Daily

Late Have I Loved You (St. Augustine)

Sero te amavi

This prayer comes from Book X, chapter 27 of Saint Augustine’s Confessions, written near the end of the fourth century. Augustine addresses God after reflecting on his long search for truth and the grace that awakened him. His words praise divine beauty as both ancient and ever new. Catholics pray this passage as an act of repentance for delayed conversion and as a desire for deeper union with God. It is especially fitting during personal prayer, retreats, Eucharistic adoration, or after examining one’s conscience. The prayer also gives voice to the soul’s hunger and thirst for the peace found in God.

Too late loved I Thee, O Thou Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! too late I loved Thee! And behold, Thou wert within, and I abroad, and there I searched for Thee; deformed I, plunging amid those fair forms which Thou hadst made. Thou wert with me, but I was not with Thee. Things held me far from Thee, which, unless they were in Thee, were not at all. Thou calledst, and shoutedst, and burstest my deafness. Thou flashedst, shonest, and scatteredst my blindness. Thou breathedst odours, and I drew in breath and pant for Thee. I tasted, and hunger and thirst. Thou touchedst me, and I burned for Thy peace.

In Latin

Sero te amavi, pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova, sero te amavi! Et ecce intus eras et ego foris, et ibi te quaerebam, et in ista formosa quae fecisti deformis inruebam. Mecum eras, et tecum non eram. Ea me tenebant longe a te, quae si in te non essent, non essent. Vocasti et clamasti et rupisti surditatem meam; coruscasti, splenduisti et fugasti caecitatem meam; fragrasti, et duxi spiritum et anhelo tibi; gustavi et esurio et sitio; tetigisti me, et exarsi in pacem tuam.

When to pray it: Pray this during personal prayer, especially when seeking conversion, renewed love of God, or peace after an examination of conscience.

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