Woman of Love and Compassion

This is a story told by a man whose darkest hours were rendered brighter for a fleeting moment by the simple act of an unknown woman.

      He said: “I couldn't walk very fast. My feet were dragging with exhaustion. I ached in every cell of my body. I was sweating all over and dirty.

      I felt the stickiness of blood oozing all over my body.

      I staggered under a heavy beam of wood.

      I could feel hostile glances all around me.

      I could sense that they were in a fever to tear me apart.

      Then I saw this woman stepping out of the mob.

      She was coming towards me.

      She was slender and very brave.

      There were tears in her eyes.

      They spilled down her cheeks.

      She held a veil in her hands.

      With it she wiped the dirt and blood from my face.

      That was all that she did.

      It took but a moment, but how cool and clean my face felt now.

      An emotion of love shot through me.

      I knew for that instant, warmth like the sun on the cold loneliness of this way I was walking alone.

      My way was made easier by her simple act.

      Because now I carried her love in my heart as I moved on.

       And I loved her for what she did; loved her very much, this nameless woman out of time and space.

       History calls her Veronica.

       But that wasn't really her name.

       Her name is Love.

       Her name is Mercy and Compassion.

       She is one who cares; one who braves a mob to help a brother in need.

       She is one who is forever my love, because in that dark hour she came to me and left my imprint on her veil.

       I emblazoned it permanently on her life.

       She is wearing it now like a golden icon around her neck.

       It is forever a part of her — up here where she walks beside me in my garden.

       Where is my garden?

       It is located in the Kingdom of my Father that has no end.”