Recently, when I was again on the London Underground, I noticed a radical difference in commuter behavior compared to when I regularly commuted from home to my high school, The American School in London, in the early 1980s. As my train swayed and bounced from Hampstead Heath station on the Edgeware Branch of the Northern Line toward Tottenham Court Road, everyone, almost to a person, had left the mundane world of public transportation by staring into the recently constructed virtual reality of the cell phone. The contrast between the 80s and today wasn’t that people had distracted themselves from the boredom of the rather repetitive ride, but that we have all developed a new habit of using what is now a ubiquitous technology to do so. If a person were transported from forty years past to the present, they wouldn’t comprehend what everyone on that train was doing.
St. Anselm offers a far better way to gain access to another world than our cell phones. This world isn’t a virtual world. It isn’t shaped by human hands at all. In fact, it’s a way of living and being that humanity turned its collective back on thousands of years ago. Though Anselm was an intellectual, his prayer is practical and humble. The practice of Anselm’s prayer can help us to experience the beauty of this way of living and will last, not only for our daily commute from home to work, but long after our life in this world is over. It will last forever.
“Come now, little man,
turn aside from your daily employment,
escape for a moment from the tumult of your thoughts.
Put aside your weighty cares,
let your burdensome distractions wait,
free yourself a while for God,
and rest a while in him.
Enter the inner chamber of your soul,
shut out everything except God
and that which can help you in seeking him.
Now, my whole heart, say to God,
“I seek your face,
Lord it is your face I seek.” 1
St. Anselm was an Italian Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher, and theologian who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109.
In the 11th century, Anselm was born to a wealthy family. His mother, Ermenberga, was from a Germanic people known as the Burgundians and owned considerable property, though in the 5th century, the Burgundians had been force to leave their homeland after the death king, Gundahar, and many fellow Burgundians at the hands of the Romans and Huns in the 5th century. Ermenberga was known for being patient and devout in her faith. His father, Gondolfo, was from another Germanic people, the Lombards or “long beards, who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula beginning in the 6th century. He was apparently careless with his money, but his wife was prudent in her stewardship of the family possessions.
Anselm received an excellent classical education and was considered one of the better Latinists of his day. His early education impressed on him the need to be precise in his use of words, and his writings became known for their clarity.
At the age of fifteen, Anselm felt the call to enter a monastery but his father wanted him to pursue a career in politics. After the death of his mother, his father professed a new faith in Jesus, repented of his own earlier lifestyle, and entered a monastery. Anselm, 23 at this time, crossed the Alps and wandered through Burgundy and France for three years. A man named Lanfranc, who would later become his mentork drew him to Normandy in 1059.
Lanfranc was originally a lawyer and then gained a reputation as a teacher at a school he established at Avranches, Normandy. He then entered the Benedictine monastery at Bec, where, after three years of seclusion, he became prior and resumed teaching. Lanfranc became Archbishop of Canterbury from (1070–89) and trusted counsellor of William the Conqueror. In this role he was largely responsible for the excellent church–state relations of William’s reign after the Norman Conquest of England. Lanfranc embarked upon a successful reform and reorganization of the English Church.
After spending some time in Avranches, Anselm returned the next year. His father having died, he consulted with Lanfranc as to whether to return to his estates and employ their income in providing alms for the poor or to renounce them, becoming a hermit or a monk at Bec or Cluny. Given what he saw as his own conflict of interest, Lanfranc sent Anselm to Maurilius, the archbishop of Rouen, who convinced him to enter Bec as a novice at the age of 27. This was the beginning of a stellar career in the church.
In 1060/61 he took his monastic vows.
Because of Anselm’s reputation for great intellectual ability and sincere piety, he was elected Prior of the monastery after Lanfranc became Abbot of Caen in 1063.
In 1078 he became abbot of Bec. Under Anselm, Bec became a centre of monastic learning and some theological questioning.
His Proslogion (“Address” or “Allocution”), originally titled Fides quaerens intellectum (“Faith Seeking Understanding”), established the ontological argument for the existence of God.
He had to fight many conflicts between church and state as the Archbishop of England and was twice exiled.
Anselm spent the last two years of his life in peace. After he died on April 21, 1109, his remains were laid at the head of Lanfranc's burial site in Canterbury Cathedral.
Anselm has been called "the most luminous and penetrating intellect between St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas,"and "the father of scholasticism."2
Implications:
We can easily use the prayer structure in our own diary with our own words:
Come now, little man or woman, turn aside from your (fill in the work that takes up your days) daily employment, escape for a minute from the thoughts that are churning around and around in your mind.
Give up the heavy burdens you are carrying (list them and give them up to God), let your burdensome distractions wait (just let them move across your mind rather than letting them divert your attention).
Be free from all of these things and take deep breaths, resting in God.
Now, little woman or man, journey deeper, ever deeper, into that peace, leaving everything behind you, focusing all your attention on seeking God.
And with this preparation, taking however long it takes to get to an attitude of prayer, you are ready to direct yourself to prayer.
Now, my whole heart, say to God,
“I seek your face,
Lord, it is your face I seek.”
Application:
Write out Anselm’s prayer.
Take it with you to your favorite quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.
Write out the prayer again but in our own words, offering up to God the thoughts, burdens and concerns that are heavy on your heart and mind.
Release them (a way I have found helpful is to clench one hand, push each concern into that clenched hand until they are all in there, offer them to God, and then open my hands, visualize the worries going up to God, and lift my hands in newfound freedom.)
Sit with God, repeating the last part of Anselm’s prayer, focusing on a different word each time you pray the phrases 10-20 times.
Once you have prayed in this way, take a moment and write out any thoughts God brings to mind.
Consider how the things you have written down relate to your journey with Jesus.
Set a time, perhaps weekly for a month, to practice this prayer.
Bonus: Once you get the hang of it, you could even use this process on your commute as a lead-in to the other prayers in this series!
For Further Reading:
St. Anselm: A Portrait in a Landscape by Richard W. Southern
The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm with Proslogian, translated by Benedicta Ward. (Penguin, 1973) p. 239.
Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works by St. Anselm
Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion, in The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm with Proslogian, Translated by Benedicta Ward. (Penguin, 1973) p. 239.
Scholasticism is a system of theology and philosophy taught in medieval European universities, based on Aristotelian logic and the writings of the early Church Fathers.
Interesting and really enjoyed contemplating my own Anselm prayer which was a timely activity because I've just returned from a week of vacation and I'm really feeling bogged down by my daily employment. tumult of thoughts, weighty cares and burdensome cares....time for some resting in HIM. Thanks for the reminder.