On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts
added by Jonathan Simcoe · updated 5mo ago
added by Jonathan Simcoe · updated 5mo ago
“He lost no time, but ran with shouts of words, acts, death, life, descent, ascent, all the time shouting for us to return to him.”
Jonathan Simcoe added 5mo ago
The trajectory here will feel familiar: the night he made that choice, he caught a taste for blood, as it were, a taste for flesh, a passion that primed him to try again. Eventually, that satisfaction of the passion settles into the predictability of a habit—probably just about the time that it’s no longer a pleasure. The honeymoon is over; the thr
... See moreJonathan Simcoe added 5mo ago
“You belong here” is the lie told to us by everyone from Disney to Vegas.
Jonathan Simcoe added 5mo ago
For Augustine, those moments of “uncanniness”—of Unheimlich not-at-home-ness—are like postcards from the self you’re called to be.
Jonathan Simcoe added 5mo ago
The key is to know where we are, and whose we are, and where we’re headed, and not be surprised by the burdens of the road.
Jonathan Simcoe added 5mo ago
“In your gift we find our rest,” Augustine concludes. “There are you our joy. Our rest is our peace.”
Jonathan Simcoe added 5mo ago
What if, buried in your ambition, is a desire for something more, someone else? Might that explain the persistent disappointment?
Jonathan Simcoe added 5mo ago
We leave because we’re looking. For something. For someone. We leave because we long for something else, something more. We leave to look for some piece of us that’s missing.
Jonathan Simcoe added 5mo ago
Instead, “I in my misery seethed and followed the driving force of my impulses, abandoning you. I exceeded all the bounds set by your law.”
Jonathan Simcoe added 5mo ago