Triumphant Church: through ages past were ye
Chosen for sons among the tribes, to be
The First-fruits of Redemption; verily,
Vain is the malice of the Enemy,
Vain in the past, and vain shall ever be.
This see they, and they fall adoringly
Before the Throne of Jesus: now they see
In open vision clear, man's destiny -
The strife 'twixt good and evil; and they see
How evil shall be crushed eternally.
But time is time no longer: lo, they see,
E'en as the course of time unendingly
In God is ever Now; so, changelessly,
The gaze of Glorified Humanity
Conceives the whole as present, endlessly.
In God our Nature glorified, we see
All interpenetrated brilliantly
With light so subtle, that each soul must be
By contemplating God, ineffably
Drawn to the confines of Divinity.
Each separate soul a separate Heaven must be
In which His Beauty shines translucently.
Yet each with each, though varying rank may be,
Form but one cycle in the Entity
Of that Eternal Vision which they see.
And in this Fount of Bliss most lovingly
Do they not look upon the world, and see
Each soul that calls to them for aid, to be
The object of their intercession; yea, to be
Their helpers in the struggle, mightily?
Yet is their joy not less; for who may see
The Face of God and not transported be
With overpowering love and ecstasy?
For happiness in God will ever be
The mother of Divinest Charity.
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote