Bright Wednesday: Let us become like Christ...

IV. Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him;

yesterday I died with Him; today I am quickened with Him;

yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise with Him.

But let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for us -- you will think perhaps that I am going to say gold, or silver, or woven work or transparent and costly stones, the mere passing material of earth, that remains here below, and is for the most part always possessed by bad men, slaves of the world and of the Prince of the world.

Let us offer ourselves, the possession most precious to God, and most fitting; let us give back to the Image what is made after the Image.

Let us recognize our Dignity;

let us honour our Archetype;

let us know the power of the Mystery, and for what Christ died.

V. Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us.

Let us become God's for His sake, since He for ours became Man.

He assumed the worse that He might give us the better;

He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich;

He took upon Him the form of a servant that we might receive back our liberty;

He came down that we might be exalted;

He was tempted that we might conquer;

He was dishonoured that He might glorify us;

He died that He might save us;

He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who were lying low in the Fall of sin.

Let us give all, offer all, to Him Who gave Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us.

But one can give nothing like oneself, understanding the Mystery, and becoming for His sake all that He became for ours.

Paschal Oration (Oration 1) of St Gregory the Theologian