Hoc Est Corpus Meum

Hoc Est Corpus Meum


This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is by Cynthia Erlandson.

Hoc Est Corpus Meum

Father, by whose mighty word
Out of nothing all was made,
Whose deep voice the darkness heard,
By whose order chaos fled,
By whose manna-giving hand
Every living thing is fed,
Can we doubt thy Son’s command?
Canst thou not make flesh from bread?

Christ, who bidd’st thy bride to dine,
God from God and flesh from word
Who made water into wine
Which the wedding servants poured,
And who, by thy hidden yeast,
With five loaves five thousand fed,
Host of this thy wedding feast,
Thou hast made thyself our bread.

[from the author’s collection, These Holy Mysteries]


Cynthia Erlandson is a poet and fitness professional. Her three collections are These Holy Mysteries, poems for the church year; Notes on Time, a tribute to the themes of time and music; and Foundations of the Cross and Other Bible Stories, which has been accepted for publication by Wipf and Stock. Her poems have appeared in The Book of Common Praise hymnal, First Things, The Society of Classical Poets, The Catholic Poetry Room, Modern Age, and elsewhere. She is a Top Four winner of the 2023 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest.

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Turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer