Who are you, sweet light,
that fills me
And illumines the darkness
of my heart?
You lead me like a
mother's hand,
And should you let go of
me,
I would not know how to
take another step.
You are the space
That embraces my being and
buries it in yourself.
Away from you it sinks
into the abyss
Of nothingness, from which
you raised it to the
light.
You, nearer to me than I
to myself
And more interior than my
most interior
And still impalpable and
intangible
And beyond any name:
Holy Spirit eternal love!
Are you not the sweet
manna
That from the Son's
heart
Overflows into my heart,
The food of angels and
the blessed?
He who raised himself
from death to life,
He has also awakened me
to new life
From the sleep of death.
And he gives me new life
from day to day,
And at some time his
fullness is to stream through
me,
Life of your life
indeed, you yourself:
Holy Spirit eternal
life!
Are you the ray
That flashes down from
the eternal Judge's throne
And breaks into the
night of the soul
That had never known
itself?
Mercifully relentlessly
It penetrates hidden
folds.
Alarmed at seeing
itself,
The self makes space for
holy fear,
The beginning of that
wisdom
That comes from on high
And anchors us firmly in
the heights,
Your action,
That creates us anew:
Holy Spirit ray that
penetrates everything!
Are you the spirit's
fullness and the power
By which the Lamb
releases the seal
Of God's eternal decree?
Driven by you
The messengers of
judgment ride through the world
And separate with a
sharp sword
The kingdom of light
from the kingdom of night.
Then heaven becomes new
and new the earth,
And all finds its proper
place
Through your breath:
Holy Spirit victorious
power!
Are you the master who
builds the eternal cathedral,
Which towers from the
earth through the heavens?
Animated by you, the
columns are raised high
And stand immovably
firm.
Marked with the eternal
name of God,
They stretch up to the
light,
Bearing the dome,
Which crowns the holy
cathedral,
Your work that encircles
the world:
Holy Spirit God's
molding hand!
Are you the one who
created the unclouded mirror
Next to the Almighty's
throne,
Like a crystal sea,
In which Divinity
lovingly looks at itself?
You bend over the
fairest work of your creation,
And radiantly your own
gaze
Is illumined in return.
And of all creatures the
pure beauty
Is joined in one in the
dear form
Of the Virgin, your
immaculate bride:
Holy Spirit Creator of
all!
Are you the sweet song
of love
And of holy awe
That eternally resounds
around the triune throne,
That weds in itself the
clear chimes of each
and every being?
The harmony,
That joins together the
members to the Head,
In which each one
Finds the mysterious
meaning of his being blessed
And joyously surges
forth,
Freely dissolved in your
surging:
Holy Spirit eternal
jubilation!
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