Ascension

Twas on a Holy Thursday their innocent faces cleanThe children walking two & two in red & blue & greenGrey headed beadles walkd before, with wands as white as snowTill into the high dome of Pauls they like Thames waters flow O what a multitude they seemd these flowers of London townSeated in companies theyContinue reading “Ascension”

St. Romanos on the Ascension

He Who descended to earth, as He alone knew how,Rising up from it (again as He knew how),He took the ones whom He loved, and gathering them together,He led them to a high mountainIn order that, when they had their minds and sensibilities on the height,They might forget all lowly things.And so, when they wereContinue reading “St. Romanos on the Ascension”

Above the dignity of all heavenly creatures

In the sight of the holy multitude, above the dignity of all heavenly creatures, the Nature of mankind went up, to pass above the angels’ ranks and to rise beyond the archangels’ heights. St. Leo the Great, Sermon 73

St. John Chrysostom on the Ascension

And now, we who before were deemed unfit to dwell upon the earth are raised up to heaven; we who were unworthy of earthly dignity now ascend to a heavenly kingdom, and enter into heaven, and take our place upon a royal throne; and this nature of ours, because of which the Cherubim guarded theContinue reading “St. John Chrysostom on the Ascension”

Ascension – John Donne

Salute the last, and everlasting day,Joy at the uprising of this Sun, and Son,Ye whose true tears, or tribulationHave purely wash’d, or burnt your drossy clay.Behold, the Highest, parting hence away,Lightens the dark clouds, which He treads upon;Nor doth he by ascending show alone,But first He, and He first enters the way.O strong Ram, whichContinue reading “Ascension – John Donne”

He speaks to God, His Father, in a human voice…

Jesus takes our human nature—yours and mine—to the heart of God and he speaks to God his father in a human voice. In heaven the language they speak is human (not just angelic). Our words (human words) are heard at the very centre of the burning heart of reality. The Rt. Rev. Rowan Williams, sermon forContinue reading “He speaks to God, His Father, in a human voice…”