Ladies of Gold, Volume Three

Then, in the midst of my giving of thanks, to my utter surprise and delight, “Jesus, Himself, drew near!” (Luke 24:15) I saw our Beloved walking in our midst—as in a garden of lilies—with great tenderness and concern. We, His lilies, were all lying in the dust, our stems broken, our blossoms trampled down.
It was as though a violent storm had beaten us and left our garden ravaged! He walked most carefully, so as not to crush even a tiny shoot. And He spoke in a whisper, as though to Himself, these words: “By reason of many breakings.” Then He stooped and began to lift each stem up and brush the dust and gravel away. As He did so, He said, “I am the lifter up of your head.” (Psalm 3:3)
Although He spoke no other words, He conveyed His thoughts to me by the Spirit. I shall try to relate them, though no words can possibly give them the color and meaning they had to my illumined heart. He reminded me that the epitome of all knowledge and wisdom is to KNOW GOD—Who and What He is and was and ever shall be. “That I may know Him!” cried our father St. Paul, and every saint reechoes that cry. This is the first and great essential. And a second, like unto it is, “Know thyself!” The basic cry in the heart of man in every generation is, “Who am I, what am I, whither have I come, and where am I going?”