Jesus! Your wonders so astonish and amaze me
that, muter than the mute before you gave him speech,
I am in doubt: Where to begin to praise your works?
Led by your hands, the miracles multiply.
I see great marvels on display wherever I turn,
hear what has not been heard before: the dead are raised;
the blind are given sight and soul's delight;
the deaf also can hear, to the glory of God.
The lame ones run like deer, led by their Mover, 
and leprosy is banished by your cleansing power.
There's not a single thing you cannot overcome.
You govern all; all must obey and serve you.
And yet you give your heart to us so gently,
revealing the great goodness that is yours alone.

Click here to read this sonnet in the original German.

Matthew 15:21-28

Bold warrior! Do not let your courage falter;
pray and persist. Knock hard upon this stone
which surely holds a spark of grace
that, after a hard blow, will flash with joy.
Then you'll drink healing nectar from this rock.
The tiger soon will be a pelican to you;
Mars, a Venus star; thunder and lightning, sun.
The time has come to call for help, advice, and action.
Hear what he says; O joy! He gives, he gives himself.
From the Invincible you win the victory.
"Woman, your faith is great! It shall be done for you,
what you with hight hopes asked of me."
Heroic faith achieves a double victory:
God's mercy is aroused, the devil driven out.

Note: Medieval bestiaries describe the pelican as nourishing her young with her own blood. The pelican was a popular symbol for Christ in the Middle Ages, and appeared widely in art and church iconography.  

Click here to read this sonnet in the original German.

Mark 5:21-24, 35-43

Arise, lovely maiden, your Maker makes you rise!
Rise up, fall at his feet, and kiss this hand
that tore you free from death and loosed the grip
that snatched you, tender flower, before your time.
The strangler's rage is thwarted by the Lion of Life.
He gave life to the girl, and to her parents, the pledge
that came through them into this world.
Awestruck, we stare in wonder at this deed.
Life-Giver, praise to you! The father says,
"You've raised my child, and even me, to life.
By your grace, we can be bold in facing death
because your vigour conquers its decay.
My dearest child and I and all of us,
with thousand joys, my God, now live and die in you."

Click here to read this sonnet in the original German.

Matthew 8:23-27

God sleeps, yet does not sleep. His sleep reveals
weakness of the disciples' faith within the storm
when he withdraws his sheltering hand from them,
concealing, as it seems, his shining eye of grace.
Calamity compels him instantly to wake.
He who binds the winds holds in his hand the band
and can as easily call back what he sent forth.
At once they come from every corner of the rocks.
The wave that wants to wed itself to clouds,
expecting them to bow, is now brought low,
retreating humbly to its ordered place.
Now sea and wind are still, a vital question rises:
What kind of man is this, whom wind and sea obey?
I answer: He who makes us one with God.

Click here to read this sonnet in the original German.

 

Will then the Well of Life itself be baptized here?
Will human hands pour water on the Spirit-anointed head?
A healing stream flows through his every limb—
an overflow of love and grace. Here, without money,
buy more than a whole world's worth of treasure.
The sour sea of sin made sweet with the juice of grace:
we taste, enraptured, sweetest joy within the gall.
The weight of faith will swim; the lightest sin will drown.

You, world and heaven's hero, a right great Alexander!
You set your foot into the flow before your troops.
A thousand worlds, alone or all together,
could never satisfy your eagerness to save—
you with your sea of blood, your heaven of mercy,
although a drop's enough to bathe them clean of sin.

Click here to read this sonnet in the original German.

Greiffenberg wrote several sonnets for the new year. This one’s title seems to refer to the fact that, in liturgical churches, January 1 traditionally marked the Circumcision of Christ. Although this feast doesn’t get much attention these days, it’s still in the liturgical calendar, but now it’s called The Naming of Jesus. Luke 2:21 says, “And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (RSV).

Lovely morning glow drops crimson pearls
of childhood, and soon the Jesus-sun arises,
in whom God’s brightness mingles with love’s warmth.
His heart’s grace streams from this salvation-light.
Redemption’s vein of gold must flow, love-melted.
This wondrous child cries with desire and longing:
Will the hour of salvation ever come, when he
at last pours out his blood, a blessing-flood, for all?

Eternal godhead wrapped in a little cloud: this child.
Just as, from a great distance, the sun
seems small enough to grasp, so he, as God,
fills everything, yet will himself be cradled.
Peace will have no peace until it stills
all human misery, greed, and hate of God.

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.

Rise even now in me, my Lord, through faith;
rise in my heart’s depth with your power,
that I give witness to the world that you have risen!
Let me, proclaiming you with zeal, use all my breath,
and let your Sun of grace now rise.
Roll every error-stone from heart and mouth,
and I’ll confess you freely, boldly, every hour.
Let no created thing steal my heart’s comfort.
Stay with me in this world, for it is evening.
Give honey from the rock, and sweetness from your wounds.
I feel my heart’s on fire from your words;
you rouse and also satisfy desire. 
My heart, closed to all but you, my Lord, 
rejoices in your risen might and presence.

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.

The First: The Sun Darkening

Because the Soul- and Angel-Sun, clear light of heaven,
the very God-self radiance, shrouds itself in cloud,
it’s only fitting my sorrowing beams must also hide.
Who would not, when God suffers, suffer too?
They are unworthy of my rays who view Him undisturbed.
This darkness-terror wakens a new Mercy-Sun,
whose heat and flash my ardor and favor cannot match.
No foggy air nor cloud can interrupt that shining.
Ah, I simply cannot watch the Source of my life die,
or hear the noble mouth that spoke me into being, sigh.
I’d rather, for this Light of Light, choose my own dimming.
Oh, you blind people, see the gruesome horror of your sin
whose dark iniquity will darken God’s illumination.
Out of extreme extremity shines out the sun of your salvation.

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.