http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0192833723/thinkblogorg-20
I love this: watch out if you’re being let off the hook from chastisement, because that might mean the Lord’s wrath is upon you and you’re completely oblivious. If you can perpetrate some awful act and get away with it (externally–from the policemen’s point of view–but also internally, with your own conscience), it may be that God is not showing His mercy by punishing you. This seems paradoxical at first, but in actuality, if you’re not hearing the rumble now, you might fall headlong into the lava flow a few paces down the road. God does indeed touch with a bitterness the sweets of this world, so that we know when we come to Him what pleasure really feels like, not some counterfeit we have to steal under the cover of darkness and experience guilt over afterward.
I find it interesting that he expresses a kind of regret that his parents didn’t force him into marriage so as to keep him from his adulterous ways. More interesting is that he is aware that they considered his studies more important than his spiritual health, or at least that was his impression. A good warning for parents-to-be not to confuse personal (vicarious?) ambition with spiritual concern.
References.
Augustine, St.
Confessions. Henry Chadwick, trans. ISBN
0-19-283372-3 (Paperback).
