O how will I call on God,
my God and Lord,
since when I call for him,
I will be calling him into myself?
And what room is there within me,
where my God can come into me?
Where can God come into me,
God who made heaven and earth?
Is there, indeed,
O Lord my God,
anything in me that can contain you?
Do then, heaven and earth,
which you have made,
and in which you have made me,
contain you?
Or because nothing which exists could exist without you,
does therefore whatever exists contain you?
Since then I too exist,
why do I seek that you should enter me.
I would not be if you were not in me.
Why? Because I am not gone down in hell,
and yet you are there also.
For if I go down into hell,
you are there.
I could not be then,
O my God,
could not be at all,
if you were not in me;
or rather,
unless I were in you,
of whom are all things,
by whom are all things,
in whom are all things!
Even so, Lord, even so.
From where should I call you,
since I am in you?
Or where can you enter me?
For where can I go beyond heaven and earth,
that there my God should come into me,
who has said, “I fill the heaven and the earth”?
O God,
the vessels which you fill do not contain you,
since though we were broken,
you were not poured out.
You are not cast down,
but you uplift us.
You are not scattered,
but you gather us…. Amen.
Source: Augustine of Hippo
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Early Church, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1953
This prayer is based in part on Psalm 139.
A Collection of Prayers 