A seat among the lowly

For a man who had lived and travelled between the great Empire cities of Rome, Milan and Carthage, from the time Augustine was appointed the Bishop of Hippo in AD 395 and until his death in AD 430, he barely travelled outside of that town. Instead, Augustine spent his time with the religious community in which he lived or in the Cathedral of Hippo itself, where he worked.

This is a striking reality that is rarely acknowledged. By day, Augustine would be perched on his seat (cathedra) in the cathedral, receiving people, listening to their needs and difficulties, or composing letters, homilies and meditations that would be sent out across the Christian world. By night, his life was confined to the community house, where in prayer and friendship, he would live a life of faith and simple means with his religious brothers.

For the greatest evangeliser and theologian of the Church, after St Paul, with a reputation that expanded throughout the world and down through history, for 35 years Augustine did not travel beyond the small city of Hippo, perched on the north African fringe of the Roman Empire, to which he had been sent to minister. At Christ’s prompting, Augustine found his way to the lowliest place at the table and sat there, waiting for the moment when the Divine Host—that Beauty ever ancient, ever new—would come to him and say, ‘My friend, move up higher.’

In one of his homilies, written from the seat of his in the cathedral, St Augustine encouraged his listeners, ‘Do not have your heart in your ears, but your ears in your heart.’ These are words of one who had learnt to live a life of humility and smallness before God. It is an exhortation similar to what we heard in the first reading today: ‘The heart of a sensible person will reflect on parables, an attentive ear is the sage’s dream’ (Ecclesiasticus 3:31). It is the heart that receives truly what we may then speak in goodness and beauty, not the voracious ear that might simply want to consume any voice that passes by us.

Leo, our new Pope, is a son of St Augustine, as you know. He recently pointed this out to us:

[B]efore we speak, we first must listen, … to re-engage in the art of listening through prayer, through silence, discernment and reflection. We have the opportunity and responsibility to listen to the Holy Spirit; to listen to each other; to listen to the voices of the poor and those on the margins whose voices need to be heard. Saint Augustine urges us to pay attention and to listen to the inner teacher, the voice that speaks from within all of us. It is within our hearts where God speaks to us.

St Augustine’s Church sat on the fringe of Melbourne in its early days, one hundred years ago this year. Of course, you could not say the same today, with Yarraville now considered ‘inner-city’ living. Yet, her humble beginnings, established for poorer families on the socioeconomic margins, ought to be also her ongoing life in faith. You, too, are called to sit at the table of the Lord, but with an eye to doing so in a humble manner. Be happy to continue to find your seat among the lowly, just like the Child born in a manger. Then trust in hope for the offer to come closer to the Divine Host, for you are called to be a ‘first-born child’ and a citizen of heaven here at St Augustine’s.

Happy centenary!