Saint Augustine of Hippo

St Augustine, whom we are commemorating today, has some marvellous thoughts about the invitation found in Psalm 105[104]: "Quaerite faciem eius semper - constantly seek his face" (v. 3). 

He points out that this invitation is not only valid for this life but also for eternity. The discovery of "God's Face" is never ending. The further we penetrate into the splendour of divine love, the more beautiful it is to pursue our search, so that "amore crescente inquisitio crescat inventi - the greater love grows, the further we will seek the One who has been found" (Enarr. in Ps 105[104]: 3; CCL 40, 1537).

This is the experience to which, deep down, we too aspire. May the intercession of the great Bishop of Hippo obtain it for us! May the motherly help of Mary, the Star of Evangelization whom we now invoke with the prayer of the Angelus, obtain it for us. (Pope Benedict XVI, 28 August 2005, Angelus)