Greetings — December 25, 2016

Wishing you a Joyful Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Mary, in the days of her holy expectation,

magnified the Lord;

her spirit rejoiced in the child of her womb,

the Son of God.

For when all things lay in silence,

and night was in the midst of her course,

there leaped down, O God, from on high,

from thy royal throne,

the Word, thy Christ, thyself;

through woman to be born of human nature,

born in time, born in us,

and we in him.

Grant me, O God, thy divinest gift,

that Emmanuel may be formed and born in me,

and I may ever rejoice and magnify thee.

Say to my soul, Peace, be still,

as was that silent night.

And send thy Word, into my soul,

not for my merit, but by thy miracle;

by my desire, but of thy sole gift;

not in part, but in all

which mortal can receive.

Father, let me be born in thee as thy child:

Christ, be born in me as my Lord:

Holy Spirit, travail and shine within;

that I may live in thy life

and love with thy love

evermore and evermore.

 

Eric Milner-White, sometime Dean of York