St. Augustine once wrote in a sermon, “Behold, sometimes we are made glad by a certain inner sweetness. Yes, our mind has been able to catch a glimpse , for a fleeting instant, of something above change. . . .Now I have a sense throughout my being of something beyond time.” (Sermon 158)

When we pray we most often ask God for a change in our health or circumstances for our self or for a loved one or acquaintance. We seldom pray for our relationship with God Himself, for Augustine’s experience of a glimpse of something above change.

In a world so rife with change as ours is, it seems imperative if we are to retain any sense of balance or serenity, that we seek that inner sweetness and assurance that comes from a place beyond the media, beyond the worlds of politics and entertainment and all that drains our attention and energy. Jesus said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33). The Psalmist wrote, “I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. (Psalm 131:2)

We hardly think of ourselves as preparing for sweetness, but the psalmist and Jesus both imply that it’s possible to open ourselves to the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit of God, if even for a “fleeting instant.”

For the psalmist the pathway was casting off pride in ourselves, while for Jesus it is turning away from worry and anxiety in the world. In both cases, we need a “disconnect” in order to find the re-connection with our Savior. St. Augustine says that we are “Made glad’ by God’s spirit.

I believe that no set of circumstances can prevent the Spirit of God from delivering the sweetness; but when our spirits are full of either pride or anxiety, or both, there is no room for a “sense throughout our being of something beyond time.” More than three hundred years before Augustine, St. Paul wrote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine, or nakedness or danger or sword?. . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.”(Romans 8:35-37) The secret to being a conqueror is to stay connected to your leader. When we immerse ourselves in the legions of difficulties of our world we shrink our strength to conquer, for we reduce our exposure to the One who knows both us and the battles and who loves us. Every soul needs the sweetness. Every soul needs the sense of something above change.

Love in Him,

Prue