Augustine and Newman Morning Whispers

I found this on Eileen's blog this morning and it settles me down on to a prayer-filled moment.

Life passes, riches fly away, popularity is fickle, the senses decay, the world changes, friends die. One alone is constant; One alone is true to us; One alone can be true; One alone can be all things to us; One alone can supply our needs; One alone can train us to our full perfection; One alone can give a meaning to our complex and intricate nature; One alone can give us tune and harmony; One alone can form and possess us. - Blessed John Henry Newman

It is a Friday and I am staring out the window while typing on these keys and looking at the sun rising up against the sky. I have passed many Fridays and I wish a day will come when I can fully grasp what John Newman is talking about.

This week has been about finding that resolve inside myself to climb another step closer towards authentic living. Making choices. Being clear with preferences. Reaching out for long-forgotten dreams. And still making sure that even as I let my life unfold with all its yearnings and ambitions, I do not leave the Holy embrace of God. For His presence should permeate all these things or else I'd be living worse than a dictated life. I'd be living it empty.

St. Augustine puts it differently.

People go to admire lofty mountains, and huge breakers at sea, and crashing waterfalls, and vast stretches of ocean, and the dance of the stars, but they leave themselves behind out of sight.

This pursuit of finding clarity inside myself is a pursuit of God. This pursuit of finding the guts to reach for what I dream is a pursuit of God.

I should never forget that.