St. Michael's Lent 2026 - Reading #39 - Peace
Reading
There we shall rest and see, see and love, love and praise — the end without end.
Augustine closes the great work: "After this period God shall rest as on the seventh day, when He shall give us (who shall be the seventh day) rest in Himself. But there is not now space to treat of these ages; suffice it to say that the seventh shall be our Sabbath, which shall be brought to a close, not by an evening, but by the Lord's day, as an eighth and eternal day, consecrated by the resurrection of Christ, and prefiguring the eternal repose not only of the spirit, but also of the body. There we shall rest and see, see and love, love and praise. This is what shall be in the end without end. For what other end do we propose to ourselves than to attain to the kingdom of which there is no end?"
No evening ends that Sabbath.
Then his farewell: "I think I have now, by God's help, discharged my obligation in writing this large work. Let those who think I have said too little, or those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough join me in giving thanks to God. Amen."
Amen — season and City meet.
Reflection
Michaelmas. The fast that began on the feast of Mary assumed into the glorious city ends on the feast of the captain of its armies — and Augustine ends not with a battle but with a Sabbath: rest and see, see and love, love and praise, the end without end.
Here is the final correction to every warrior season. The vigilance that opened these forty days, the asceticism that loosened your grip, the discernment that named the false gods, the worship that ordered your cleaving, the lineage that chose your city, the peace that ordered your house — none of it was the point. It was all scaffolding for a city whose life is rest, vision, love, praise. You have not been training to fight forever. You have been fighting so that your household arrives where fighting ends.
Augustine signs off like a man laying down a completed work: let those who think I have said too much forgive me, and let the rest join him in thanks. Do the same tonight, at your own table, with the small church God gave into your care. The campaign season closes. The war continues until the shore. But the end is already written, and it is rest, and see, and love, and praise, world without end. Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Amen.