The Annunciation, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898, via Wikimedia Commons
Let the Word, I pray, be to me,
not as a word spoken only to pass away,
but conceived and clothed in flesh, not in air,
that he may remain with us.
Let him be, not only heard with the ears,
but to be seen with the eyes,
touched by the hands and borne on the shoulders.
Let the Word be to me,
not as a word written and silent,
but incarnate and living.
That is, not traced with dead signs upon dead parchments
but living impressed in human form
upon my chaste womb;
not by the tracing of a pen of lifeless reed,
but by the operation of the Holy Spirit.
Let it thus be to me,
as was never done to anyone before me,
not after me shall be done.
Bernard of Clairvaux 1090-1153 French Benedictine abbot
not as a word spoken only to pass away,
but conceived and clothed in flesh, not in air,
that he may remain with us.
Let him be, not only heard with the ears,
but to be seen with the eyes,
touched by the hands and borne on the shoulders.
Let the Word be to me,
not as a word written and silent,
but incarnate and living.
That is, not traced with dead signs upon dead parchments
but living impressed in human form
upon my chaste womb;
not by the tracing of a pen of lifeless reed,
but by the operation of the Holy Spirit.
Let it thus be to me,
as was never done to anyone before me,
not after me shall be done.
Bernard of Clairvaux 1090-1153 French Benedictine abbot
_____________________________
1 John 1:1-2
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked at and our hands have touched—
this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it,
and we proclaim to you the eternal life,
which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
1 John 1:1-2
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked at and our hands have touched—
this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it,
and we proclaim to you the eternal life,
which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
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When has the presence of Jesus been offered to you?
When have you offered the presence of Jesus to someone else?
When have you offered the presence of Jesus to someone else?
prayer & verse 
