A Letter to Gundolf at Caen
4. Prayer to the Holy Cross
Holy Cross,
which calls to mind the cross
whereon our Lord Jesus Christ died,
to bring us back from that eternal death
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to which our misery was leading us,
to the eternal life we had lost by sinning.
I adore, I venerate, and I glory in that cross
which you represent to us,
and by that cross I adore our merciful Lord
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and what he has in mercy done for us.
Cross, worthy to be loved, in whom is our salvation,
our life, and resurrection.
Most precious wood, by whom we are saved and set free,
sign to be reverenced, by which we are sealed for God,
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glorious cross, we ought to glory only in you.
*
We do not acknowledge you because of the cruelty
that godless and foolish men prepared you to effect
upon the most gentle Lord,
but because of the wisdom and goodness of him
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who of his own free will took you up.
For they could not have done anything
unless his wisdom had permitted it,
and he could not suffer except that in his mercy he willed it.
They chose you
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that they might carry out their evil deeds;
he chose you
that he might fulfil the work of his goodness.
They that by you
they might hand over the righteous to death;
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he that through you he might save sinners from death.
They that they might kill life;
he that he might destroy death.
They that they might condemn the Saviour;
he that he might save the condemned.
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They that they might bring death to the living;
he to bring life to the dead.
They acted foolishly and cruelly; he wisely and mercifully.
Therefore, O Cross to be wondered at,
we do not value you
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because of the intention of their cruel folly,
but according to the working of mercy and wisdom.
*
In what way, then, shall I praise you,
how shall I exalt you,
with what love shall I pray to you,
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and with what joy shall I glory in you?
By you hell is despoiled,
by you its mouth is stopped up to all the redeemed.
By you demons are made afraid and restrained,
conquered and trampled underfoot.
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By you the world is renewed and made beautiful with truth,
governed by the light of righteousness.
By you sinful humanity is justified,
the condemned are saved,
the servants of sin and hell are set free,
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the dead are raised to life.
By you the blessed city in heaven
is restored and made perfect.
By you God, the Son of God willed for our sakes
‘to become obedient to the Father, even unto death’,
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because of which he is exalted and has received
‘the name which is above every name’.
By you ‘his throne is prepared’ and his kingdom established.
*
O Cross, chosen and prepared for such ineffable good,
the work that was accomplished on you exalts you more
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than all the praises of human or angelic thought and tongue.
In you and through you is my life and my salvation;
in you and through you is the whole and all my good;
‘forbid that I should glory save in you’.
For why was I conceived and born, and given life,
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if afterwards I am to descend to hell?
If that is to be my fate it were better for me
if I had never been conceived.
And it is certain that it would have been so
if I had not been redeemed by you.
*
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With what love shall I glory in you, O Cross,
when without you
there would be nothing for me to glory in,
and in eternity I should have the grief and misery of hell.
With what delight will I rejoice in you,
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when by you the servitude of hell which I inherited
is exchanged for the kingdom of heaven.
With what jubilation shall I laud you,
when without you I faced that future
which horrifies me, even if it had lasted only a moment,
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and through you I now expect to rejoice in eternity.
Though now I serve God between hope and fear,
I am sure that if I give thanks, love, and live to your glory,
through you I shall at last come to that good.
*
So let my glory be through you and in you;
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let my true hope be through you and in you.
By you my sins are wiped out,
by you my soul is dead to its old life
and lives to the new life of righteousness.
I beseech you, wash me by baptism from the sins
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in which I was conceived and born,
and cleanse me again from those that I committed
after I was reborn,
so that by you I may come to those good things
for which man was created,
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by the might of the same Jesus Christ our Lord
who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen.
A Letter to Gundolf at Caen
(Letter 28, Schmitt, vol. 3, pp. 135–6)
To the monk Gundolf, from Brother Anselm, who is Gundolf’s Anselm.
There is no need for me to say much about how long our friendship has lasted, to one who I know is my other self in the bond of love. Let me say this briefly about us – my love for you has never diminished by any change in me from its first beginning, and I am careful that alteration shall always serve only to increase it.
A certain brother asked me, not once but many times, if I would compose a prayer to the great St Mary. What he asks me in person here you also urge upon me in your absence. For I realized that if I did do this, I could also send it to you, so I have been more ready to agree to what he asked. I composed one prayer, as I was asked to do, but I was not satisfied, knowing what had been asked, so I started again and composed another. I was not satisfied with that either, so have done a third which at last is all right.
So accept them, for they have been made with you in mind, and do not blame me for their length, which was made at the request of someone else. And would that they might be so long that, before whoever was reading them – or better still, meditating on them, since that is what they are meant for – came to the end, he might be pierced by contrition or by love, through which we reach a concern for heavenly things. You will find that I have divided the prayers up into paragraphs to prevent you from becoming bored, so that you can begin to read at any place you like.