Hi there,
Last month I shared a prayer by Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033-1109). Anselm became the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093.
The following prayer is long. Do not be put off by that. It is so very rich. Anselm’s comments about this prayer is that it was intended to “stir up the mind of the reader to the love of God” and that it was “not to be read in a turmoil, but quietly; not skimmed or hurried through, but taken a little at a time, with deep and thoughtful meditation” (Alister E. McGrath, Christian Spirituality, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), 146-147).
Hope of my heart, strength of my soul,
    Help of my weakness,
    By your powerful kindness complete
    What in my powerless weakness I attempt.
My life, the end to which I strive,
    Although I have not yet attained to love you as I ought,
    Still let my desire for you
    Be as great as my love ought to be.
My light, you see my conscience,
    Because, “Lord, before you is all my desire,”
    And if my soul wills any good, you gave it to me.
Lord, if what you inspire is good,
    Or rather because it is good, that I should want to love you,
    Give me what you have made me want:
    Grant that I may attain to love you as much as you command.
I praise and thank you for the desire that you have inspired;
    And I offer you praise and thanks
    Lest your gift to me be unfruitful,
    Which you have given me of your own accord.
Perfect what you have begun,
    And grant me what you have made me long for,
    Not according to my deserts but out of your kindness
    That came first to me.
Most merciful Lord,
    Turn my lukewarmness into a fervent love of you.
Most gentle Lord,
    My prayer tends towards this –
    That by remembering and meditating
    On the good things you have done
    I may be enkindled with your love.
    Your goodness, Lord, created me;
Your mercy cleansed what you had created from original sin;
    Your patience has hitherto borne with me,
    Fed me, waited for me,
When after I had lost the grace of my baptism
    I wallowed in many sordid sins.
You wait, good Lord, for my amendment;
My soul waits for the inbreathing of your grace
    In order to be sufficiently penitent
    To lead a better life.
My Lord and my Creator,
    You bear with me and nourish me – be my helper.
I thirst for you, I hunger for you, I desire you,
I sigh for you, I covet you;
I am like an orphan deprived of the presence
    Of a very kind father,
Who, weeping and waling, does not cease to cling to
    The dear face with his whole heart.
So, as much as I can, though not as much as I ought,
    I am mindful of your passion,
Your buffeting, your scourging, your cross, your wounds,
    How you were slain for me,
    How prepared for burial and buried;
    And also I remember your glorious Resurrection,
    And wonderful Ascension.
All this I hold with unwavering faith,
    And weep over the hardship of exile,
    Hoping in the sole consolation of your coming,
    Ardently longing for the glorious contemplation of your face.

Blessing to you this month
Geoff & Ruth