“If you love me, do not weep.
If you only knew the gift of God and what Heaven is!
If only you could hear the angels’ song from where you
are, and see me among them! If you could only see
before your eyes the eternal fields with their
horizons, and the new paths in which I walk! If only
you could contemplate for one moment the Beauty that I
see, Beauty before which all others fail and fade!
Why do you who saw me and loved me in the land of
shadows, why do you think you will not see me and love
me again in the land of unchanging realities?
Believe me, when death breaks your chains as it has
broken mine, when, on the day chosen by God, your soul
reaches Heaven where I have preceded you, then you
will see her who loved and still loves you. You will
find her heart the same, her tenderness even purer
than before.
God forbid that on entering a happier life, I should
become less loving, unfaithful to the memories and
real joys of my other life. You will see me again
transfigured in ecstasy and happiness, no longer
waiting for death, but ever hand in hand with you,
walking in the new paths of light and life, slaking my
thirst to the full at the feet of God from a fount of
which one never tires, and which you will come to
share with me.
Wipe away your tears, and if you love me truly, weep
no more.”
– THE WORDS OF ST. MONICA’S SOUL TO ST. AUGUSTINE