“Blessed be the Newborn Who today made humanity young again”

Blessed be the Child Who today delights Bethlehem.
Blessed be the Newborn Who today made humanity young again.
Blessed be the Fruit Who bowed Himself down for our hunger.
Blessed be the Gracious One Who suddenly enriched
all of our poverty and filled our need.
Blessed be He whose mercy inclined Him to heal our sickness.

My Lord, blessed be Your Child, Who raised to honor our hardness of heart.

Thanks to the Fountainhead sent for our salvation.
Thanks to the One Who violated the sabbath in its fulfillment.
Thanks to the One Who rebuked Leprosy and it remained not.
Fever also saw Him and departed.
Thanks to the Compassionate One Who bore our pain.

Glory to Your coming that restored humankind to life.
Glory to that One Who came to us by His First-born.
Glory to that Silent One Who spoke by means of His Voice.
Glory to that Sublime One Who was well pleased that His child should become a body so that through Him His power might be felt and the bodies of His kindred might live again.
Glory to that Hidden One Whose Child was revealed.
Glory to that Living One Whose Son became a mortal.
Glory to that Great One Whose Son descended and became small.
Glory to that One Power Who fashioned Him, the Image of His greatness and Form for His hiddenness.
With the eye and the mind—with both of them we saw Him.
Glory to that Hidden One even to the mind is utterly imperceptible to those who investigate Him.
But by His grace through His humanity a nature never before fathomed is now perceived.
His hands bound and fettered, His feet nailed and fastened,
by His own will He clothed Himself with a body for those who seized him.

Blessed is He Whom freedom crucified, when He permitted it.
Blessed is He Whom also the wood bore, when He allowed it.
Blessed is He whom even the grave enclosed, when He set limits to Himself.
Blessed is He Whose will brought Him to the womb and to birth and to the bosom and to growth.
Blessed is He Whose changes revived our humanity.
Blessed is He Who engraved our soul and adorned and betrothed her to Himself.
Blessed is He Who made our body a Tabernacle for His hiddenness.
Blessed is he Who with our tongue interpreted His secrets.
Let us give thanks to that Voice Whose praise on our lyre and Whose power on our kithara are sung.
The people came together to listen to His melodies.

St Ephrem the Syrian