A Blessed Advent to All

This evening marks the beginning of Advent, a time of preparation for the Christ-Mass or the Festival Eucharist of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. His coming into the world is truly the greatest spiritual and material wonder and yet it is overlooked or denied by the world to which He came. Even good Christians fail to take time to ponder this wonderous miracle of timeless God entering time, of Creator God becoming one with His creation. I hope that you will take time away from the commerical hustle and bustle to contemplate the implications of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus.

Here is a poetic prayer from St. Ambrose of Milan, freshly translated from the Latin by my dear friend Ephrem Hugh Bensusan. Ephrem maintains an informative blog, which you may view at http://razilazenje.blogspot.com


Christe, redemptor omnium

Christ, Redeemer of all,
out of the Father, and with the Father one,
alone before the beginning
born ineffably.

Thou art the light, the brilliance of the Father,
Thou art the perennial hope of all,
to Whom Thy servants in the world
direct the estate of their prayers.

Remember, O Author of Salvation,
how in taking on our flesh
from the unstained Virgin,
Thou wast born in our form.

So doth today testify,
as well the circling years,
that Thou alone hast come from the Father
for the Salvation of the world.

The sky, the earth, the sea,
and all that lieth therein,
to the Author of Thine Advent
chant exultantly in praise.

And also we, who
Thy holy blood hast ransomed,
on this day of Thy Nativity
join together in a new hymn.

Glory be to Thee, O Lord,
Thou Who was born of a virgin,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
unto ages everlasting.

Original Latin Text