St. Augustine and Pope Benedict

"The harmony between faith and reason means above all that God
is not far away; he is not far from our reasoning or from our
lives; he is close to every human being, close to our hearts
and close to our reason if we truly follow his path.

"It is precisely this closeness of God to man that
Augustine experienced with extraordinary force."

"The presence of God in man is deep and at the same time
mysterious," said the Holy Father. "Distance from God
means distance from oneself."

"Because Augustine personally experienced this intellectual
and spiritual journey, he managed to convey it in his writings
with immediacy, depth and wisdom," said the Pontiff.

"A man who is distant from God is also distant from himself,
estranged from himself, he can find himself only by
meeting God," said Benedict XVI. "This path leads to himself,
to his true self and identity."

"So Augustine found God and throughout his
life experienced God to the point that this reality --
which was above all an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ --
changed his life, just as it changed the lives of so many men
and women who have had the grace to meet him."
-Pope Benedict
Zenit, 1/30/08