O God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
Grant us to know you and to love you,
that in knowing you we may know ourselves,
and in loving you we may love all things rightly.
Let my soul find its rest in you alone;
let my will be conformed to yours,
my desires be ordered by your wisdom,
and my life be spent in your praise.
Keep our feet in the way of peace,
and bring us at last to that rest
which you have prepared for all who love you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
ECUMENICAL AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, CONFESSIONS, C. 397-401 AD
The Prayer of Saint Augustine
Also known as Our Heart Is Restless · Augustine's Confession Prayer
About this prayer
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) is one of the most important theologians in the history of the Christian church and has profoundly shaped both Catholic and Protestant thought. His Confessions, written around 397-401 AD, is the first major autobiography in Western literature and one of the greatest works of Christian spirituality. The opening lines of the Confessions contain what may be the most quoted sentence in all of Christian prayer: 'You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.' Augustine's prayer reflects his own long journey from paganism through Neoplatonism to Christian faith, and his conviction that only God can satisfy the restlessness at the center of every human heart. This prayer distills the devotional spirit of the Confessions for use in personal and corporate prayer.
When it's said
Augustine's prayer is used in personal daily devotion across a wide range of Christian traditions. It is particularly associated with spiritual retreats, times of searching or transition, and the beginning of the day. In Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant devotional traditions it is frequently anthologized as one of the great prayers of the church. It is suitable for private morning prayer, as an opening prayer at a service of worship, or at any gathering in which the soul's longing for God is to be expressed.
Notes on the text
The opening words, 'you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you,' are from the first paragraph of the Confessions (Book 1, chapter 1). They express Augustine's discovery that God is not merely the goal of philosophy or the object of intellectual argument but the one for whom human beings are constituted by creation. 'Let my will be conformed to yours' reflects the Augustinian conviction that sin is fundamentally a disorder of the will, and that grace realigns the will with God.
Source
Augustine of Hippo, Confessiones (Confessions), c. 397-401 AD. English rendering based on the Latin text. Public domain.
Last reviewed: May 2026 against primary source.