O Godhead (adoro Te Devote)

O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee,

Who truly art within the forms before me; To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee, As failing quite in contemplating Thee.

Jesu, eternal Shepherd! hear our cry; Increase the faith of all whose souls on Thee rely.

Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceived; The ear alone most safely is believed; I believe all the Son of God has spoken, Than truth's own word there is no truer token.

God only on the cross lay hid from view; But here lies hid at once the manhood too; And I, in both professing my belief, Make the same prayer as the repentant thief.

Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see; Yet Thee confess my Lord and God to be; Make me believe Thee evermore and more; In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.

O Thou memorial of our Lord's own dying! O living bread, to mortals life suppying! Make Thou my soul henceforth on Thee to live, Ever a taste of heavenly sweetness give.

O loving Pelican! O Jesus Lord! Unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy Blood! Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt, Can purge the entire world from all its guilt.

Jesus, whom, for the present, veil'd I see, What I so thirst for, oh! vouchsafe to me; That I may see Thy countenance unfolding, And may be blest Thy glory in beholding.