Prayer for Complete Self-giving

     Prière d'une âme qui désire se donner à Dieu sans réserve

By Francois de Salignac de La Mothe Fenelon

My God, I wish to give myself [completely] to you. Give me courage to do so. Strengthen my weak will, which sighs for you. I stretch my arms to you. Take me. If I do not have the strength to give myself [wholly] to you, draw me to you by the sweetness (or fragrance)  of your perfumes. Lead me to follow you by the cords of your love.

Lord, to whom to do I belong, if not yours alone? It would be cruel bondage to belong to myself and to my own passions! O true freedom of the Children of God! We do not know it. Happy is the one who discovers where it lies, and seeks it no longer where it is not. A thousand times happy is he who depends on God for everything, no longer to depend on himself alone.

But how is it, O my Divine Bridegroom, that we fear to break our chains? Do fleeting pleasures mean more than your eternal truth, and [more than desiring] you yourself? Is it right to be afraid to give ourselves [fully] to you? O monstrous folly! That would be to fear for our own happiness. That would be to fear to go out of Egypt to enter the promised land. That would be to complain in the desert, to lose taste for the manna, remembering the flesh pots of Egypt.

It is not really I who gives myself to you. But it is you, O my love, who gives yourself [wholly] to me. [Therefore], I do not hesitate to give my heart [completely] to you. What joy to be alone with you and to be there with you, no more to hear and no more to speak what is empty and useless, so that I may listen to you! O infinite wisdom! Do you not [truly] speak to me of better things than these foolish men? You will [indeed] speak to me, O love of my God! You will teach me, you will make me flee fleeting pleasures and lying. You will feed me from yourself. You will hold back in me all idle curiosity.

Lord, when I consider your yoke, it seems to me too mild. And is this then the cross which I ought to carry as I follow you all the days of my life? Have you no other cup, more bitter with my passion to make me drink to the dregs? Will you limit [my yoke] to this peaceful rest? Under a holy [and righteous] rulership? And among such good examples, the severe showing of sorrow and repentance which I have deserved for my sins? O love! You only make me to love you. You do not strike me. You spare my weakness. After this, should I still fear to draw near to you? Can the crosses of being alone frighten me? Those which the world overwhelms us ought to frighten us. [The world and the empty pleasures it promises.] What blindness not to be afraid of them!

No infinite misery, which your mercy alone can overcome! The less I have had of light and of courage, the more I have deserved your compassion. O God, I have made myself unworthy of you, but I can become a miracle of your grace. Give me all that I lack and there will be nothing in me which does not exact your gifts.

(From the book Christian Perfection, Bethany House Publishers, 1975, pages 74-75)

Fenelon (6 August 1651- 7 January 1715) was a French writer and Archbishop of Cambrai. He became well-known as a skilled spiritual counselor and even successfully tutored the grandson of King Louis XIV. His role in counseling and pastorate made his writings very practical. He urged others to be diligent about their spiritual walk but not to take it “too far.” Those who were overly concerned may fall into unwarranted fears that are more destructive than helpful.

Regarding himself he says, “I am to myself…the whole of a great diocese, more burdensome than the outside one, and a diocese which I am incapable of reforming.”

Christian Perfection is a collection of letters and addresses, still relevant to our generation.