The journey inward which Augustine invites us to make is a kind of homecoming.

For Augustine, the heart is not the place of emotions but the place of richest, deepest thought and peace. It is the centre of our being, where we are totally ourselves, our deepest selves. In allowing ourselves to wander outside, we lose touch with ourselves.

‘Why do you want to drift so far away from yourself?’ he asks. ‘Turn back from your idle wandering. Return to your Lord. He is waiting. You have become a stranger to yourself. You do not recognise yourself. And you seek for Him who created you!’

If we are a long way from ourselves, he is saying, how can we come near to God? To return is to find our true home, to find our paradise on earth. This is a bold promise. But Augustine’s reason for making it is that when we journey inward it is not just our true self that we find. We find God who has made his home within us.

When we return to our hearts we find rest and peace within in that place of solitude where Christ awaits us to welcome us home.

So at the start of our journey we need to call ourselves back from wandering outside ourselves, from always searching outside for happiness and truth. Our opening prayer could be Augustine’s ‘Come, O Lord, and stir our hearts. Call us back to yourself. Kindle your fire in us and carry us away. Let us scent your fragrance and taste your sweetness. Bid us love you and hasten to your side.’

Then we try to let our thoughts settle. We cease from effort and allow God to take over. It is a long journey, but he will do everything. This is a form of prayer, Abbot Chapman reminds us, in which God does all while we wait and wonder. ‘Consequently give yourself to prayer, when you can, and trust in God that he will lead you, without your choosing your path. Wait for pressure from him. Do not act unless you must. Let him take the initiative ... If you cannot pray in the least, and only waste time, and moon, and wander, still hold on.’

He also tells us: ‘It is better to remain with God, apparently doing nothing in particular, than to make the grandest and most elaborate meditations’ (Chapman Letters).

An extract from Finding Your Hidden Treasure

© 2010 Benignus O’Rourke OSA

Published by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd

© Photo: Ian Wilson OSA

Get the book: www.theaugustinians.org