Teaching · Poems
I am Yours, for You I was born
The prayer of total surrender, in a single question.
“I am Yours, for You I was born:
what do You command be done with me?”
Saint Teresa of Jesus — Poems
To understand
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Two verses that hold an entire spiritual life. First the identity: I am Yours, for You I was born. Then the consequence: so You command. The Saint repeats this question throughout the poem, offering everything — health or sickness, honor or dishonor, comfort or desert.
It is the bravest prayer there is, because it hands over the helm. It does not ask God to bless my plans: it asks what His are. Whoever prays it truly no longer lives on the defensive.
The source
Poems
The Saint composed verses for her sisters and their feasts. This poem of surrender — known by its refrain “What do You command be done with me?” — is among the most prayed of all her work.
Another word of hers
“Give me death, give me life;
give health or sickness,
give me honor or dishonor,
give me war or fulfilled peace,
weakness or strength for my life.”
Saint Teresa of Jesus — Poems, from the same poem
To pray and to teach
How to bring this teaching into prayer
This is how we use it in the prayer group; it works just as well for praying alone or as a family.
1
Read slowly
Read the text twice, aloud, without hurry. The second time, slower than the first.
2
Keep silence
A moment of silence. Let one word or phrase stay with each person.
3
Talk through the questions
Share unhurriedly and without debate: nothing is argued here — we share what God is showing us.
4
End with a resolution
Each person names one concrete step for the week, and you close with a prayer.
Questions to talk about
- Have I ever seriously asked God what He wants to do with me?
- What part of my life still stays outside the “I am Yours”?
- What fear appears when I think of handing over the helm?
For daily life
Three ways to practice it this week
1
Begin the day by asking: what do You command be done with me today? — and wait a moment in silence.
2
Hand over in prayer one concrete thing you have been over-controlling.
3
Pray the whole poem once a week, slowly, as your own prayer.