15 May 2008

Lava quod est sordidum

Come Holy Ghost, come wash me all over, soul and body, spirit and flesh, for I am all over sordid and unclean. Wash me with those waters which flowed forth from our Savior's side upon the Cross. Wash me with that milk wherewith the dove in the Canticles was whitened, compared to the Bridegroom's eyes. Wash me in wine, or in the blood of grapes, as Juda, by his father's prophecy, was to wash his garments. Wash me in the blood, in the Blood of the Lamb, as those in the Apocolypse did wash and make white their stoles. Baptize and wash me finally in fire, in that divine fire--in Spiritu Sancto et igne--that I may be truly tried from the dross I have by sin contracted. Cleanse me from all my known and from all my hidden sins. Wash me from the many negligences and ignorances of my life. Wash me from all that filth which hath dyed my soul as red as scarlet, till it appear as white as wool, till it become as white as snow, that, being freed from all stain or blemish, it may without shame appear before Thy face, and gaze its fill on Thee with an endless and unglutted satiety, world without end. Amen.
~Rev. Richard Johnson, Suppliant of the Holy Ghost
**The "Cross of the Renewal" is available from ICCRS

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