Saturday, August 27, 2016

Ask!





Perfect for the last Sunday of summer, which also happens to be his feast day, is a poem from Saint Augustine of Hippo, one of the great Doctors of the Church and one of the great authors and intellects in the history of civilization.  Enjoy it like you would a warm summer breeze – on an evening you have been out of the air conditioning for a while; or a perfect, ripe peach.
Monsignor Smith

Question the beauty of the earth, the beauty of the sea,
the beauty of the wide air around you,
the beauty of the sky;
question the order of the stars,
the sun whose brightness lights the days,
the moon whose splendor softens the gloom of night;
question the living creatures that move in the waters,
that roam upon the earth, that fly through the air;
the spirit that lies hidden, the matter that is manifest;
the visible things that are ruled,
the invisible things that rule them; question all these.
They will answer you:
"Behold and see, we are beautiful."
Their beauty is their confession to God.
Who made these beautiful, changing things,
if not one who is beautiful,
and changeth not?

Saint Augustine (354 - 430 AD)