FRIENDS OF AUGUSTINE

AUGUSTINE FOR TODAY

THE AUGUSTINIAN COMMITMENT TO JUSTICE AND PEACE

THE WORD

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might
not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world, but to save it” (John 3: 16-17).

God so loves the world, this world, the whole world, always and everywhere, but specifically
here and now, not simply some ideal world “as it should be”, or some supposedly better world,
observed through the haze of nostalgia, a world frozen at some specific point in the past. Not
elsewhere either – some “holier” place, some Rome or Jerusalem, where there are some
hypothetically worthier, more upright people – but right here, right now.

This basic truth is hard for some to grasp: God loves US, and has sent his Son to save us, “not
as individuals without any bond or link between us, but rather to make us into a people who
might acknowledge God and serve God in holiness”, as Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution of
the Church (# 9) reminds us.

If we consider the population of the world as a village of 100 inhabitants, maintaining the current
proportions as they are, it would look something like this:

In a world divided between north and south, developed and developing nations, 90% of those in
the south live in poverty (defined ad not having enough to sustain life nor achieve a minimum of
formal education). Twenty percent of those who live in the north share this condition. Together,
they make up 4/5ths of the world’s population. The other 1/5th – 80% of those who live in the
north, and 10% of those who live in the south – enjoy the benefits of the world’s goods.

At the same time, the United Nations Human Development Report in 1999 estimated that the
cost of achieving and maintaining universal access to basic education for all would be US $6
billion; basic health care and adequate nutrition for all: US $13 billion; clean water for all: US $9
billion. That amounts to roughly $28 billion a year -- or less than 3 % of the combined wealth of
the 225 richest people in the world.

Now, let us examine what we have spent in 1999 for the following concepts:
• Cosmetics in United Stated: $8 billion
• Ice-cream in Europe: $11 billion
• Perfume in USA and Europe: $12 billion
• Dog and cat food in USA and Europe: $17 billion
• Cigarettes in Europe: $50 billion
• Alcoholic Drinks in Europe: $105 billion
• Military expenses in the world: $780 billion

It would be misleading to conclude that if we provided all our ice cream money for governments
of developing nations that they would invest it in resolving the issues of health or education.
Corruption depletes funds available. This points out the need to work on the issue of justice, as
well as charity, in order to transform, convert minds and hearts, as well as behaviour and
structures, so that all are included in God’s good gifts.

“The community of believers was of one mind and one heart, and no one claimed any of his
possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. There was no needy person
among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them and they were
distributed to each according to need” Acts of the Apostles 4: 32,34

FROM AUGUSTINE

What role does religion, Christianity, Augustinian spirituality play in forming world opinion? The
question we are addressing is not: who is at fault, who is to blame; but rather, what
responsibility do we, you and I, have for transforming this situation? Here is where it would be
good to examine the Augustinian interpretation of some basic Christian principles, principles
that Augustine stressed in word and deed and which underlie our Augustinian spirituality and
which find their expression

Rule of life.

1. The first principle is that all people should honour God in one another. We are born
equal in dignity. Augustine expressed it this way:

Our dignity does not flow from what we have, but from who we are: children of God, sisters and
brothers all. Some have more treasured gifts than others and some have greater needs than
others, but we are all equal in dignity. Much lip service is paid to this principle in our democratic
society, but then, how do we explain the inequitable distribution of the world’s goods? Do some
have more of a right to food than others? Is it that there is not enough food, too many people?

2. The second basic principle underlying Augustinian spirituality and encouraging social
responsibility flows form the first: God created the world for everyone: share all in
common.

The universal and common destiny of the goods of the earth lies at the very heart of the Gospel
and the social justice preached by Jesus. Augustine’s affirmation of the universal destiny of all
God’s good gifts is a constant in Christian tradition. John Paul II expressed it this way: “God
gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of its members, without excluding or
favouring anyone.” (Centessimus Annus 1991) This principle is essential to the construction of
a society where peace, justice and solidarity are valued and enjoyed. Communion of goods is
the incarnation of the communion of hearts, as well as the condition for realising it. It is evident
from the Rule that the economic organisation of Augustinian community rests on two pillars: the
communion of goods; and proportional distribution done according to the needs of each person.
Augustine says it in the following fashion:

In private property there lurks the danger of discord, as Augustine points out:

Private ownership (a legitimate expression of the dignity of each person) always needs to be
subordinated to the common good. Greed and selfishness are the greatest cause of poverty
and the cornerstone of the structures of sin. The exclusive and excessive pursuit of personal
wealth has become today’s idol, an absolute, sought for its own sake.

3. The third principle underlying our social responsibility, according to Augustine, is that we
are called to have greater concern for the common good than for our own. Helping the
poor is a matter of justice. Augustine expresses it this way in the Rule:

Augustine resisted the temptation and danger of privatising the Christian experience. Augustine
understood and lived out the consequences of Christ’s solidarity and identification with the poor.

Augustine did not advocate self-impoverishment in order to achieve a more equitable situation.
He encouraged and practised almsgiving, insistently, that is: sharing what we have with those
who are less fortunate. Almsgiving, for Augustine, is nothing more than paying a debt: “If you
were giving something of your own, then it would be pure generosity; but you are giving what
belongs to God.” Exposition on Psalm 95,15

For Augustine, it is not enough to practice charity. Both charity and justice are essential for
being a Christian. “You give bread to a hungry person; but it would be better were no one
hungry, and you could give it to no one. You clothe the naked person. Would that all were
clothed and this necessity did not exist.” Tractate 1 John 8,8.

Clearly, those who choose to follow Augustine today by living in community and striving to share
material and spiritual goods stand in contradiction to a society based principally on self-interest.
Augustine’s Rule can yet play a critical role within a capitalist society that is based on private
property, as well as a utopian role to the benefit of society based on the common search for the
common good. Creed and deed are inextricably connected for Augustine. Today we are quite
aware that the proposal of Acts of the Apostles, taken up in Augustine’s Rule, is valid not only
for the whole Church but also for society as well.

POINTS TO PONDER

A FINAL THOUGHT