Now I see the hope of my young and grieving heart fulfilled in the vision before my eyes.
In those days of grief, I had felt the Lord’s prayer, coming from his beating heart straight to the heart of the Father. When I lay with my head against that sorrowing heart it seemed as though my own heart would break with the love and grief which poured from the heart of Jesus. We gathered close to him, absorbed in his words, he told us that someone would betray him and another one deny him. Our Teacher would leave us.
The Advocate
There were words of consolation, however, as well as sadness. He would not leave us as orphans, he would send the Advocate to comfort and guide us, and he the Son and the Father would never leave us. That prayer flowed on and on and sometimes we understood and sometimes we were lost in our grief. He prayed for us and prayed through us and beyond us, for the ones as yet unknown to us, the ones he loved through us and entrusted to us.
All the time the prayer flowed out from his heart until I was drenched in it, and I loved him with a love beyond any love I could imagine. Permeated with his prayer I perceived the divine love rising up within me to encompass those he had given me, and all those he would give to us as the years rolled on until we would be bound together in the glory of our Lord, united in love. The brightness of this love would shine out for all the world to see.
We gathered closer to the Lord as the prayer rose up to the Father, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Father and Son
We knew without a doubt that Jesus was sent by the Father. We knew the Father gazed on us in the face of the Son. The face of Jesus shone with the love that passed between the Father and the Son. The love of the Father passed to us and the glory which filled the Son entered us.
Some part of that glory trailed us as we went into the garden, but the night grew dark and cold. The betrayer came and we were scattered into the night while Jesus’ glory became his passion. He put me into the safekeeping of the Ark who sheltered him, and he breathed his spirit back to his Father. The Woman wrapped her cloak around her. The beating heart stopped but as I held the Woman in my arms the glory flowed from that heart like a fountain of life.
I Saw and Believed
Mary of Magdala arrived, distraught; – the bride who sought her love but could not find him. It was I who outran Peter and saw the linen cloths lying there. I saw and I believed. The Lord arrived among us, like the Bridegroom, coming at last as the lamps burn low. He gave us the Holy Spirit, as he had promised, before going to his Father as he had said.
This is the Spirit who fills me now, on the island of Patmos. Here the angel has shown me my Lord Jesus again. So, I know this vision is true and I am a witness to his glory. I have seen that glory as a river which flows from him and from the Father, like the river of Eden. I have seen the tree of life Jesus calls to all who will listen. He is that beginning, and he is the end; the source and the Morning Star. We are called to feed from the tree of life and drink the water of life.
He is the Bridegroom coming to his Bride.
Come, Lord Jesus!
[Readings: Acts 7:55-60; Rev 22:12-14, 16-17, 20; Jn 17:20-26]
