The Debtor
How much I owe You, You Yourself know!
I still grieve over old wounds.
Why do You love me so much?
When I look back, in the distance I see an old face.
Why did You set me free, lead my soul out of the swamp,
to give me birth again, to wake me?
Of love, even now I do not know enough.
Give me Your peaceful hand,
overcome the waves, the pillars of fear.
Forgive the unsightly things that were my theme!
Whatever my debt to You may be,
You open Your arms to me
and in Your embrace reconcile me with Yourself.
Your love knows how to hurt
and to bring tears,
and this will not end until the end of life.
I know that I owe You much
and I am afraid to count it,
because nothing on earth
is called my own skill.
View
The view is not mine, You gave it to me,
I could not gain repentance by myself.
It is better to say that repentance is the mystery of life,
it takes a laborious struggle
and burning up entirely in sin.
When you understand that you are sorry,
because you are naked and barefoot,
that you hunger for love,
that you have sinned and let your old self go.
First forgive yourself, because the road to heaven
is made of paths, failures and phases.
Through forgiveness the heart is cleansed
and the dust vanishes from the soul.
While vanity dies,
a person’s face gains joy.
Repentance is our mystery.
Porphyry
Lord, You are the only strength,
only in You can I boast
with all my heart, where love lives.
Let no one hear or take away
that in which the soul delights.
While I read the words, Holy Grace fills me
and my breath stirs.
It disturbs and lets the unholy go, but comes again.
In the forest the tender chirping is pleasing,
while the birds glorify You.
Your Highness, a miracle can be received only with the heart.
Inside everything is written and nothing can be hidden.
There is no need to fear, the Heavenly Porphyry is the essence of the human soul.
Take me away from the rubbish of sin
and from the distant desert,
so that I remember this
and through You become a human being.
Repentance
Repentance is not mine, You gave it to me,
I could not gain repentance by myself.
It is better to say that repentance is the mystery of life,
it takes a laborious struggle
and burning up entirely in sin.
When you understand that you are sorry,
because you are naked and barefoot,
that you hunger for love,
that you have sinned and let your old self go.
First forgive yourself, because the road to heaven
is made of paths, failures and phases.
Through forgiveness the heart is cleansed
and the dust vanishes from the soul.
While vanity dies,
a person’s face gains joy.
Repentance is our mystery.