Week 7 - I look at my sins and change my ways

What I may wish to ask:

That I have the courage to look at my faults with open eyes and an open heart.

That I allow myself to be touched by God’s presence in my life.

That I can carry on turning back to God over and over again.

Today our inspiration comes from a text written by one of the most important church fathers, St Augustine of Hippo, who lived around 400 years after Christ. The text is from his book “Confessions” which he wrote to describe his search for God.

St Augustine’s prayer from “Confessions”, Book 10, chapter 27:

LATE HAVE I LOVED YOU
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.

We allow ourselves to be drawn inwards deep in our hearts by the music. To our God, whom according to St Augustine, lives deep within us and shows us empathy because of His deep love for us. We take all the time we need to look at specific moments when we were unable to find God. We try to discover whether God was actually with us in those times, just as St Augustine tells us.

Music: Arvo Pärt

Spiegel im Spiegel (volledige versie, uitgevoerd door Angèle Dubeau, La Pietà)

Spotify Link:

https://open.spotify.com/track/7zHd9LxIZB8WKosSWN9Umj?si=d5943387be494770

YouTube Link:

https://youtu.be/z5s6pb2LQgs?si=JJwumdn1uvFj8S9G

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 now I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace. 

God touches us through all our senses: through what we hear, see, smell, taste and feel. I look back through the memory of my senses to moments when I heard God calling or saw Him radiate. I look back at moments when I sensed His scent and breathed it in. Moments when I tasted Him. Moments when I felt His touch. I look at all these moments with my full attention, in the knowledge that God is with me always.

Arvo Pärt

Spiegel im Spiegel (verkorte versie, door Martin Roscoe, Tasmin Little)

https://open.spotify.com/track/2KMr9cGZCqmc7CArKuqnK6?si=11a6b9444ce54a54