O Lord, Father most merciful, receive, I beg You, Your prodigal child! I have suffered enough; I have long enough been a slave of Your enemies, which You put beneath Your feet; I have been long enough the plaything of false flatterers. I know that I must turn to You. When I knock at Your door, let me find it open; show me the way to come to You. All I know is that I must despise unstable and temporary goods to seek those that are stable and eternal.
O Lord, keep far from the heart of Your servant the thought that any kind of joy will bring happiness! On the contrary, there is a kind of joy which is not granted to the wicked, but to those who honor You unselfishly. You are their joy. All happiness consists in this: to rejoice in You, because of You and through You; there is no other. He who believes that any other happiness exists is pursuing a strange and false joy.
Saint Augustine
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