wishes were: Father, those whom you have given me, it is my wish. It is my wish,
180 SAINT A UG USTINE - SERMONS
There you are then; he has a temple, and isn't he God? If he had one of timber and stones, he would be God; if he had a temple made with hands, he would be God; and isn't he God when he has a temple made of the members of God? So join on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God. There is one God, Father and
Son and Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Spirit of them both is neither Father nor Son; but Father and Son and Holy Spirit are one God. Be built up in unity, in order not to fall into division.9
Do good in a bad place
5. You have heard what he asked for on our behalf;10 indeed he said what his wishes were: Father, those whom you have given me, it is my wish. It is my wish, Father; what I wish, I do; please do what I wish. It is my wish. What is? That where lam, they too may be with me (Jn 17:24). O blessed, blessed home! O mother country, so safe and secure! It fears no foe, is plagued by no pestilence. We shall live there in security, we shall never seek to emigrate, we will not Find any safer place. Whatever you choose here on earth, you choose in anxiety, not in security. Choose yourself a place, while you are in a bad place, that is in this world, in this life full of trials, in this mortality full of groans and fears; while you are in a bad place, choose yourself a place where you can move to from the bad place.
You won't be able to move to the good place from the bad place unless you do good in the bad place. What sort of place is that other? One where nobody goes hungry. So if you want to live in the good place where nobody goes hungry, in this world break your bread to the hungry (Is 58:7). Because in that blessed place nobody is a foreigner, and all are living in their own native land; then if you wish to be in the good place, whenever in this bad place you find a foreigner who has nowhere to go, welcome him into your home. Show hospitality in the bad place, in order to get to the place where you cannot be a "guest worker." In the good place nobody is in need of clothes; there is no cold weather there, no hot weather. What need of shelter, what need of clothing? There will be no shelters there, but there will be protection;1 'Iso in fact even there we find shelter: under the shadow of your wings will I hope (Ps 57:1). So in this bad place provide shelter for the person who has none, so that you may find yourself in the good place, where you can enjoy such shelter that you need never want to patch your thatch. After all, there are no showers of rain there, but instead a perennial fountain of truth. But the shower from this makes you glad, not wet; this shower is the fountain of life itself. What's the meaning of Lord, with you is the fountain of life (Ps 36:9)? It means, And the Word was with God (Jn 1: l).12
Christ is day
6. So then, brothers and sisters, do good in the bad place, in order to get to the good place, about which the one who is preparing it for us13 says, It is my wish that where I am, they too may be with me (Jn 17:24). The Lord Christ