O wise virgin                so willing to leave your people behind                to wed the only One                who could win your heart,                the Lord Jesus Christ,                you were not swayed                by punishment or persecution                to renounce Him whom you loved                but remained humble and diligent                in your chastity and poverty and penance,                sleeping on thorny mats                for your Bridegroom and your persecutors –                pray we too will be led into the desert,                into the wilderness where God speaks,                that we, too, might be espoused to Him                and wait patiently for His coming,                when all our scarred faces                will be transformed as yours by His glory.                Pray every tribe and tongue and nation                will come in innocence before the Lord                and so be adopted                as sons and daughters                of the great King.