Introduction
The human soul, created to love and praise its Creator, often finds itself lost in the distractions and passions of the world. However, there are moments of grace when the soul awakens to the reality of its separation from God and, with a deep lament, turns to Him in search of redemption. Saint Augustine, in his “Confessions,” sublimely expresses this lament for the years lost away from God, a theme that resonates in the lives and writings of many other saints and mystics.
Saint Augustine’s Lament
Saint Augustine, with unmatched eloquence, captures the essence of this sorrow in his famous phrase:
“Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new, late have I loved you! And behold, you were within me, and I outside, and I sought you outside and in my ugliness fell upon these lovely things that you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you. They held me back far from you, those things which would have no being were they not in you. You called, shouted, broke through my deafness; you flared, blazed, banished my blindness; you lavished your fragrance, I gasped, and now I pant for you; I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst; you touched me, and I burned for your peace.”
This passage encapsulates Augustine’s spiritual awakening and his pain for having ignored God’s presence for so many years.
Other Saints on the Same Path
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux also expressed in a moving way the repentance for lost time and the need to dedicate oneself completely to God:
“I have neglected the Lord, and He has waited for me with patience. How can I not love Him who loved me first and waited so long for my love?”
“Better late than never, but oh, how much better it would have been if from the beginning of my life I had served the Lord with all my heart.”
Saint Teresa of Ávila, in “The Interior Castle,” also expresses deep repentance and a desire for union with God:
“My God, how miserable we mortals are, that even in something so great and of such immense benefit to our soul, we seek our own consolation and contentment, and not that of your Son.”
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in his “Spiritual Exercises,” exhorts the faithful to review their lives and lament the time lost away from God:
“Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.”
Saint Catherine of Siena, in “The Dialogue,” manifests her lament for not having dedicated her life completely to God from the beginning:
“O eternal Trinity, O Divinity, O deep sea, what more could you give me than to give me yourself?”
Saint Alphonsus Liguori, in “The Glories of Mary,” expresses his pain for the time lost in sin and his desire to consecrate.
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