Suscipe, Domine

St. Ignatius of Loyola’s prayer of total self-offering to God.

The Suscipe (Take, Lord) is St. Ignatius of Loyola’s great prayer of total surrender to God, offered at the climax of the Spiritual Exercises. It gives everything — memory, understanding, will, and all possessions — back to God and asks only for His love and grace.

The Prayer

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
all I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To You, Lord, I return it.
Everything is Yours; do with it what You will.
Give me only Your love and Your grace,
that is enough for me.
Amen.

About This Prayer

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and wrote the Spiritual Exercises — a four-week programme of prayer and meditation still widely used today. The Suscipe appears at the end of the Fourth Week and is considered the culminating act of the Exercises: a complete gift of self to God.