When
we offer the next series of class in adult faith formation, the plan is
for us to read a classic work on praying. The book which I am inclined
to present was written nearly a thousand years ago, by St. Anselm. He
was a Benedictine monk in France, who later became the Archbishop of
Canterbury, England. He wrote a number of significant works in Christian
theology while living as a monk, including two famous meditations on
using the mind in prayer. One of these works is called the Proslogion, a
Greek word meaning speech to another, an address, a prayer; it is an
exercise of what he calls “faith seeking understanding.” I offer a brief
excerpt from St. Anselm’s work:
“Let me discern Your light, whether it be from afar, or from the depths. Teach me to seek You, and reveal Yourself to me as I seek, because I can neither seek You if You do not teach me how, nor find You unless You reveal Yourself. Let me seek You in desiring You; let me desire You in seeking; let me find in loving; let me love in finding.”
“I acknowledge, LORD, and I give thanks that You have created Your image in me, so that I may remember You, think of You, love You. But this image is so effaced and worn away by vice, so darkened by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do what it was made to do unless You renew it and reform it. I do not try, LORD, to attain Your lofty heights, because my understanding is in no way equal to it. But I do desire to understand Your truth a little, that truth that my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; but I believe so that I may understand. For I also believe this: that `unless I believe I shall not understand.’”
“Have you found, o my soul, what you were seeking?... If you found [Him], then why do you not experience what you have found? Why, LORD God, does my soul not experience You if it has found You?....”
“You permeate and embrace all things. You are before and beyond all things....You alone, LORD, are what You are, and You are who You are.
“Let me discern Your light, whether it be from afar, or from the depths. Teach me to seek You, and reveal Yourself to me as I seek, because I can neither seek You if You do not teach me how, nor find You unless You reveal Yourself. Let me seek You in desiring You; let me desire You in seeking; let me find in loving; let me love in finding.”
“I acknowledge, LORD, and I give thanks that You have created Your image in me, so that I may remember You, think of You, love You. But this image is so effaced and worn away by vice, so darkened by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do what it was made to do unless You renew it and reform it. I do not try, LORD, to attain Your lofty heights, because my understanding is in no way equal to it. But I do desire to understand Your truth a little, that truth that my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; but I believe so that I may understand. For I also believe this: that `unless I believe I shall not understand.’”
“Have you found, o my soul, what you were seeking?... If you found [Him], then why do you not experience what you have found? Why, LORD God, does my soul not experience You if it has found You?....”
“You permeate and embrace all things. You are before and beyond all things....You alone, LORD, are what You are, and You are who You are.
