Lord, teach me to seek you,
and reveal yourself to me as I seek.
For I cannot seek you unless you teach me,
nor find you unless you reveal yourself.
Let me seek you in desiring you;
let me desire you in seeking you;
let me find you in loving you;
and love you in finding you.
I acknowledge, Lord, and I give thanks,
that you have created your image in me,
so that I may remember you, think of you, and love you.
But this image is so defaced and worn away by sin
that it cannot do what it was made to do,
unless you renew it and reform it.
O Lord, I am not attempting to scale your heights,
for my understanding is in no way equal to that;
but I long to understand a little of your truth,
which my heart already believes and loves.
Amen.
ECUMENICAL ANSELM OF CANTERBURY, PROSLOGION, 1077-1078
The Prayer of Saint Anselm
Also known as Lord, Teach Me to Seek You · Anselm's Proslogion Prayer
About this prayer
Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) was one of the greatest theologian-philosophers of the medieval church, serving as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 until his death. His Proslogion, written while he was prior of the monastery at Bec in Normandy, contains his famous ontological argument for the existence of God. But the Proslogion is above all a meditation and a prayer. It opens not with a logical argument but with a soul reaching out to God in longing and self-humbling. The prayer with which the Proslogion opens is one of the most beautiful prayers in the tradition of Christian mystical theology, expressing the desire to know, love, and rejoice in God as the ultimate end of all human longing.
When it's said
Anselm's prayer is used in personal contemplative prayer and in the devotional life of Christians seeking to deepen their knowledge and love of God. It is particularly associated with monastic and retreat settings, and with the tradition of lectio divina, or prayerful reading of scripture and theological texts. It is used across Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant traditions and is frequently found in anthologies of Christian prayer.
Notes on the text
The prayer's opening petition, 'Lord, teach me to seek you,' contains a profound theological insight: that even the desire to seek God is itself a gift of grace. The phrase 'I cannot seek you unless you teach me, nor find you unless you reveal yourself' articulates the Augustinian doctrine of prevenient grace. The reference to God's image defaced by sin draws on Genesis 1:27 and the Augustinian tradition of the imago Dei. The closing line, 'my heart already believes and loves,' echoes the Augustinian method of faith seeking understanding (fides quaerens intellectum).
Source
Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion, 1077-1078, chapters 1 and 2. English rendering based on the Latin text. Public domain.
Last reviewed: May 2026 against primary source.