You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. ~St. Augustine.
Beauty So Ancient And So New
Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!
Lo, you were within, but I outside, seeking there for you, and upon the shapely things you have made I rushed headlong, I, misshapen.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you, those things which would have no being were they not in you.
You called, shouted, broke through my deafness; you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
you lavished your fragrance, I gasped, and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.
St. Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo, North Africa.
A restless wanderer from the faith of his childhood, Augustine left no pleasure or philosophy unsampled, seeking to satisfy the deep hunger of his soul. He wrote in a prayer,
Very bitter were the frustrations I endured in chasing my desires, but all the greater was your kindness in being less and less prepared to let anything other than yourself grow sweet to me.
After a long, tumultuous struggle, the young man surrendered to Beauty, to the God who never let go of him, the only one who can truly satisfy. The quoted prayers, and Augustine’s story can be found in his book, The Confessions.
Photograph taken near Soda Springs, CA by MC Hunt
