Aspiratio ad fruitionem Dei. Non obtinetur nisi ex dono Dei.
The Soul's Longing to See God's Face
The soul cries out in eager expectation, pleading with God to hasten His coming so that the soul may be freed from its prison, sustained by daily bread, and at last behold His glory face to face.
But you are the expectation of Israel (Jerem. XIV, 8), Lord, the desire for which our heart sighs daily — hurry, do not delay. Rise up, make haste, and come, so that you may lead us out of this prison to confess your name, so that we may glory in your light. Open your ears to the cries of the tears of your little ones, who cry out to you: Our Father, give us today our daily bread (Matth.✦1 VI, 9 and 11), in whose strength let us walk by day and by night, until we arrive at your mountain, Horeb. And I, a little one among the little ones of your household — God the Father and my strength — when shall I come and appear before your face? So that I, who now confess to you for a time, may from then on confess to you in eternity?2 Blessed I will be, if I am admitted to behold your glory. Who would grant me this, that you would allow me to come to this?
God Alone Opens the Way to Himself
The soul confesses its unworthiness and acknowledges that no one can enter God's sanctuary or rebuild what He has pulled down unless He Himself opens the way, for His sovereign mercy is the source of all that exists.
Lord, I know — yes, I know and confess that I'm unworthy to come under your roof. But act for the sake of your honor, and don't put to shame your servant who places his hope in you. And who will enter your sanctuary to contemplate your mighty power, unless you open the way? But who will open it, once you've shut it? If you pull down, no one can rebuild; and if you shut a person in, no one can open the door. If you hold back the waters, everything dries up; and if you send them out, they overwhelm the land. If you reduce to nothing everything you've made, who will contradict you? (Job✦ 11:10)? Furthermore, the eternal goodness of your mercy — the mercy by which you willed and made everything that you willed.
The Creature's Humble Plea to Its Maker
Acknowledging that it is nothing but mud and worms, the soul appeals to God as its maker and creator, begging not to be despised and to be led into eternity by the One who made all things from nothing.
You made us—maker of the world—rule us; you created us: do not despise us, because we are your handiwork.3 And yet, Lord our God, we are mud and worms—we cannot enter into your eternities unless you lead in the one who created all things from nothing.45
Read the original Latin
Tu autem exspectatio Israel (Jerem. XIV, 8), Domine, desiderium ad quod suspirat quotidie cor nostrum, festina, ne tardaveris. Surge, propera et veni, ut educas nos de isto carcere ad confitendum nomini tuo, ut gloriemur in lumine tuo. Aperi aures tuas clamoribus lacrymarum pupillorum tuorum, qui clamant ad te: Pater noster, da nobis hodie panem nostrum quotidianum (Matth. VI, 9 et 11), in cujus fortitudine ambulemus die ac nocte, usquequo perveniamus ad montem tuum Oreb. Et ego parvulus inter parvulos familiae tuae, Deus pater et virtus mea, quando veniam, et apparebo ante faciem tuam; ut qui nunc tibi confiteor ad tempus, ex tunc confitear tibi in aeternum? Beatus ero si fuero admissus ad videndum claritatem tuam. Quis mihi hoc tribuat, ut ad hoc venire permittas me?
Scio, Domine, scio et confiteor me indignum ut intrem sub tectum tuum: sed fac propter honorem tuum, et ne confundas in te sperantem servum tuum. Et quis intrabit in sanctuarium tuum ad considerandas potentias tuas, nisi tu aperias? Quis autem aperiet, si tu clauseris? Si enim dextruxeris, nemo est qui aedificet; et si incluseris hominem, nemo est qui aperiat. Si continueris aquas, omnia siccabuntur; et si emiseris eas, subvertent terram. Si omnia quaecumque fecisti, ad nihilum redigas, quis contradicet tibi (Job. XI, 10)? Porro sempiterna bonitas misericordiae tuae, qua voluisti et fecisti omnia quaecumque voluisti.
Tu nos fecisti, fabricator mundi, rege nos; tu nos creasti, ne spernas nos, quia opera tua sumus. Et quidem, Domine Deus noster, nos lutum et vermiculi non valemus in tuas aeternitates intrare, nisi tu induxeris qui de nihilo cuncta creasti.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.6.9-Matt.6.11 — Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Matt.6.10 — Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matt.6.11 — Give us today our daily bread.
- ↩Job.11.10 — If He passes through and shuts up, and assembles an assembly, who can turn Him back?
Notes
- 1 ↩pupillorum tuorum: literally 'of your pupils/wards' — the image is of God's children as those under his protective care, like pupils of the eye or wards of a guardian.
- 2 ↩The ut-clause after the question is syntactically ambiguous: it may express result ('so that he who now confesses...') or purpose. The relative qui picks up ego, yielding a self-referential question about the transition from temporal to eternal confession.
- 3 ↩opera rendered as 'handiwork' to capture the devotional sense of 'your works/creatures' in prayer; alternatives 'works' or 'creatures' would also be faithful.
- 4 ↩induxeris is ambiguous between future perfect indicative and perfect subjunctive; the conditional 'unless you lead in' captures the likely intended sense without resolving morphology.
- 5 ↩aeternitates rendered as 'eternities' for the plural of aeternitas; sense is 'your eternal realms/eternal life'.
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