The Essential Augustine (continued)
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE S153 fing to sin defiled it. He comes to refashion it who had first of all fashioned it; for by the Word all things were made, and by the Word this image was stamped on it. The Word Himself came, so that we might hear from the Apostle: Be reformed in the newness of your mind. [Rom. 12:2] It now remains for you, then, to seek out what is of better worth than your soul. What will that be, pray, except your God? You can find nothing of more worth than your own soul; for when your nature is perfected it will be equal to the angels. Higher indeed than this there is nothing save the Creator. Stretch upwards towards Him, do not despair, do not say: "It is beyond me." With greater reason is it beyond you to enjoy the gold which you possibly covet. Gold, even though you desire it, you may perhaps never possess; God you will possess as soon as you desire Him. For He came to you before you desired Him; when your will was turned away from Him He called you, when you had turned to Him He put fear into you, and when full of fear you made confession He consoled you. He who has given you all things, He who has brought you into being, He who gives sunlight to your fellow creatures, even to the wicked, who gives rain, fruits and fountains, life and health, and so many comforts—He holds back something for you which He gives only to yourself. What is it that He holds back for you, if not Himself? Look for anything better if you can find it; God keeps Himself for you. You moneygrubber, why are you gaping after heaven and earth? Better is He who has made heaven and earth; He it is whom you are to behold and possess.
MAN'S GREATEST GOOD*
How then, according to reason, ought man to live? 3. We all certainly desire to live happily; and there is no human being but assents to this statement almost before it is made. But the title happy cannot, in my opinion, belong either to him who has not what he loves, whatever it may be, or to him who has what he loves if it is hurtful, or to him who does not love what he has, although it is good in perfection. For one who seeks what he cannot obtain suffers torture, and one who has got what is not desirable is cheated, and one who does not seek for what is worth seeking for
* Moral Behavior of the Catholic Church, 3-8; trans. Dods.