His preaching is a service to them. At the same time, he is preaching to himself as well as to them.
In Sermon 17, 2,6, he states: "Why am I speaking? Why am I sitting here? What do I live for, if not with this intention, that we should all live together with Christ? That is my desire, that is my privilege, that is my pride."
" But if you do not listen to me and yet I have not kept quiet, then I will deliver my soul [to God]. But I do not want to be saved without you….What am I, after all? I am a man. I am the same as you. I am burdened with flesh. I am weak".
The identification of Augustine with those to whom he preached was achieved in various ways.
His homilies were filled with examples taken from daily lives of his listeners - the excessive desires of these who were rich, the poverty in Hippo, the problems facing married couples, the violence besetting society, especially in view of the error of doctrine of the Donatists, the telling of rumours, and so on.
He spoke to his people in an intimate fashion, often in dialogue, the essence of homily. In a sense, he held a familiar conversation with them, attuned as they were to him as their pastor. He freely used the popular language of his time.
When he described a tragedy which had happened to someone, they groaned in sympathy and he would thank them for their concern.
If they applauded him for something which he said (or the way he said it), he replied that the source of the good which he uttered was God, not him.
He had no hesitation in publicly speaking against those who led immoral lives and yet came to the basilica (church) in Hippo for worship.
(Continued on the next page.)
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