This prayer comes from St. Anselm of Canterbury, the 11th-century monk and archbishop who wrote with rare tenderness about friendship with Christ. Pray it when you feel distant from God, or when you want to love the people around you more truly.
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 two movements at once: hearts drawn to Christ, and hearts joined to each other. The prayer does not separate vertical love from horizontal love. It asks God to kindle both, because both come from the same fire.
The phrase “that we may abide in thee, and thou in us” echoes John 15:4, where Christ commands his disciples to remain in him as branches remain in the vine. Anselm wrote this during the Investiture Controversy, a time of bitter division between Church and crown, and his own friendships were tested by exile and politics.
The final lines quote Ephesians 3:17-19, Paul’s prayer that believers might know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Anselm prays it corporately, “we” not “I”, because he knows love grows when it is shared. Pray it before a difficult conversation, or when you sit down to a meal with people you struggle to love.
Carry it through this morning.
