Come out for a little while, I pray you, from the body,
and picture before your eyes the reward for your present labor,  [i]  
that eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither has it entered into the heart of man  [ii]
 
What shall that day be like
when Mary the mother of the Lord
shall come to meet you,
accompanied by bands of virgins?
 
When, the Red Sea passed and Pharaoh drowned with his army,
holding a timbrel she shall sing to those who will reply:
Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified.
The horse and the rider he has thrown into the sea.
 
Then shall your Spouse himself come to meet you and shall say:
Arise, come, my love, my beautiful one, my dove,
for winter is now past, the rain is over and gone   [iii]
Then the angels shall marvel.               
 
Your mother in the flesh and your spiritual mother
shall be there, in different companies.
The former will rejoice that she bore you,
the latter will exult that she taught you
 
Then in truth the Lord shall mount his donkey and enter the heavenly Jerusalem.
Then the little children waving palms of victory shall sing with one accord:
Hosanna in the highest; blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord: hosanna in the highest.
 
Then the hundred and forty-four thousand
shall hold their harps before the throne
and in sight of the ancients and shall sing a new song:
These are they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.   [iv]
 
As often as the world’s vain ambition delights you,
as often as you see in mundane affairs
something that vaunts itself,
transport yourself in your thoughts to paradise:
 
begin to be what you shall be.
And you shall hear from your Bridegroom:
Put me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm.
 
And fortified both in fact and in mind,
you shall exclaim:
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it.
 
 
[i]   Saint Jerome  († 420)  was a hermit, papal secretary, and Scripture scholar.  From The Letters of St. Jerome: Letters 1-22, Vol. 1, translated by Charles Christopher Mierow  (“Daily Companion”.  Magnificat.  September 30, 2021).  – Note:  all Bible references for this reflection come from  the Magnificat translation.      

[ii] (1 Cor 2:9). 
[iii] (Sg 2:10-11,   Song of Songs)  
[iv]  (Rv 14:4)