Saturday, February 26, 2005

Augustine Day by Day - Temptations Out of the Past

"Lord, you command me to be continent. You have commanded me to abstain from concubinage, and in place of marriage itself--which you permit--you have counseled something better. Since you granted this to me, it has been fulfilled even before I became a dispenser of your sacrament. Yet, in my memory, of which I have said many things, there still live images of such things as my former habits implanted there."

-- Confessions 10, 30

I wouldn't be too disappointed if Arthur C. Clarke is right that ghosts are merely projections from our memory onto our visual field. Such ghosts are still terrifying and real enough. Release me, O Lord, from my haunted house of sin!

Prayer. Your hand, O God Almightly, is able to heal all the infirmities of my soul.

-- Confessions 10, 30

February 25

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