The Pursuit of God

Chapter 6: The Gaze of the Soul

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be our dwelling place even while our feet walk the low road of simple duty here among our fellow human beings. We will have found life’s summum bonum 10 indeed. Here is the source of all the delights that can be desired. Nothing better can be thought by any human being or angel, and nothing better can exist by any mode of being, for this source is the absolute [maximum], unable to be greater, of every rational desire. 11 Prayer O Lord, I have heard a good word inviting me to look away to you and be satisfied. My heart longs to respond, but sin has clouded my vision until I see you but dimly. Be pleased to cleanse me in your own precious blood, and make me inwardly pure, so that I may with unveiled eyes gaze upon you all the days of my earthly pilgrimage. Then shall I be prepared to behold you in full splendor in the day when you shall appear to be glorified in your saints and admired in all those who believe. Amen.

10 Summum bonum – Latin phrase meaning “supreme good.” 11 Nicholas of Cusa, On the Vision of God , 240.