© 2002 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Jesus' Miracles and the Father's Will | Volume 4, Number 1, 2002 (Summer) — Index | A Demystification and Redefinition of Cult |
The Following verses are excerpts from “The Vision of Sir Launfal” by James Russell Lowell. Sir Launfal has returned from the Crusades a beggar, his arrogance broken, and with only a single crust of bread to eat, when a leper begs him for alms.
And Sir Launfal said, “I behold in thee
An image of him who died on the tree;
Behold, through him, I give to thee!”
He parted in twain his single crust,
He broke the ice on the streamlet’s brink,
And gave the leper to eat and drink,
As Sir Launfal mused with a downcast face,
A light shone round about the place;
The leper no longer crouched at his side,
But stood before him glorified,
Shining and tall and fair and straight
As the pillar that stood by the Beautiful Gate, —
Himself the Gate whereby men can
Enter the temple of God in Man.
His words were shed softer than leaves from the pine,
And they fell on Sir Launfal as snows on the brine,
That mingle their softness and quiet in one
With the shaggy unrest they float down upon;
And the voice that was calmer than silence said,
“Lo, it is I, be not afraid!
In many climes, without avail,
Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail;
Behold it is here, - this cup which thou
Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now;
This crust is my body broken for thee,
This water His blood that died on the tree;
The Holy Supper is kept, indeed,
In whatso we share with another’s need;
Not what we give, but what we share, —
For the gift without the giver is bare;
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.”
| Jesus' Miracles and the Father's Will | Volume 4, Number 1, 2002 (Summer) — Index | A Demystification and Redefinition of Cult |