As part of the Theology of Anselm course I am taking under Dr. David Hogg at Southeastern Seminary, I’ve been reading his Prayers and Meditations. Read and meditate on Anselm’s (1033-1109) words as he reflects on the Christian life:
Consider, O my soul, and hear, all that is within me, how much my whole being owes to him! Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe you all my being. Moreover, I owe you as much more love than myself as you are greater than I, for whom you gave yourself and to whom you promised yourself. I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding. I owe you more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love. [emphasis mine]
Anselm of Canterbury, “Meditation on Human Redemption,” in The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm, trans. Benedicta Ward (Penguin, 1986), 237.
