Shake up your faith, bring the eyes of your hearts to bear, not your human eyes. You have other ones inside, after all, which God made for you. He opened the eyes of your hearts, when He gave you faith. (St Augustine, sermon 286)

One of St. Augustine’s challenges was to address his congregation on the subject of the third sack of Rome. Many of his people were refugees from the fall of the great city considered the very heart of Christianity. Their grief and distress over this epic event was a challenge to their faith. Rome had been the center of the ministries of both Peter and Paul, and home to many of those who fled to Hippo in Northern Africa, where Augustine was the bishop. In this sermon he urges them to look beyond the material world that was crumbling, to the Christ who had died for them.

The “eyes of the heart” are visible in the Old Testament story of the three young men who responded to Nebuchadnezzar’s demand that they worship his statue: “ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us. . . but even if He does not . . . we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18)

The “eyes of the heart” are found in many places of the Old and New Testaments. The author of the Book of Hebrews wrote of those very eyes in his letter: By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was made out of what was invisible. (Hebrews 11:3) By faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered Him faithful who had made the promise. (Hebrews 11:11)

“There are many examples in the Bible of those who functioned with the eyes of the heart, the eyes of faithful love. The eyes of the heart surprised Jesus when he saw them in a Roman centurion. Jesus said,: “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent to Jesus returned to the house and found the servant well. (Luke 7:9-10)

In the year about 425 AD, The people of Rome and the rest of the whole world desperately needed Augustine’s message. So do we today.

Love in Him,

Prue