Don’t confine your hearts
Hope in him, all you assembly of the people. Pour your hearts out before him (Ps 61[62]: 9). Don’t give in to those who are asking you, Where is your God? My tears, the Psalmist says elsewhere, have become my bread day and night while they say to me everyday: “where is your God?”And what does the Psalmist say there? These things I considered, and I poured out my soul above me (Ps 41[42]: 4-5). I remembered what I hear, “Where is your God?” Seeking my God, I poured out my soul above me so that I might reach him; I didn’t remain in myself. Hope in him, all you assembly of the people. Pour your hearts out before him, praying, confessing, hoping. Don’t restrain your hearts inside your hearts: Pour out your hearts before him. What you pour out is not lost. For he is my protector. Cast your care upon the Lord (Ps 54[55]:23), and hope in him. Pour out your hearts before him, God our helper. (Augustine, EnPs 61[62], 14; PL 36. 740)
“Seeking my God, I poured out my soul above me so that I might reach him; I didn’t remain in myself.”
JAK –
I’ve often wondered whether St. Augustine was the sort of mystic/contemplative who had the sort of ecstatic mystical experiences which totally exclude any awareness of self. I mean the sort that Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross speak of at times.
When I first read the sentence above, I thought Aha! his awareness was completely of God with no awareness of himself. Upon re-reading it, though, I think it’s ambiguous. What do you think he means here?
What do you think he means by this “I poured out my soul above me”? And why would this pouring be into what is *above* him? Weird trick.
Is this related to doing an examination of conscience?