Lent with the Early Church Fathers Day 21

Day 21

Lent with the Early Church Fathers

A daily post from Tom Bandy 

Based on Day by Day with the Early Church Fathers (Eds. Christopher D. Hudson, J. Alan Sharrer, and Lindsay Vanker: Hendrickson Press, 1999) 

Loving God 

Augustine 

I love you, Lord, not with uncertainty, but consciously and with certainty. But what do I love in loving you? Not physical beauty, the splendor of time, or the pleasant radiance of light. Not the sweet melodies of all kinds of songs or the fragrant smell of flowers, ointments, and spices. Not manna and honey. Not limbs that are pleasant for fleshly embraces. I don’t love these things when I love my God.  

Yet, I love a certain kind of light, sound, fragrance, food, and embrace loving my God. He is the light, sound, fragrance, food, and embrace of my inner person. In this love, the light shines that cannot even be contained in my soul. It is where those things resound the time cannot snatch away, where there is a fragrance that no breeze can scatter, where there is a food which no amount of eating can diminish, and where there is a clinging to that which no gratification can break apart. This is what I love when I love my God. 

TGB: Why are Christian so adamant about returning to in-person worship during pandemic? Is it because their love for God is so vague and uncertain? Is it not better to love God with the inner person, independent of symbols and sermons, organs and choirs, incense, coffee and refreshments, handshakes and chatter? To feel instead the real inner presence of God’s love that overflows the soul?