SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN
(949 – 1022)
This is the gift you have given me, my God:
that this mortal and shabby frame
has become one with your immaculate body
and that my blood has mingled
with your blood.
I know, too, that I have been made one with your divinity
and have become your own most pure body,
a brilliant member, transparently lucid,
luminous and holy.
I see the beauty of it all, I can gaze on the radiance.
I have become a reflection of the light of your grace.
O totally strange and inexpressible marvel!
Because of my infinite richness I am a needy person
and imagine I have nothing, when I possess so much,
and I say: "I am thirsty," though water is everywhere,
and "who will give me," that which I already possess in abundance,
and "where will I find," the One whom I see each day.
"How will I lay hold of," the One who is within me?
