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Joseph,
Joseph, Joseph
The Temple Has Returned to Nauvoo
Photo Essay 3—Nightfall at the Nauvoo Temple
Photography:
Scot Facer Proctor
Text: Maurine Jensen Proctor
Note:
Click any images below to enlarge.
The white and
gold temple, with its inscription "Holiness to the Lord,' was the
symbol of their faith and their sacrifice, the sorrow of their abandonings.
When the rooms were opened on December 10, 1845, they flocked to
the temple for the sacred ordinances that would sanctify their loss.
In January Brigham
Young wrote, "Such has been the anxiety manifested by the saints
to receive the ordinances, and such the anxiety on our part to administer
to them, that I have given myself up entirely to the work of the
Lord in the Temple night and day, not taking more than four hours
sleep, upon an average, per day, and going home but once a week."
Then on a biting
day in February, they started to leave, heading for the river down
a road they called the Trail of Tears. On the western shore on the
last prominence where Nauvoo could still be seen, the Saints turned
for a wistful, parting glance.
"The top of
this hill, I was aware," wrote Priddy Meeks, "was the last point
from which I could see the Nauvoo temple. I have no words with which
to convey a proper conception of my feelings when taking a last
look at this sacred monument...After the lapse of thirty-six years
I can scarcely restrain my feelings when I write of it."
After their
final departure, most of them, including Brigham Young, who lived
thirty-one more years, would never see Nauvoo again.
The Trail of
Tears has been renamed the Trail of Hope. Their children and their
children's children would remember, feeling something when they
come to Nauvoo, learning for themselves that God never forgets.
The message
becomes personal on my night time walk around the circle. He acknowledged
their sacrifice. He saw their wounds. My hidden wounds are healed
as I look at a heavenly temple that throbs with more meaning than
any of us can say.
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© 2002 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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