‘Late Have I Loved You’ (Gungor/St. Augustine)

“A Christian should be an Alleluia from head to foot” ― Augustine

Today (August 28) the feast day of St. Augustine is celebrated in some churches. Here’s a contemporary song with lyrics based on his famous writings.


Late have I loved You
Beauty so ancient
So new
Late have I loved You

You were within me, but I was outside You
It was there that I searched for You
It was there that I searched for You
Late have I loved You
Beauty so ancient, so new
Late have I loved You

You were here with me
But I was not with You
It was there that You found me
It was there that You found me
You called and You shouted
You broke through my deafness
You flashed and you shone
Dispelled all my blindness
You breathed Your fragrance on me
You breathed Your fragrance on me
Late have I loved You
Late have I loved You

I drew in Your breath
And I keep on breathing
I’ve tasted I’ve seen
And now I want more
You breathed Your fragrance on me
You breathed Your fragrance on me
Late have I loved You
Late have I loved You

Words: Saint Augustine (Confessions, X, 27)
Music: Michael Gungor © 2010 WorshipTogether.com Songs (ASCAP)
Album: Beautiful Things

Thanks for Fr. Philip Chircop for bringing this song to our attention.

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I find some of Augustine’s teachings wildly offensive, particularly his view of women and sex. 
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/s/st-augustines-confessions/critical-essays/women-in-the-confessions
http://www.womenpriests.org/traditio/august.asp

Other of his writings have been helpful to my spiritual growth. Here’s a good contemporary article based on his writings - “Augustine & The Trinity-Shaped Gospel”
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/brandondsmith/2015/02/how-augustine-helps-us-live-in-light-of-the-trinity/

Also see this compilation of short quotes: ‘15 Augustine Quotes That Helped Shape Modern Christian Thought’
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/15-augustine-quotes-helped-shape-modern-christian-thought#e6WmA27tupShVq3h.99

“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”

“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.”

“What are kingdoms without justice? They’re just gangs of bandits.”

“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement.”

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I especially appreciate St. Augustine’s poetry even more than his doctrinal writings, such as this one adapted from his writings:

AUGUSTINE’S CHRISTMAS MUSINGS:

He Came: INTO TIME
He, through whom time was made,
Was made in time.
He, older by eternity than the world itself,
Became younger in age than His servants.
He was born of a father as God
And of a mother as man.
One is without time,
The other without parallel.

He Came: INTO FLESH
He who made man, was made man.
He was given existence by a mother
Who He brought into existence.
He nursed at the breasts which He filled.
He was carried in the hands
Which He had formed.

He Came: INTO SUBMISSION
He cried like a babe in speechless infancy,
This Word without whom
Human eloquence is speechless.
The Truth is accused by false witnesses.
The Judge of the living and the dead
Is judged by mortals.
The Teacher is beaten by the student.
The Vine is crowned with thorns.

He Came: INTO HEARTS
Who, then, shall declare His generation?
Let us in His presence try to realize the abasement
that He in all His majesty accepted for our sakes.
And let us be kindled with love, that we may come to His eternity.

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This portrait of St. Augustine was commissioned by the New York Times to illustrate a book review.
http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/nytimesreview.html

image


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Saint Augustine was a philosopher and theologian who had a profound effect on both Protestant and Catholic theology. He was born Augustine Aurelius in A.D. 354, in Thagaste (in what is now Algeria), during the Roman occupation of that region. The son of a Christian mother and a pagan father, he developed a strong interest in rhetoric andphilosophy, and he left home in his late teens to study in Carthage.

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Late Have I Loved Thee – 30 minute video presentation of ideas and texts of Augustine, narrated by J. O'Donnell, with Seth Sibanda as the voice of Augustine. Right click on this link and choose “Save target as” (in Windows) to download to desktop. Requires Quicktime.

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See my companion blog post about Augustine’s mother, Saint Monica, at
http://globalworship.tumblr.com/post/149577488815/st-monica-patron-saint-of-survivors-of-domestic

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