St. Anselm A Prayer of all souls longing for God

Let me know You and love You, 

so that I may find my joy in You

From the Proslogion by Saint Anselm, bishop

My soul, have you found what you are looking for?  

You were looking for God, and you discovered that He is the supreme being, and that you could not possibly imagine anything more perfect.  You have discovered that His supreme being is life itself, light, wisdom, goodness, eternal blessedness and blessed eternity.  He is everywhere, and He is timeless.

Lord my God, You gave me life and restored it when I lost it.  Tell my soul that so longs for You what else You are besides what it has already understood, so that it may see You clearly.  

It stands on tiptoe to see more, but apart from what it has seen already, it sees nothing but darkness.  Of course it does not really see darkness, because there is not darkness in You, but it sees that it can see no further because of the darkness in itself.

Surely, Lord, inaccessible light is Your dwelling place, for no one apart from Yourself can enter into it and fully comprehend You.  

If I fail to see this light it is simply because it is too bright for me.  Still, it is by the light that I do see all that I can, even as weak eyes, unable to look straight at the sun, see all they can by the sun’s light.

Light of God

The light in which You dwell, Lord, 

is beyond my understanding.  

It is so brilliant that I cannot bear it, I cannot turn my mind’s eye toward it for any length of time.  I am dazzle by its brightness, amazed by its grandeur, overwhelmed by its immensity, bewildered by its abundance.

O supreme and inaccessible light, O complete and blessed truth, how far You are from me, even though I am so near to You!  How remote You are from my sight, even though I am present in Yours! You are everywhere in Your entirety, and yet I do not see You; in You I move and have my being, and yet I cannot approach You; You are within me and around me, and yet I do not perceive You.

O God, let me know You and love You so that I may find my joy in You; 

and if I cannot do so fully in this life, let me at least make some progress every day, until at last that knowledge, love and joy come to me in all their plenitude.  

While I am here on earth let me learn to know You better, so that in heaven I may know You fully; let my love for You grow deeper here, so that there I may love You fully.  On earth then I shall have great joy in hope, and in heaven complete joy in the fulfillment of my hope.

O Lord, through Your Son You command me, no, You counsel us to ask, and You promise that You will hear us so that our joy may be complete.  Lord, I am making the request that You urge us to make through Your Wonder-Counselor.  Give me then what you promise to give through Your Truth.  You, O God, are faithful; grant that I may receive my request, so that my joy may be complete.

St. Anselm, Bishop of Canterbury

Meanwhile, let this hope of mine be in my thoughts and on my tongue; let my heart be filled with it, my voice speak of it; let my soul hunger for it, my body thirst for it, my whole being yearn for it, until I enter into the joy of the Lord, who is Three in One, blessed forever. 

Amen.

Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours, April 21 St. Anselm, bishop and doctor

Feast of the Immaculate Conception December 8

Virgin Mary, All Nature is Blessed in You

A Sermon by Saint Anselm, bishop

Blessed Lady, sky and stars, earth and rivers, day and night—everything that is subject to the power or use of man—rejoice that through you they are in some sense restored to their lost beauty and are endowed with inexpressible new grace.  All creatures were dead, as it were, useless for men or for the praise of God, who made them.  The world, contrary to its true destiny, was corrupted and tainted by the acts of men who served idols.  Now all creation has been restored to life and rejoices that it is controlled and given splendor by mean who believe in God.

The universe rejoices with new and indefinable loveliness.  Not only does it feel the unseen presence of God himself, its Creator, it sees him openly, working and making it holy.  These great blessings spring from the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb.

Through the fullness of the grace that was given you, dead things rejoice in their freedom, and those in heaven are glad to be made new.  Through the Son who was the glorious fruit of your virgin womb, just souls who died before his life-giving death rejoice as they are freed from captivity, and the angels are glad at the restoration of their shattered domain.

Lady, full and overflowing with grace, all creation receives new life from your abundance. Virgin, blessed above all creatures, through your blessing all creation is blessed, not only creation from its Creator, but the Creator himself has been blessed by creation.

To Mary God gave his only-begotten Son, whom he loved as himself.  Through Mary God made himself a Son, not different but the same, by nature Son of God and Son of Mary. The whole universe was created by God and God was born of Mary.  God created all things, and Mary gave birth to God.  The God who made all things gave himself form through Mary, and thus he made his own creation.  He who could create all things from nothing would not remake his ruined creation without Mary.

God, then, is the Father of the created world and Mary the Mother of the re-created world.  God is the Father by whom all things were given life, and Mary the Mother through whom all things were given new life.  For God begot the Son, through whom all things were made, and Mary gave birth to him as the Savior of the world.  Without God’s Son, nothing could exist; without Mary’s Son, nothing could be redeemed. 

Truly the Lord is with you, to whom the Lord granted that all nature should owe as much to you as to himself.

taken from Liturgy of the Hours, Advent Season, December 8 Office of Readings