87. Origen, Commentary on Jobn XIII.24, quoted in Bouyer, Spirituality, p. 410. (continued)
INTRODUCTION
spiritual life is not a solitary affair: The common love of truth unites people, and the common love of Christ unites all Christians.
After studying St. Paul and St. John, Augustine took the position that faith in Christ implies community in the Church, and the Church aims at the unity of all mankind.88 It is important to see that Augustinian spirituality is not in opposition to matter but is a requirement that matter be used in the service of love to unify people. It is opposed to naturalism but not to nature, and only because the fruit of naturalism is an individualism that divides people from one another.
When one takes Pentecost seriously, the Church is Christ, a City of Love mystically raised up by the Holy Spirit's acceptance by people. It is clear that, as Augustine has shown, the experience aspect of faith cannot be separated from the interpretation of Scripture present in Christian dogmas. Christology is related to Trinitarian theology and the theology of the Church, the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit, and Eschatology. Christology became for Augustine the substitution for the circular movement of Plotinian generation. Christ came into the world in order to return to the Father with us. In moral theology we learn of the human vocation to conversion in Christ and the moral obligations that follow. In Christian spirituality we learn of the Christian experience in reference to the structure and laws of the Christian's personal development. Augustine's spirituality, like that of all Catholic Christians, was developed by meditating on the Christ, the Word by which God calls all to Himself. It is made known in Scripture and made present in the Church through the liturgy and Sacraments.
Within this Christian spirituality the dominant characteristics of Augustinian spirituality are a thirst for God, a delight in searching for Him, joy in the Truth, willing submission to God's sovereignty, commitment to contemplation, responsiveness to the neighbor's need, activity in the Church's worship and work, unity with all in charity. The harmony that results from the legitimate tensions of these characteristics is fully described in Book XIX of The City of God, which is presented in this volume. There we hear that no man must be so committed to contemplation as to ignore
88. Homilies on St. John's Gospel 32.8.