Today's Gospel in Art - Feast of Saint Augustine

Cathedra Pietri / Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter by Gian Lorenzo Bernini , 1666, © Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

Gospel of 28th August 2019 - Matthew 23: 27-32

Jesus said: 'Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of corruption. In the same way you appear to people from the outside like good honest men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

'Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who build the sepulchres of the prophets and decorate the tombs of holy men, saying, "We would never have joined in shedding the blood of the prophets, had we lived in our fathers' day." So! Your own evidence tells against you! You are the sons of those who murdered the prophets! Very well then, finish off the work that your fathers began.'

Reflection on the Altar Piece

And so we come to today, the feast day of Saint Augustine, one of our most important Church Fathers. An early Christian theologian and philosopher, he directly influenced the development of the early Church. His autobiographical work, the Confessions, consists of 13 books, written in Latin between 397 and 400AD. It is widely seen as the first Western autobiography ever written and outlines Saint Augustine's sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity. Saint Augustine gave two of my all time favourite quotes which I have often reflected upon:

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."

and

"To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement."

Why not chose one of the greatest sculptors to have ever lived for today's artwork: Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

To read on see: www.christianart.today/daily-gospel-reading/156