Passage from the text:
"But Thou, being the Good, needing no good, art ever at rest, because Thou Thyself art Thy rest. And what man will teach man to understand this? Or what angel, an angel? Or what angel, a man? Let it be asked of Thee, sought in Thee, knocked for at Thee; so, even so shall it be received, so shall it be found, so shall it be opened. Amen."
- Book XIII Chapter XXXVIII
Commentary:
No one can understand this "rest" of God. Heaven, to be sure, is what Augustine is referring to here. I agree. Busy bee that I am, I, personally, find it hard to rest even on Sundays! While that commandment was given for my benefit, I do a bad job of obeying it sometimes. Now, prudence in mind, Sundays are not "veg-out" selfish days meant to be completely void of any conceivable work- that's devolving into legalistic extremism. What am I trying to say? Well, just what Augustine is saying; I'm so one-minded and blind that I forget to rest- not out of negligence but out of a desire to work. God is the only one that can bring me back to reality- a reality in which repose is present as far as Augustine's logic goes.
The only reasonable ending to Augustine's autobiography/memoir is a sincere, well placed, "Amen."
No comments:
Post a Comment