Famous prayers - Late have I loved you - Augustine

From Psalm 63:

O God, you are my God,
early will I seek you.
My flesh longs for you,
my soul thirsts for you,
in a barren and dry land where there is no water

St Augustine - one of the early Latin church fathers - was brought up in the Christian faith by his mother, Monica, but in his early adult years chose to go his own way and lived a dissipated and wild life-style. From about age 30, he was influenced by St Ambrose but it took him a few years of struggle to come to a point of baptism and commitment. (Many of us know that feeling).

He was ordained priest a few years after his baptism, became bishop of Hippo in 395 and he became ascetic and frugal in his habits. Confessions is one of his most famous written works - these works have influenced the Christian church greatly through the centuries. He has both critics and fans!

This is his famous prayer Late have I love you:

Late have I loved you,
O Beauty so ancient and so new,
late have I loved you!
You were within me, but I was outside,
and it was there that I searched for you.
In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
Created things kept me from you;
yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all.
You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness.
You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness.
You breathed your fragrance on me;
I drew in breath and now I pant for you.
I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more.
You touched me, and I burned for your peace.