St. Anselm of Canterbury wrote this prayer around the year 1100, asking Christ to draw our hearts into union with him and with one another. Today, when isolation fragments even our closest relationships, this prayer asks for something deeper than mere affection: a joining that cannot be separated, rooted in the love of God himself.
O Lord Jesus Christ, draw thou our hearts unto thee; join them together in inseparable love, that we may abide in thee, and thou in us, and that the everlasting covenant between us may stand sure forever. O Lord, kindle our hearts with the fire of thy love, that we may daily increase in love toward thee, and toward each other for thy sake; that being rooted and grounded in love, we may be strong to apprehend with all saints the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Amen.
St. Anselm of Canterbury, c. 1100
How this prayer works
Anselm asks for three things in sequence: first, that Christ would draw our hearts to himself; second, that he would join our hearts to one another in a love that cannot be broken; third, that he would kindle the fire of his own divine love within us. The prayer echoes Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (3:17-19), where the apostle prays that believers might comprehend the immeasurable dimensions of Christ’s love.
St. Anselm was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109, a theologian and Doctor of the Church who wrote deeply about the relationship between faith and reason. But his prayers are warmer than his philosophy: here he speaks not as a scholastic but as a friend asking Christ to keep him close.
Pray this when you feel distant from God, or when a relationship you care about feels fragile. Before you open your phone this morning, before the day’s tasks begin, ask Christ to draw your heart and to join it to the people you will encounter today. The fire Anselm asks for is not emotional intensity but the slow, steady warmth of divine charity that grows day by day.
Carry it through this morning.
