St. Augustine’s devout mother, Monica, taught her young son carefully and prayerfully. His brilliance concerned her deeply, especially when, as a young man, he cast off his simple faith in Christ for current heresies and a life given over to immorality.
Later, Augustine wrote:
“I could not distinguish between the clear shining of affection and the darkness of lust…. I could not keep within the kingdom of light, where friendship binds soul to soul … And so I polluted the brook of friendship with the sewage of lust.”
The loss of faith always occurs when the senses first awaken. At this critical moment, when nature claims us for her service, the consciousness of spiritual things is, in most cases, either eclipsed or totally destroyed. It is not reason which turns the young man from God; it is the flesh. Skepticism but provides him with the excuses for the new life he is leading.
Taken from Prodigals and
Those Who Love Them
by Ruth Bell Graham