Sermons on the Song of Songs

“My Beloved to me and I to Him, Who feedeth among the lilies.”

“My Beloved to me, and I to Him Who feedeth among the lilies.” Surely now, my brethren, none can accuse the Spouse of pride or presumption for that she claims to have formed a love-alliance with One “Who feedeth among the lilies.” Even were He represented as feeding among the stars, the very fact of His feeding at all brings Him down so low that I cannot understand how friendship or familiarity with such a One should be esteemed anything great. For in truth the word “feeding” suggests to our minds nothing but what is mean and ignoble. But now, when He is described as feeding “among the lilies,” this additional humiliation removes and excludes from the words of the Spouse every suspicion of arrogance. What, I ask, are lilies? According to Christ they are but the “grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven.” Can this Bridegroom, then, Who thus feeds on grass as if He belonged to the flocks or to the herds—can He be so very great and exalted? He does indeed belong to the flocks, for He is a Lamb; and to the herds also, because He is a “Fatted Calf.” But perhaps you have been observant enough to notice that what is mentioned here is not the food itself, but rather the place of feeding. For the Bridegroom is said to feed, not on, but “among the lilies.” Be it so. Therefore He does not eat grass like an ox. Nevertheless, He walks through the grass and reclines upon the grass, just as one of the common throng, and what mark of greatness can there be in that? And what glory is it to the Spouse to have for her Beloved One Who has nothing to distinguish Him from the multitude of men? Even in this, the literal sense, we can see with how much modesty, prudence and circumspection, the Spouse speaks, “ordering her words with judgment,” and concealing the glory of divine things under the humble veil of common language.

Notwithstanding what her words seem to imply, she is very far from ignorant that He Whom she represents as feeding amongst the lilies is the Same Who, as Shepherd, provides food for the flock, and that He Who abides amid the fields, is one with Him Who reigns beyond the stars. But she finds greater pleasure in speaking of what appears lowly in her Bridegroom, no doubt, as I have observed before, on account of her love for humility; but also, and more especially, because it was then He became her Beloved when He began to feed as one of the flock. And His beginning to feed was not only the time, but it was also the cause of His becoming her Beloved. For in His glory and sublimity He is her Lord, but her Beloved in His humility; He rules as King beyond the sky, but loves as a Bridegroom amongst the lilies. Even whilst throned above the firmament, He loved her still, for, being Love Itself, He can never and nowhere cease from loving. Yet until He came down to the lilies, until He was found feeding amongst the lilies, His affection was not reciprocated, He was not a Beloved. What? Was He not loved by the patriarchs and prophets? Certainly He was. But not before they also had found Him in their prescience feeding among the lilies. For evidently they must have seen Him of Whom they had foresight in the spirit, unless we be so stupid as to suppose that they who see in the Spirit see nothing at all. But if they see nothing why are they called seers, a name given to the prophets in Holy Scripture? It was in consequence of this spiritual foresight that they desired to see Him also in the way in which they have not seen Him. For surely they could not have even entertained the desire to see Him in the flesh if they had not already foreseen Him in the Spirit. But I ask with St. Paul, “Were all prophets?” As if forsooth all had the desire to see Christ in the flesh or as if all had the faith. They indeed who foresaw Him in the Spirit were either prophets themselves, or believers in the words of the prophets, and their faith was their foresight. For I do not consider it an error to suppose that they who see by faith see in the Spirit as well as those who see by the prophetic faculty.

In this way, then, it was His coming down to the lilies and the humility which He showed in deigning to feed among the lilies as if He were but one of the flock, whereas He was the Shepherd of all,—it was these acts of condescension, I say, which caused Him to be beloved. For how could He have been loved until He had made Himself known? Very properly, therefore, does the Spouse, in making mention of her Beloved, refer also to that condescension to which she owes both her knowledge and her love of Him. As regards the feeding among the lilies, it is to be “spiritually examined.” To conceive of it in a material sense would be altogether absurd. It is also incumbent on me to explain, as well as I can, what are these spiritual lilies. And furthermore I shall have to show you what it is which the Beloved feeds on among the lilies, whether it be the lilies themselves, or some other herbs or flowers concealed amongst the lilies. The difficulty I find in grappling with these questions is to understand why He is represented rather as feeding like one of the flocks than as pasturing the flock like the Shepherd. For that He pastures His flock is evident enough, and quite in keeping with His dignity. But to feed like a sheep is a thing so unworthy, so suggestive of weakness, that it seems hardly possible, without irreverence, to ascribe such an action to the Majesty of God, even in a spiritual sense. Nor do I remember to have noticed any other verse of this Canticle, so far as we have gone, where the Beloved is described as feeding with the sheep; although I have a recollection, as doubtless you have also, of a passage wherein He appears as the Shepherd pasturing His flock. I allude to the place in which the Spouse desires to be shown where He feeds His flock and reposes in the noonday. But here, for the first time, she speaks of Him as feeding Himself, and does not ask, as on the former occasion, to have pointed out to her His place of pasturage. Rather she herself gives us this information, telling us that He “feedeth among the lilies.” She knows therefore where He reveals Himself as one of the flock, but not where He appears as the Shepherd. For it is not so easy to attain to objects high in themselves and placed on high, as to such as are low and lying on the earth. The knowledge of where the Shepherd abides is something sublime and sublimely situated, to which not even the Spouse has been yet given free access.