God Almighty
sits upon a throne of cherubim,
Surrounded by
His angels who forever sing this hymn;
‘Holy, Holy,
Holy, O Almighty God of love,
Thy glory fills
the earth below and all in Heaven above!’
In the holy
Gospel that was written by Saint John
Every word is
life, and we should always think thereon;
For he had
heard and seen and touched the Word of God made flesh,
And recognized
the risen Lord, when life began afresh.
Before the Lamb
of God approached the hill of Calvary,
Where cruel
soldiers crucified our Life upon a tree,
He went with
His Apostles to a hidden upper room,
He taught them
of humility, His passion and His tomb.
There He took
some water, and He washed the feet of those
Beloved twelve
Apostles, whom He called and whom He chose,
One of them
then said to Him, ‘Lord do not wash my feet!’
But if they
were not washed, how could salvation be complete?
Adam used his
feet, alas, when walking to the tree,
For Eve his
wife had told him that its fruit was good to see,
Approaching now
another fruit, which God gives them to eat,
Jesus cleansed
and washed the sin from His apostles’ feet.
While He sat
and ate with them, He made another law,
A law of love,
that Christians must obey for evermore.
He gave them
food—His body—and for drink His precious blood,
And sanctified their
mortal members, made of clay and mud.
And thus when
Jesus Christ the Son of God became as man,
He gave this
sacred food to them according to His plan.
He said that
through this Sacrament, so holy and so true,
‘You’ll abide
in Me, and surely, I’ll abide in you.’
For those
humble fishermen, their Lord and Saviour prayed
To His eternal
Father, whom He always had obeyed:
‘As We are one,
may they be one, as they go forth to teach,
I’ll send the
Holy Spirit, Who will show them where to preach.’
Jesus told them,
‘Do not fear, you will not be alone.
For I will
always see you, and will bless you from My throne,
Working with
the Spirit, you will earn a great reward,
My Church will
be established, and humanity restored.’
Sanctified by
Jesus’ words of truth that they had heard,
And vested in
the Spirit by the risen Lord conferred,
These humble
men set out to preach; their miracles were done
In the name of
Jesus Christ, of God the only Son.
Their word has
come to us and we have heard it, and believed,
They speak the
Word of God, and their message we’ve received,
We turn to them
with love, and we ask their holy prayer,
That God
preserve His Holy Church, He’s put into our care.
From Christmas Poems, by
Bishop Paul of Tracheia, available through Holy Cross Seminary Bookstore http://store.holycrossbookstore.com/
or through Amazon.com.
