Tasting the Spirit

Quamdiu sumus in hoc corpore, et peregrinamur a Domino, gustemus saltem quam suavis est Dominus, quia dedit nobis pignus Spiritum, in quo sentiamus eius dulcedinem: et desideremus ipsum vitae fontem, ubi sobria ebrietate inundemur et irrigemur, sicut lignum quod plantatum est secundum decursus aquarum, et  dat fructus in tempore suo, et folia eius non decident? Dicit enim Spiritus sanctus: Filii  autem hominum in tegmine alarum tuarum sperabunt: inebriabuntur ab ubertate domus tuae, et torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos. Quoniam apud te est fons vitae. Talis  ebrietas non evertit mentem, sed tamen rapit sursum, et oblivionem praestat omnium  terrenorum: sed si possumus toto affectu iam dicere: Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad  fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi,De Agone Christiano

'While we are in this body and we wander apart from the Lord,' 1 may we yet not taste how sweet the Lord is because He gives to us the promise of the Spirit, 2 in which we sense His sweetness, and we desire Him who is the fount of life, when in sober ebriety we are inundated and watered, 'like a tree which is planted by flowing waters, and it gives its fruit in its time, and the leaves of it do not fall? 3 The Holy Spirit says, 'The sons of men shall hope in the shelter of your wings, and they shall be inebriated from the fruitfulness of your house, and from the river of your delights you shall give them to drink. Because yours is the fount of life.' 4 Such ebriety does not overthrow the mind, but rather it transports above, and bestows forgetfulness of all earthly things, if indeed we are able with all our being to say, 'As a deer desires  founts of water, so my soul desires you, O God.' 5   Saint Augustine of Hippo, On The Christian Struggle 1 2 Cor 5.6  2 2 Cor 5.5  3 Ps 1.3  4 cf Ps 35 8-10  5 Ps 41.2