Augustinian Spirituality: The Love Story of Our Hearts
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (St. Augustine).
Habemus Papam! We have a new Pope!
On May 8, 2025, the world was introduced to Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church; the first U.S. American born and first Augustinian Pope.
“Peace be with you all!” began Pope Leo’s first address on the St. Peter’s Basilica and later, “I am a son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian” reflecting that we are all walking together the “homeland that God has prepared for us” (Chau, 2025).
What is this Augustine Spirituality that Pope Leo lives by?
The Saint
St. Augustine of Hippo is considered one of the greatest historical figures in the catholic church and in western culture. Born in northern Africa in the mid-fourth century, he was baptized as a child but practiced atheism as a young adult until his conversion in his early 30s. His mother is St. Monica, who devoted her life to praying for her son’s spiritual conversion. St. Ambrose, too, as Bishop of Milan, Italy was influential to Augustine’s conversion back to the faith.
After his conversation, Augustine committed to be a servant of God and live a life of celibacy despite having lived with a woman and fathering a son. He lived a life of fellowship, prayer, and work and established a monastic community in Milan. He continued living in the city as a priest and then served as bishop while traveling extensively around Northern Africa leaving an immense treasure of writings including books, sermons, and letters.
In addition to being a huge influence in our church history and in western philosophy, St. Augustine’s life and conversion are reminders of God’s immense mercy and desire for us to choose a life with Him. St. Augustine spent many years apart from God, and instead of forcing obedience to His will, God allowed St. Augustine to choose Him freely and completely through his own free will. It was in that freedom that the man-turned-saint experienced the depth of God’s mercy and love. Like the story of St. Augustine, the drama of salvation history is God’s persistent desire for us to choose Him again and again, and again.
The Order
Founded over 800 years after St. Augustine’s death, Pope Innocent IV advised the hermit communities in the Tuscany region to form a new religious community under the Rule of St. Augustine. St. Augustine’s Rule is a guide for religious life including purpose, common life, prayer, moderation, self-denial, chastity, fraternal correction, and governance. Today the Augustinian Order is an international religious community that describes itself as “active contemplatives” that has a call to “restlessness” in finding communion with our Lord (Wiering, 2025).
The Spirituality
While there is a lot of information about the Rule of St. Augustine, a deep dive reveals a beautiful drama of Augustinian Spirituality: it focuses on God’s desire for us and our restless desire for God (Medina, 2024). God wants us to be in relationship with Him, and in our deepest desires, we want that intimacy with the Lord. It is sin that gets in the way of this intimacy, leaving us confused, hurt, and unsatisfied.
This is the love story of salvation history: God desires an intimate relationship with us and draws us ever closer into that intimacy. His desire for intimacy is so great that He sends His only Son to die for our sins so that we may have eternal life with the Father.
It is a love story of invitation; God does not force us into this relationship but rather invites us to be in communion with Him. He invites us to find ourselves in Him by seeking Him alone who is our ultimate satisfaction. It is this total dependence on God where true healing and transformation occurs. The more we seek Him, the more He can transform our brokenness into glory.
As lay Catholic women, both in business and at home, we are made for God’s love story. We do not have to live in a religious community or as lay affiliates to experience God’s grace; it is a love story for all of us. Augustinian spirituality focuses on God’s love as a guide in our day-to-day lives. God is inviting us all into continuous conversion and deeper dependence on Him alone.
What does it mean to live by this Augustinian Spirituality?
I think the song “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus” by the Worship Initiative and Davy Flowers expresses the Augustinian Spirituality:
If my heart could tell a story.
If my life would sing a song.
If I have a testimony.
If I have anything at all.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
His faithful hand has held me all this way.
And when I’m old and gray,
And all my days are numbered on the earth.
Let it be known, in you alone,
My joy was found.
Augustinian Spirituality is an invitation to continual conversion of looking inward to find ourselves in God the Father. It is allowing the Father to pursue us in the love story that He created for us and to rest in His heart to find our joy.
St. Augustine, pray for us!
Alexandra (Alex) Harrel resides in Irving, Texas. She is a new student affairs professional within the world of higher education. In her spare time, she loves reading, listening to podcasts, and spending time outdoors. Her favorite prayer is Hail, Holy Queen. You can follow her on Instagram at @2012alexandra.
Further reading:
Basilica, T. (2024, September 24). Four things you should know about the life of Saint Augustine.
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
https://www.nationalshrine.org/blog/four-things-you-should-know-about-the-life-of-saint-augustine/.
Wiering, M. (2025, May 11). Who are the Augustinians, pope Leo XIV’s order? Texas Catholic.
https://texascatholic.com/who-are-the-augustinians-pope-leo-xivs-order/
Osa, C. M. (2024, January 11). Love, truth, unity. Augustinian Spirituality. https://augustinianspirituality.org/2024/01/10/love-truth-unity/
St. Augustine. Confessions.
Augustinian Spirituality. (n.d.). Augustinian Spirituality. https://augustinianspirituality.org/
Assumpta, W. (n.d.). Keys to understand the spirituality of Saint Augustine. https://assumpta.org/en/news/keys-to-understand-the-spirituality-of-saint-augustine
Levering, M. (2013). The Theology of Augustine: An Introductory Guide to His Most Important Works. Baker Books.
The Augustinians. (n.d.-a). https://theaugustinians.org/augustine-on/augustine-on-community#:~:text=The%20Spirituality%20of%20Saint%20Augustine,human%20beings%20and%20loving%20service.