Grant that nothing in the world might be as important to me as you are.

Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

Nothing in this world is as important as God. In this prayer, we simply ask God to help us to remember this. Here is the complete version of this beautiful prayer, from Book III of The Imitation of Christ:

Most kind Jesus, grant me your grace so that it may be with me and work with me and remain with me to the end. Grant me this: always to desire and to want what is most acceptable and pleasing to you. Let your will be mine, and let my will always follow yours and be in perfect accord with it. Let what I want always be what you want, and let me not want anything that you do not want.

Grant that nothing in the world might be as important to me as you are, and for your sake grant that I may serve you with deep humility and love, caring little for recognition or honor. Grant above all else, that I may rest in you and that my heart may find peace in you. You are the heart’s true peace; you are its only rest. Apart from you everything is hard and uneasy. Only in this peace that is you, highest and eternal Good, do I find sleep and take my rest. Amen.


This prayer is from the translation of “The Imitation of Christ” by William C. Creasy, and can be found here: The Imitation of Christ.

4 thoughts on “A Prayer of Thomas à Kempis

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