The Divine Bridegroom Knocks

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” (Revelation 3:20)

Jesus the Divine Bridegroom literally knocked on the door of my heart and asked to sing the Song of Songs to me on the evening of June 1, 2019. My twenty-seven year marriage had, only 9 months before, ended in a tragic divorce leaving me with a broken and grieving heart. I decided I needed time alone with the Lord so He could heal my wounded heart and restore my hope for the future. I was delighted to discover that Christ the Bridegroom Monastery was only thirty minutes from my home and offered poustinias for personal retreats. On the first day of my retreat, Mother Gabriella found me sobbing in the chapel and kindly opened her heart to me. I shared my story of betrayal, covert abuse, and sexual trauma with her.

I also shared how Jesus had rescued me from the darkness and was gently leading me into His light. The journey from the darkness of sin into the light of His love and truth must be taken slowly and with patience for eyes accustomed to darkness are blinded by His light. Mother Gabriella understood this truth and because she herself knows the Divine Bridegroom, she recognized His presence in my story. Shortly after we spoke, she knocked on the door of the poustinia. When I opened the door, I knew it was Jesus Himself standing at the door and knocking. She was holding out to me an icon of Christ that she had painted and a book, The Cantata of Love: A Verse by Verse Reading of the Song of Songs. She simply said, “I think Jesus wants you to have these.”

I have often wondered if she had any idea just how true those words were and just what Jesus was going to do in my heart and the hearts of so many others because of her willingness to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit that evening. Five years have passed and now, I can say with certainty, the Bridegroom stands at the door of your heart and knocks. “Open to me my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is covered with dew, my locks with the drops of night.” (Song of Songs 5:2)

Will you let Him in and listen to His song of love?

I’m going to be honest with you. I did not want to read the Song of Songs. I had always said that I would never read The Song of Songs because I was convinced that I would never know such a beautiful, pure, and intimate love. The tender and eloquent words of love that the Bridegroom sings to his Bride throughout this book of Scripture pierced my heart like daggers. My heart had been pierced already by daggers of betrayal; beautiful words that were later revealed to be lies; confessions of love that were manipulation tactics; and marital intimacy that was an expression of lust not love. The intimacy between a bride and her bridegroom was unsafe and painful.

Jesus, the Perfect Gentleman, had other plans for me. He softly and tenderly sang The Song of Songs to my aching heart and revealed the divine meaning of its lyrics. He untwisted the distorted vision of love my life experiences had taught me. In my marriage, I had learned what love, especially spousal love, is not. Now Jesus, Love Himself, began teaching me all it is meant to be.

How wrong, how deceived, I was all those years when I believed that the Bridegroom of The Song of Songs would only cause me more pain. I have met many others, women and men, whose wounds have led them to believe that the Song of Songs is not for them. The truth is, The Divine Bridegroom, Jesus, Who we meet in the Song, is the only remedy for our deepest heart wounds. His spousal love, pure and true, is the antidote to the poison of distorted love.

This is how Jesus heals. He uses the very thing that wounded us as the remedy. In His healing there is redemption and restoration. The book of Holy Scripture that I most resisted, that made me cry with longing and regret, is now the healing balm I can’t get enough of and the heart of my ministry, Hope’s Garden. I look back now and imagine how Jesus must have smiled as He thought with delight of the future I could not see or begin to imagine. As St. Augustine learned so many centuries ago, when we look into our deepest wounds with Christ, we will see His glory and be dazzled.

May the Lord grant us the courage our vulnerable and wounded hearts need so that we may be able to enter into His song and allow Him to heal us. All for the glory of our Divine Bridegroom with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Laura Ercolino, Copyright 2026

You are invited to join us for our coed Song of Songs Scripture Study.  Sessions begin April 19th and meet virtually on Sundays at 8pm eastern time.  Click here for all the information and JOIN US!