The Bridegroom is Coming

The ancient Israelites were waiting for the Bridegroom of YHWH to come and save them. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Baruch, and Amos had all foretold that the time of the coming of the Divine Bridegroom would be like a wedding feast. Sweet wine would drip from the mountains, the voice of the bride and bridegroom would be heard once more, the choicest meats would be served in abundance, and singing and dancing would replace weeping and mourning. “And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water”. (Joel 3:18)

“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined. And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:6-9

The Blessed Mother knew well the prophecies. At the wedding of Cana, she knew that the bride and the bridegroom and all the guests had run out of not just literal wine but they lacked spiritual “wine”. They had run out of hope and joy. They were in need of their Savior. When she said to her Son, “They have run out of wine.”, they both knew the deeper meaning. They knew the Bridegroom of YHWH, the long-awaited Messiah, had come. And when the disciples of Jesus witnessed His first miracle, the transformation of water into an overflowing abundance of wine at a wedding feast, they too knew that the Bridegroom had come.

“This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” John 2:11

And, now, we are the guests at the spiritual wedding feast who have run out of wine. We await the second coming of our Divine Bridegroom and the eternal wedding feast where the wine never runs dry. Our yearly celebration of the liturgical season of Advent is a reminder of the Bride’s perpetual state of hopeful expectation and ardent longing. With the Bride of the Song of Songs, we must endeavor to desire that “he kiss us with the kisses of his mouth.’ We must long to see our Bridegroom face to face above all else.

And we must believe and hope in the truth that the Bridegroom is coming.

He is coming in our time as the Bridegroom of each unique, unrepeatable, and cherished soul. He is coming to heal and restore the purity of our wounded hearts. The father of lies with his distortions of God’s truths regarding love, sex, and marriage has attacked each soul on a deeply personal and intimate level and his destruction has insidiously infected our hearts, our homes, the culture, the, the world. And so the Bridegroom comes to each soul, inviting us to a deeply personal and intimate encounter, a spousal relationship. And soon His incomprehensible beautiful spousal love will pour out of all of the hearts He touches and like a flood of life-giving cleansing water. Our desert hearts and the wasteland of the world will come alive, blooming with flowers of grace and mercy.

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing… For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water… the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isaiah 35:1,2,6,7,10)

Will you join me in praying with the Bride of the Song of Songs this Advent and beyond, “Before the dawn-wind rises, before the shadows flee, return! Be, my Beloved, like a gazelle, a young stag, on the mountains of the covenant.” (2:17) For when the Bridegroom comes, surely, the mountains shall drip sweet wine, the wine of His love and His love is better than wine. He is our joy and our gladness!

Laura Ercolino, Copyright 2024