Prayer Attributed to Meister Eckhart*
O Sovran Riches of Divine Nature, show me thy way which thou in thy wisdom hast ordained and open to me thy most precious treasure whereto thou hast called me; to know with supercreaturely intelligence, to love with the angels, to enjoy with thy only Son our Lord Jesus Christ and to be thine heir to eternal wisdom and by thy help to be preserved from evil. For thou hast exalted me above all creatures and hast sealed me with the seal of thine eternal image and put my soul beyond the grasp of creatures and hast made nothing liker to thyself than man is in his soul. Teach me to live so that I never want thee; so as never to hinder the working of thy love-stream in me; so as never to lend myself to any outward pleasure without thee nor occupy my mind more with any creature than with thee. Lord thou art spirit and incomprehensible to creature; thou dost inspire the soul and raise her to an order above creature so that she can do thy will, O Eternal Wisdom, and in grace be free from inroad of unbidden images. Thou hast made the soul to suit thyself in her nature and her laws and she maintains she has no room for anyone but thee. O Almighty and Most Merciful Creator and dear Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner and help me to overcome all pitfalls with their lures to idle pleasure; to shun in thought and act what thou forbiddest and both to do and keep all they commands; help me to believe, to hope, to love; to live and feel exactly as thou wilt and as much as thou wilt and what thou wilt. Lord, grant me the sorrow of the humble; a mind escaped from mortal body; to love, to laud and to behold thee and cherish every act and thought that is toward thee. Grant me a clear and sober and geniunely prayerful mind with real intuition of thy will, together with the love and joy which make it easy to perform. Lord, vouchsafe me always modest progress towards better things and never to backslide. And, O my Lord, condemn me not, as I deserve, to rely upon my own powers or on human weakness and unwisdom but on thy good providence alone. Direct me Lord to the Good itself, my every thought and act to thine own liking, so that on my part, in me, thy will is always being done and I being saved from evil and brought to thy eternal life where thou art three in Person and one in essence of thy divine nature: Father, Son and Holy Ghost and every blest almighty God. Amen.
* Found in the tractate, The Rank and Nature of the Soul, in Meister Eckhart by Franz Pfeiffer, trans. C. de B. Evans