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From "Homestretch" in The Story of St. Monica and Her Son Augustine:
That a great pagan philosopher should present the theory of the Word seemed to confirm the doctrine of the Word in the teaching of the Catholic Church. In short, he was reading Plato, but he could not help doing so in the light of his childhood faith, the faith of his mother and of the great Bishop Ambrose.
However, it was soon apparent to him that Plato, for all his genius, had not reached the heights of St. John. It was impossible to find anywhere in Plato the magnificent thought that become the faith of Christians: "the Word become flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14). Plato had known nothing of the great themes of the Gospel: the fall of man through sin, God's mercy, the Incarnation of the Word, the redemptive death of Christ on the cross. Evidently, Augustine did not at first understand these things, but he has said that he kept hearing a voice crying out to him:
"Courage! I am the food of the strong. And you will eat me. But it is not I who shall be changed into you, for you shall be changed into me!" (Confessions, Book Seven, X).
-Leon Cristiani
Mane nobiscum
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