Augustine's Confessions, 5.35, 37

50. O Lord God, grant us thy peace--for thou hast given us all things. Grant us the peace of quiet, the peace of the Sabbath, the peace without an evening. All this most beautiful array of things, all so very good, will pass away when all their courses are finished--for in them there is both morning and evening.
51. But the seventh day is without an evening, and it has no setting, for thou hast sanctified it with an everlasting duration. After all thy works of creation, which were very good, thou didst rest on the seventh day, although thou hast created them all in unbroken rest--and this so that the voice of thy Book might speak to us with the prior assurance that after our works--and they also are very good because thou hast given them to us--we may find our rest in thee in the Sabbath of life eternal.
53. We con see all those things which thou hast made because they are--but they are because thou seest them. And we see with our eyes that they are, and we see with our minds that they are good. But thou sawest them as made when thou sawest that they would be made.
And now, in this present time, we have been moved to do well, now that our heart has been quickened by thy Spirit; but in the former time, having forsaken thee, we were moved to do evil. But thou, O the one good God,h ast never ceased to do good! And we have accomplished certain good works by thy good gifts, and ever though they are not eternal, still we hope, after these things here, to find our rest in thy great sanctification. But thou art the Good, and needest no rest, and art always at rest, because thou thyself art thy own rest.
What man will teach men to understand this? And what angel will teach the angels? Or what angels will teach men? We must ask it of thee; we must seek it in thee; we must knock for it at thy door. Only thus shall we receive; only thus shall we find; only thus shall thy door be opened.

Augustine's Confessions, 4.11.16

Be not foolish, O my soul, and do not let the tumult of your vanity deafen the ear of your heart. Be attentive. The Word itself calls you to return, and with him is a place of unperturbed rest, where love is not forsaken unless it first forsakes. Behold, these things pass away that others may come to be in their place. Thus even this lowest level of unity may be made complete in all its parts. "But do I ever pass away?" asks the Word of God. Fix your habitation in him. O my soul, commit whatsoever you have to him. For at long last you are now becoming tired of deceit. Commit to truth whatever you have received from the truth, and you will lose nothing. What is decayed will flourish again; your diseases will be healed; your perishable parts shall be reshaped and renovated, and made whole again in you. And these perishable things will not carry you with them down to where they go when they perish, but shall stand and abide, and you with them, before God, who abides and continues forever.

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the last verse is usually my favorite

Thou the spring of all my comfort, more than life to me,
whom have I on earth beside thee? Whom in heaven but thee?
Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.


Here see the Bread of Life; see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but Heaven can remove.


This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied, and earth and Heav’n be one.

The Golden Key

Just in case I haven't already talked your ear off about it....

As long as I can remember, my family has owned a set of George MacDonald paperbacks. It used to be a boxed set, but the box died, leaving behind The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, The Lost Princess, and The Golden Key and Other Stories. Since this was at least twelve years ago and my eight-year-old self wasn't exactly taking notes, I can't say for sure, but I that the first book that I read of the set was The Golden Key and Other Stories, and since The Golden Key is (naturally) the first story in the book, I can more or less say that it was the first thing I ever read by George MacDonald, although I went on to thoroughly enjoy the rest of the unboxed set.

Now I've gotten the chance to translate fairy tales into Latin for academic credit (because my school is amazing like that.) Over the course of the last four weeks, I've been melting down The Golden Key and remolding it into new words, which is pretty addictive and always manages to mess up my sleep schedule. It's a terrific story, one of those stories that I dearly wish were true in fact and have to content myself with knowing to be true in meaning. You should read it. The last two sentences give me goosebumps every time.

Home Alone

For some reason, January always puts me in the mood to 1) get rid of a huge pile of junk and 2) revamp my apartment. Both have been accomplished today. Before today, these walls had one poster ("The Great Wave of Kanagawa") and one small picture in the place where Salvador Dali's "Meditative Rose" is now. Please disregard the messy bookshelf (unless you'd like to buy one of the books in the top row).