On Reverently Receiving the Most Holy Supper

O Jesus, will you enter us, who are but dust?
You Lord of Glory, throne of God Most High,
Earth's happiness and healing, Heaven's sun and crown
in whom we see the Father's loving heart unveiled!
You, who prepare the heart, inspire us with devotion;
stir up our strength in joyful notes of bliss
to rightly receive God's holy Son
before whom even angels fear and tremble.

O highest wonder! Mortals eat their Maker.
The body that is one with God, longs to be one with us.
O deepest Goodness, let us fittingly receive you!
God's love and might have never shone so brightly.
The inmost heart's blood flows into our mouths;
from deep within our hearts we praise and thank you.

This translation is published in Wonder-Work: Selected Sonnets of Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (CMU Press, 2023).
Click here to read the sonnet in the original German.