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It's never too late to love God...
St. Augustine prayed over this and his words are still with us in his, Late have I loved thee...
Augustine came to love God late in his life but understands that it's never too late to love God.
At first glance, the words of his prayer may seem too much: too pious, too poetic, too romantic. But these words capture the experience all of us have in responding to God's love through the years, the decades of our lives.
Spend a little time with them and you'll find yourself in Augustine's prayer...
Today's Pause for Prayer is a beautiful musical setting (from Schola Ministries) of Augustine's Late have I loved Thee (translated and composed by Kathleen Deignan, CND).
(For those not familiar with Latin, the first three lines find their translation in the fourth and fifth.)
Sero te amavi,
pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova.
Sero te amavi!
Late have I loved Thee,
O Beauty ever ancient, ever new!
I was searching all around me; You were all within.I grasped at your beauty everywhere
and longed to have and hold what can but be beheld.
Sero te amavi!
You attracted, I, distracted, did not see
the Giver of all gifts was gracing me.Sero te amavi!
You called, you shouted – piercing through my deafness;
You flashed, you shone – dispelling all my blindness.
Sero te amavi!
You breathed your fragrance on me,
I drew my breath and now I am breathless for Thee.
I tasted your sweetness and now I am famished for You –
You touched me; now I am burning for your peace.
Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new!
I was searching all around me; You were all within.
Sero te amavi! Vero te amavi…
If nothing else today, ask the Lord to call you, to shout, to pierce your deafness; to flash, to shine, to dispel your blindness; to breathe on you and in your heart; to touch your life with his love - that you might come to love him...
And remember: it's never too late!
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Fr. Fleming, no day is exactly the same for me except that I look forward to your prayer for the day and all that you share with us. Sometimes, I will read the text, sometimes text and audio, sometimes audio, and sometimes text then audio. I find peace in your Concord Pastor website. I pray that you will share with us for a long, long, time. God bless and keep you in His care.
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