Jul 13, 2023
O wise virgin
so willing to leave your people behind
to wed the only One
who could win your heart,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
you were not swayed
by punishment or persecution
to renounce Him whom you loved
but remained humble and diligent
in your chastity and poverty and penance,
sleeping on thorny mats
for your Bridegroom and your persecutors –
pray we too will be led into the desert,
into the wilderness where God speaks,
that we, too, might be espoused to Him
and wait patiently for His coming,
when all our scarred faces
will be transformed as yours by His glory.
Pray every tribe and tongue and nation
will come in innocence before the Lord
and so be adopted
as sons and daughters
of the great King.