The first half of Book 1 of the Confessions by St. Augustine speaks about prayer/medication, Augustine’s infancy, his journey into boyhood, and his Baptism. Throughout the rest of this book, Augustine says more about the first few years of his life and the view he saw in the world as a child.
The next section of the book speaks about Augustine’s struggle to learn Greek, but he excels in Latin. This is the most extended section of this chapter, and he covered many scenarios. Still, he mainly speaks about how he disliked the studies he had to learn in Greek and how easy it was to learn Latin, mainly because that was the first language he was taught. He mentions how the school can be subjective, and nothing can prepare him more than our Lord. “See, Lord, you are my king and my God; let every useful thing I learned as a boy be devoted now to your service; let whatever I speak, write, read or count serve you, for even as I was learning such vanities you were schooling me, and you have forgiven the sins of self-indulgence I committed in those frivolous studies”(Augustine 28). St. Augustine does speak in a harsh tone but what he is saying is very accurate. Education is very important, and it does increase the way we communicate with others and learn how to understand the world we live in. But we often don’t think the Lord is helping us understand these studies. Without school, we wouldn’t know how to read, write, or count, which is important in communicating with others. Even with studies like science and history, knowing these subjects help us understand the culture in our society and incorporate these subjects to evangelize God’s goodness.
Augustine then speaks more of his childish sins, where he mainly sinned just to have fun and fit in. “I stole from my parents’ larder too, and their table, either out of gluttony or to get something with which I could bribe other boys to let me join in their games, for they exacted a price even though they enjoyed our play as much as I did.”(Augustine 31). I feel this kind of behavior is fairly common, especially in the teenage years. Just like Augustine said, we can steal from our parents just so we can do something that isn’t safe and our relationship with God lowers if we continue to please others. That feeling of pleasing others can also carry to adulthood, especially nowadays with social media. With the number of likes and notifications we get, we often see that as a motive and look at things that are unrelated to the faith. Social media has helped with evangelization but it’s easy to be sidetracked on other things that are unrelated to God.
Later on, Augustine reflects on his experiences and even though he’s sinful, God still loves him and wants to thank Him for having Augustine exist in the world. He states that these experiences made him who he is and that he wants to thank God for having those experiences. That is very true in our lives because even though we can turn away from knowing God’s truth, we can be thankful to Him for having us exist in this world and be closer to Him in the society we live in. A the end of the chapter Augustine states, “So will you preserve me too, and what you have give me will grow and reach perfection, and I will be with you; because this too is your gift to me that I exist.”(Augustine 32). Even though we cannot reach perfectionism, we can try to be and be closer to our Lord in any way possible because God is perfect. There are times that we tend to struggle in our spiritual life, especially early adulthood but one thing to consider is to always thank God and be closer to Him because he will give us the strength to be successful in the world we live in.
The next section of the book speaks about Augustine’s struggle to learn Greek, but he excels in Latin. This is the most extended section of this chapter, and he covered many scenarios. Still, he mainly speaks about how he disliked the studies he had to learn in Greek and how easy it was to learn Latin, mainly because that was the first language he was taught. He mentions how the school can be subjective, and nothing can prepare him more than our Lord. “See, Lord, you are my king and my God; let every useful thing I learned as a boy be devoted now to your service; let whatever I speak, write, read or count serve you, for even as I was learning such vanities you were schooling me, and you have forgiven the sins of self-indulgence I committed in those frivolous studies”(Augustine 28). St. Augustine does speak in a harsh tone but what he is saying is very accurate. Education is very important, and it does increase the way we communicate with others and learn how to understand the world we live in. But we often don’t think the Lord is helping us understand these studies. Without school, we wouldn’t know how to read, write, or count, which is important in communicating with others. Even with studies like science and history, knowing these subjects help us understand the culture in our society and incorporate these subjects to evangelize God’s goodness.
Augustine then speaks more of his childish sins, where he mainly sinned just to have fun and fit in. “I stole from my parents’ larder too, and their table, either out of gluttony or to get something with which I could bribe other boys to let me join in their games, for they exacted a price even though they enjoyed our play as much as I did.”(Augustine 31). I feel this kind of behavior is fairly common, especially in the teenage years. Just like Augustine said, we can steal from our parents just so we can do something that isn’t safe and our relationship with God lowers if we continue to please others. That feeling of pleasing others can also carry to adulthood, especially nowadays with social media. With the number of likes and notifications we get, we often see that as a motive and look at things that are unrelated to the faith. Social media has helped with evangelization but it’s easy to be sidetracked on other things that are unrelated to God.
Later on, Augustine reflects on his experiences and even though he’s sinful, God still loves him and wants to thank Him for having Augustine exist in the world. He states that these experiences made him who he is and that he wants to thank God for having those experiences. That is very true in our lives because even though we can turn away from knowing God’s truth, we can be thankful to Him for having us exist in this world and be closer to Him in the society we live in. A the end of the chapter Augustine states, “So will you preserve me too, and what you have give me will grow and reach perfection, and I will be with you; because this too is your gift to me that I exist.”(Augustine 32). Even though we cannot reach perfectionism, we can try to be and be closer to our Lord in any way possible because God is perfect. There are times that we tend to struggle in our spiritual life, especially early adulthood but one thing to consider is to always thank God and be closer to Him because he will give us the strength to be successful in the world we live in.