On ST. AUGUSTINE'S Leadership

“Great leaders don’t grouse, they act!” - Chris Lowney, why he leads the way he leads.

St. Augustine

You have often learned that all our hope is in Christ and that he is our true glory and our salvation. You are members of the flock of the Good Shepherd, who watches over Israel and nourishes his people. Yet there are shepherds who want to have the title of shepherd without wanting to fulfill a pastor’s duties; let us then recall what God says to his shepherds through the prophet. You must listen attentively; I must listen with fear and trembling.

The word of the Lord came to me and said: Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel and speak to the shepherds of Israel. We just heard this reading a moment ago, my brothers, and I have decided to speak to you on this passage. The Lord will help me to speak the truth if I do not speak on my own authority. For if I speak on my own authority, I will be a shepherd nourishing myself and not the sheep. However, if my words are the Lord’s, then he is nourishing you no matter who speaks. Thus says the Lord God: Shepherds of Israel, who have been nourishing only themselves! Should not the shepherds nourish the sheep? In other words, true shepherds take care of their sheep, not themselves. This is the principle reason why God condemns those shepherds: they took care of themselves rather than their sheep. Who are they who nourish themselves? They are the shepherds the Apostle described when he said: They all seek what is theirs and not what is Christ’s.

I must distinguish carefully between two aspects of the role the lord has given me, a role that demands a rigorous accountability, a role based on the Lord’s greatness rather than on my own merit. The first aspect is that I am a Christian; the second, that I am a leader. I am a Christian for my own sake, whereas I am a leader for your sake; the fact that I am a Christian is to my own advantage, but I am a leader for your advantage.

Many persons come to God as Christians but not as leaders. Perhaps they travel by an easier road and are less hindered since they bear a lighter burden. In addition to the fact that I am a Christian and must give God an account of my life, I as a leader must give him an account of my stewardship as well. (from his book, CONFESSIONS)

            Augustine, being a great leader to his flock I can really appreciate the discipline he had for his constituents within the household. At the same house and table together with him the clergy were regularly fed and clothed at the common expense. That no one might informally utter a word and thus fall into blame, he preached to the people in the church and instructed the members of his own household that no one should utter an oath—not even at the table. The faults of omission and commission of which, in spite of this rule, his brethren were guilty, he duly and properly censured or tolerated them as far as was fitting and necessary; in such cases particularly teaching that no one should incline his heart to evil words or to make excuses in sins. And when anyone offered his gift at the altar and there remembered that his brother had aught against him, he should leave his offering at the altar and go to be reconciled to his brother and then come and offer his gift at the altar. But if he had anything against his brother, he should rebuke him in secret, and if he heard him he had gained his brother, but if not, he should take with him one or two others. If he held them also in contempt he should be brought before the Church. This also he added, that if a brother offend and ask forgiveness, not seven times, but seventy times seven times, the offence should be forgiven him, even as each one daily asks of the Lord that his own sins be forgiven. If given the chance to be with him for even just a short period of time I would be glad because I can myself as a very passionate man inasmuch as my boss is so passionate as well. I will probably lean many things from him that is very useful with this formation I have today. I maybe acquire the possible ideal character of a seminarian as his follower. Such is just one way on how he manifests his leadership as a bishop. 

What it is to be truly FREE in the seminary?

            

             Our responsible freedom here in the seminary is a gift from God. Because of this gift we can choose to heed God’s call to be truly happy by following Jesus Christ in our everyday living here in the community. Through the Holy Spirit, who strengthens me to do what is good, our freedom is perfected, bearing fruit in our loving service to God and our neighbour. St. Paul speaks of this in his letter to the Corinthians: “where the Spirit of the Lord, there is freedom” (2cor 3:17).

              In my moral living here in the seminary since June I can say that we are persons (the seminarians) called to true freedom. In His goodness, God created us free human persons, set apart from the rest of creation, yet charged with responsibility over it. Thence, we are created in the image of God who freely chose to share His goodness with us, thus, we are called to do good. I realize that we become fully ourselves only through grace, freely chosen acts that express pour dignity as created, saved and strengthened beings by the Triune God. Indeed, our freedom is at the heart of our human becoming. In the seminary, since my college years I really appreciated that in growing in authentic freedom we are to follow Christ, who empowers us through the Holy Spirit in becoming truly free. I also reflected that with my experiences with people and the rules in the seminary there I understood what it means to be truly be free.

I realize, however, that growing in freedom means so much more than having more options. Being truly free here in the seminary also means growing in my capacity to ACT RESPONSIBLY. Now that I can do more things, I am much expected to put my capacity to good use. This I mean choosing the best in me inside the seminary what I know is good. To specify some, doing my daily household chores here in the seminary though many thought it as just a simple thing to do yet it has a great impact on my part as a free seminarian. Acting responsibly may mean not littering, not lying, not wasting time on the computer or cell phone and not using illegal drugs. By experience, we know that acting responsibly upholds our genuine personal responsible freedom and the true freedom of our families and circle of friends.

 As I grow in my understanding of responsible freedom or simply freedom, I also grow in an awareness of my duty to protect my freedom here in my community (the seminary). Freedom then, is something immeasurable in the scientific sense.no machine can assess the degree of freedom of an individual person or of the community. The good thing is that are our own freedom meters, who can use reason to understand what Christ life and teachings says about what it means to be truly free. Freedom is something we experience as persons- in our capacity to choose, in our individual choices and in the person we become through our choices.

 In growing up, we naturally gain more experience and more responsibilities, and because of this, some people thought that their freedom is ought to be limitless. They feel that they should be able to do whatever they want even if it destroys the true freedom of others. Thus, all forms of restraint- rules and obligations, commitments, norms or standards and accepted ways of doing things- are taken as limitations on freedom. What they desire most is to have the freedom to do as they please. One example of this idea of absolute freedom is the clamour of some people for the absolute right over their lives and bodies, especially the right to commit abortion and euthanasia. This manifestation of the culture of death, is rooted in the basic error that sees God, the living Tradition of the Catholic Church and everything that guides all persons toward authentic freedom as a hindrance to absolute freedom to do whatever one wants. Imagine some claiming the freedom to murder, to rape, steal, and lie as their right.

The Ten Commandments do not only prohibit, but more importantly, express what we should do to be truly free: worship God and always respect the life, marriage, property and honor of all persons. These moral obligations are essential in our life as a community; without them, the only norm would be brute force, or having things “my way”. True freedom, therefore, is not our capacity to do anything we WANT, but our capacity to do what we ought as persons-in-community. In short, true freedom is ‘’doing GOOD’’. Through God’s sanctifying grace, we grow more and more in the likeness of Christ.