2006-12-21

Merry Christmas!


Christ is born! Glorify Him, the author of light, with joyful lights; lights that rejoice in His coming! Take delight over Christmastime, for Christ is the very fruit of God Who came to fulfill our hunger!

An excerpt from St. Ephraim third Hymn on the Nativity:>

Blessed be the Child who today delights Bethlehem.
Blessed be the Newborn who today made humanity young again.
Blessed be the Fruit who bowed himself down for our hunger.
Blessed be the Gracious One who suddenly enriched
all of our poverty and filled our need.
Blessed be He whose mercy inclined Him to heal our sickness…
His hands bound and fettered, His feet nailed and fastened,
by His own will He clothed Himself with a body for those who seized Him.
Blessed is He whom freedom crucified, when He permitted it.
Blessed is He whom also the wood bore, when He allowed it.
Blessed is He whom even the grave enclosed, when He set limits to Himself.
Blessed is He whose will brought Him
to the womb and to birth and to the bosom and to growth.
Blessed is He whose changes revived our humanity.
Blessed is He who engraved our soul and adorned and betrothed her to Himself.
Blessed is He who made our body a tabernacle for His hiddenness.

2 comments:

Kassianni said...

that is lovely. did you take that?

thomasw said...

yes, i like blurried-light photos...full of bokeh :P i did not write that hymn for ephraim...though that is hardly surprising, as i beleive his writing was largely inspired by the spirit of god.wprgyg