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St. Augustine once preached a sermon in which he proposed a kind of self-test to see if we truly love God.
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Suppose God proposed to you a deal and said:
“I will give you anything you want.
“I will give you anything you want.
You can possess the whole world.
Nothing will be impossible for you.
Nothing will be a sin; nothing forbidden.
You will never die, never have pain,
never have anything you do not want
and always have anything you do want –
except one thing;
you will never see my face.”
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Augustine closed with a question:
Did a chill rise in your hearts, when you read the words, “you will never see my face”?
That chill is the most precious thing in you;
Augustine closed with a question:
Did a chill rise in your hearts, when you read the words, “you will never see my face”?
That chill is the most precious thing in you;
for that is the pure love of God.
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Thank you to Tracy, who was kind enough to share this quote with me after having heard her tell it at our Bloom conference last month. It had touched me and I hope it touches some of you as well!
3 comments:
Wow! That gives you something to think about. Without seeing God, it would not be worth it is the way I feel. It would be so empty.
That's awesome. You know, God said something like this to Moses I think. I need to find that, and I'll get back to you. Profound thought; thanks for sharing.
Aha. It's in Exodus 33. The Lord says to Moses that He will allow them to enter the promised land, but that He will not go with them. Moses refuses to go without the presence of the Lord.
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