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St Augustine of Hippo

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Today is the Feast Day for St Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430 A.D.). He was of Berber origin, born in modern day Algeria. His mother Monica was a Christian and his father Patricius a pagan. After a wayward youth he converted to Christianity in 386 A.D. Thanks to his early education in rhetoric and philosopy, he became a writer in philosophy and theology. His written work continues to have great incluence on Western Christianity, for example in the way he developed the concept of 'original sin' and his emphais on the concept of divine grace as essential to salvation. He has been both condemned and admired by later Christian thinkers. He is often quoted as an authority, but he had a realistic and humble view of his limitations.  My favorite story about him is how he wrestled to understand the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Don't we all? He wanted to be able to explain it. Can anyone? Here's my version of the story: As Augustine walked by the sea shore he saw a child al...
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VJ Day

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Today is VJ Day, the day World War 2 officially ended when Japan surrendered 80 years ago. It is a bitter sweet day. Yes, peace came, but at horrendous cost to so many lives. As in all wars, the greatest cost was born by children. I have struggled to find a suitable prayer to use in this post. The end of the war brought joy to some as families were reunited after long separation. For others the remembrance of suffering, loss and death was too great to bear. Perhaps the best thing to do is to light a candle for peace and pray that each of us may become lights in a dark world.
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One more step

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I am dipping a toe in the water of returning to blogging after a long break due to illness. This is one more step on my road to recovery. For a long time I did not have the energy to read and writing anything other than a text or short email was exhausting. I now have the problem of remembering how the Blogger site works. I am determined to get there eventually, but it is proving harder than I had hoped. Any encouraging comments will be welcome, especially if you have taken a long break from blogging and have succeeded in getting back in the habit of writing regular posts.  
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