Domine, si vis...

Today's Gospel (Matthew 8:1-4) contains one of the most perfect prayers ever said by someone other than our Lord.

Lord, if you wish,
you can make me clean.

Domine, si vis,
potes me mundare.

Our Lord's response is quick (and even quicker in Latin):

I will do it. Be made clean.

Volo, mundare!

It foreshadows the prayer our Lord himself would speak in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39):

My Father, if it is possible,
let this cup pass from me;
yet, not as I will,
but as you will.

Pater mi, si possibile est,
transeat a me calix iste;
verumtamen non sicut ego volo,
sed sicut tu.

Whenever we pray, whenever we feel the need for something, may our own prayer be ever thus.

Domine, si vis....

...non sicut ego volo,
sed sicut tu.