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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Proslogion

 Today we celebrate a memorial for Saint Anselm, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the eleventh century.  In today's Office of Reading we are presented with the Proslogion, by St. Anselm.

I am unfamiliar with the label Proslogion, so I googled it.  As far as I can tell, St. Anselm made up the label.  I don't see where anyone else ever wrote a proslogion.  So it's not a treatise, a letter, a thesis, a postulation, a proposal, a premise, a proposition, etc.  Although, the entire writing is a meditation, it was not intented to be a thesis, nonetheless, it is a defense on the existence of God.  In fact, the original title was "Faith Seeking Understanding" (Fides quaerens intellectum). 

The entire work is beyond me.  I can't even comprehend the main thought: "God is that which nothing greater can be thought."  But I can see where this thought is fertile material for contemplation--for a long time! 

I will close with the last paragraph in today's reading from the Proslogion.


Meanwhile, let this hope (prayer) of mine be in my thoughts and on my tongue; let my heart be filled with it, my voice speak of it; let my soul hunger for it, my body thirst for it, my whole being yearn for it, until I enter into the joy of the Lord, who is Three in One, blessed for ever. Amen.


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