in his exhortation to us to act likewise, John says:  Christ laid down his life for us; so we, too, ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

                After his resurrection our Lord asked :  Peter, do you love me?  And Peter replied:  I do love you.  The question and the answer were repeated three times.  And each time the Lord added:  Feed my sheep.  In other words, if you want to show that you love me, then feed my sheep.  What will you give me if you love me, since you look for everything to come from me?  Now you know what you are to do if you love me:  Feed my sheep.  Thus we have the same question and answer once, twice, three times.  Do you love me?  I do love you.  Feed my sheep.  Three times Peter had denied in fear; three times he confessed out of love.  By his replies and his profession of love, Peter condemned and wiped out his former fear.  And so the Lord, after entrusting his sheep to him for the third time, immediately added:  When you were a young man, you would gird yourself and go wherever you wished.  But when you are old, another will gird you and take you where you do not wish to go.  This he spoke signifying by what death he was about to glorify God.  Thus he foretold Peter’s own offerings and crucifixion.  By this the Lord suggested that feed my sheep meant suffer for my sheep.

Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours, According to the Roman Rite, Ordinary Time, Catholic Book Publishing Corp.  New York, 1975