“To depart from You is to die. To return to You is to rise again. To dwell with You is to live.” (St. Augustine)
With these few words, dear Father, St. Augustine expresses it perfectly. For if we were to go away from You—which may You always prevent—we would no longer be able to receive the grace, Your living love for us. Everything within us would begin to wither, everything that truly reveals to us the real value of existence.
And because that would be so, our heart would cling to what is transient, which can never fulfill us. Spiritual death would, so to speak, walk beside us, disguising itself and offering nothing but “substitute lives.” Our poor soul would be in terrible distress and would have to struggle through it constantly. What a desolate state. Dearest Father, help.
What would You answer? Surely, dear Father, You would agree with Saint Augustine and cry out:
“Come back to Me, listen to Me! I am waiting for you! Free yourself from the chains! I will hear you when you call to Me. You can rise from this death and return to life. Even if your sins overwhelm you and weigh heavily upon you, I have shown you a way. There, at the cross of My Son, you will find forgiveness and life. There you will be washed clean.
A new life will then awaken, and you will dwell with Me. That will be your true life, and you will breathe again. The chains will be loosened, and your soul will rejoice with joy. You have come home, and I rejoice that you are now with Me. You will dwell and live with Me forever.
That is what I have prepared for you!”