December 7

oly and God-fearing people desire one thing only: the salvation God offers them in Christ Jesus. It is Jesus they long for, him they desire, and to him they reach out with all their strength, cherishing him in their inmost hearts, opening themselves up to him and pouring out their very being before him. Their only fear is that they may lose him. This means that the greater the desire of the soul to embrace its salvation, the more it wears itself out with longing. However, this very exhaustion and pining away have a strengthening effect upon the soul. David says in the sixty-second psalm: My soul pines for you, but a little later he adds: My soul clings to you, and your right hand bears me up.

A thirsty person wants to spend all his time beside a fountain. It seems as if his one desire is to be thoroughly drenched by it so that by this means his thirst may be assuaged. And so, Lord, your right hand bears me up and strengthens me, making a new person of me and enabling me to say: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.

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