Book of Meditations and Prayers of St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (1033-1109)

Introduction xi
Prologue xv
FIRST MEDITATION.
Of the Dignity and the Woe of Man’s Estate.
1. Our creation to the Image and Likeness of God 1
2. To praise God eternally the end of our creation 4
3. Wherever we are, we live, move, and are in Him; whilst also we have Him within us 6
4. All of us who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ 10
5. We are the body of Christ 11
6. In Christ we are one, and are with Him one Christ 12
7. A consideration of our sins, for the which our conscience does the more sting us, and by which we have forfeited all these blessings 16
8. A review of our Lord’s Incarnation, by means of which we have recovered all these losses 19
9. The duty of praying to be drawn out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs 24
10. A consideration of the miseries of the present life 27
11. Of the body after the soul’s departure 30
12. Of the soul after her separation from the body 32
13. A consideration of the day of judgment, when the goats shall be set on the left hand 33
14. A consideration of the joy when the sheep shall he set on the right hand 34
SECOND MEDITATION.
Of the Awful Judgment: For Awakening Fear in Oneself.
15. The sinner’s fear 36
16. The sinner’s hope 42
THIRD MEDITATION.
A Bemoaning of Virginity Sadly Lost.
17. The sinner’s past 44
18. The sinner’s future 48
FOURTH MEDITATION.
Teaching the Sinner to Bestir Himself for the Amendment of His Sins.
19. The necessity and the benefit of careful self-examination 53
20. The goodness of God, and the malignity of the Devil 56
21. The compassion of Jesus 58
FIFTH MEDITATION.
22. On the life of soul and of flesh 62
23. And of the glory of the good soul 64
24. And the misery of the wicked soul, on their departure from the body 65
SIXTH MEDITATION.
Designed to Brace the Heart against Despair, forasmuch as We Shall Without Doubt Find True Mercy for All Our Sins if We Do True Penance.
25. The condition of the sinner 69
26. The Divine mercy before the Incarnation 70
27. The Divine mercy in the Incarnation 72
28. The sinner’s contemplation of himself 75
29. The sinner’s prayer to Jesus Christ 77
SEVENTH MEDITATION.
80. Of the changefulness of all that is in the world 81
31. Of the manifold blessings of Almighty God 82
32. Here the sinner chides himself for his ingratitude 83
33. An acknowledgment of sin 85
34. The sinner’s review of himself 87
35. The sinner’s cry to God 89
EIGHTH MEDITATION.
The Penitent’s Address to God his Father.
36. A prayer for mercy and help 93
37. The penitent’s hope in the Divine mercy 97
NINTH MEDITATION.
Of the Humanity of Christ.
38. The glories and the condescension of our Lord Jesus Christ 101
39. The Nativity of Christ, and its sanctification of poverty 104
40. The hidden life and ministry of our Lord 106
41. The meekness and humility of Christ 109
42. The agony and the betrayal 111
43. The condemnation and the crucifixion 114
44. The humiliations of the Passion 117
45. The glories of the Passion 119
46. Joseph in Egypt a type of Christ 120
47. Love our only possible return to Christ for His sufferings 122
48. The likeness of His Death and of His Resurrection 124
49. Aspiration and prayer 130
50. Of the Passion of Christ 133
ELEVENTH MEDITATION.
Of the Redemption of Mankind.
51. Cur Deus Homo 136
52. Thanksgiving for the liberation of mankind 145
53. Man’s past condition and present privilege 147
54. The soul’s surrender of itself to God 150
TWELFTH MEDITATION.
Of the Humanity of Christ.
55. The Mystery of the Incarnation 152
56. Hope inspired by the thought of the Incarnation 153
57. Joy inspired by the thought of the Incarnation 155
58. Love inspired by the thought of the Incarnation 157
59. Jesus the Salvation of sinners 160
THIRTEENTH MEDITATION.
Of Christ.
60. The Son of God, archetypal Beauty 163
61. The nine Choirs of Angels 166
62. The desires of the soul aspiring to God 170
63. The Saints in heaven 174
64. The joys of Mary, Queen of Heaven, and Mother of God 176
65. The loving aspirations of the soul to Jesus 177
FOURTEENTH MEDITATION.
66. Of the wonderful Being of God 181
67. Of the science of God, and the inadequacy of human speech to utter it 184
68. Of the desire of a bouI thirsting after God 185
69. Of the misery of a soul that loves not and that seeks not our Lord Jesus Christ 187
70. Of the desire of the soul 189
71. Of the happiness of the soul set free from her earthly prison 190
72. Of the joy of Paradise 192
73. Of the kingdom of heaven 193
74. God comforts the sorrowing soul after her great griefs 195
FIFTEENTH MEDITATION.
Of the Memory of Past Benefits from Christ, of the Experience of Present Benefits, and of the Hope of Future.
75. On the subjects of meditation 197
76. The Annunciation 199
77. The Visitation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Kings 200
78. The flight into Egypt 202
79. The early life, baptism, fasting, and ministry of our Lord 203
80. Out Lord’s works of mercy 205
81. Bethany and the Caenaculum 207
82. Gethsemane and the high-priest’s palace 211
83. The Praetorium 213
84. The Crucifixion 214
85. The Entombment and Resurrection 217
SIXTEENTH MEDITATION.
Of Present Benefits from God.
86. The writer’s review of his past life, and exhortation to his sister 221
SEVENTEENTH MEDITATION.
Of Future Benefits from God.
87. Death and its immediate sequel 228
88. The Day of Judgment: the right hand and the left 231
89. The joys of Heaven, and the joy of joys 234
EIGHTEENTH MEDITATION.
Thanksgiving for the Benefits of the Divine Mercy, And Prayer for the Divine Assistance.
90. Thanksgiving for past blessings, and prayer for future 238
91. The same subject 245
NINETEENTH MEDITATION.
Of the Sweetness of the Divine Majesty, and of Many other Things.
92. Wonder at the unspeakable goodness of God the Creator, and the deep misery of man the creature 252
93. The degree to which man may be loved by man, and the reason why God should be more loved than any human being 254
94. God made all things good, but He alone is Good essentially 256
95. The praise of the Creator by the whole creation 258
96. The resemblance of man to his Creator 259
97. Man is composed of two parts ; by the one of which he is raised to highest things, and by the other dragged down to lowest 261
98. Here man prays God not to allow him to make ill use of his free power of choice 262
TWENTIETH MEDITATION.
99. Complaint of the soul banished from God 266
100. The soul’s absence from God 269
101. Complaint of the soul banished from God 273
102. The soul’s return to God 275
TWENTY-FIRST MEDITATION.
The Soul of Man Urged to Seek and to Find its God.
103. The mind aroused to the contemplation of God 281
104. The inapproachable dwelling-place of God 286
105. The goodness of God, the creative Life 288
106. The fulness of joy 292

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