Who Will Grant Me, Lord?

Who will grant me, Lord, to find You only, and open all my heart to You, and have You as my heart's desire, so that no man may deceive me, nor any creature move me or draw me back, but that You alone speak to me, and I to you, as a lover is wont to speak to his beloved, and a friend to his beloved friend? This is what I pray for, this is what I desire, that I may be joined wholly to You and that I may withdraw my heart from all created things, and that through Holy Communion and the frequent offering of Mass I may savor and taste eternal things. O Lord God, when shall I be made one with You and wholly melted into Your love, so that I may wholly forget myself? Be in me, and may I be in You, and grant that we may always so abide, always together in one.



From Thomas a Kempis', The Imitation of Christ, IV.13