Sermons on the Song of Songs

door of my soul with only one of these two qualities, He will enter, not as Bridegroom, but as Judge. May God grant that this may never be the case with me! May He not enter into judgment with His servant! May He enter with peace, with joy and gladness; yet may He entef with aspect grave and serious, so as by the severe gravity of His look to repress any forwardness in me, and to purify the joy which I feel. May He enter with the agility of the roe and the piercing sight of the hart, so, as it were, to leap over my offences and to view them only with pity and forgiveness. May He enter as if descending from the mountains of Bethel, full of glory and of joy; as if coming forth from the Father, sweet, and full of goodness, so that He does not disdain to become and to be called the Bridegroom of the soul which seeks for Him: He who is above all, God blessed

GOD IS TO BE SOUGHT IN DUE TIME, PLACE, AND MANNER. THAT NOW IS THE ACCEPTABLE TIME, IN WHICH ANYONE MAY FIND GOD FOR HIMSELF BY GOOD WORKS, AND MAY WORK OUT HIS SALVATION.

1 By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul /oveth.' — Cant. iii. 1.

HE Bridegroom has not returned at the voice and according to the prayer of her who is recalling Him. Wherefore? It is that the yearning for Him may increase, that the affection may be proved, that the faculty of love may be exercised. It is not indignation, then, that actuates Him, but a concealment of love. But since, when called, He has not come, it remains that He should be sought, if, haply, He may be found. According to the words of the Lord, He that seeketh findeth (Matt. vii. 8). The words used to recall Him were, as you remember, such as these: Return, my Beloved, and be Thou like a roe or a young hart. When the Word did not return at this call, for the reasons above given, the loving Bride became still more desirous of His presence, and set herself with increased earnestness to the task of seeking Him. First, she seeks Him on her bed, but finds Him not. Then she rises, makes a circuit of the city, goes and comes through the streets and squares, but she neither meets Him nor beholds Him at a distance. She questions those whom she meets, but learns no assured tidings of Him. It is not through one street only, or during one night, that she continues this search, and experiences this failure; for she says, ' I sought Him by night (per noctes).' What desire, and what ardour must she feel, that she does not blush to rise and appear in the night, to traverse the city, to interrogate openly and repeatedly all those she meets

about her Beloved, not to be turned by any reason from following His footsteps, nor daunted by any difficulty; not to be held back by the love of ease and repose, by the sensitive modesty of a bride, nor by the terrors of the night! And, notwithstanding all this, the object of her wishes has not as yet been attained. Why is this? What can be the cause of a withdrawal so obstinate and so prolonged, which nourishes weariness, causes suspicions, is as a torch to enkindle impatience, as a stepmother to love, but a mother to desperation? If it is still a concealment of love on the part of the Bridegroom, that concealment is but too painful.

2. Granted that such concealment was useful and even kind in the meantime, until the Bride had set herself seriously to call upon Him, or to recall. But now, when she is thus seeking Him and calling for Him, what can be the object of any longer concealment? If the question here were of carnal spouses and of dishonourable loves, as the literal sense of the text seems at first to suggest, and such incidents should occur in them, I leave such matters to those whom they concern, for they do not concern me. But if it is my duty to respond to, and to satisfy, as far as my poor powers extend, the wishes and the needs of souls that seek the Lord, I ought to draw from the Holy Scripture, in which they trust that they have the word of life, something spiritual and life-giving, that they who are the poor of Christ may eat and may be satisfied, and that their hearts may find life. And what is the life of human hearts but my Lord Jesus Christ, of whom one who lived in Him said: When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory (Col. iii. 4)? Let Him come, then, into the midst of us, so that it may be possible to say truly to us also: There standeth One among you whom ye know not (John i. 26). Though I do not know how the Bridegroom, who is Spirit, can fail to be recognised by spiritual men, who have made such progress in the life of the spirit, as to be able to say with the Prophet, The Anointed of the Lord is a Spirit before our face (Lam. iv. 20); and with the Apostle, Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more (2 Cor. v. 16). Is it not He whom the Bride was seeking? He is, in truth, the Bridegroom, both loving and lovable. He is, I say, the Bridegroom, as His Flesh is meat indeed, and His Blood drink indeed (John vi. 56); and all that He is He is in truth, for He is Himself no other than the Truth.

3. But why is it that this Bridegroom is not found when He is sought, especially when sought with so great and unwearied care, now on the couch, now in the city, or even in the streets and open places? Does not He Himself say, Seek, and ye shall find; and, He who secketh findeth (Matt. vii. 7, 8)? To Him also speaks a Prophet: The Lord is good... to the soul that seekeih Him (Lam. iii. 25); and also holy Isaiah saith, Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found (Is. lv. 6). How, then, shall the Scriptures be accomplished? For she who here seeks the Lord is not of those to whom He says: Ye shall seek Afe, and shall not find Me (John vii. 34). But take note of three causes which occur to me, wherefore seekers are wont to be hindered in finding Him, namely, that they seek Him either not at the fitting time, or not in the fitting manner, or not in the fitting place. For if every time is proper to seek Him, why does the Prophet say: Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found? There will, then, without doubt, be a time when He may not be found, and therefore he adds, Call upon Him while He is near, because it will come to pass that He will not be near. By whom will He not be sought then? Unto Me, He saith, every knee shall bow (Is. xlv. 24). And yet He shall not be found by the wicked, whom the avenging Angels shall hinder from finding Him, and shall take them away, that they may not behold the glory of God. The foolish virgins shall complain, but to no purpose; for the door is shut, and He shall not go forth to them (Matt. xxv. 10). Let them take for themselves that which is said: Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me.

4. But now is the acceptable (acceptabile) time, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. vi. 2); it is the time of seeking, and of calling upon, the Lord; for oftentimes, even before He is called, He is felt to be near. Hear, in fact, what He promises. Before they call, He says, / will answer (Is. lxv. 24). Nor does the Psalmist speak less decisively as to the acceptableness of the time present, for he says: Lord, Thou hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt prepare their heart, Thou wilt cause Thine ear to hear (Ps. x. 17). If God is being sought by good works, then, while we have time, let us do good unto all men (Gal. vi. 10), especially since the Lord plainly warns us that the night cometh, when no man can work (John ix. 4). Do you expect to find in the ages to come some other time to seek God, some other opportunity to do that which is right, besides that which God has appointed for you, and in which He will be mindful of you? And, therefore, this is the day of salvation, because it is in it that God, who is our King before all the ages, has worked salvation in the midst of the earth (Ps. lxxxiv. 12).

5. Go, then, and await in the midst of hell the salvation which is already worked in the midst of the earth.1 What profit will be to you those dreams of pardon, among the everlasting fires, when the season for pity shall have passed? There is no victim left to atone for your sins, when you shall be dead in sins. The Son of God is not crucified a second time: once He died, and now He dieth no more (Rom. vi. 9). His Blood, which was poured out upon the earth, does not descend into hell. All the sinners of the earth have drunk of it; there is none left for the demons to claim, that the flames which prey upon them may be quenched; nor for men who are the companions of demons. The Soul of the Saviour once descended into that place, but not His Blood; and this was the portion of those spirits who were in prison (1 Peter iii. 19). That was His one visitation to them, which was made then by the presence of His Soul, while His Body hung lifeless upon the Cross, on the earth. His Blood watered the earth, steeped it and made it glad; His Blood re-established peace on the earth, and also in the heavens; but hell had no part in that reconciliation. The Soul of the Saviour, as I have said, descended there once, and there worked redemption in part; so that it was not even that brief time without works of charity,1 but to that He will add nothing. It is now, then, a fit and acceptable time to seek Him, in which he who seeks shall evidently find Him; if, that is to say, he seeks in the fitting manner, and place. For this is one cause which hinders those who seek the Bridegroom from finding Him; namely, that they do not seek at a fitting time. But this does not hinder the Bride, since she seeks Him and calls upon Him at the time which is fit She seeks Him also neither with lukewarmness nor negligence, nor in a perfunctory manner, for she seeks Him with ardent and untiring earnestness, as she evidently ought to do.

6. There remains, then, the third obstacle, namely, that He is sought for in an unsuitable place. On my little bed (lectulo) I sought Him whom my soul loveth. But perhaps He for whom the whole world is too narrow should not be sought upon a ' little ' bed, but upon a bed? Nevertheless, the little bed does not displease me, for I know that the Saviour was made a little Child. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee (Is. xii. 6). But the same Lord, who is great in Zion, is found among us little, and weak; He has need to lie down, and even upon a bed that is little. Is not His tomb a little bed? or His cradle? or the womb of His Virgin-Mother? For the Bosom of His Father, who is so great, is not little, but great; and of it He speaks to the Son: From the womb, before the Daystar, I begot Thee (Ps. ex. 3, Douay). Though perhaps it may be thought more worthily that this womb is not a bed, and for rest, but a throne, and for rule. For abiding in the Father, He rules all things with the Father. Finally, faith undoubted teaches us that He does not recline, but sits, at the Right Hand of the Father; that Heaven is His throne, not His couch (Is. lxvi. 1), so that you may learn that among his own, that is, among the dwellers in heaven, He has the ensigns of power, not the solaces of weakness.

7. Rightly, then, does the Bride, when speaking of a little bed, call it hers; for it is manifest that whatever of weakness may appear in God [our Saviour] is not proper and natural to Him, but comes from us. He has taken from us all that He has suffered on our behalf: to be born, to be nourished with milk, to die, to be buried. The mortality of His Birth comes from me, the weakness of His Childhood comes from me, the pains of His Crucifixion, and His sleep in death come all from me. The former things have passed away, and behold! all things have become new. By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul lovelh. What! did you seek Him in that which is yours, who had already been received again into that which is His own? Had you not seen the Son of Man ascending up where He was before? In exchange for the stable, in exchange for the Tomb, He has taken possession of Heaven; and you seek Him still in your little bed? He is Risen; He is not here. Why do you seek in a bed Him who is strong, in a little bed Him who is great, in a stable Him who is pure and spotless? He has entered into [the exercise of] the powers of the Lord; He is clothed with beauty and with strength: and, behold, He who once lay under the stone of a sepulchre, now is enthroned above the Cherubim. He no longer reclines, He is sitting; and are you preparing for Him the comforts, as it were, of one who lies prone? To speak quite accurately, He is either seated to judge, or standing to help us.

8. For whom, then, I pray you, O holy women, do ye keep vigil? For whom do ye buy perfumes and make provision of fragrant oils? If ye knew how great He is, how free among the dead is that dead Man whom ye are going to anoint, you would perhaps petition that He should rather drop perfumes upon you. Is it not He whom His God hath anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows? (Ps. xlv. 7). Blessed shall ye be if, when returning, you are able to make your boast, and say: Of His fulness have all we received (John i. 16). For it was in fact thus; and those holy women who had gone to anoint Him returned anointed themselves. How could they be otherwise than, as it were, anointed by the joyful and fragrant news of His Resurrection? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things I (Rom. x. 15). When sent by the Angel, they do the work of an Evangelist; they are made apostles to the Apostles themselves, and while hastening in the early morning to announce the mercy of the Lord, they say: 4 We run in the fragrance of Thy perfumes.' From that time and thenceforth it was in vain that the Bridegroom was sought in that little bed, because, although the Church had known Him according to the flesh, that is, according to the weakness of the flesh, yet henceforth it knows Him [thus] no more. It is true that He was sought in this manner by Peter and John at the sepulchre, but they found Him not. Do you see with what singular fitness and suitableness each of them would be able to say: In my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth: I sought Him, but I found Him not. For the Flesh of the Son of God, which was not of the Father, before going to the Father, put off, through the glory of the Resurrection, every trace of weakness; it was girded about with power, it was clad with light as it were with a garment, and adorned with all the glory and beauty which was befitting it, to present itself before the Father.

9. With great beauty also does the Bride say, not * Him whom I love,' but 4 Him whom my soul loveth/ because that affection belongs truly and properly to the soul alone, with which anything spiritual is loved: as, for example, God, or an Angel, or a soul similar to itself. Of the same kind also is the love of righteousness, truth, piety, wisdom, and other virtues. For when a soul loves, or rather desires, somewhat according to the flesh, for example, food, clothing, property, or other things corporeal or earthly of that kind, that love should be considered as belonging rather to the flesh than to the soul I say this to explain what the Bride says, in a manner somewhat unusual, though none the less appropriate, that her soul loves the Bridegroom, indicating clearly by this that He is a spirit, and is loved by her with an affection not carnal, but spiritual. So, also, it is well said that she has sought Him each night For if, according to the Apostle, they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night (i Thess. v. 7), so it may, as I think, be not unfitly, said that those who are ignorant of the truth are so in the night, and, in consequence, those who seek it seek it in the night. For who seeks that of which he has possession openly? Now, the day makes manifest that which the night conceals, so that in the day you may find what in the night you had sought It is, then, night for the soul as long as the Bridegroom is being sought, for if it were day He would be plainly seen in the midst, and would not be sought at all. And that is sufficient on this subject, except for the observation that though the Bride says she seeks Him not ' by night,' but * by nights/ nothing is signified by the mere number.

10. It seems to me, however, if you have no better cause to suggest, that the reason may be something of this kind. That world has its nights, and they are many. What do I say? Not only has it nights, but it is itself almost an entire night, and is enveloped wholly in shadows. The unbelief of the Jews is a night; the ignorance of the Heathen, the obstinate error of heretics, even the carnal and animal mode of living of Catholics, each of these is a night. Is it not a darkness as of night when the things which are of the Spirit of God are not even perceived? So, also, as many sects as there are of heretics and schismatics, so many nights are there. To no purpose do you seek the Sun of Righteousness and the light of Truth, that is, the Bridegroom, through the gloom of these nights, for light hath no fellowship with darkness. But someone objects that the Bride is not so blind, nor so foolish, as to seek light in the darkness, or to expect to find her Beloved among those who know Him not nor love Him. What she says is, not that she is seeking Him now, but that she has sought Him; not 4 1 am seeking/ but By night I sought Him whom my soul loveth. And the meaning of these words is that when she was young she had but the thoughts and sentiments proportioned to the weakness of her age; that she sought the truth where it was not, wandering and not finding it, according as it is said in a Psalm: I have gam astray like a lost sheep (Ps. cxix. 1 76). In fact, she states that she was still, as it were, in a little bed, because she was of immature age and undeveloped intelligence.

1 1. But if that sense of the words be accepted, then the phrase 1 on my bed ' must be understood as if it were said 4 being or reclining/ not, that is to say, ' I have sought on my bed,' but * being on my bed I have sought'; that is, 'While I was still weak and incompetent, altogether unfitted to follow the Lamb whithersoever He should go, or to pursue the steep and arduous paths by which He ascended to the height of glory, I fell among many persons who, knowing my earnest desire, said to me: Lo, here is Christy or Zo, He is there (Mark xiii. 21), and He was neither in the one place nor the other. Nevertheless, I do not regret to have fallen among them. For the more nearly I approached them and the more diligently I examined them, the more assured I became that the truth was not in them. For I sought it and did not find it, and what they falsely called day proved to be in truth but night.

12. Then I said in myself: I will rise now and go about the city: in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek Him whom my soul loveth. Now, you will observe that she must be reclining who says, / will rise. And this is said with much fitness, for how can she do otherwise than rise when she has heard of the Resurrection of her Beloved? But if thou, O blessed one, art risen with Christ, it behoves thee to seek those things which are above, and not to seek Christ here below, but to seek Him on high, where He sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father (Col. iii. 1). But she says: / will go about the city. To what purpose? For it is the wicked who do that. Leave that to the Jews, of whom their own Psalmist predicted: They shall suffer hunger like dogst and shall go round about the city (Ps. lix. 7, Douay). If you shall enter into the city, then, according to another prophet, behold them that are sick with famine (Jer. xiv. 18), which doubtless would not have been the case if there had been in them the bread of life. He has arisen from the heart of the earth, but He has not remained upon the earth, for He has ascended up where He was before. For He who descended is the same who also ascended, the Living Bread who came down from heaven, the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for