The burnings of love pursued Augustine all his days and added fire to all his prayers. The Lord had put up with him in every situation, no mat ter what his weaknesses or wanderings; he would never hesitate to turn to the Lord, and to do so with assurance that he would be heard. He knew as a matter of faith and as a tested experience that when he read a holy text, God spoke to him and that when he prayed he spoke to God. It is that conversation to which he in vites us in his prayers, by advice, by advocacy, by example.