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Chapter 14PsAug.1.14

Quod Deus jugiter inspiciat opera et intentiones hominum.

God's Undivided Gaze Upon the Soul

The soul gives thanks for God's countless kindnesses and marvels that God's unchanging, all-encompassing sight watches over every person wholly and simultaneously, as if each soul were the only object of divine attention.

These and many other kindnesses you have done for me, Lord God, my soul's life. It would always be sweet for me to speak of them, always to think on them, and always to give you thanks — so that I might be able to praise you for all your good gifts, and to love you with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole mind, and my whole strength, and at the same time from the deepest marrow of my heart and from every fiber of my being. Blessed sweetness, Lord God, of all who delight in you.12 But my imperfection was seen by your eyes (Ps.3 138:16) — your eyes, I say, far brighter than the sun, looking over all the ways of people and the depth of the abyss, which in every place always watch over the good and the wicked (Prov.✦4 15:3).✦5 Since you preside over all things, filling each one, wholly present always and everywhere, managing the care of all you created — because you have hated nothing among the things you made — so you consider my steps and my paths, and by day and by night you watch over my keeping, carefully noting all my ways, a perpetual observer, as if you had forgotten your whole creation, heaven and earth, and would consider only me alone, and nothing else would be your concern.67 For the unchanging light of your sight does not grow if you look at only one thing, nor is it diminished if you see countless and various things. Just as you consider one whole thing perfectly all at once, so you consider each individual thing — however diverse — perfectly, wholly, and all at once, and your gaze beholds the whole.8 But all things as one, and one as all things — so you consider each thing wholly and simultaneously, without division, without change, and without diminishment.9 And so you, wholly, in the whole of time and beyond time, consider me wholly, simultaneously, and always — as if you had nothing else to consider.1011

God Ever Present, Ever Watching

The soul reflects on God's constant presence and readiness, confesses that every thought, intention, and deed lies perpetually open before the divine inspector who weighs every spirit.

So you stand watch over me, as if you had forgotten everything else and wanted to attend to me alone. You always show yourself present everywhere, always offering yourself ready, if you find me ready. Wherever I go, you don't abandon me, Lord — unless I abandon you first. Wherever I am, you don't withdraw, because you are everywhere; so that wherever I go, I may find you — through whom I can exist, lest I perish without you, since without you I cannot be. I confess, indeed, that whatever I do, all that I do, I do before you; and whatever it is that I do, you see it better than I who do it. For whatever I am always working at, you likewise stand by, always present — seeing that you are the perpetual inspector of all my thoughts, intentions, delights, and deeds. Lord, before you is always my every desire; before you is my whole thought. You see where the spirit comes from, where it is, and where it goes — because you are the weigher of every spirit.

The Inner Judge and the Book of Conscience

God searches the innermost root of every intention, records all deeds and thoughts in a book to be opened at judgment, weighs the end of each intention more than the outward act, and thereby fills the soul with holy fear and shame before the necessity of living justly.

And whether the root is sweet or bitter — the root from which beautiful leaves are sent forth on the outside — you, the inner judge, know me better than I know myself, and you search out even the innermost marrow of the roots more keenly: and not only the intention, but also the deepest hidden marrow of the root itself you gather, behold, and mark with the most discerning truth of your light, so that you may render to each one not only according to works or intention, but also according to that innermost hidden marrow of the root from which the intention of the one acting proceeds. What am I reaching for? Whatever I do, whatever I think, and whatever gives me delight — you see it. Your ears hear, your eyes observe. You mark it carefully, take note, and write it in your book, whether it is good or evil: so that afterward you may render rewards for good and punishments for evil, when the books are opened and we are judged according to the things that have been written in your books (Apoc.✦ XX, 12).✦ This is perhaps what you already said to us: 'I will consider their last things' (Deut.✦ XXXII, 20); and what is said of you, Lord: 'He himself considers the end of all things' (Job✦ XXVIII, 3): because you, indeed, in all that we do, attend more to the end of the intention than to the deed of the action.✦ And when I carefully consider these things, Lord my God, terrible and strong, I am overwhelmed with fear equally and with great shame: because a great necessity of living justly and rightly has been placed upon us, since we do all things before the eyes of a judge who perceives all things.

Read the original Latin

Haec et multa alia beneficia fecisti mihi, Domine Deus meus, vita animae meae: de quibus dulce esset mihi semper loqui, semper cogitare, semperque tibi gratias agere: ut possim te pro omnibus bonis tuis laudare, et amare te toto corde meo, et tota anima mea, et tota mente mea, et tota fortitudine mea, simul et ex omnibus medullis intimis cordis mei, et omnium compagum mearum, beata dulcedo, Domine Deus meus, omnium qui delectantur in te. Sed imperfectum meum viderunt oculi tui (Psal. CXXXVIII, 16): oculi, inquam, tui multo lucidiores super solem, circumspicientes omnes vias hominum et profundum abyssi, qui in omni loco semper contemplantur bonos et malos (Prov. XV, 3). Cum enim cunctis praesideas singula implens, totus semper ubique praesens, cunctorumque curam agens quae creasti, quia nihil odisti eorum quae fecisti; sic gressus meos semitasque consideras, et die noctuque super custodiam meam vigilas, omnes semitas meas diligenter notans, speculator perpetuus, veluti si totius creaturae tuae coeli et terrae oblitus, tantum me solum consideres, et nihil sit tibi curae de aliis. Neque enim crescit lux incommutabilis visionis tuae, si tantum unum aspicias; neque minuitur, si innumera videas et diversa: quia sicut unum totum simul perfecte consideras, sic singula quaelibet, licet diversa, perfecte simul totaque totus conspicit visus tuus. Sed omnia sicut unum, et sicut unum omnia, sic singula totus simul sine divisione, vel commutatione, vel diminutione consideras. Itaque totus tu in toto tempore sine tempore, totum me simul semperque consideras, ac si nihil aliud considerare habeas.

Sic igitur super custodiam meam stas, sicut si omnium oblitus sis, et mihi soli intendere velis. Semper quippe te ubique praesentem exhibes, semper te paratum offers, si me paratum inveneris. Quocumque iero, tu me, Domine, non deseris, nisi prior ego te deseram. Ubicumque fuero non recedis, quoniam ubique es; ut quocumque iero, inveniam te, per quem possim esse ne peream sine te, cum sine te esse non possim. Fateor equidem, quia quidquid facio, quaecumque facio, ante te facio: et illud quidquid est quod facio, melius tu vides quam ego qui facio. Quidquid enim semper operor, tu pariter semper praesens assistis: utpote perpetuus inspector omnium cogitationum, intentionum, delectationum, et operationum mearum. Domine, ante te est semper omne desiderium meum, ante te tota cogitatio mea. Tu vides unde veniat spiritus, ubi sit, et quo vadat; quia tu es spiritus omnium spirituum ponderator.

Et utrum radix sit dulcis, an amara, de qua foris pulchra folia emittuntur, tu judex internus melius ipse me nosti, et medullas etiam radicum subtilius perscrutaris: et non solum intentionem, sed etiam radicis ejus medullam intimam discretissima tuae lucis veritate colligis, intueris et signas; ut reddas unicuique non tantummodo secundum opera vel intentionem, sed etiam secundum ipsam interiorem absconditam medullam radicis, de qua procedit intentio operantis. Ad quid tendo cum operor, quidquid cogito, et in quocumque delector, tu vides, aures tuae audiunt, oculi tui considerant, signas attente, notas et scribis in libro tuo, sive bonum fuerit sive malum: ut reddas postea pro bono praemia, et pro malo supplicia, quando aperientur libri, et judicabimur secundum haec quae fuerunt scripta in libris tuis (Apoc. XX, 12). Hoc est forte quod jam dixisti nobis, Considerabo novissima eorum (Deut. XXXII, 20); et quod de te, Domine, dicitur, Universorum finem ipse considerat (Job. XXVIII, 3): quoniam tu quidem in omnibus quae agimus, finem intentionis, magis quam actum operationis attendis. Cumque haec diligenter considero, Domine Deus meus, terribilis et fortis, timore pariter et ingenti rubore confundor: quoniam magna nobis est indita necessitas juste recteque vivendi, cui cuncta facimus ante oculos judicis cuncta cernentis.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Prov.15.3 — The eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good.
  2. ↩Prov.15.3 — The eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good.
  3. ↩Rev.20.12 — And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their works.
  4. ↩Rev.20.12 — And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their works.
  5. ↩Deut.32.29 — If only they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their end.
  6. ↩Deut.32.20 — And he said, 'I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a generation of perversity, children in whom there is no faithfulness.'
  7. ↩Job.28.3 — Man puts an end to darkness, and searches out to the farthest limit the stone of deep darkness and the shadow of death.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩vita animae meae rendered 'my soul's life' — a vocative appositive addressing God as the life of the soul.
  2. 2 ↩medullis intimis cordis mei and omnium compagum mearum: the Latin reaches for the deepest interior and structural joints of the person; rendered 'deepest marrow of my heart' and 'every fiber of my being' to capture the totality of inner and bodily existence before God.
  3. 3 ↩Abbreviated Psalm citation (Psal.) — reference incomplete in source; likely Psalm 138:16 (Vulgate), which reads 'Imperfectum meum viderunt oculi tui.'
  4. 4 ↩The parenthetical Prov. citation is incomplete in the source. The description of God's eyes surveying all things echoes Proverbs 15:3 ('The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good').
  5. 5 ↩Verse number completing the truncated Proverbs citation from the preceding sentence.
  6. 6 ↩nihil odisti eorum quae fecisti: 'you have hated nothing of what you made' — echoes the theology of creation's goodness (cf. Wisdom 11:24).
  7. 7 ↩speculator perpetuus: 'perpetual observer' — the Latin carries the sense of a watchful sentinel or overseer.
  8. 8 ↩lux incommutabilis visionis tuae: 'the unchanging light of your sight' — a metaphysical claim about divine knowledge being undivided and unlimited.
  9. 9 ↩omnia sicut unum, et sicut unum omnia: a reciprocal formula expressing the divine capacity to grasp the totality and each part without loss.
  10. 10 ↩in toto tempore sine tempore: 'in the whole of time and beyond time' — a paradoxical expression of God's eternal, simultaneous knowledge.
  11. 11 ↩ac si nihil aliud considerare habeas: 'as if you had nothing else to consider' — habeas is subjunctive in a comparative/simile clause, not indicative.

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