Augustine of Hippo

"Hear Thou, O God, my entreaty, and despise not my prayer: give heed unto me, and hearken unto me" [Psalm 55:1]. Of one earnest, anxious, of one set in tribulation, are these words. He is praying, suffering many things, from evil yearning to be delivered: it remains that we hear in what evil he is, and when he begins to speak, let us acknowledge there ourselves to be; in order that the tribulation being shared, we may conjoin prayer.