Sermons on the Song of Songs

It is therefore a very dangerous thing to search into the Majesty of God. But to search out His will is as safe as it is pious. Why should I not persevere in scrutinising the mystery of the glory of that divine will with all diligence, since, as I know, I am bound to render it universal obedience? Sweet is this glory which comes from no other source than the contemplation of Sweetness Itself, which has no other fountain save the prospect of the riches of God’s goodness and the “multitude of His tender mercies.” As the Evangelist says, “We saw His glory, the glory, as it were, of the Only-Begotten of the Father.” For whatever of glory has been manifested in the divine will is entirely paternal, entirely condescending. This glory shall never overwhelm me, even though I contemplate it with all my powers. Rather I shall be impressed with its likeness, agreeably to what is written, “We all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” We are so transformed, my brethren, when we are conformed. But God forbid that any man should have the presumption to expect to be conformed to the Lord in the glory of His Majesty and not rather in the meekness of His will. This shall be my glory, if ever I am deemed worthy to hear Him say of me what He said of David, “I have found a man according to My own Heart.” The Heart of the Bridegroom is the Heart of His Father. And what are the dispositions of the Father’s Heart? Christ Himself has told us, where He says, “Be ye merciful as your Father also is merciful.” This is the image which He desires to see when He says to the Church, “Shew Me thy face,” the image, namely, of His own meekness and piety. And when her face exhibits these lineaments, she may raise it with all confidence to the Rock, to Whom she is thus proved to be conformed. “Come ye to Him,” cries the Psalmist, “and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be confounded.” How indeed could an humble Bride be confounded by an humble Bridegroom, a holy Bride by a loving-kind Bridegroom, a modest Bride by a gentle Bridegroom? No, the pure face of the Spouse can no more be repelled by the purity of the Rock than virtue can be repelled by virtue, or light by light.

But the Church cannot as yet, whilst she is still in exile, draw nigh in all her members to form fissures in the Rock; because not all who belong to the Church have the power to scrutinise the mysteries of the divine will, or to comprehend of themselves “the deep things of God.” This appears to be the reason why she is here represented as dwelling not only in the clefts of the Rock, but also in the hollow places of the wall. We may suppose, then, that she abides in the clefts of the Rock in the persons of her perfect members, who, by reason of their purity of conscience, have the courage to scrutinise and penetrate the secrets of divine wisdom, and have the power to do so from the acuteness of their minds. In her other members she occupies the hollow places of the wall. For such as lack either the strength or the daring necessary for piercing the Rock, employ themselves in making hollows in the wall, and are satisfied with contemplating the glory of the saints. But should there be any amongst her children to whom even this is impossible, to them she proposes “Jesus and Him crucified”; so that now, without any effort on their own part, they may abide in the clefts of the Rock, the opening of which has cost them nothing. The Jews have laboured in forming these fissures, and they, that they may remain faithful, enter into the labours of the unfaithful. Nor need they be apprehensive lest they should meet with a repulse, since they are even invited to seek sanctuary in the clefts. “Enter thou unto the Rock,” so we read in Isaias, “and hide thee in the digged earth from the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of His Majesty.” To the weak and sluggish soul, which can say of herself, like the unjust steward in the Gospel, “To dig I am unable and to beg I am ashamed,” to such a soul the Prophet here points out ground that is already excavated. In these pits she may lie concealed until she has acquired sufficient strength and energy to be able of herself to pierce holes in the Rock, through which, by means of purity and vigour of mind, she shall gain admission to the Heart of the Word.

If by the “digged earth” we understand the Saviour’s Body, whereof He said, “They have digged My Hands and My Feet,” then there can be no doubt that the wounded soul that hides herself therein shall soon be restored to health. For what can be so efficacious for curing the wounds of the conscience and for purifying the eye of the soul as assiduous meditation on the Wounds of the Redeemer? But until she has been perfectly healed and cleansed, I do not see how she can understand as addressed to herself the words of the Bridegroom, “Shew Me thy face, let thy voice sound in My Ears.” For how will she dare to show her face or to raise her voice, after receiving a command to hide herself? “Hide thee in the digged earth,” says the Prophet. Wherefore? Because her face is not yet entirely pure and worthy of the Bridegroom’s regard. And as long as she lacks the power of contemplating Him, so long shall she remain unworthy of being looked upon by Him. But when, by dwelling in the hollow places of the digged earth, she shall have made such progress in the purification of her interior eye, that she also can “with open face behold the glory of the Lord,” then, at last, being now able to see, she may speak too with all confidence; for both in voice and face she has become pleasing. Pleasing beyond doubt must that face be which can bear to be turned towards the Brightness of God. For this would be intolerable to it, were it not itself pure and lustrous and transformed into the image of the same glory which it contemplates. It would be repelled by reason of the dissimilitude and would be dazzled and beaten back by the unwonted splendour. Therefore, when the Spouse is herself pure she will be able to contemplate the pure and naked truth. Then she will desire to see the Face of her Bridegroom, and also to hear His voice.