Sanctuary

I will put my sanctuary among them forever,

 the sanctuary of my wounded body.

My dwelling shall be with them,

the sanctuary of my broken body.

I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the Lord,

 by the sanctuary of my body,

who make Israel holy,
when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever,

 that is the sanctuary of my crucified body.

 I will console and gladden them after their sorrows,

 by the sanctuary of my broken and risen body.

It is better for us
that one man should die instead of the people,
so that the whole nation may not perish,

 but may be hidden in the sanctuary of his body.

Poetic rendition of today's readings by one of the monks.

Illustration by Eric Gill.