Author Archives: Stefan Gramenz

I Was Vicar of Large Things

I was vicar of large thingsin a small parish. Small-mindedI will not say, there were depthsin some of them I shrank backfrom, wells that the word “God”fell into and died away,and for all I know is stillfalling. Who goes for waterto such must prepare for a longwait. Their eyes looked at meand were the remainsContinue reading “I Was Vicar of Large Things”

Devoting ourselves to God out of love for eternal life

Let it not be enough for you that you hear the divine lessons in church, but read them yourselves at home or look for others to read them and willingly listen to them when they do. Although through the mercy of God you frequently and devoutly hear the divine lessons throughout the entire year, stillContinue reading “Devoting ourselves to God out of love for eternal life”

Lo, the full, final sacrifice

Lo, the full, final sacrificeOn which all figures fix’d their eyes,The ransom’d Isaac, and his ram;The Manna, and the Paschal lamb.Jesu Master, just and true!Our Food, and faithful Shepherd too! O let that love which thus makes theeMix with our low Mortality,Lift our lean Souls, and set us upConvictors of thine own full cup,Coheirs ofContinue reading “Lo, the full, final sacrifice”

Dom Gregory Dix on the Eucharist through the Ages

He had told His friends to do this henceforward with the new meaning ‘for the anamnesis‘ of Him, and they have done it always since. Was ever another command so obeyed? For century after century, spreading slowly to every continent and country and among every race on earth, this action has been done, in every conceivableContinue reading “Dom Gregory Dix on the Eucharist through the Ages”

Mother and Child by Charles Causley

Holding in clear handsThe world’s true lightShe lifts its perfect flameAgainst the night. About its pulse of fireEarth and seas run,Season and moon and star,The unruly sun. Upon the hill a scuffedThinness of snow,First of green thorn, a streamStopped in its flow. She keeps within her handThe careful dayNow the slow wound of nightHas bledContinue reading “Mother and Child by Charles Causley”

BC:AD

This was the moment when BeforeTurned into After, and the future’sUninvented timekeepers presented arms. This was the moment when nothingHappened. Only dull peaceSprawled boringly over the earth. This was the moment when even energetic RomansCould find nothing better to doThan counting heads in remote provinces. And this was the momentWhen a few farm workers andContinue reading “BC:AD”

The clutching hand of the baby

Christmas is one of the great European exports.  You’ll meet Santa Claus and his reindeer in Shanghai and Dar-es-Salaam; a long way from the North Pole.  More seriously and less commercially, the story of the Nativity is loved even in non-Christian contexts (I discovered that one of the best and most sensitive recent film re-tellingsContinue reading “The clutching hand of the baby”

St. Cyril of Jerusalem on Advent

We preach not one advent only of Christ, but a second also, far more glorious than the former. For the former gave a view of His patience; but the latter brings with it the crown of a divine kingdom. For all things, for the most part, are twofold in our Lord Jesus Christ: a twofold generation; one, of God, beforeContinue reading “St. Cyril of Jerusalem on Advent”

St. Gregory the Great on the Second Coming

Christ says: When these things come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand. It is as if the Truth openly warns His Elect by saying: when the evils of this world mount up, when dread of the judgment is shown even by the trembling powers, lift up your heads,Continue reading “St. Gregory the Great on the Second Coming”