{"id":1724,"date":"2021-08-23T10:22:18","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T15:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/?p=1724"},"modified":"2022-03-12T14:49:44","modified_gmt":"2022-03-12T20:49:44","slug":"latin-lessons-from-augustine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/?p=1724","title":{"rendered":"Latin Lessons from Augustine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today I invite you to learn some lessons in evangelization by\nreflecting with me on three Latin verbs: docere<\/em>,\nducere<\/em>, and trahere<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love Latin \u2013 its elegance, its symmetry, its adaptability,\nits precision, and its breathtaking capacity to say so many things with so few\nwords. Above all else, what I love about Latin is how it opens a window into\nthe hearts of so many amazing men and women \u2013 whether ancient poets like Virgil\nor Horace, or brilliant philosophers and theologians like Augustine or Boethius.\nYou cannot truly learn a language without beginning to think and feel like the\npeople who thought and spoke and wrote in that language. Latin may be a dead\nlanguage that was uttered by women and men who long ago left this veil of\ntears, but to me some of them feel like old friends, brave companions, and wise\nmentors. I am grateful to have known them, and to have gained a glimpse into\ntheir souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding the current Latin lesson, please don\u2019t take it as\na definitive discourse on the actual meaning of Latin verbs \u2013 it\u2019s not. Rather,\nit\u2019s a brief tour into the heart of Augustine of Hippo (a heart with huge\ndesire). It\u2019s an invitation to each of us to be open to what was so\ntransformative for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently felt transported into “Augustine Land” while participating in a pastoral ministry workshop. The presenter drew a distinction between docere<\/em> and ducere<\/em> (if you are reading out loud, you can pronounce those as dough-CHAIR-eh and DOO-chair-eh, and call it close enough).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Docere<\/em> means \u201cto\nteach\u201d and ducere<\/em> \u201cto lead.\u201d The\nworkshop invited us to examine ourselves and the methods we have used in\nministering to others.  Have we have\ntried to operate from a posture of docere<\/em>\n(teaching) without actually leading others? Have we given eager advice, or \u201ctalked\nat\u201d the person we are ministering to, seeing ourselves as having right answers\nand readymade \u201cshoulds\u201d? Have we measured success or failure on whether or not\nwe convince the other person?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any outstanding teacher knows that this method of teaching will\nnot work \u2013 except for a few who follow out of fear. Fear may be the beginning\nof wisdom; it may motivate us to start a journey. But it never keeps us going\nwhen the going gets rough. Only desire can do that \u2013 the desire that leads to\nLove. Perfect Love casts out all fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching without leading is the way of the scribes and\nPharisees \u2013 for whom Jesus saved up his strongest and sternest warnings. There\nis little vulnerability in that way of cultivating disciples, and therefore\nlittle Love and little joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I appreciated the presenter\u2019s point, and then found myself\nsuddenly back with my old companion Augustine, with whom I spent hundreds of\nhours with during my doctoral research in Rome. He offers us a third Latin verb\nto consider: trahere<\/em> [TRAH-her-eh].\nOver the centuries, it can mean many things: to draw, to drag, to pull. But for\nAugustine it has much more the sense of attracting or enticing or alluring. God\nthe Father wants us to want him; he stirs us through our holy desire in a way\nthat allows us to grow into his fullness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Augustine is answering the objections of the Pelagians, who\nlike the scribes and Pharisees overemphasized human responsibility and\ndiscipline \u2013 to the point of concluding quite wrongly that we humans take the first\nstep in our salvation, that God helps those who help themselves. Augustine quite\nstrongly condemns the notion, insisting with Paul the Apostle that we radically\ndepend upon Jesus as our savior. From the very first moment of the gift to its tender\ngrowth and development to its final flourishing and persevering, all is God\u2019s\ngift; all credit goes to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \u2013 the Pelagians object \u2013 how does that leave space for real\nhuman freedom? Do we not become mere puppets of God?  That is where Augustine quotes Jesus to offer\na profound answer to the Pelagians.  \u201cNo\none can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(John 6:44).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God the Father draws us, attracts us, entices us, allures us\n\u2013 in a way that leaves us totally free to respond (or not). He sows the seeds\nof desire in our hearts and aids our growth \u2013 if we are willing. We are invited\nto become receptive soil, weeded of the obstacles the hinder us, capable of\nreceiving and growing and bearing fruit; to be branches abiding on the vine; to\nbe living members of his Body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Augustine uses the verb trahere<\/em>\nto describe God\u2019s agency in this process \u2013 not at all \u201cdragging\u201d or \u201cpulling\u201d\nlike a stubborn pet, but in the sense of attracting, motivating, and enticing.\nJust as \u201cteaching\u201d (docere<\/em>) can\nbecome self-righteous or condescending, \u201cleading\u201d (ducere<\/em>) can become manipulative or controlling. Augustine rejects\nany sense of ducere<\/em> that violates the\ndignity and freedom of the subjects.  God\ndoes not coerce; he does not make us do things! He is a loving Father who\nplaces holy desires in our hearts and deeply desires us to become fully ourselves.\nHe honors our dignity and freedom \u2013 even when we choose to dishonor him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote last month about religiosity as a counterfeit\nversion of religion. Instead of freely inviting others into relationships, into\njoyful communion in Christ, too many of us (myself included) have resorted to\npressuring, shaming, fear-mongering, or manipulating to try to convince others\nto follow the right path. God the Father does not operate in that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of us can consider what this means for evangelization \u2013\nfor inviting others to follow Jesus as disciples. If we look at him in the\nGospels, we see an example of the best meaning of all three verbs: docere, ducere, <\/em>and trahere<\/em>. Because Jesus is truly connected to God his Father,\nabiding vulnerably in love, he teaches as one with authority, and not as the\nscribes and Pharisees. He leads without coercing or manipulating. He allows his\nfollowers to stumble, to make mistakes, to misunderstand \u2013 yes, even to betray\nhim. He speaks deeply into the deep desires of the human heart \u2013 noticing our\nneeds, listening attentively, attuning, and affirming. He encourages and\ncomforts, awakens and allures. Many follow him, discovering within themselves a\nprofound hunger and thirst they had not realized was there \u2013 a longing that God\nhimself had placed there. \u201cNo one can come to me unless the Father who sent me\ndraws him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching, leading, and attracting in this way can be\nunsettling! We feel quite powerless and vulnerable when we do it \u2013 we honor the\nfreedom of the listener and open ourselves to the possibility of rejection. We\nopen our minds and hearts to notice what God is doing \u2013 willing to be surprised\nif he takes us in a new and unfamiliar direction; respecting the God-given\nuniqueness of the person in front of us and that his or her path might be quite\ndifferent from our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Augustine learned these lessons precisely because of his profound\nconversion. He finally and deeply allowed God to captivate his heart, to go\ninto his places of shame, and to transform him.  He learned that desire is so much more\npowerful than fear or control. He came to experience the love of God the\nFather, and was magnetically effective in attracting others to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about you and me? Will we allow our own hearts to\nsurrender vulnerably to God the Father\u2019s way of attracting human beings to the\nheart of his Son? Will we allow our churches to become places in which God\neasily attracts his sons and daughters, and they feel safe and confident coming\nalive in our presence? God, good Father that he is, will not force us to change\nour behaviors\u2013 but the invitation is there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I invite you to learn some lessons in evangelization by reflecting with me on three Latin verbs: docere, ducere, and trahere. I love Latin \u2013 its elegance, its symmetry, its adaptability, its precision, and its breathtaking capacity to say so many things with so few words. Above all else, what I love about Latin … <\/p>\n

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