St. Augustine didn’t trust his physical body. Prior to his conversion to Christianity Augustine had lived to please and indulge his own appetites. For the rest of his life on earth he considered his “flesh” as the enemy of his soul. I believe Augustine overreacted a bit. After all, God created our bodies, and called…

In his spiritual autobiography, Confessions Augustine tells the story of his wandering, painful quest to find true peace. He searched in philosophy and religion, in self indulgence and in self effacement. He found peace finally only when God found him. This famous prayer of Augustine expresses well what his own life demonstrated. I think many…

Augustine was Bishop of Hippo in North Africa in the 4th-5th century. Except for the writers of the New Testament, no one has had more influence than Augustine in establishing Christian belief and practice. This prayer to the Holy Spirit invites God to work within our will to make us desire God and to empower…

John Wesley, along with his brother Charles founded the Methodist Movement in England in the 18th century. Wesley preached open-air sermons and followed up by encouraging his converts to join small groups for prayer, study and moral accountability. Wesley’s “Covenant Prayer” was a key element in his own spiritual discipline and in Methodist discipleship.   I…

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