Letter 122: 1. In the first place, I beseech you, my friends, and implore you, for Christ's sake, not to let my bodily absence grieve you. For I suppose you do not imagine that I could by any means be separated in spirit and in unfeigned love from you, although perchance it is even a greater grief to me than to you that my weakness unfits me for bearing all...

To his most beloved brethren, his fellow clergy and the whole congregation, Augustine sends greeting in the Lord. 1. First, I ask your charity, and I beseech you through Christ, not to be saddened by my bodily absence. For in spirit and in the affection of my heart, I trust you do not doubt that I can in no way depart from you—although it grieves me more than perhaps it grieves you yourselves that my infirmity cannot suffice for all the cares which the members of Christ demand of me, whom both His fear and His love compel me to serve. For let your dear ones know this: I have never been absent through self-indulgent liberty, but through necessary service, which has often compelled my holy brothers and colleagues to endure even the labors of sea voyages and travel overseas—from which not any reluctance of mind, but rather the inadequate condition of my body, has always excused me. Therefore, most beloved brethren, so conduct yourselves that, as the Apostle says, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you stand firm in one spirit, striving together with one mind for the faith of the gospel. If any temporal hardship distresses you, it should all the more remind you to think about that life where you shall live without any toil, escaping not merely the troublesome straits of this brief time, but the dreadful punishments of eternal fire. For if now with such great care, such great attention, such great labor you strive to avoid falling into some passing torments, how much more ought you to be anxious to flee everlasting miseries! And if death is so feared, which ends temporal suffering, how much more should that death be feared which sends one into eternal pain! And if the pleasures of this world, brief and sordid as they are, are so loved, how much more ardently should the pure and infinite joys of the world to come be sought! Thinking on these things, do not be sluggish in good works, so that in due season you may come to the harvest of what you have sown. 2. For it has been reported to me that you have forgotten your custom of clothing the poor—a work of mercy to which I exhorted you when I was present, and now exhort you again. Do not let the affliction of this world overcome you and make you sluggish, this world to which you see such things happening as our Lord and Redeemer, who cannot lie, foretold would come. Therefore you ought not only not to do fewer works of mercy, but you ought to do even more than you are accustomed. For just as those who see a house about to collapse from crumbling walls hasten more quickly to move to more fortified places, so Christian hearts, the more they perceive the ruin of this world drawing near through multiplying tribulations, ought all the more to transfer with eager speed to the heavenly treasury those goods they had planned to store up on earth—so that if some human calamity befalls, the one who emigrated from a place of ruin may rejoice; and if nothing of the sort follows, the one who was going to die someday need not be saddened, having entrusted his own goods to the immortal Lord to whom he is going. And so, my most beloved brethren, from what each one has, according to the strength that he himself knows, do what you are accustomed to do, with a more eager spirit than you are accustomed, and amid all the troubles of this world hold in your heart the apostolic exhortation where he says: The Lord is near; be anxious for nothing. Let such things be reported to me about you, by which I may know that you are accustomed to do, not on account of my presence but on account of God's command—He who is never absent—what you have done for many years in my presence, and sometimes even in my absence. May the Lord preserve you in peace; and, most beloved brethren, pray for us.

Letter 122 (A.D. 410) To His Well-Beloved Brethren the Clergy, and to the Whole People [of Hippo], Augustine Sends Greeting in the Lord. 1. In the first place, I beseech you, my friends, and implore you, for Christ's sake, not to let my bodily absence grieve you. For I suppose you do not imagine that I could by any means be separated in spirit and in unfeigned love from you, although perchance it is even a greater grief to me than to you that my weakness unfits me for bearing all the cares which are laid on me by those members of Christ to whose service both fear of Him and love to them constrain me to devote myself. For you know this, my beloved, that I have never absented myself from you through self-indulgent taking of ease, but only when compelled by such duties as have made it necessary for some of my holy colleagues and brethren to endure, both on the sea and in countries beyond the sea, labours from which I was exempted, not because of reluctance of spirit, but by reason of imperfect bodily health. Wherefore, my dearly-beloved brethren, act so that, as the apostle says, whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Philippians 1:27 If any vexation pertaining to time causes you distress, this itself ought the more to remind you how you should occupy your thoughts with that life in which you may live without any burden, escaping not the annoying hardships of this short life, but the dread flames of eternal fire. For if you strive with so much anxiety, so much earnestness, and so much labour, to save yourselves from falling into some transient sufferings in this world, how solicitous ought you to be to escape everlasting misery! And if the death which puts an end to the labours of time is so feared, how ought we to fear the death which ushers men into eternal pain! And if the short-lived and sordid pleasures of this world are so loved, with how much greater earnestness ought we to seek the pure and infinite joys of the world to come! Meditating upon these things, be not slothful in good works, that you may come in due season to reap what you have sown. 2. It has been reported to me that you have forgotten your custom of providing raiment for the poor, to which work of charity I exhorted you when I was present with you; and I now exhort you not to allow yourselves to be overcome and made slothful by the tribulation of this world, which you see now visited with such calamities as were foretold by our Lord and Redeemer, who cannot lie. You ought in present circumstances not to be less diligent in works of charity, but rather to be more abundant in these than you were wont to be. For as men betake themselves in greater haste to a place of greater security when they see in the shaking of their walls the ruin of their house impending, so ought Christians, the more that they perceive, from the increasing frequency of their afflictions, that the destruction of this world is at hand, to be the more prompt and active in transferring to the treasury of heaven the goods which they were proposing to store up on earth, in order that, if any accident common to the lot of men occur, he may rejoice who has escaped from a dwelling doomed to ruin; and if, on the other hand, nothing of this kind happen, he may be exempt from painful solicitude who, die when he may, has committed his possessions to the keeping of the ever-living Lord, to whom he is about to go. Wherefore, my dearly-beloved brethren, let every one of you, according to his ability, of which he himself is the best judge, do with a portion of his substance as you were wont to do; do it also with a more willing mind than you were wont; and amid all the vexations of this life bear in your hearts the apostolic exhortation: The Lord is at hand: be careful for nothing. Philippians 4:5-6 Let such things be reported to me concerning you as may make me understand that it is not through my presence with you, but from obedience to the precept of God, who is never absent, that you follow that good practice which for many years while I was with you, and for some time after my departure, you observed. May the Lord preserve you in peace! And, dearly-beloved brethren, pray for us.

EPISTOLA 122 Scripta a. 410. A. clero et populo Hipponensi excusat absentiam suam (n. 1), adhortans ut in sublevandis pauperibus solito sint alacriores ob afflictiones temporarias (n. 2). DILECTISSIMIS FRATRIBUS CONCLERICIS ET UNIVERSAE PLEBI, AUGUSTINUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM. A. absentem se excusat infirmitate coactum. 1. In primis peto caritatem vestram, et per Christum obsecro, ne vos mea contristet absentia corporalis. Nam spiritu et cordis affectu puto vos non dubitare nullo modo me a vobis posse discedere; quamvis me amplius contristet, quam forte vos ipsos, quod infirmitas mea sufficere non potest omnibus curis, quas de me exigunt membra Christi, quibus me et timor eius et caritas servire compellit. Illud enim noverit Dilectio vestra, numquam me absentem fuisse licentiosa libertate, sed necessaria servitute, quae saepe sanctos fratres et collegas meos, etiam labores marinos et transmarinos compulit sustinere; a quibus me semper non indevotio mentis, sed minus idonea valetudo corporis excusavit. Proinde, dilectissimi fratres, sic agite, ut, quod ait Apostolus, sive adveniens et videns vos, sive absens, audiam de vobis, quia statis in uno spiritu, uno animo collaborantes fidei evangelicae 1. Si vos aliqua molestia temporalis exagitat, ipsa vos magis admonere debet quemadmodum de illa vita cogitare debeatis, ubi sine aliquo labore vivatis, evadentes non molestas angustias temporis parvi, sed horrendas poenas ignis aeterni. Nam si modo tanta cura, tanta intentione, tanto labore agitis, ne in aliquos cruciatus transitorios incidatis; quantum vos oportet esse sollicitos, ut sempiternas miserias fugiatis! Et si mors sic timetur, quae finit temporalem laborem; quomodo timenda est quae mittit in aeternum dolorem! Et si deliciae seculi huius, breves et sordidae, sic amantur; quanto vehementius futuri seculi gaudia pura et infinita quaerenda sunt! Ista cogitantes nolite esse pigri in operibus bonis, ut ad vestri seminis messem suo tempore veniatis. Ad vestiendos pauperes hortatur. 2. Nuntiatum enim est mihi quod morem vestrum de vestiendis pauperibus fueritis obliti; ad quam misericordiam cum praesens essem vos exhortatus sum, et nunc exhortor, ne vos vincat et pigros faciat contritio huius mundi, cui talia videtis accidere qualia Dominus et Redemptor noster, qui mentiri non potest, ventura praedixit. Non solum ergo non debetis minus facere opera misericordiae, sed etiam debetis amplius quam soletis. Sicut enim ad loca munitiora festinantius migrant, qui ruinam domus vident contritis parietibus imminere; sic corda christiana quanto magis sentiunt mundi huius ruinam crebrescentibus tribulationibus propinquare, tanto magis debent bona quae in terra recondere disponebant, in thesaurum coelestem impigra celeritate transferre 2, ut si aliquis humanus casus acciderit, gaudeat qui de loco ruinoso emigravit: si autem nihil tale fuerit subsecutum, non contristetur qui quandoque moriturus, immortali Domino, ad quem venturus est, bona propria commendavit. Itaque, fratres mei dilectissimi, ex eo quod quisque habet, secundum suas vires quas ipse novit, facite quod soletis, alacriore animo quam soletis, et inter omnes seculi huius molestias apostolicam exhortationem corde retinete, ubi ait: Dominus in proximo est; nihil solliciti fueritis 3. Talia mihi de vobis nuntientur, quibus noverim, non propter meam praesentiam, sed propter Dei praeceptum, qui numquam est absens, vos solere facere quod multis annis me praesente, et aliquando etiam me absente fecistis 4. Dominus vos in pace conservet; et, dilectissimi fratres, orate pro nobis.