Proslogion: Chapter 26
PROSLOGION
soul are too small for the greatness of their love,they will truly rejoice so much with their whole heart, mind, and soul that their whole heart, mind, and soul will be too small for the fullness of their joy.
Chapter 26 Whether this is the "fullness of joy" that the Lord promises My God and my Lord, my hope and the joy of my heart, tell my soul whether this is that joy of which you tell us through your Son,"Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full."55 For I have found a joy that is full and more than full. Indeed, when the heart, the mind, the soul, and the whole human being are filled with that joy, there will still remain joy beyond measure. The whole of that joy will therefore not enter into those who rejoice; instead, those who rejoice will enter wholly into that joy. Speak, Lord, tell your servant inwardly in his heart whether this is the joy into which your servants will enter who "enter into the joy of the Lord."56 But surely the joy with which your chosen ones will rejoice is something "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the human heart."57 Therefore, Lord, I have not yet expressed or conceived how greatly your blessed ones will rejoice.
They will indeed rejoice as much as they love, and they will love as much as they know. How much will they know you then, Lord, and how much will they love you? Truly in this life "eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the human heart" how much they will love and know you in that life.
O God,I pray that I will know and love you that I might rejoice in you. And if I cannot do so fully in this life, I pray that I might grow day by day until my joy comes to fullness. Let the knowledge of you grow in me here, and there let it be full. Let your love grow in me here, and there let it be full, so that my joy here is great in hope, and my joy there is full in reality. O Lord, by your
Son you command us—or rather, you counsel us—to ask, and you promise that we will receive,58 that our joy may be full.59 Lord, I ask what you counsel us through our "Wonderful Counselor."60 Let me receive what you promise through your truth, that my joy may be full. O truthful God, I ask that I 55 John 16:24.
56 Matthew 25:21.
57 1 Corinthians 2:9.
58 Matthew 7:7.
59 Cf. John 16:24.
60 Isaiah 9:6.
BASIC WRITINGS
may receive, that my joy may be full. Until then, let my mind ponder on it, my tongue speak of it. Let my heart love it and my mouth proclaim it. Let my soul hunger for it, my flesh thirst for it, my whole being long for it, until I "enter into the joy of my Lord,"61 who is God,Three in One,"blessed for ever.
Amen."62
61 Matthew 25:21.
62 Romans 1:25.