We awaken as the Beloved (St. Symeon the New Theologian)

We awaken in Christ’s body

as Christ awakens our bodies,

and my poor hand is Christ.  He enters

my foot, and is infinitely me.

                       

I move my hand, and wonderfully

my hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him

(for God is indivisibly

whole, seamless in His Godhood).

                       

I move my foot, and at once

he appears in a flash of lightening. 

Do my words seem blasphemous? – Then

open your heart to Him

                       

And let yourself receive the one

who is opening to you so deeply.

For if we genuinely love him,

we wake up inside Christ’s body

                       

where all our body, all over,

every most hidden part of it,

is realized in joy as Him,

and He makes us utterly real,

                       

and everything that is hurt, everything

that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,

maimed, ugly, irreparably

damaged, is in Him transformed

                       

and recognized as whole, as lovely,

and radiant in His light.

We awaken as the Beloved

in every last part of our body.

--St. Symeon the New Theologian (ca. 949-1022), 

Hymn 15, We Awaken in Christ’s Body, 

from The Enlightened Heart:  

An Anthology of Sacred Poetry

Image source:  https://www.myweekly.co.uk/2018/05/10/break-those-unhealthy-sleep-habits/