Knowing Him...

I know a secret key which never fails

To open the gates of divine mercy.

I know a river which will carry us

Into the promised land.

I know a palm-tree which will shelter us

From the burning heat of our earthly exile;

I know a spring whose refreshing waters slake

Our thirst in the desert of this life:

I know a star which will guide us

As the pillar of cloud guided Israel,

Across the sandy ocean of our existence

To the end of our journey.

I know a dew which God sheds from heaven

And which must sustain us for the remainder

Of the road we have to travel;

I know a tree whose wood can sweeten

The bitter waters which are our

Portion to drink here below,

And make them give us a foretaste

Of the heavenly Canaan.

I know a victim whose sacrifice ascends

In an odor of sweetness to the God of Abraham.

And this secret key,

This river,

This palm-tree,

This star,

This heavenly dew,

This holocaust,

Is the Eucharist.

~ Fr Augustin Marie (Carmelite Friar)

Excerpt from Story of Hermann Cohen, OCD

Convert from Judaism (1821-1871)