dual personalities

The collect today is for Augustine of Hippo:

Lord God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the hearts that serve you: Help us, following the example of your servant Augustine of Hippo, so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Augustine was an early Christian and philosopher who served (396-430) as the bishop of Hippo. Through his autobiographical Confessions (397) and the City of God (413-426), he profoundly influenced Christianity and is considered to be one of the theological fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teachings on salvation and divine grace.

In the Anglican Church he is a saint and today is his feast day.

His mother Monica, however, is considered a saint only in the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed, she is a prototypical Catholic woman–“venerated for her outstanding Christian virtues, particularly the suffering against the adultery of her husband, and a prayerful life dedicated to the reformation of her son.” (Wikipedia) She cried a lot and prayed a lot, and, we are led to believe, it paid off. Her sinful rake of a son turned out to be a prince of the church. Not that she lived to see much of the rewards of her prayer. Isn’t that always the way?

Anyway, I thought this was amusing:

This is code to all you sons out there: Call your mother!