The glory of love may first be unveiled in a human salutation of love, as in the love of Beatrice for Dante, then in wisdom’s love of both that unveils human loves as icons of divine love. The way of glorification is the revelation of the glory of love, arising when illumination purifies love at the heart of the mysteries of glory. Love given and received is sheer grace, but without wisdom, the glory of love remains hidden with Christ in God. Wisdom loves both lover and beloved in her embrace of hallowing co-inherence, revealing the glory of love to the lover who is beloved. Love is wisdom’s gift of hallowing grace, personal yet universal, a gift that wisdom discerns to be an awakening to glory. Wisdom inspires love to turn and see the wonder of love, stepping back from binary, dualistic loves into the profound mystery of love, which is the glory of love. Wisdom’s love inspires love of wisdom, wisdom that discerns the glory of love revealing all the mysteries of love’s glory that ground purifying prophecy in pure prayer.
When human salutations of love turn and see with wisdom’s gaze, embracing with a kiss of peace, the intimate breath of the Spirit awakens prophecy and prayer. Prophecy refines and redefines the myth so that prayer of the Spirit in the heart may unite mind and heart in hallowing glorification. Human loves are not excluded when Christ unites male and female in paradise, wedding heaven and earth in glory. The wedding at Cana was the sign that gave birth to every sign, revealing the glory that unveils every mystery of glory. It is the sign that turns water into wine, cures sickness, heals paralysis, feeds multitudes, walks on water, opens the eyes of the blind and raises the dead, all signs of glory that unveil glory. The glory of love inspired the poetry of Dante who transmitted the way of love as Holy Co-inherence. This same glory of love inspired Charles Williams to refine the myth and Matter of Britain within the sacred embrace of Byzantium. The glory of love inspires prophecy to wed prayer in every generation, unfolding the wonder of glorification.
Prophecy employs the way of images whilst pure prayer is imageless. Both belong together in wisdom’s unveiling of the glory of love. A salutation of love is an icon or image that opens to imageless wisdom if the image bears witness to the love that transcends it. Dante was taught by this wisdom, as was Charles Williams, who placed it within a prophetic vision of the Matter of Britain within Byzantium. The salutation of love steps back into wisdom’s salutation of love, the Spirit’s love of both lover and beloved, Dante and Beatrice. The purification of love happens as illumination then glorification, unveiling the hidden glory of love. Wisdom’s ultimate vision of the glory of love is hidden in the Holy of Holies, safe from curious scrutiny and ambitious self-interest. It is unveiled when love turns and sees the glory of love hidden in the Spirit, with Christ, in God. The glory of love purifies and illumines love, raising it with Christ into the greater glory of God. This is the mystery of glorification that begins with love, grows through love and ends in love, welcoming participation for those to whom it is given.