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Chapter 23PsAugSoliloquia.1.23

Caput 23. Aspiratio ad fruitionem Dei. Non obtinetur nisi ex dono Dei.

Longing for Deliverance

The soul cries out to God as the hope of Israel, pleading for deliverance from prison and for daily bread to sustain the pilgrimage to Mount Horeb.

But you are the hope of Israel (Jer. 14:8), Lord, the longing our heart sighs for every day—hurry, don't delay. Rise, hurry, and come, so that you may lead us out of this prison to praise your name, and so that we may glory in your light.1 Open your ears to the tearful cries of your orphans, who cry out to you: Our Father, give us this day our daily bread (Matt. 6:9 and 11), in whose strength we may walk day and night until we reach your mountain, Horeb.2

Yearning for the Beatific Vision

The soul, humbly counting itself among the least of God's household, longs to appear before God's face and be granted the vision of His glory.

And I, a little one among the little ones of your household, God my Father and my strength—when will I come and appear before your face, so that I who now praise you only for a time may from then on praise you forever?3 I will be blessed if I am admitted to see your glory. Who will grant me this—that you would let me come to it?

Dependence on Divine Grace Alone

Acknowledging unworthiness and citing Job 12:14-15 and 11:10, the soul confesses that only God can open the sanctuary, and concludes that we are God's work, unable to enter eternal realms unless He leads us in.

I know, Lord, I know and confess that I am unworthy to enter under your roof: but do it for the sake of your honor, and do not put to shame your servant who hopes in you.✦ And who will enter your sanctuary to consider your mighty works, unless you open it? But who will open it, if you have shut it? For if you destroy, there is no one who can build; and if you shut a person in, there is no one who can open.✦4 If you hold back the waters, everything will dry up; and if you let them out, they will overturn the earth.✦ If you reduce to nothing everything you have made, who will contradict you (Job 11:10)?5 Moreover, the everlasting goodness of your mercy—by which you willed and made everything you willed.6 You made us, Maker of the world—rule us; you created us, so do not scorn us, because we are your works.✦ And indeed, Lord our God, we—clay and little worms—have no power to enter your eternal realms unless you lead us in, you who created all things out of nothing.

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

  1. ↩Matt.8.8;Luke.7.6 — But the centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. Only say the word, and my servant will be healed." Luke.7.6 — So Jesus went with them. But when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying, 'Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should come under my roof.'
  2. ↩Job.12.14 — Behold, if He tears down, it cannot be rebuilt; if He shuts a man in, it cannot be opened.
  3. ↩Job.12.15 — Behold, if He restrains the waters, they dry up; and if He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.
  4. ↩Isa.64.8;Ps.138.8 — But now, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Ps.138.8 — The LORD will accomplish what concerns me. O LORD, your steadfast love endures forever; do not forsake the work of your hands.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩confitendum: rendered as 'praise' in the liturgical/psalmic sense of confessing God's name; could also be taken as 'confess.'
  2. 2 ↩cujus most naturally resumes panem (the daily bread) from s4; less likely, God addressed in the prayer.
  3. 3 ↩confiteor/confitear: rendered as 'praise' in the psalmic sense; also admits 'confess.'
  4. 4 ↩Normalized Latin has dextruxeris; translated as the expected destruxeris ('if you destroy'), matching the Job parallel and sense.
  5. 5 ↩Citation-only fragment completing the Job reference opened in s6.
  6. 6 ↩Latin is a nominative phrase without an explicit finite verb; rendered as a continuing apostrophe to God's merciful goodness.

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