A Prayer by John Henry Cardinal Newman, Slightly Revised

Praise to you, Holiest, in the height,
And in the depth be praise;
In all your words most wonderful,
Most sure in all your ways.

O loving wisdom of my God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to my rescue came.

O wisest love! that flesh and blood,
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail.

And that a higher gift than grace
Should flesh and blood refine,
Your Presence and your very Self,
And Essence all divine.

O generous love! that you, who smote,
In Man for man the foe,
The double agony in Man
For man should undergo.

And in the garden secretly,
And on the Cross on high,
Should teach His brethren, and inspire
To suffer and to die.

Praise to you, Holiest in the height,
And in the depths be praise;
In all your words most wonderful,
Most sure in all your ways.

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