The Unseen Presence drew nearer.
She closed her eyes to the sculptured form.
The touch of her Lord was upon her heart.
She had prayed in her cell that His pierced feet nailed to the wood
might become as dear to her as the Baby feet on the Virgin Mother's
knees. In her anguish of cloistered sorrow, that prayer had been
granted.
But out in the world of living men and things, she needed more. She
needed Feet that walked and moved, passed in and out of house and home;
paused by the hearth; went to the wedding feast; moved to the fresh
closed grave; Feet that had sampled the dust of life's highway; Feet
that had trod rough places, yet never tripped nor stumbled.
"Tempted in all points." . . . Then here was One Who could understand
Hugh's hard temptation; Who could pity, if Hugh fell. Here was One Who
would comprehend the breaking of her poor human heart if, loving Hugh
as she now loved, she yet must leave him.
"A great High Priest." . . . What need of any other priest, while
"with Him in the Holy Mount"? Passed into the heavens, yet ever living
to make intercession for us.
Deep peace stole into her heart, as she knelt in absorbed communion in
this sacred place, where, for the first time, in her religious life,
she had found herself with "Jesus only."
"Ah, blessed Lord!" she cried at length, "Thou Who knowest the heart of
a man, and canst divine the heart of a woman, grant unto me this day a
true vision; a vision which shall make clear to me, without any
possibility of doubt, what is Thy will for me.
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