THE LOVE OF ETERNAL WISDOM by St. Louis De Montfort
1. Prayer to eternal Wisdom
1. O divine Wisdom, Lord of heaven and earth, I humbly beg
pardon for my audacity in attempting to speak of your
perfections, ignorant and sinful as I am. I beg you not to
consider the darkness of my mind or the uncleanness of my lips
unless it be to take them away with a glance of your eyes and
a breath of your mouth.
There is in you so much beauty and delight; you have
shielded me from so many evils and showered on me so many
favours, and you are moreover so little known and so much
slighted. How can I remain silent? Not only justice and
gratitude, but my own interests urge me to speak about you,
even though it be so imperfectly. It is true, I can only lisp
like a child, but then I am only a child, anxious to learn how
to speak properly through my lisping, once I have attained the
fullness of your age (cf. Eph. 4:13).
2. I know there seems to be neither order nor sense in what
I write, but because I long so dearly to possess you, I am
looking for you everywhere, like Solomon, wandering in all
directions (Wisd. 8:18). If I am striving to make you known
in this world, it is because you yourself have promised that
all who explain you and make you known will have eternal life
(cf. Sir. 8:18).
Accept, then, my loving Lord, these humble words of mine
as though they were a masterly discourse. Look upon the
strokes of my pen as so many steps to find you and from your
throne above bestow your blessings and your enlightenment on
what I mean to say about you, so that those who read it may be
filled with a fresh desire to love you and possess you, on
earth as well as in heaven.
