What does it take to become a doctor?
Some would suggest that determination, dedication, resolve, perseverance, intelligence, sacrifice, desire, and a good support system, not to mention 8 years of study for a piece of paper that declares you to be a doctor.
These are all very necessary for a medical doctor. But what does it take to be a doctor of the Church?
Today is the feast of St. Augustine, the Doctor of Grace. How did he get such a title?
For Augustine to be a doctor it took the tears of his mother St. Monica, the instructional wisdom of St. Ambrose, and the divine assistance of grace.
Of course the tears of St. Monica and the instruction of St. Ambrose were instruments of grace for Augustine.
Augustine finally arrived at fellowship with Jesus, as St. Paul directs us toward in the first reading, because he was around those who had fellowship with Jesus Christ.
Pope Benedict reminds us that St. Augustine became a Christian by conversion and not by birth. This is a permanently valid principle: humans become Christian not by birth but by conversion.
For St. Monica and St. Ambrose is was the primacy of prayer and worship that awaken St. Augustine to the redeeming face of Christ. The power of prayer should be never underestimated.
For St. Augustine it meant a constant searching and a refusal to accept mediocrity in his spiritual development.
Brought together, the tears of St. Monica, the instruction of St. Ambrose, and the searching of Augustine and a doctor was born by way of conversion.
May we follow the same path, always seeking to be converted to Christ so that we may have life.
"Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace." St. Augustine
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