Thursday, February 16, 2006

Hymn of Saint Thomas Aquinas to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee,
Who truly art within the forms before me;
To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee,
As failing quite in comprehending Thee.
Jesu, Eternal Shepherd, hear our cry;
Increase the faith of all whose souls on Thee rely.

Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceived,
The ear alone most safely is believed;
I believe all the Son of God hath spoken,
Than Truth's own word there is no surer token.

God only on the Cross lay hid from view,
But here lies hid at once His manhood too;
And I, in both professing my belief,
The same prayer make as the repentant thief.

Thy Wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see,
Yet Thee confess my God and Lord to be;
Make me believe Thee ever more and more,
In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.

O thou memorial of Our Lord's own dying,
O Living Bread, to mortals life supplying,
Make Thou my soul henceforth on Thee to live,
Ever a taste of heavenly sweetness to give.

O Loving Jesus! O Christ my God!
Unclean I am, cleanse me in Thy Blood,
Of which a single drop for sinners spilt
Could ransom all the world from all its guilt.

Jesu, Whom for the present veil'd I see,
What I so thirst for, O vouchsafe to me,
That I may see Thy Countenance unfolding,
And may be blest Thy Glory in beholding.
Amen.

The Little Treasury of Leaflets

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