Good Friday Meditation

In what way, then, shall I praise you,

how shall I exalt you,

with what love shall I pray to you,

and with what joy shall I glory in you?

By you hell is despoiled,

by you its mouth is stopped up to all the redeemed.

By you demons are made afraid and restrained,

conquered and trampled underfoot.

By you the world is renewed and made beautiful with truth,

governed by the light of righteousness.

by you sinful humanity is justified,

the condemned are saved,

the servants of sin and hell are set free,

the dead are raised to life.

By you the blessed city in heaven

is restored and made perfect.

By you God, the Son of God willed for our sakes

‘to become obedient to the Father, even unto death’,

because of whith he is exalted and has received

‘the namne which is above every name’.

By you ‘his throne is prepared’ and his kingdom established.

 

St. Anselm of Canterbury, Prayer to the Holy Cross, lines 42-62 from The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm with the Proslogian edited by Benedicta Ward.