Pope Leo XIV is an Augustinian priest. He often quotes from the wisdom of St. Augustine when he gives homilies or talks. Here are some of the bits of wisdom from this great saint. For Augustine, you cannot be a follower of Christ without being part of the Church. For Christ is the Head of the Church. It is an illusion to think you can “go your own way” apart from the Body. God is “nearer to us than we are to ourselves”. But our hearts will remain restless until they finally rest in God. On old age, Augustine says that the elderly are the first witnesses of hope. In his commentary of Psalm 71 he writes “God says, ‘Let your strength fail, so that my strength may abide within you. Then you can say with the Apostle Paul ‘for when I am weak, then I am strong.’” One of the saddest days of his life was in the port city of Ostia Antica on the Mediterranean coast of Italy. Augustine had been baptized and now he planned to return to his homeland in north Africa with his mother and his son. But as he was waiting for his ship, Monica passed away at the age of 56. She was his closest companion and inspiration. Augustine wrote that when someone dies it is very human to cry and to feel the pain. But we do not mourn as the pagans do, for our hope is in Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again. By the way, Jalen Brunson, star point guard for the New York Knicks, played college basketball at Villanova University, an Augustinian college. Maybe there are some secret powers embedded in this saint’s wisdom? St. Augustine, pray for us.  – Fr. Jim