Prayer And Gain

Servavi mandata tua et testimonia tua, quia omnes viae meae in conspectu tuo, Domine. Servat autem praecepta et testimonia, qui vias Dei incedit, nec quidquam in actu vel cogitatu agit, quod divine contemplatione habeatur indignum. Appropinquet oratio mea in conspectu tuo, Domine, juxta eloquium tuum da mihi intellectum. Proximam tibi fieri orationem meam deprecor, Domine, ut a te intellectum capiens, nil aliud nisi quod oportet exorem. Inret oratio mea in conspectu tuo, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum eripe me. Gradatim ascendit sancta petitio nostra: qui ante dixit: Appropinquet, nunc dicit intret. Prius fuerat, ut appropinquaret, deinde ut in conspectum Domini intrare posset. Et superius dixit, secundum eloquium tuum da mihi intellectum, hic dicit, secundum eloquium tuum eripe me, ut et ibi superna videat, quae desideat, et hic aeternae concupiscentiae labe purgetur. Alcuinus, Expositio In Psalmum CXVIII Source: Migne PL 100.618c-d

I have kept your commandments and testimonies, because all my ways are in your sight, O Lord. 1 He guards the commandments and testimonies who walks on the ways of God, neither in deed nor in thought having anything that is unworthy of Divine contemplation. May my prayer come near your sight, O Lord, according to your word give me understanding... I entreat that my prayer might come near to you, O Lord, so that gaining understanding from you, I obtain nothing else but what I should. May my prayer enter into your sight, O Lord, according to your word seize me. Gradually our holy petition ascends, he who before said, 'May it come near' now says 'may it enter.' Before it was, 'may it come near,' now it is possible to enter into the sight of the Lord. And previously he said, 'according to your word give me understanding,' now he says here 'according to your word seize me,' so that even there he might see the supernal things which he desires, and here be purged of fault by eternal longings. Alcuin of York, from the Commentary on Psalm 118 1. Ps 118.168