St.
Augustine - A Conversion ""Suddenly, all darkness vanished away"
The
very toys of toys and vanities of vanities still held me: they plucked at the
garment of my flesf and whispered softly. “Will you cast us off for ever? And
from that moment shall we no longer be with you – for ever?”, and I hesitated,
for a strong habit said to me, “Do you think you can live without them?”
But
continence said to me, “Why do you rely on yourself and so waver? Cast yourself
upon him, fear not, he will not withdraw himself and let you fall; he will
receive you and heal you”.
So
I rose and, throwing myself down under a certain fig tree, wept bitterly in
contrition of heart. Suddenly I heard from a neighbouring house the voice of a
child, singing over and over again, “Take up and read, take up and read”.
Checking
my weeping I got up and went back to where I had been sitting, and had laid
down the volume of the apostle, and read the first passage which met my eyes:
“Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in impurity and wantonness, not in strife
and envy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
flesh, to fulfil its lusts.”
I
needed to read no further, for suddenly, as it were by a light infused into my
heart, all darkness vanished away.
(Confessions
VIII,11.12)
