Encountering Confession Through St. Augustine

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"May I know you, who know me... This is my hope, and that is why I speak. In this hope I am placing my delight when my delight is in what it ought to be (Confessions, Book X, i(1))" - St. Augustine

I have questions, yet I do not know who to ask, how to ask, or what answers could suffice to solve my questions. So, I shall write them here and give them to God. It is to God that I give all the people, things, and worries in my life. God, yours is the glory, and your will be done in my life and with the people I love. 

Give me the steadiness that I lack in my thoughts and my day-to-day life and fill my restless soul with your peace. Help me to listen to the words of others more mature than I, and grant that I might be able to emulate their good behavior and in so doing grow my own character. I wish to be like you, abiding in you, and loving you with all my being. I know that their perception of my life from their perspective will offer me light and understanding. Let this guide me and use them to your glory. 

Lord, indeed, use me for your glory. Let not my heart be blinded by love, but rather, grant that it should look to you and focus itself on seeking your face. I see my own insufficiencies in the way I handle relationships, in what I prioritize in my life, and in the choices I make regarding your kingdom, and I know that I must allow my sinful heart the chance to become attune to your will for me. 

Take what I have within my and make it clean, that I may better reflect your glory. I seek to be a light for your kingdom, to be a clean glass, freshly washed, and a picture of who you have called me to be. It is to you that I commit these thoughts, these prayers, and so let them come to you.

(I wrote this for a reflection essay last week, on April 9, 2021)

 

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