St. Augustine
The heart at rest
Ask
the beauty of the earth, the beauty of the sea, the beauty of the sky. Question
the order of the stars, the sun whose brightness lights the day, the moon whose
splendour softens the gloom of night. Ask of the living creatures that move in
the waves, that roam the earth, that fly in the heavens.
Question
all these and they will answer, ‘Yes, we are beautiful’. Their very loveliness
is their confession of God: for who made these lovely mutable things, but he
who is himself unchangeable beauty?
Too
late have I loved you, O beauty ever ancient ever new, too late have I loved
you.
I
sought for you abroad, but you were within me though I was far from you. Then
you touched me, and I longed for your peace, and now all my hope is only in
your great mercy.
Give
what you command and then command what you will.
You
have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless till it rest in you. Who
will grant me to rest content in you? To whom shall I turn for the gift of your
coming into my heart so that I may forget all the wrong I have done, and
embrace you alone, my only good?
(Sermo 247, 2.2 3.3; Confessions X, 27.29, ibid. I.1)
