First Day

" Father, I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me ; that they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me, because Thou hast loved Me before the creation of the world."¹ Such was Christ's last desire, His supreme prayer, before returning to the Father. He wishes that where He is, we too may be both in eternity and in the present time, which is eternity begun yet still progressing. Where, then, are we to be with Him, that His divine ideal may be realized ? St. John of the Cross tells us that the Son of God is hidden "in the bosom of the Father, which is the divine Essence, transcending all mortal vision, and hidden from all human understanding, as Isaias said, speaking to God : ' Verily, Thou art a hidden God !' "f Yet it is His will that we should abide permanently in Him ; that we should dwell where He dwells in the unity of love, " Buried with Him by baptism," says St. Paul. J

And again: "God hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places,² through Jesus Christ: that He might show in the ages to come the abundant riches of His grace, in His bounty towards us in Christ Jesus."* He adds : " Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and domestics of God."f The Blessed Trinity is our dwelling-place, our home, our Father's house, which we ought never to leave. The divine Master said : " The servant abideth not in the house for ever ; but the Son abideth for ever. "J