The Conversion of St. Augustine by Fra Angelico, via Wikimedia Commons
What return shall I make to the Lord
for my ability to recall these things with no fear in my soul?
I will love you, Lord, and thank you, and praise your name,
because you have forgiven me such great sins and such wicked deeds.
I acknowledge that it was by your grace and mercy
that you melted away my sins like ice.
I acknowledge, too, that by your grace
I was preserved from whatever sins I did not commit,
for there was no knowing what I might have done,
for there was no knowing what I might have done,
since I loved evil even if it served no purpose.
I avow that you have forgiven me all,
both the sins which I committed of my own accord
both the sins which I committed of my own accord
and those which by your guidance I was spared from committing.
What man who reflects upon his own weakness
can dare to claim that his own efforts have made him chaste and free from sin,
as though this entitled him to love you the less,
on the ground that he had less need of the mercy
by which you forgive the sins of the penitent?
There are some who have been called by you
and because they have listened to your voice
they have avoided the sins which I here record and confess for them to read.
But let them not deride me for having been cured by the same Doctor
who preserved them from sickness,
or at least from such grave sickness as mine.
Let them love you just as much, or even more, than I do,
for they can see that the same healing hand
which rid me of the great fever of my sins
protects them from falling sick of the same disease.
St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430
_____________________________
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me!”
The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me!”
The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
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