[A]s though mindful of the wife of Lot, who looked back from behind him, thou deliveredst me first to the sacred garments and monastic profession before thou gavest thyself to God. And for that in this one thing thou shouldst have had little trust in me I vehemently grieved and was ashamed. For I (God [knows]) would without hesitation precede or follow thee to the Vulcanian fires according to thy word. For not with me was my heart, but with thee. But now, more than ever, if it be not with thee, it is nowhere. For without thee it cannot anywhere exist.Anonymous
About This Quote
In this quote, Saint Augustine is discussing the intimate details of his conversion from paganism to Christianity. He is telling his friend Alypius that he is ashamed of even thinking about going to a pagan temple with a woman. So he asks God to send a vision to make him think otherwise. In the vision, a woman with a veil stands before him.
When he looks at her, she disappears and only God appears – the same God who already knows his thoughts – and tells him that he must go to the temple with the woman. The woman is the Church.
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