apesoformythoughts
apesoformythoughts

For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.

‘The "for" in the first part is the English translation not of pro but of ad. "Fecisti nos ad te." Pro is the preposition for ownership, and if Augustine had written pro, the sentence still would have been profoundly true: God our Creator owns us, rightly claims us. But ad makes a deeper point. It is a preposition expressing dynamic movement. It means "toward". God has made us toward Himself. We exist "to" or "toward" or "in movement to" Him, like arrows moving toward a target or homing pigeons flying home. We are verbs as well as nouns. We are not static objects, but dynamic, moving subjects. We are not God's property so much as God's lovers. He is not only our origin and our owner, He is also our end, our purpose, our destiny, our identity, our meaning, our peace, our joy, our home. The story of Augustine's life is the story of a homeless person's journey to his true home.’

— Peter Kreeft: I Burned for Your Peace

magpie-trove
apesoformythoughts

For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.

‘This restlessness is the second most precious thing in the world, since it is the means to the only good that is even greater than itself, namely, the rest that comes only in God. Our homelessness, our alienation, our misery, our confusion, our lover's quarrel with the world—this is our greatest blessing, next to God Himself. For if it did not exist, no one would ever go to Heaven. If the baby were not restless in the womb, it would never be born. It would die. It is not better to travel hopefully than to arrive, but it is the next best thing.’

— Peter Kreeft: I Burned for Your Peace