Tag: 15th Century

I will say to my God, my Lord, and my King,
“Oh, how abundant is your goodness, O Lord,
which you have stored up for those who fear you.”
But what are you to those who love you?
What are you to those who serve you with their whole heart?
In this especially you have showed me the sweetness of your love;
that when I was not,
you made me,
when I went far astray from you,
you brought me back again, that I might serve you,
and have commanded me to love you.
I wish that I were able,
at least for one day,
to do some worthy service for you.
Truly, you are my Lord,
and I your servant,
bound to serve you with all my might.
This I wish to do, this I desire,
and supply whatever is lacking in me,
I pray.

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

Who can tell what a day may bring forth?
Gracious God,
move us to live every day as if it were to be our last,
for we do not know if it might be.
Cause us to live as if we know it is our last hour.
O grant that we may not die with any guilt on our consciences,
or any known unrepented sin,
but that we may be found in Christ,
who is our only Savior and Redeemer. 

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

Grant me your grace, most merciful Jesus,
that your grace may be with me,
work in me, and continue with me to the end.

Grant me always
to want and desire whatever is most acceptable to you
and pleases you best.

Let your will be mine,
and let my will always follow yours
and agree perfectly with it.

Let there be between you and me but one will,
so that I may love what you love and abhor what you hate.
Grant that I may die to all things that are in the world
and, for your sake, love to be despised,
and not to be known by the world.
Grant that I may rest in you above all other things,
and that my heart may be at peace in you.

You are the true peace of the heart.
You are its only rest.
Outside of you,
all things are hard and uneasy.

In this peace, the same peace that is in you,
the one sovereign eternal Good,
I will sleep, and I will rest. Amen.

Source: Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, Book 3
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954. 2

The last paragraph may be a reference or quote of Psalm 4:8.