You have heard, my soul, what you should be. Go apart for a while from your concerns and leave aside for a space the tumult of your thoughts. Enter into the inner chamber of your mind and exclude everything except God and what will help you in seeking him; and when you have found him, rest awhile in him.
My soul, say to God: Who are you, Lord, that I may know you? You alone are what you are and who you are, that is, that than which nothing greater can be thought, nor anything better, nor more joyful. You are life, wisdom, light, truth, goodness, eternity, the highest good. You are complete fullness, lacking nothing, the one whom all need that they may exist and be happy.
My soul, you have found what you were seeking; you were seeking God and you have found him to be the highest of all, that than which nothing greater can be thought, and this is life, wisdom, light, truth, goodness, eternal beatitude, blessed eternity and all that is good.
God the Father, this good is you. And this good is also your Word, that is, your Son; for you are simple and what is born of you is yourself. There is one love and communion between you and your Son, which is the Holy Spirit who proceeds from you both. Nothing can proceed from that which is most simple other than itself.
Thank you, Lord God, for giving me this grace, that I may seek you and find you.
from a treatise on The Spirit and the Soul by an unnamed Cistercian of the 12th century (CF 24, p. 281, translated by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis and Benedicta Ward)
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