Chap. XVI That We Ought to Lay Open Our Necessities to Christ, and Crave His Grace
The Voice of the Disciple.
1. O Most sweet and loving Lord, whom I now desire to receive with all devotion, thou knowest my weakness, and the necessity which I endure; in how great evils and vices I am immersed; now often I am oppressed, tempted, troubled, and defiled;
To thee I come for remedy; I pray to thee for comfort and succour.
I speak to him that knows all things, to whom all that is within me is manifest, and who alone can perfectly comfort and help me.
Thou knowest what good I stand most inn need of, and how poor I am in virtues.
2. Behold, I stand before thee poor and naked, begging thy grace, and imploring thy mercy:
Feed thy hungry beggar; inflame my coldness with the fire of thy love; enlighten my blindness with the brightness of thy presence;
Turn all earthly things to me into bitterness; all things grievous and cross into patience; all things below and created, into contempt and oblivion:
Lift up my heart to thee in heaven, and suffer me not to wander upon earth:
Be thou only sweet to me from henceforth for evermore; for thou only art my meat and my drink, my love and my joy, my sweetness and all my good.
3. Oh! that with thy presence thou wouldst inflame, burn, and transform me into thyself, that I may be made one spirit with thee, by the grace of internal union, and by the melting of ardent love!
Suffer me not to go from thee hungry and dry; but deal with me in thy mercy, as thou hast dealt wonderfully with thy saints.
What marvel if I should be wholly set on fire by thee, and should die to myself; since thou art a fire always burning, and never decaying; a love purifying the heart, and enlightening the understanding.