Tuesday Mornings with Augustine

Deuteronomy 6:5

Loving God

I love You, Lord, not with uncertainty, but consciously and with certainty.

But what do I love in loving You? Not physical beauty, the splendor of time, or the pleasant radiance of light. Not the sweet melodies of all kinds of songs or the fragrant smell of flowers, ointments, and spices. Not manna and honey. Not limbs that are pleasant for fleshly embraces. I don’t love these things when I love my God.

Yet, I love a certain kind of light, sound, fragrance, food, and embrace in loving my God. He is the light, sound, fragrance, food, and embrace of my inner person. In this love, the light shines that can’t be contained into my soul. It is where those things resound that time can’t snatch away, where there is a fragrance that no breeze can scatter, where there is a food which no amount of eating can cut into, and where there is a clinging to that no gratification can break apart.

This is what I love when I love my God.

Readings taken from Day by Day with the Early Church Fathers