Setting eternity in our hearts. . .

I've been thinking a lot about the next section of text in CONFESSIONS (from Book 10:6):

When my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space;

when it listens to sound that never dies away;

when it breathes fragrance that is not borne away on the wind. . .

I may be all wet here, but it sure does sound like St. Augustine is trying to describe eternity.

And I think it is a beautiful, albeit limited, image. . .

All of us ARE fairly lame as a species in our ability (or lack thereof) to capture the essence of eternity in words. We will say things like

"the rings that you both exchange today are a symbol of eternal love since they have no beginning and no ending"---OR

"I just love to sit on the beach and look at the horizon...The water and the sky go on and on to infinity"---OR

"The vastness of the night sky is endless"...

You get my point.

So, St. Augustine gives the eternal a crack...and I have been captivated by his imagery. And it also sent me to Ecclesiastes (3:11). Solomon didn't try and describe eternity but he did evoke another lovely image...one that resonates with St. Augustine's:

"He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end..."

So, maybe we shouldn't worry about trying to describe the infinite with the finite. I'm reminded of the professor in college that, when asked a difficult theological question by a collegiate, simply said "People, sometimes its best to just say Deuteronomy 29:29...the secret things belong to the Lord".

In the next post, I'll talk about how Eric Barnum musically treats the text we have discussed...masterful text painting to be sure!