Customer Reviews

Day By Day with Saint Augustine

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This calendar-style book has much to offer in short, easily adaptable entries for each day of the year. The obvious approach would be to set aside a few minutes to read and reflect on each day's entry. However, the author has generously offered an option via the topic index. Either choice is suitable for individuals or small groups. The format is a selection from Augustine's writings, containing an appropriate heading and the citation, followed by a brief reflection.

For example, the entry for the day on which this review was written, March 15, is titled "A Prayer for Prayer." It begins with an excerpt from Augustine's Soliloquies asking God to wash him free "of all my silly earthly desires so that I may be clear-eyed enough to see you," a wish that continues to echo into the twenty-first century. Fr. Burt's reflection compares our ability to pray despite silly earthly desires with an airplane's ability to fly despite the pull of gravity. "Gravity is always an obstacle to flying; flying with weakened wings is all the more a challenge," he writes. Overcoming worldly distractions even for a moment allows us to receive the grace to pray, he explains, and it takes few words for our attention and love to become gradually fixed on God.

This pattern of acknowledging human frailty while expressing encouragement and hope runs throughout Fr. Burt's current work, making it a valuable resource to keep close at hand.