My motto is “Canta et Ambula” which translates as “Sing and Walk.” It is from a sermon Saint Augustine preached on an Easter Sunday. What
follows is the full text of that sermon.
Let us sing alleluia here on earth, while we are still anxious and worrying, so that
we may one day be able to sing it there in heaven, without any worry or care. Why anxious and worrying here? You must want me to be
anxious, Lord, when I read, Is not man’s life on earth a trial and a temptation? You must want me to worry when temptation is so plentiful
that the Prayer itself tells us to worry, when we say, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us. Every
day we are petitioners, every day we are trespassers. Do you want me to throw care to the winds, Lord, when every day I am requesting
pardon for sins and assistance against dangers? After all, when I have said, because of past sins, Forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those that trespass against us, I must immediately go on to add, because of future dangers, Lead us not into temptation. And
how can a people be in a good way, when they cry out with me, Deliver us from evil? And yet, my brethren, in this time that is still
evil, let us sing alleluia to the good God, who does deliver us from evil.
Even here, among the dangers, among the trials and
temptations of this life, both by others and by ourselves let alleluia be sung. God is faithful, he says, and he will not permit you
to be tempted beyond what you are able to endure. So even here let us sing alleluia. Man is still a defendant on trial, but God is
faithful. He did not say “he will not permit you to be tempted” but he will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able
to endure; and with the temptation he will also make a way out, so that you may be able to endure it. You have entered into temptation;
but God will also make a way out so that you do not perish in the temptation; so that like a potter’s jar you may be shaped by the
preaching and fired into strength by the tribulation. But when you enter the temptation, bear in mind the way out: because God is
faithful, God will watch over you and guard your going in and your coming out.
Diocèse catholique d'Alexandria-Cornwall Catholic Diocese
220, ch. Montreal Rd, C.P./Box 1388, Cornwall ON K6H 5V4 * 613-933-1138