was; he lived in God

and possessed in him

his infinite happiness.

That same Word was God,

who is the Beginning;

he was in the beginning

and had no beginning.

He was himself the Beginning

and therefore had no beginning.

The Word is called Son;

he was born of the Beginning

who had always conceived him,

giving of his substance always,

yet always possessing it.

And thus the glory of the Son

was the Father's glory,

and the Father possessed

all his glory in the Son.

As the lover in the beloved

each lived in the other,

and the Love that unites them

is one with them,

their equal, excellent as

the One and the Other:

Three Persons, and one Beloved

among all three.

One love in them all

makes of them one Lover,

and the Lover is the Beloved

in whom each one lives.

For the being that the three possess

each of them possesses,

and each of them loves

him who bears this being.

Each one is this being,

which alone unites them,

binding them deeply,

one beyond words.

Thus it is a boundless Love that unites them,

for the three have one love

which is their essence;

and the more love is one

the more it is love.

2. On the communication among the Three Persons.

In that immense love

proceeding from the two

the Father spoke words

of great affection to the Son,

words of such profound delight

that no one understood them;

they were meant for the Son,

and he alone rejoiced in them.

What he heard

was this:

"My Son, only your

company contents me,

and when something pleases me

I love that thing in you;

whoever resembles you most

satisfies me most,

and whoever is like you in nothing

will find nothing in me.

I am pleased with you alone,

O life of my life!

You are the light of my light,

you are my wisdom,

the image of my substance

in whom I am well pleased.

My Son, I will give myself

to him who loves you

and I will love him

with the same love I have for you,

because he has loved

you whom I love so."

3. On creation.

"My Son, I wish to give you

a bride who will love you.

Because of you she will deserve

to share our company,

and eat at our table,

the same bread I eat,

that she may know the good

I have in such a Son;

and rejoice with me

in your grace and fullness."

"I am very grateful,"

the Son answered;

"I will show my brightness

to the bride you give me,

so that by it she may see

how great my Father is,

and how I have received

my being from your being.

I will hold her in my arms

and she will burn with your love,

and with eternal delight

she will exalt your goodness."

Continues

"Let it be done, then," said the Father,

for your love has deserved it.

And by these words

the world was created,

a palace for the bride

made with great wisdom

and divided into rooms,

one above, the other below.

The lower was furnished

with infinite variety,

while the higher was made

beautiful

with marvelous jewels,

that the bride might know

the Bridegroom she had.

The orders of angels

were placed in the higher,

but humanity was given

the lower place,

for it was, in its being,

a lesser thing.

And though beings and places

were divided in this way,

yet all form one,

who is called the bride;

for love of the same Bridegroom

made one bride of them.

Those higher ones possessed

the Bridegroom in gladness;

the lower in hope, founded

on the faith that he infused in them,

telling them that one day

he would exalt them,

and that he would lift them

up from their lowness

so that no one

could mock it any more;

for he would make himself

wholly like them,

and he would come to them

and dwell with them;

and God would be man

and man would be God,

and he would walk with them

and eat and drink with them;

and he himself would be

with them continually

until the consummation

of this world,

when, joined, they would rejoice

in eternal song;

for he was the Head

of this bride of his

to whom all the members

of the just would be joined,

who form the body of the bride.

He would take her

tenderly in his arms

and there give her his love;

and when they were thus one,

he would lift her to the Father

where God's very joy

would be her joy.

For as the Father and the Son

and he who proceeds from them

live in one another,

so it would be with the bride;

for, taken wholly into God,

she will live the life of God.

Continues

By this bright hope

which came to them from above,

their wearying labors

were lightened;

but the drawn-out waiting

and their growing desire

to rejoice with their Bridegroom

wore on them continually.

So, with prayers

and sighs and suffering,

with tears and moanings

they asked night and day

that now he would determine

to grant them his company.

Some said: "If only

this joy would come in my time!"

Others: "Come, Lord,

send him whom you will send!"

And others: "Oh, if only these heavens

would break, and with my own eyes

I could see him descending;

then I would stop my crying out."

"Oh, clouds, rain down from your height,

earth needs you,

and let the earth open,

which has borne us thorns;

let it bring forth that flower

that would be its flowering."

Others said: "What gladness

for him who is living then,

who will be able to see God

with his own eyes,

and touch him with his hand

and walk with him

and enjoy the mysteries

which he will then ordain."

Continues

In these and other prayers

a long time had passed;

but in the later years

their fervor swelled and grew

when the aged Simeon

burned with longing,

and begged God that he

might see this day.

And so the Holy Spirit

answering the good old man

gave him his word

that he would not see death

until he saw Life

descending from the heights,

until he took God himself

into his own hands

and holding him in his arms,

pressed him to himself.

The Incarnation

Now that the time had come

when it would be good

to ransom the bride

serving under the hard yoke

of that law

which Moses had given her,

the Father, with tender love,

spoke in this way:

"Now you see, Son, that your bride

was made in your image,

and so far as she is like you

she will suit you well;

yet she is different, in her flesh,

which your simple being does not have.

In perfect love

this law holds:

that the lover become

like the one he loves;

for the greater their likeness

the greater their delight.

Surely your bride's delight

would greatly increase

were she to see you like her,

in her own flesh."

"My will is yours,"

the Son replied,

"and my glory is

that your will be mine.

This is fitting, Father,

what you, the Most High, say;

for in this way

your goodness will be more

evident,

your great power will be seen

and your justice and wisdom.

I will go and tell the world,

spreading the word

of your beauty and sweetness

and of your sovereignty.

I will go seek my bride

and take upon myself

her weariness and labors

in which she suffers so;

and that she may have life,

I will die for her,

and lifting her out of that deep,

I will restore her to you."

Continues

Then he called

the archangel Gabriel

and sent him to

the virgin Mary,

at whose consent

the mystery was wrought,

in whom the Trinity

clothed the Word with flesh.

and though Three work this,

it is wrought in the One;

and the Word lived incarnate

in the womb of Mary.

And he who had only a Father

now had a Mother too,

but she was not like others

who conceive by man.

From her own flesh

he received his flesh,

so he is called

Son of God and of man.

The Birth

When the time had come

for him to be born,

he went forth like the

bridegroom

from his bridal chamber,

embracing his bride,

holding her in his arms,

whom the gracious Mother

laid in a manger

among some animals

that were there at that time.

Men sang songs

and angels melodies

celebrating the marriage

of Two such as these.

But God there in the manger

cried and moaned;

and these tears were jewels

the bride brought to the

wedding.

The Mother gazed in sheer wonder

on such an exchange:

in God, man's weeping,

and in man, gladness,

to the one and the other

things usually so strange.

Finis