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A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 

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TO THE HOLY SPIRIT – 29 September 2007
By Mary T. Hoffman

One of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s translations from the Greek Christian poets is Manuel Phile’s “To the Holy Spirit.” Her translations appeared in the periodical Athenaeum, a literary magazine published in London from 1828 to 1921. In 1863, two years after Mrs. Browning’s death, they were reprinted in London by Chapman and Hall: The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

For today I have chosen this poem by the fourteenth century Greek Christian poet Manuel Phile:

TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
By Manuel Phile (Fourteenth Century Greek Christian Poet)
(Translation by Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

O living Spirit, O falling of God-dew,
O Grace which dost console us and renew,
O vital light, O breath of angelhood,
O generous ministration of things good,
Creator of the visible, and best
Upholder of the great unmanifest
Power infinitely wise, new boon sublime
Of science and of art, constraining might,
In whom I breathe, live, speak, rejoice, and write, –
Be with us in all places, for all time!

See also:
http://www.all-creatures.org/poetry.html

Go on to: This Is Health Care? – 30 September 2007
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