12/21/2018 6:25:41 AM
"Mary traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah"
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By his voice alone Christ, to begin with, is recognized by his Church. For he first sent her his voice ahead of him through the prophets, and so, although he was not seen, he was heard. And he was heard through the things they proclaimed about him while the Bride, that is the Church, which has been gathered together since the beginning of time, heard his voice only until the time when she saw him with her eyes and said: "Behold, here he comes, leaping upon the mountains!"… Now every soul — if any there be who is constrained by love for the Word of God… — is made happy and consoled when it feels the presence of the Bridegroom whenever some riddle or obscure saying of the Law or the Prophets hem it in. When he has begun to draw closer and closer to her senses and to illuminate things that are obscure then she sees him "leaping upon the mountains and the hills"… so that this soul can rightly say: "Behold, he comes!"…Certainly, the Bridegroom promises and tells his Bride, that is, his chosen disciples: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Mt 28:20). Nevertheless he tells her elsewhere that he is going away to seek a kingdom for himself (Lk 19:12); and yet again it is said with reference to the absent Bridegroom that at midnight there was a cry made: "Behold, the Bridegroom comes!" (Mt 25:6). Thus the Bridegroom is sometimes present and teaching, and sometimes He is said to be absent and then He is desired… So also is it with the soul. When she is trying to understand something and desiring to know some obscure and secret matters, so long as she cannot find what she is looking for the Word of God is surely absent from her. But when the thing she seeks comes to meet her, and appears to her, who doubts but that the Word of God is present, illuminating her mind and offering to her the light of knowledge? If, then, we too want to see the Word of God, the Bridegroom of the soul, "leaping upon the mountains and skipping over the hills," we must first hear his voice and then we shall be able to see him.