Today on Kresta - August 27, 2010

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Aug. 27

4:00 – Four Faces of Anger: Seneca, Evagrius Ponticus, Cassian, and Augustine
Sr. Gertrude Gillette brings to the modern age wisdom on the topic of anger by four ancient authors Seneca, Evagrius Ponticus, Cassian, and Augustine, whose feast we celebrate tomorrow. These authors broadly represent the classic views on anger and focus on how anger inhibits spiritual growth of the soul and its relationship with God. Sr. Gertrude joins us.

4:40 – Sanctifying the World: The Augustinian Life and Mind of Christopher Dawson
Tomorrow is the feast of St. Augustine and so today we look at the Augustinian life and mind of the great English historian and Christian Humanist Christopher Dawson. He stood at the very center of the Catholic literary and intellectual revival in the four decades preceding Vatican II. T. S. Eliot considered him the foremost thinker of his generation, and the founder of American conservatism. A revival of interest of Dawson and his body of work has increased dramatically in the last years of John Paul II’s and the beginning of Benedict’s pontificates. Brad Birzer has written the first critical study of Dawson’s life and thought as a whole. He joins us.

5:00 – The “R” Father: 14 Ways to Respond to the Lord's Prayer
How of ten do we view the Our Father only as a series of petitions rather than as a way to the heart of our heavenly Father? Popular Catholic author Mark Hart says that the prayer Jesus gave us is a "reactionary" prayer - one that calls for a response from us. As he reflects on each of the words and phrases of the Our Father, he emphasizes the intimate relationship that God desires to have with us.

5:40 – The Greatest Mother / Son Team Since Mary and Jesus
Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of one of the greatest Saints the Church has ever known and today we celebrate the feast of his mother who’s fidelity in prayer was responsible for it all. It is of course Sts. Monica and Augustine. Augustine was born in a Roman province and educated at Carthage. As a young man he became interested in philosophy, with little interest in Christianity until a profound experience in his early thirties. By 396 he had become bishop of Hippo, and his sermons and writings gained fame, notably his Confessions and the treatise City of God. His notions of God's grace, free will and Original Sin have had an unmatched influence on Christian theology. Augustinian philosopher Dr. Barry David joins us.