O God,
you are life, wisdom, truth,
bounty, and blessedness,
the eternal, the only true good,
our God and our Lord,
our hope and our heart’s delight,
we acknowledge with thanksgiving
that you have made us in your image,
and that we may direct our thoughts to you.
Lord, make us to know you aright,
that we may love, enjoy, and possess you
more and more.
And since, in the life here below,
I cannot fully attain this blessedness,
let it at least grow in me day by day,
until it all is fulfilled at last in the life to come.
Here let the knowledge of you be increased,
and there let it be perfected.
Here let my love to you grow,
and there let it ripen;
that my joy being here great in hope,
may there in fruition be made perfect. Amen.
Source: Anselm of Canterbury, 11th century
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.
A Collection of Prayers 