Longing Is Prayer - St Augustine

[BarbTherese]

There are many forms of prayer and each has a place in life raising heart and mind to God in praise and thanksgiving, supplication. St. Augustine tells us that our longing too is a prayer and goes on to explain what our longing actually is:


[quote]
[b] In your longing, in your appeal, is your prayer, says Saint Augustine[/b]


'Lord all my longing is known to thee' [i](Psalm 36: 9)[/i]. It is not known to men, who are incapable of seeing the heart, but to thee is all my longing known. Let your longing be known to God, 'and your Father who sees in secret will reward you' [i](Matthew.6:6).[/i] There is your prayer, in your longing, and if your longing is continual, so also is your prayer. And so, it is not in vain that the Apostle says to us: 'Pray constantly' [i](1 Thessalonians 5:17).[/i]
But shall we always have bended knees, prostrated bodies and uplifted hands, because Saint Paul says to us: 'Pray constantly'? If that is what we mean by prayer, I do not think that - Read on here:
[url="http://www.colwichabbey.org.uk/life/prayer.htm"]http://www.colwichab...life/prayer.htm[/url]
[/quote]

[AccountDeleted]

St Augustine was a man truly in love with God. I love this quote, "Late have I love Thee, [b][color="#000000"]Oh Beauty[/color][/b], ever [b][color="#000000"]ancient[/color][/b] and ever [b][color="#000000"]new[/color][/b]..."

he inspires me in very much the same way that St John of the Cross does.

[brandelynmarie]

St. Augustine

[FutureSister2009]

St. Augustine has some of the best quotes ever

[BarbTherese]

[quote name='FutureSister2009' timestamp='1323228730' post='2346145']
St. Augustine has some of the best quotes ever
[/quote]

Amen to that!

[Sarah147]

Wow, so when I'm longing for God, I'm really in prayer! A w esome!

[BarbTherese]

What St Augustine said is supported by Scripture.
Our hearts long for God, for The Lord - but in concrete terms we don't quite know what that means. We simply find our hearts afire with an ardent longing when The Holy Spirit prays for us. It is a patient Hope because we do not know how to fulfill it and so we wait in patient Hope that is yet a "restless hope" - a heart afire as it were - or as St. Augustine puts it "our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in Thee".

Romans Chapter 8 V24:
[quote]
"[url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=52&ch=8&l=24#x"][24][/url] For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen, is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for? [url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=52&ch=8&l=25#x"][25][/url] But if we hope for that which we see not, we wait for it with patience.
[url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=52&ch=8&l=26#x"][26][/url] Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself [u]asketh for us[/u] with unspeakable groanings."[/quote]

[BarbTherese]

[left][font=TimesNewRoman]St Therese said many amazing things, and I think the quote below from a letter to her sister, Sister Marie of The Sacred Heart, is one of them. I read in another post somewhere where another phatmass member quoted from the same passage below.[/font][/left]

[quote]
[url="http://www.pathsoflove.com/pdf/ThereseLetters.pdf"]http://www.pathsoflo...reseLetters.pdf[/url][left][font=TimesNewRoman]The [u][b]simple [/b]desire[/u] to be a Victim suffices, but we must also consent to[/font][/left][left][font=TimesNewRoman]ever remain [b]poor and helpless[/b], and here lies the difficulty: “Where shall we find one that is truly[/font][/left][left][font=TimesNewRoman]poor in spirit? We must seek him afar off,” says the author of the [/font][i][font=TimesNewRoman, Italic]Imitation[/font][/i][font=TimesNewRoman].[/font][font=TimesNewRoman][size=1][font=TimesNewRoman][size=1]60 [/size][/font][/size][/font][font=TimesNewRoman]He [b]does not say[/b][/font][/left][left][b][font=TimesNewRoman]that we must search among great souls, but “afar off” – that is to say, in abasement and in[/font][/b][/left][left][b][font=TimesNewRoman]nothingness. [u]Let us remain far from all that dazzles[/u], loving our littleness, and content to have no[/font][/b][/left][left][font=TimesNewRoman][b]joy.[/b] Then we shall be truly poor in spirit, and Jesus will come to seek us however far off we may[/font][/left][left][font=TimesNewRoman]be, and transform us into flames of Love…. I long to make you understand what I feel.[/font][/left][left][font=TimesNewRoman][b]Confidence alone must lead us to Love[/b]…. [/font][/left][left][font=TimesNewRoman][font=TimesNewRoman]Does not fear lead to the thought of the strict justice [/font][/font][font=TimesNewRoman][font=TimesNewRoman]that is threatened to sinners? But that is not the justice Jesus will show to such as love Him.[/font][/font][/left][left][font=TimesNewRoman]God would not vouchsafe you the desire to the Victim of His Merciful Love, were this[/font][/left][left][font=TimesNewRoman]not a favour in store – or rather already granted, since you are wholly surrendered unto Him and[/font][/left]
[font=TimesNewRoman]long to be consumed by Him, and [b]God never inspires a longing which He cannot fulfil.[/b][/font][/quote]

[AccountDeleted]

Benedict said very little about personal prayer, but he did say this...

"If anyone wishes to [url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12345b.htm"]pray[/url] in private, let him go quietly into the oratory and [url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12345b.htm"]pray[/url], not with a loud voice, but with tears and fervour of heart."

this sounds very much like Augustine's 'longing' to me!

[Sarah147]

[BarbTherese]

Edited December 15, 2011 by BarbaraTherese