SR
← Pseudo-Augustine Soliloquia animae ad Deum (Meditations of the Soul to God)/Book 1 · Soliloquia animae ad Deum
Chapter 22PsAugSoliloquia.1.22

Caput 22. Consolatio aeterna non est speranda cum praesenti. Dulcedo Dei demulcet amaritudinem mundi.

The Choice of Consolation

God's eternal consolation is reserved for those who scorn worldly comfort, for no one can rejoice in both ages.

These are your great gifts, Lord God, sanctifier of your saints, with which you will fill the need of your hungry children; for you have become the hope of the desperate, the consolation of the desolate: you are the crown of hope, adorned with glory, prepared for those who conquer; you are the eternal satisfaction of the famished, to be given to those who hunger; you are the everlasting consolation, who give yourself only to those who scorn this world's comfort for yours. For those who find comfort here are counted unworthy of your consolation.✦ But those who are tormented here are comforted by you: and those who share in the sufferings also share in the consolations.✦✦ For no one can be comforted in both ages, nor can anyone rejoice both here and in the age to come; but whoever wants to possess one must necessarily lose the other.✦

Refusing Worldly Comfort

The speaker resolves to refuse all comfort except God, and prays that everything bitter become sweet through God's sweetness, as exemplified by Stephen, Lawrence, and the Apostles.

When I consider these things, Lord my Consoler, I refuse to comfort my soul, so that it may be counted worthy of your eternal consolations: because it is just that whoever chooses to find more comfort in something else than in you should lose you.✦1 And I beg you, highest Truth, by yourself: do not let me take comfort in any empty consolation rather than in you; but I ask that everything become bitter to me, so that you alone may appear sweet to my soul — you who are sweetness beyond measure, through which all bitter things are sweetened; for your sweetness sweetened for Stephen the stones of the torrent (Acts✦ 7:58): your sweetness made the gridiron sweet for Lawrence.✦2 For the sake of your sweetness the Apostles went away rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were counted worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus (Ibid.✦

Tasting the Sweetness of God

The martyrs Andrew, Peter, Bartholomew, and John, and the Apostle Peter at the Transfiguration, all tasted a drop of God's sweetness, which made them lose taste for all else.

5:41). Andrew went to the cross untroubled and rejoicing, because he was hurrying toward your sweetness; this sweetness of yours so filled the very princes of the Apostles that for its sake one chose the gibbet of the cross, and the other did not fear to lay his head under the striking sword; for this prize Bartholomew gave his own skin; and to taste this too, fearless John drank the cup of poison.✦3 When Peter tasted this, forgetting everything lower, he cried out as if drunk, saying, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings here" (Matt.✦ 17:4): "Let us stay here; let us contemplate you, because we need nothing else. It is enough for us, Lord, to see you; it is enough," he said, "to be filled with such sweetness."✦4 For this man tasted one drop of sweetness, and he lost his taste for every other sweetness. What do you think he would have said if he had tasted that great abundance of the sweetness of your divinity, which you have hidden for those who love you? That virgin too had tasted this ineffable sweetness of yours—the one of whom we read that she went to prison most joyfully and triumphantly, as if invited to a feast.5 This too, as I think, he himself had tasted who said, "How great is the abundance of your sweetness, Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you" (Ps. 30:20)! And he also urged, "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet" (Ps.✦6

The Blessedness of the Fight

The chapter concludes with the psalmist's call to taste the Lord's sweetness, and the prayerful hope for the blessedness for which we fight and are put to death daily.

33:9). This is that blessedness, Lord our God, which we wait for you to give us; for which we continually fight in your service, Lord, for which we are put to death all day long, so that we may live in your life.

Read the original Latin

Haec sunt beneficia magna tua, Domine Deus, sanctificator sanctorum tuorum, quibus repleturus es inopiam esurientium filiorum tuorum; quoniam factus es spes desperatorum, consolatio desolatorum: tu corona spei, quae ornata est gloria, praeparata vincentibus; tu famelicorum satietas aeterna, danda esurientibus; tu consolatio sempiterna, qui solis illis te tribuis, qui consolationem hujus mundi pro tua consolatione contemnunt. Nam qui hic consolantur, indigni tua consolatione habentur. Sed qui hic cruciantur, a te consolantur: et qui participant passionibus, participant et consolationibus. Nemo enim potest in utroque saeculo consolari, nec potest quis hic et in futuro gaudere; sed unum necesse est ut perdat, qui alterum voluerit possidere. Haec ubi considero, Domine consolator meus, renuo consolari animam meam, ut digna habeatur tuis consolationibus aeternis: quia justum est ut amittat te, quicumque in aliquo alio magis consolari eligit quam in te. Et obsecro, summa Veritas, te per te, non permittas me in aliqua consolatione vana consolari quam in te; sed omnia mihi peto ut amarescant, ut tu solus dulcis appareas animae meae, qui es dulcedo inaestimabilis, per quam cuncta amara dulcorantur; tua enim dulcedo Stephano lapides torrentis dulcoravit (Act. VII, 58): tua dulcedo craticulam Laurentio dulcem fecit. Pro tua dulcedine ibant Apostoli gaudentes a conspectu concilii, quoniam digni habiti sunt pro nomine Jesu contumeliam pati (Id.

V, 41); ibat Andraeas securus ad crucem et gaudens, quoniam ad tuam dulcedinem properabat; haec tua dulcedo ipsos Apostolorum principes sic replevit, ut pro ipsa crucis patibulum unus eligeret, alter quoque caput ferienti gladio supponere non timeret; pro hac emenda Bartholomaeus propriam pellem dedit; pro hac quoque gustanda veneni poculum intrepidus Joannes potavit. Hanc ut gustavit Petrus, omnium inferiorum oblitus clamavit quasi ebrius, dicens, Domine, bonum est nos hic esse, faciamus hic tria tabernacula (Matth. XVII, 4): hic moremur, te contemplemur, quia nullo alio indigemus; sufficit nobis, Domine, videre te, sufficit, inquit, tanta dulcedine satiari. Unam enim stillam dulcedinis iste gustavit, et omnem aliam fastidivit dulcedinem; quid putas dixisset, si magnam illam multitudinem dulcedinis divinitatis tuae gustasset, quam abscondisti diligentibus te? Hanc tuam dulcedinem ineffabilem et illa gustaverat virgo, de qua legimus, quod laetissime et glorianter ibat ad carcerem, et quasi ad epulas invitata. Hanc, ut reor, et ipse gustaverat, qui dicebat, Quam magna multitudo dulcedinis tuae, Domine, quam abscondisti timentibus te (Psal. XXX, 20)! quique monebat, Gustate et videte, quoniam suavis est Dominus (Psal.

XXXIII, 9). Haec est illa beatitudo, Domine Deus noster, quam exspectamus daturum te nobis; pro qua tibi, Domine, continue militamus, pro qua mortificamur tota die, ut in tua vita vivamus.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Luke.6.24 — But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.
  2. ↩2Cor.1.7 — And our hope for you is sure, because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
  3. ↩Rom.8.17 — And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
  4. ↩Luke.16.25 — But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you received your good things during your life, and Lazarus likewise received bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.'
  5. ↩Ps.76.3 — There his tent is pitched, and his dwelling place is in Zion.
  6. ↩Acts.7.58 — And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid aside their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
  7. ↩Acts.7.58 — And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid aside their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
  8. ↩Acts.5.41 — So they went away from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.
  9. ↩Acts.5.41 — So they went away from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.
  10. ↩Matt.17.4 — But Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three shelters here—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
  11. ↩Matt.17.4 — But Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three shelters here—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
  12. ↩Ps.33.9 — For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩renuo consolari animam meam closely echoes the Vulgate Psalm phrasing renui consolari animam meam.
  2. 2 ↩craticula is the gridiron of St. Lawrence's martyrdom; rendered as gridiron.
  3. 3 ↩Rendered pro hac emenda as 'for this prize' (recompense/purchase-price). The form is odd beside the parallel pro hac clauses; possible intended sense is payment/reward for the sweetness, but the reading may be corrupt.
  4. 4 ↩After the Matthew citation close, hic moremur... is treated as the author's expansion of Peter's longing, with inquit marking Peter's voice again at sufficit.
  5. 5 ↩The virgin is unnamed in the Latin; left anonymous rather than identifying a particular martyr from later legend.
  6. 6 ↩Rendered 'sweet' to keep continuity with the chapter's dulcedo theme; many English Bibles say 'good' here.

Pseudo-Augustine Soliloquia animae ad Deum (Meditations of the Soul to God) companion

A prayer for every moment, already on your phone

Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.

Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.

  • One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
  • Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
  • Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →