Blessed are you, O Upper Room, so small
in comparison to the entirety of creation;
yet what took place in you
now fills all creation –
which is even too small for it.
Blessed is your abode, for in it was broken
that Bread which issues
from the blessed Wheat Sheaf,
and in you was trodden out
the Cluster of Grapes that came from Mary
to become the Cup of Salvation.
Blessed are you, O Upper Room;
no-one has ever seen
nor ever shall see, what you beheld:
Our Lord became at once
The Altar, Priest, Bread, and Cup of Salvation.
In His own person
He could fulfil all these roles;
none other was capable of this:
Whole Offering and Lamb,
Sacrifice and Sacrificer,
Priest and the One destined to be consumed.
St Ephrem the Syrian