82
" Si te agradan las almas ámalas en Dios; porque ellas también son inestables, pero en Dios se estabilizan y sin Él pasan y perecen. Han de ser, pues, amadas en Dios. Donde Él está, la verdad adquiere sabor; Él está muy adentro del corazón, pero el corazón se aparta de Él. Cristo, nuestra vida, bajó acá para llevarse nuestra muerte y matarla con la abundancia de su vida; con tonante voz nos llamó para que volviéramos a Él. Y luego desapareció de nuestra vista para que lo busquemos en nuestro corazón y allí lo encontremos. Se fue, pero aquí está. No se quiso quedar largo tiempo con nosotros, pero no nos dejó. Se fue hacia el lugar en que siempre estuvo y que nunca abandonó; porque Él hizo el mundo y estuvo en el mundo, adonde vino para salvar a los pecadores. "
― Augustine of Hippo , Confessions
86
" What is time? Who can explain this easily and briefly? Who can comprehend this even in thought so as to articulate the answer in words? Yet what do we speak of, in our familiar everyday conversation, more than of time? We surely know what we mean when we speak of it. We also know what is meant when we hear someone else talking about it. What then is time? Provided that no one asks me, I know. If I want to explain it to an inquirer, I do not know. But I confidently affirm myself to know that if nothing passes away, there is no past time, and if nothing arrives, there is no future time, and if nothing existed there would be no present time. Take the two tenses, past and future. How can they 'be' when the past is not now present and the future is not yet present? Yet if the present were always present, it would not pass into the past: it would not be time but eternity. If then, in order to be time at all, the present is so made that it passes into the past, how can we say that this present also 'is'? The cause of its being is that it will cease to be. So indeed we cannot truly say that time exists except in the sense that it tends toward non-existence. "
― Augustine of Hippo , Confessions
88
" Dichoso el que te ama a ti, y a su amigo en ti, y a su enemigo en ti; pues el único que no pierde a sus seres queridos es el que los quiere y los tiene en Aquel que no se pierde. ¡Oh Dios de las virtudes, conviértenos a ti, muéstranos tu rostro, y seremos salvos! (Sal 79,4) Porque adondequiera que se vuelva el alma del hombre fuera de ti, queda inmóvil en el dolor, aunque se detenga en cosas bellas fuera de ti y fuera de él mismo, cosas que sin ti nada serían. "
― Augustine of Hippo , Confessions
92
" My eyes sought him everywhere, but they did not see him; and I hated all places because he was not in them, because they could not say to me, “Look, he is coming,”
And I marveled that other mortals went on living since he whom I had loved as if he would never die was now dead. And I marveled all the more that I, who had been a second self to him, could go on living when he was dead. Someone spoke rightly of his friend as being “his soul’s other half”--for I felt that my soul and his soul were but one soul in two bodies. Consequently, my life was now a horror to me because I did not want to live as a half self. But it may have been that I was afraid to die, lest he should then die wholly whom I had so greatly loved. "
― Augustine of Hippo , Confessions
93
" For I wondered that others, subject to death, did live, since
he whom I loved, as if he should never die, was dead; and I wondered
yet more that myself, who was to him a second self, could live, he
being dead. Well said one of his friend, "Thou half of my soul"; for
I felt that my soul and his soul were "one soul in two bodies": and
therefore was my life a horror to me, because I would not live halved.
And therefore perchance I feared to die, lest he whom I had much loved
should die wholly. "
― Augustine of Hippo , Confessions
95
" Me dejaba llevar sin moderación de las pasiones humanas! Así era yo en aquel tiempo. Me enardecía, suspiraba, lloraba y me turbaba, sin descanso ni consejo. Así iba cargando mi alma destrozada y sangrante, que no se dejaba cargar, y yo no sabía en dónde ponerla. A ti, Señor, debía ser elevada para ser curada. Yo sabía esto, pero ni quería ni podía; cuando pensaba en ti no eras para mí algo firme y sólido, sino un vacío fantasma. Pero eso, fantasma era, no tú; y mi error era mi dios. Era yo para mí mismo un lugar de desdicha en el cual no podía estar y del cual no me podía evadir. ¿Cómo podía mi corazón huir de sí mismo, y adónde iría yo que él no me siguiera? "
― Augustine of Hippo , Confessions
96
" Como era miserável e como procesdestes para que sentisse a minha desgraça, naquele dia em que me preparava para declamar louvores ao imperador! Neles mentiria muito, e os que o sabiam apoiavam o mentiroso!
Meu coração agitava-se com estes cuidados e ardia na febre dos pensamentos corrompidos, quando, ao passar por um bairro em Milão, reparei num pobre mendigo, já ébrio, julgo eu, mas humorístico e alegre. Gemi e falei aos meus amigos que me acompanhavam das muitas angústias provenientes das nossas loucuras. Com todos os esforços [...] só queríamos chegar à alegria segura, aonde já tinha chegado, primeiro de nós, aquele mendigo e aonde nunca talvez, chegaríamos. Dirigia-me para aquilo mesmo que ele já alcançara com poucas moedas pedidas de esmola, isto é, para a alegria e felicidade temporal, dando voltas e rodeios trabalhosos.
Não possuía o ébrio, é certo a alegria verdadeira. Mas, com tais ambições, eu a buscava muito mais falsamente. Ele, com certeza, andava alegre e eu preocupado; ele vivia seguro e eu cheio de inquietações. "
― Augustine of Hippo , Confessions