Letter from Durandus, Abbot of Casa-Dei, to Anselm

19. Prayer for Enemies

Almighty and tender Lord Jesus Christ,

I have asked you to be good to my friends,

and now I bring before you what I desire in my heart

for my enemies.

For you see, O God, the reins and the heart,

you penetrate the secrets of my mind.

If you have sown in the soul of your servant

something that can be offered to you,

you see it there;

nor can it lie hid from you

if I and the enemy of mankind have sown there

that which will have to be consumed by fire.

Most gracious God,

do not despise what you have sown,

but cherish and increase it, perfect and preserve it.

I can begin nothing good without you,

neither can I bring anything to fruition

nor maintain it, without you.

Merciful God, do not judge me

according to that which displeases you in me,

but root up that which you have not sown

and save the soul you have created.

For without you I cannot amend,

because whatever is good in us you have made

and not we ourselves.

My soul would not be able to bear it

if you should judge it according to its sins.

You alone, Lord, are mighty;

you alone are merciful;

whatever you make me desire for my enemies,

give it to them and give the same back to me,

and if what I ask for them at any time

is outside the rule of charity,

whether through weakness, ignorance, or malice,

good Lord, do not give it to them

and do not give it back to me.

You who are the true light, lighten their darkness;

you who are the whole truth, correct their errors;

you who are the true life, give life to their souls.

For you have said to your beloved disciple

that he who loves not remains dead.

So I pray, Lord, that you will give them love for you

and love for their neighbour,

as far as you ordain that they should have it,

lest they should sin before you against their brother.

Tender Lord Jesus,

let me not be the cause of the death of my brothers,

let me not be to them

a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.

For it is more than enough, Lord,

that I should be a scandal to myself,

my sin is sufficient to me.

Your slave begs you for his fellow slaves,

lest because of me they offend

against the kindness of so good and great a lord.

Let them be reconciled to you and in concord with me,

according to your will and for your own sake.

This is the punishment

that in the secret of my heart

I want to exact

for those who serve with me and those who sin with me –

this is the punishment that I ask

for those who serve with me and hate me –

let us love you and each other

as you will and as is expedient for us,

so that we may make amends to the good Lord

for our own and for each other’s offences;

so that we may obey with one heart in love

one Lord and one Master.

This is the revenge your sinner asks

on all who wish him evil and act against him.

Most merciful Lord,

prepare the same punishment for your sinner.

Do this, my good Creator and my merciful Judge,

according to your mercy that cannot be measured.

Forgive me all my debts

as I before you forgive all those indebted to me.

Perhaps this may not be so

because in your sight I have not yet done this perfectly,

but my will is set to do it,

and to that end I am doing all I can.

So I offer this to you here, Lord,

so that you may perfectly forgive my sins

and deal with me as gently as you can.

Hear me, good and great Lord,

for my soul hungers and longs

to feed upon the experience of your love,

but it cannot fill itself with you;

for my heart can find no name to invoke

that will satisfy my heart.

For no words have here any taste to me

when my love receives from you that which you give.

I have prayed, Lord, as I can,

but I wish I could do more.

Hear me, and answer as you are able,

for you can do all that you will.

I have prayed as a weak man and a sinner;

you who are mighty and merciful, hear my prayer.

Fulfil my prayer, Lord, not only for my friends

100

and the enemies for whom I have prayed,

but distribute the healing of your mercy

wherever you know it may help anyone

and not be contrary to your will,

both to the living and the departed.

105

Hear me always with your favour,

not according as my heart wills or as my mouth asks,

but as you know and will that I ought to wish and ask,

O Saviour of the world,

who with the Father and the Holy Spirit

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lives and reigns God

throughout all ages. Amen.

Letter from Durandus, Abbot of Casa-Dei, to Anselm

(Schmitt, vol. 3, Letter 70, pp. 190–1)

Durandus, Abbot of Casa-Dei, by the sole grace of God, to the Lord Anselm, the venerable prior of Bec – eternal salutations.

Two visitors have come to us from Bayeaux, with letters, young men of outstanding ability in every way: the younger is called Roger, and the other is William. They, and many others too, but mostly these two, have poured into our ears the sweet oil of your name and goodness.

‘I am afraid of my life, for however I look at it…’, with all that follows, was uttered and written, out of the goodness of your contrite heart. When we read these words, your pious tears were before us, drawing the same from us, so that we marvelled in every way, both that such a dew of blessing should overflow from your heart, and that from thence without a murmur such a stream should descend into our hearts. For this is in fact what happened. The goodness of the prayers you have written stirs this up in us, loving this in you, or rather you in them, and above them and through them loving God and you. Pray for us, for you are able to intercede, pray for us who pray for you as we are able, and if you have any more prayers that you have written beyond what we have, send them, for we have heard of them and ask for them in the love that lies between us.

(In his reply Anselm does not mention the Prayers and Meditations at all.)

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