“This is precisely what the blessed life consists of: rejoicing in view of You, in You, and for You” (St. Augustine).
In today’s quote, St. Augustine invites us to anticipate here on earth—even if not yet in its fullness—the blessed life that he himself found after his conversion.
This happiness consists in orienting our whole life toward God, who is our joy. Our heart must belong completely to Him, and everything He is and does, as well as the way He does it, becomes a source of growing joy for us. We rejoice because God is God and because He is as He is. This happiness can never be surpassed, because it springs from the source of true and holy life. Our Father Himself exhorts us to this joy (cf. Phil 4:4). And He, for His part, takes pleasure in us, thus increasing our happiness even more, for we rejoice that He rejoices. Indeed, is it not true that our Father’s joy in us makes us truly happy?
When this blissful life begins, we gain everything. In a way, we already anticipate the future life and orient ourselves toward it. For what else awaits us in eternity but the beatific and blissful vision of the Holy Trinity? Nothing can compare to it, and yet we can already have a foretaste of it on earth.
St. Augustine shows us the way: let us fix our gaze on our Father, let us allow ourselves to be loved and cared for by Him, let us recognize more and more each day His goodness and the delicate ways in which He manifests it to us. Let us give Him thanks and abandon ourselves more and more deeply to Him. Then, in His light, we will see the light (Ps 36:9), and our soul will rise up to Him. Our true home is in the Father, now and forever!