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| Fr. Augustus Tolton Mosaic at St. Bede, Williamsburg, VA |
Every time Fr. Augustus Tolton chose
forgiveness instead of bitterness,
it was a moment of chipping away
at his own ego –
and it's only when our egos
are out of the way that
we're truly able to love.
+ Jennifer Fulwiler,
Something Other Than God
During this season of Lent, I am reading through Jennifer Fulwiler's compelling autobiography, Something Other Than God. It's a thoughtful recollection of her journey as an atheist wrestling with whether there is a God and if the God revealed in Jesus is worth her faith, trust, and surrender.
Along the way of researching the history of Christianity and engaging its historic claims and catechisms, Jennifer comes across the story of Fr. Augustus Tolton, the first African-American priest, right after the chapter where she makes some intriguing comparisons between the philosophy of Tupac and C.S. Lewis. I immediately thought Tolton's story would have made a fine addition to Our Church Speaks (OCS), the book Emmaus City Church read during the season of Advent, which would also make a great read for the season of Lent for anyone who hasn't picked up OCS yet.
Jennifer introduced me to Fr. Tolton, a saint born in my home state no less, and so I thought I would return the favor with featuring this excerpt from her book for any reader who has never encountered the life of this American saint.
I'm grateful that Tolton's voice continues to cry out to me during this Lenten season to let my ego be refined and my pride turn to ash, especially as Emmaus City and I consider the question, "What Is Incarnational?", as he provides a glimpse of what the Word made flesh looks like in the U.S. while also reminding me that receiving longsuffering and releasing forgiveness are part of the Way of life I get to walk in when I choose to follow Jesus until my dying breath.
Something Other than God Excerpt
Chapter 22: Fr. Augustus Tolton
I was finding that reading about the lives of the saints – as well as saintly people who might not have been canonized yet, like Father Augustus – was far more helpful in my quest to seek goodness than reading the Catechism alone. The Catechism might tell me to put others before myself, and I'd make a mental note to try to do that at some point. Then I would read of Maximilian Kolbe volunteering to die in place of a young father when they were both prisoners at Auschwitz, and I would realize just how feeble my recent efforts at selfless love had been. My heart would be aflame with a desire to serve others, in a deeper and more vibrant way than when I was simply reading theology. Instead of an intellectual decision, it would be more of a movement of the soul, something powerful within me yearning for more of the pure goodness that had touched me through Maximilian's story.
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| St. Maximilian Kolbe in Our Church Speaks |
Father Augustus Tolton was freed from slavery when he was a child and then attended a Catholic school in Illinois at the invitation of a priest. This was the 1860s, and some parishioners became apoplectic when they saw a black child in their school, but the priest didn't back down. After high school, Augustine was not allowed to attend his local American seminary, so he went to Rome, where he became fluent in Italian, studied Latin and Greek, and earned respect among the hierarchy. After he was ordained a priest in Rome, he went back to the United States to begin his ministry.
He was returning to the place
where he'd been enslaved,
the country where he had been listed
among another man's possessions,
alongside furniture and cattle. ...
In addition to the virulent racism
that was part of his daily life,
Father Augustus also faced
And yet he never reacted with anger.
or even condemned them at all. ...
Every time Fr. Augustus Tolton
chose forgiveness instead of bitterness,
it was a moment of chipping away
at his own ego –
and it's only when our egos
are out of the way
that we're truly able to love.
What I saw in Father Augustus's eyes
was a glow –
a glow of something supernatural,
the source of goodness itself –
which can only come through
when our egos don't get in the way.
Gazing at his picture,
it occurred to me that
the secret to being good is to be humble.
+ Something Other than God excerpts,
pgs. 147-151
More Our Church Speaks + Lent Posts:
Christ is all,
Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan
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