Office Of Readings | Friday, Week 6, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Augustine On The First Letter Of Saint John | How The Heart Yearns For God

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Office Of Readings | Friday, Week 6, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Augustine On The First Letter Of Saint John | How The Heart Yearns For God

‘Our heart longs for God.’

In this passage, Augustine of Hippo offers a sustained reflection on desire as the defining movement of the Christian life. The text is less concerned with doctrinal exposition than with the interior disposition required for the vision of God. Its central claim—that ‘the entire life of a good Christian is an exercise of holy desire’—provides the organising principle for what follows.

Augustine begins from a scriptural promise: that believers shall be like God because they shall see him ‘as he is’. Yet he immediately qualifies the adequacy of language. Even the words of John the Apostle fall short of the reality they attempt to express. This introduces a tension between expression and experience. Theology can point towards the divine, but it cannot contain it. Hence Augustine directs attention inward, to the ‘anointing’ that teaches from within. Knowledge of God is not primarily discursive but participatory.

The notion of desire is then developed with care. Desire is not presented as a deficiency but as a formative process. The absence of vision is not a failure but a condition that prepares for fulfilment. Augustine’s analogy of the container is particularly effective. Just as a vessel must be stretched to receive a greater quantity, so the soul must be enlarged through longing. Delay, therefore, is not arbitrary; it serves to deepen capacity. God’s apparent withholding becomes a means of preparation.

This reframing of delay is significant. It transforms what might be experienced as frustration into a constructive element of spiritual growth. The act of desiring is itself the mode by which the soul is shaped. Fulfilment is not immediate because the soul, in its present state, is not yet capable of receiving what is promised. Thus, time becomes an instrument of formation.

Augustine reinforces this dynamic through reference to Paul the Apostle. Paul’s confession that he has not yet attained perfection serves as a model of ongoing striving. The language of ‘stretching forward’ and ‘pressing on’ aligns with Augustine’s earlier imagery. The Christian life is marked by movement rather than completion. Even the apostle remains oriented towards a future fulfilment that surpasses present experience.

A further development concerns purification. Desire must be ordered if it is to be effective. The soul cannot be filled with divine good while occupied by lesser attachments. Augustine’s image of the vessel filled with ‘sour wine’ makes this point with clarity. Preparation involves not only expansion but cleansing. This introduces an ethical dimension: detachment from disordered desires is a necessary condition for receiving what is truly good.

The closing section returns to the inadequacy of language. Terms such as ‘honey’, ‘gold’, or ‘wine’ are acknowledged as approximations. Even the name ‘God’ does not exhaust the reality it signifies. Augustine thus maintains a consistent apophatic reserve: what is promised exceeds all conceptual grasp. Yet this does not lead to scepticism. Instead, it reinforces the need for desire to extend beyond what can be articulated.

The final movement gathers these strands into a single orientation: to ‘extend ourselves toward the measure of Christ’. The goal is not merely to know about God, but to be transformed into likeness with him. Vision and likeness are inseparable. To see God is to be conformed to him, and this conformity is prepared through the disciplined exercise of desire.

In sum, Augustine presents a coherent account of the Christian life as one of tension between present absence and future fulfilment. Desire is not an incidental aspect but the very means by which the soul is prepared for God. The passage combines psychological insight with theological depth, offering a vision in which longing itself becomes a mode of participation in the divine life.

A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Augustine On The First Letter Of Saint John | How The Heart Yearns For God

We have been promised that we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. By these words, the tongue has done its best; now we must apply the meditation of the heart. Although they are the words of Saint John, what are they in comparison with the divine reality? and how can we, so greatly inferior to John in merit, add anything of our own? Yet we have received, as John has told us, an anointing by the Holy One which teaches us inwardly more than our tongue can speak. Let us turn to this source of knowledge, and because at present you cannot see, make it your business to desire the divine vision.

The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire. You do not yet see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when he comes you may see and be utterly satisfied.

Suppose you are going to fill some holder or container, and you know you will be given a large amount. then you set about stretching your sack or wineskin or whatever it is. Why? Because you know the quantity you will have to put in it and your eyes tell you there is not enough room. By stretching it, therefore, you increase the capacity of the sack, and this is how God deals with us. Simply by making us wait he increases our desire, which in turn enlarges the capacity of our soul, making it able to receive what is to be given to us.

So, my brethren, let us continue to desire, for we shall be filled. Take not of Saint Paul stretching as it were his ability to receive what is to come: Not that I have already obtained this, he said, or am made perfect. Brethren, I do not consider that I have already obtained it. We might ask him, ‘If you have not yet obtained it, what are you doing in this life?’ This one thing I do, answers Paul, forgetting what lies behind, and stretching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the prize to which I am called in the life above. Not only did Paul say he stretched forward, but he also declared that he pressed on toward a chosen goal. He realized in fact that he was still short of receiving what no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor the heart of man conceived.

Such is our Christian life. By desiring heaven we exercise the powers of our soul. Now this exercise will be effective only to the extent that we free ourselves from desires leading to infatuation with this world. Let me return to the example I have already used, of filling an empty container. God means to fill each of you with what is good; so cast out what is bad! If he wishes to fill you with honey and you are full of sour wine, where is the honey to go? The vessel must be emptied of its contents and then be cleansed. Yes, it must be cleansed even if you have to work hard and scour it. It must be made fit for the new thing, whatever it may be.

We may go on speaking figuratively of honey, gold or wine – but whatever we say we cannot express the reality we are to receive. The name of that reality is God. But who will claim that in that one syllable we utter the full expanse of our heart’s desire? Therefore, whatever we say is necessarily less than the full truth. We must extend ourselves toward the measure of Christ so that when he comes he may fill us with his presence. Then we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Christian Prayer With Jesus Christ

O God,
in whom alone our hearts find rest,
grant that we may desire you above all things.

Stretch the capacity of our souls,
that we may be made ready
for the fullness of your presence.

Cleanse us of all that hinders your grace,
and free us from every disordered desire,
that we may be filled with what is truly good.

Teach us to seek you patiently,
to persevere in hope,
and to press forward in faith,
until we behold you as you are.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

Glossary Of Christian Terms

Holy Desire
A longing directed towards God, understood as a formative movement that prepares the soul for divine fulfilment.

Beatific Vision
The direct and perfect seeing of God in eternal life, in which the believer is fully satisfied.

Anointing (of the Holy Spirit)
The inner gift of the Spirit that teaches and guides believers in truth.

Interior Knowledge
A form of knowing that arises within the soul through grace, beyond mere external instruction.

Grace
The free gift of God that transforms and prepares the soul for communion with him.

Sanctification
The process of being made holy, involving purification and growth in likeness to God.

Detachment
Freedom from disordered attachment to worldly things, enabling fuller devotion to God.

Conversion
The continual turning of the heart away from sin and towards God.

Apostolic Example
The model of Christian life found in figures such as Paul the Apostle, marked by striving and perseverance.

Perseverance
Steadfast continuation in faith and desire, especially in the absence of full fulfilment.

Fulfilment
The completion of the soul’s longing in union with God.

Apophatic Theology
An approach to God that emphasises the limits of human language and understanding in describing divine reality.

Likeness to God
The transformation of the believer into conformity with God, especially through Christ.

Eternal Life
The state of perfect communion with God, beginning in this life and completed in the next.

Measure of Christ
The fullness of maturity and perfection to which believers are called in Christ.