Praise to the holiest in the height

This hymn has been going through my mind today, and I want to share it as part of my praise offering for this feast-day of the Annunciation. By the way, happy name day to everyone named Evangelos and Evangelia, Gabriel and Gabriela, Mario, Mary and Maria… Chronía pollá! Many years!

Praise to the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise;
in all His words most wonderful,
most sure in all His ways!

O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
a second Adam to the fight
and to the 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 the highest gift of grace
should flesh and blood refine:
God's presence and His very self,
and essence all-divine.

O generous love! that He 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 the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise;
in all His words most wonderful,
most sure in all His ways!

— Words: John Henry Newman (1801-1890), 1866