PRAYERS FROM THE CONFESSIONS: Augustine of Hippo, edited by John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., New City Press, New York, 2003, 144 pp. (BR65.A6E5 2003)

For one who may be unfamiliar with Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, Prayers from the Confessions is a good introduction to this Doctor of the Church. Actually, the original work is a prayer, from the beginning of Book I to the end of Book XIII. What Rotelle has done is to edit the prayers, which are imbedded in The Confessions, into an anthology.

What makes the shorter book of prayers from The Confessions especially powerful, is the beauty of the contemporary translation from the Latin, by Maria Boulding, O.S.B. For example (V,2,2), "And what of myself: where was I as I sought you? You were straight ahead of me, but I had roamed away from myself and could not find even myself, let alone you!"

This book is for those who experience the humanity of St. Augustine, and long for the closeness to God that he found.