left Quote

SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN
(949 – 1022)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?

right quotation

In their many different idioms the classical spiritual writers have attempted to throw light on the eternal question of union with God. 
Every month we give you a brief passage from a spiritual classic.