AUGUSTINE’S GREAT CANTICLE OF LOVE (Confessions 10, 6-8)

My love of you, God, is not some vague feeling;It is positive and certain.Your word struck into my heart,and from that moment I loved you.

Besides this, all about me,heaven and earth and all that they contain proclaim that I should love you.

But what do I love when I love my God?

No material beauty or beauty of temporal order; not the brilliance of earthly light so welcome to our eyes; not the sweet harmony of melody and song; not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices; not manna or honey; not limbs such as the body delights to embrace.

And yet, when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space; when it listens to sound that never dies away; when it breathes fragrance that is not borne away on the wind; when it tastes food that is never consumed by the eating; when it clings to an embrace from which it is not severed by fulfillment of desire. This is what I love when I love my God.”
~Augustine