MY appreciation of St Augustine derives from his understanding that everything about the life of faith is predicated on love. Most famously he once said, “Love, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love should you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.” (Seventh Homily on 1 John 4:4-12)
This quotation in its shortened form often appears as, “love God and do whatever you please” and while that is not what St Augustine said, in some ways, it captures the idea that if the love of God is the central infiuence of your life then every action, deed and thought will be constrained by love.