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And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You shall no longer be termed Forsaken,
Nor your land anymore be termed Desolate;
But you shall be called Hephzibah,
For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.
He tried to converse with the voice. He asked to whom he should say this.
It has already been said, the voice answered. It is simply being remembered.
Paulo felt a lump in his throat. It was a miracle, and he gave thanks to God.
The golden globe of the sun was rising above the horizon.
He put down the pad and pen, stood up, and held out his hands in the direction of the light. He asked that all of that energy of hope--hope that a new day brings to millions of people on the face of the earth--would enter through his fingers and repose in his heart. He asked that he might always believe in the new world, in the angels, and in the open gates to paradise. He asked for protection by his angel and the Virgin Mary--for him, for all whom he loved, and for his work.
The butterfly came to him and, responding to a secret sign from his angel, landed on his left hand. He kept absolutely still, because he was in the presence of another miracle: His angel had responded.
He felt the universe stop at that moment: the sun, the butterfly, and the desert there before him.
And in the next moment, the air around him trembled. It wasn't the wind. It was a shock of air--the same as one feels when a car is passed by a bus at high speed.
A shiver of absolute terror ran up his spine.
SOMEONE WAS THERE.
"Do not turn around," he heard the voice say.
His heart was pounding, and he was beginning to feel dizzy. He knew it was fear. A terrible fear. He remained motionless, his arms extended before him, the butterfly poised on his hand.
I'm going to pass out, he thought.
"Do not pass out," the voice said.
He was trying to maintain control of himself, but his hands were cold, and he began to tremble. The butterfly flew away, and he lowered his arms.
"Kneel down," the voice said.
He knelt. He couldn't think. There was nowhere to go.
"Clear the ground,"
He did as the voice ordered. With his hands, he brushed a small area in the sand directly in front of him so that it was smooth. His heart continued to beat rapidly, and he was feeling more and more dizzy. He thought he might even have a heart attack.
"Look at the ground."
An intense light, almost as strong as the morning sun, shone on his left side. He didn't want to look directly at it, and wished only that everything would end quickly. For a moment, he recalled his childhood, when appearances of Our Lady had been described to children. He had passed many sleepless nights as a child, asking God never to order the Virgin to appear to him--because the prospect was so frightening. Scary.
The same fright that he was experiencing now.
"Look at the ground," the voice insisted.
He looked down at the area he had just swept clear. And that was when the golden arm, as brilliant as the sun, appeared, and began to write in the sand.
"This is my name," the voice said.
