Word of the Spiritual Father of St Elisabeth Convent.
When I first visited Father Nicholas on Zalita Island, he was celebrating a liturgy. The elder came out of the altar to give communion to the parishioners. While giving communion to children, his face changed. If I were the only person who saw it, I’d conclude that it was an illusion; but there was a staunch believer standing near me and both of us turned to one another and then stared at the elder’s face. “Can you see the face of Father Nicholas?” we asked one another, because it was an icon-like face. His face was shining, and the light it radiated touched the innermost of my heart. I had come to the island with a heavy heart. I felt hopeless, as if I had hit the wall. I couldn’t see a way out. When the Lord revealed God’s beauty through the elder, all my bad thoughts dissipated, the Divine light immediately permeated my heart and my soul was exceedingly gleeful.
I felt a truly Easter-like joy of life and the Resurrection. All darkness vanished. Perhaps, that’s the act of God, who lets us see the beauty of his Eternal Love while still in this world.
I saw a similar light in another person — an elderly priest who loved kids and animals and was always open-hearted and sincere in his relationships with people. He was surprisingly similar to Father Nicholas at that moment.
They were different people but when their faces were lit up with the light of God, I noticed that they became the same and started to resemble the face of Christ. After you happen to see it, your heart is overflowing: everything becomes clear; you don’t have any questions, doubts, or guesses. This light contains a particle of God, and where is God, there is plenitude. There is Divine Light in every person but it can hardly pass through the mask that sin covers our faces with. The true image becomes blurred, eyes grow dim, the face darkens, and emptiness fills that person’s eyes.
I believe that all the liveliness and the genuineness that there is in this world is supported by the Divine Light, by the Light of God’s Love. Holy Fathers used to say that if God’s grace leaves the world, it’ll perish immediately. Therefore, that Light must still exist if the world keeps moving forward.
There is hope that the souls of those who turn to God will get saved.
