Hi I'm Edward Sree and welcome to all things Catholic where real faith meets real life.

This week the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Great St. Augustine. I think many of us might be familiar with his conversion story, but how many of you are

familiar with his second conversion?

I think many of us know about that first conversion.

You know, he lived a wildlife, he left home, he left his mom in tears, he went to Rome,

and gave himself to a decadent lifestyle, giving himself to the lusts of the flesh

and to the pleasures of this world and the riches and power and influence and fame and fortune.

Augustine had it all according to the standards of this world,

but his heart was restless until it rested in God.

And God found him again.

God drew him back, and in that dramatic moment in his life he returns to

Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church. I think many people know about the

conversion, the first conversion of Saint Augustine, But are you familiar with the second

conversion of Augustine? I think that second conversion is actually more meaningful for our

day-to-day lives, our own struggles as disciples of Jesus today.

I think he offers a lot of encouragement for us, you know, a souls who are kind of still works in progress.

You know, many of us have had a first conversion, maybe in our adult life in college. in more important. We made Jesus a priority. We wanted to grow and prayer and

virtue and holiness, but we notice we still fall short many times. Our prayer

life isn't that spectacular. It's often pretty dry and we still struggle with some of the same old sins and

we're losing that enthusiasm we had early in our faith journey. We don't have that same zeal and devotion maybe and what's

going on and we can get a little worried, a little discouraged and

Augustine's second conversion reminds us that conversion itself is just a beginning point.

...