[God], can I hear from you who are the truth, and move the ear of my heart close to your mouth, so that you can explain to me why weeping is a relief to us when unhappy? Or, although present everywhere, have you thrust our misery far from you and remain in yourself why we are tossed about by successive trials? Yet if our tearful entreaties did not reach your ears, no remnant of hope would remain in us.

—Augustine, Confessions 4.5.10

While this was a reflection on losing his dear friend to death, Augustine’s words are quite applicable to us as we consider the nature of our relationship with God on this Ash Wednesday. The money phrase is in Augustine’s last sentence.