"The saints in Christian history are models
for almost any kind of human behavior. Some, like the great Augustine and the
modern Irishman, Venerable Matt Talbot, are also models of change. They showed
that early wildness does not define a life. The worst cad and drunk can become
someone worth imitating for virtue.
At last month’s synod on marriage and
family in Rome, some of the bishops spoke of such change as a “gradualism”
recognized by the Catholic Church. Some other bishops at the synod worried that
such talk is dangerous. People could misunderstand it as tolerance of poor
judgment and a careless attitude toward virtue in youth.
St. Augustine is famous for praying, “Grant
me chastity and continence, but not yet.” This was during his early dissolute
years. He finally reached that goal, but not until after fathering a child and
leaving the mother. He had been drawn to Christianity even as a young man, and
he knew how to pray. Even in his wandering he was listening for the movement of
God in his life. But Augustine’s move from reckless playboy to Christian hero —
with the title Doctor of the Church — was made gradually, at his own personal
pace.
Matt Talbot’s story is
similar. He lived from 1856 to 1925 as a laborer in Dublin. In his early teen
years he began drinking any liquor he could get, borrowing money for drinks,
even stealing when the money ran out. After 16 years of this he made a pledge of
sobriety, kept it, and became known for quiet kindness and charity to fellow
workers. When he dropped dead on a Dublin street at the age of 69, he was found
with a small chain wrapped around his body. It turned out that he had worn this
for years as a practice of penance and self-control.
There are people who seem to move
through life on a steady ladder of growth in virtue. For most of us, the story
is different. We rise and fall, stumble, slip, rise and fall. And keep hoping,
keep growing in our own ragged way, like Augustine and Matt
Talbot...”
Notes:
A woman who spent over two decades as a self-described ‘low bottom’ drug and alcohol addict and is now in recovery and practicing her religious faith again has recently stated that “I know now what I didn’t know before, that life doesn’t have to stay the same. For years I didn’t know I had a choice to live any other way. Now I know that I have a daily choice.”
One of the many spiritual books that Matt Talbot read in sobriety was Confessions by St. Augustine.
Notes:
A woman who spent over two decades as a self-described ‘low bottom’ drug and alcohol addict and is now in recovery and practicing her religious faith again has recently stated that “I know now what I didn’t know before, that life doesn’t have to stay the same. For years I didn’t know I had a choice to live any other way. Now I know that I have a daily choice.”
One of the many spiritual books that Matt Talbot read in sobriety was Confessions by St. Augustine.