We eat your holy bodywhich was crucified for us.We drink your holy bloodwhich was shed for us.May your body be our salvationand your blood forgive us our sins. Because for our sake you tasted gall,may the enemy’s bitterness be killed in us. Because for our sake you drank sour wine,may what is weak in usContinue reading “Eucharistic Hymn from the Acts of Thomas”
Author Archives: Stefan Gramenz
Let all the trees of the forest sing a glad hymn
This is a day of joy! At Christ’s Resurrection death disappeared, and life was seen in all its splendour. Adam, who rises again, exults with joy. Let us, therefore, rejoice and sing our hymn of triumph. The day for the adoration of the precious Cross has arrived. Come, all ye faithful! It is exposed beforeContinue reading “Let all the trees of the forest sing a glad hymn”
Into the Darkest Hour
It was a time like this,War & tumult of war,a horror in the air.Hungry yawned the abyss-and yet there came the starand the child most wonderfully there. It was time like thisof fear & lust for power,license & greed and blight-and yet the Prince of blisscame into the darkest hourin quiet & silent light. AndContinue reading “Into the Darkest Hour”
Tractarians on Advent
The name Advent, which means Coming, is given to the four Sundays immediately before Christmas Day, the feast which celebrates our Lord’s coming in the flesh to suffer for us. This season, then, is set apart by the Church, in accordance with ancient and venerable usage, in the first place, to prepare the minds ofContinue reading “Tractarians on Advent”
He is great in heaven who humbly submits to his neighbor
He is great in heaven who humbly submits to his neighbor, and, without any cause for shame, bears patiently accusations made against him, even though they are false, if by this he may be at peace with his brother. St. Basil the Great, Homily 20
If He offers nourishment to the birds…
If he offers nourishment to the birds, will he not offer to humankind food to nourish them? If those who do not labor find food, will not people find food, to whom God has given both the wisdom to work and the hope to enjoy it? God made all animals for humankind’s sake, but heContinue reading “If He offers nourishment to the birds…”
Opus Imperfectum on Wealth
Consider, moreover, that he did not say, “Nobody can have God and wealth,” but “no one can be a servant of God and wealth.” It is one thing to have wealth and quite another to serve wealth. If you have wealth and your wealth does not make you haughty or violent, but you give toContinue reading “Opus Imperfectum on Wealth”
A dread and marvelous mystery
A dread and marvelous mystery we see come to pass this day. He whom none may touch is seized; he who looses Adam from the curse is bound. He who tries our hearts and inner thoughts is unjustly brought to trial. He who closed the abyss is shut in prison. He before whom the powersContinue reading “A dread and marvelous mystery”
An indestructible energy making for love
At the heart of the desperate suffering there is in the world, suffering we can do nothing to resolve or remove for good, there is an indestructible energy making for love. If we have grasped what Jesus is about, we can trust that this is what lies at the foundation of everything. Rowan Williams, TokensContinue reading “An indestructible energy making for love”
What Christians can expect each other to take for granted
[The Creed] sets out what Christians can expect each other to take for granted. You might even say that it tells us why we can trust each other in the Christian community. We’re looking in the same direction, working with the same hopes and assumptions. Rowan Williams, Tokens of Trust, p. 7
Locus Communis 