ST. AUGUSTINE

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I stood on holy ground this month of May. The site of the first Catholic Mass in the Americas. I stood at the foot of a 208 foot stainless steel cross that soared straight into heaven...announcing to the world that this place is special. As I stared into the sky, as the soft breeze gently massaged my being...I understood the immense power that had pulled me to this place where God and man begin a new journey of the soul.

I did not fully understand the power of St. Augustine Florida, until I visited this particular piece of land...the Mission of Nombre de Dios...I'm grateful my friend Judy answered the urging of the Holy Spirit and called me from New Orleans. "The shrine is on holy ground...pray there...special graces are given there," she said. I dropped everything, hopped into the car, and flew down the road until I pulled straight into the past...where I walked in the footsteps of settlers who pushed ashore here in 1565 and established the first permanent place of Christianity in the United States. The Spanish Admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles spotted this land on the feast day of Augustine Hippo, August 28, 1565...When he landed here a few days later on September 8th, he named the first American settlement, San Augustin, in honor of the saint.

A former pagan intellectual, St. Augustine is one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity...As a philosopher and theologian he is considered one of the pre-eminent teachers of salvation and divine grace.

St. Augustine's spiritual transformation did not come suddenly. A wildly hedonistic life style preceded his soulful surrender to the will of God. His mother, St. Monica, played a powerful role in his conversion, persistently praying that he would one day break free from the destructive forces that play tug of war with our lives.

A prolific author, St. Augustine wrote brilliantly, illuminating books about the inner workings of man...our conscience, our free will and our concept of original sin. He shunned old habits, letting go of the yearnings of the flesh, idle gossip and the pull of materialism. His extraordinary spiritual journey is described in detail in the literary and theological classic, Confessions.

I did not know all this as I stood on the soil where St. Augustine's living legacy is flourishing. But that's the thing about holy ground...It inspires us to reach higher and to look deeper, so that we can become more than we ever dreamed possible. It's legacy lights up the land with a subliminal power that is hard to escape and impossible to ignore. A permanent feeling is imprinted on the soil and in the souls of those who are called to visit-and like St. Augustine, destined to be touched by heaven.

I know I was called there and I'm glad I answered the call...because I know that it will lead to another calling, to another holy place and to the ultimate destination of the further illumination of the soul.

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