Today is the Feast Day of St Augustine

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The inimitable Amy Welborn, Queen of the Catholic Bloggers, at Open Book, and maybe all others, too, has a great post on St Augustine today:

[snip] And in the life of Augustine, we see ourselves, too - if you've not read the Confessions - at least the first 8 books - what's your excuse? There are many translations, some better than others, and several online. What is most astonishing, every time I read it, is the shock, in this book that is sixteen centuries old, of encountering life as it was and as it is. We are so absurdly cocky and sure of ourselves, that we have progressed so far and that we know so much and that we understand the human heart so much better than the ignorant ancients, but of course we do not. Read the first three chapters of Genesis, even older than the Confessions, to see that so clearly. This is why we still read the philosophers, this is why young people, centuries after Augustine lived and died, crack open his Confessions and are surprised to find themselves. . . . [snip] Read it All