Sermons on the Song of Songs

The Beloved, no doubt, has many more lilies besides the three which we have happened upon in the Psalmist, namely, truth, meekness, and justice. But each of you can now, without difficulty, find out others like these for himself in the garden of so luxurious a Bridegroom. He abounds and superabounds with such lilies. Who is capable of enumerating them all? For, in truth, there are as many lilies as there are virtues. But what limit or measure can the virtues have in Him Who is “Lord of virtues”? Now if the plenitude of virtues is in Christ, so too must be the plenitude of lilies. And perhaps this is the very reason why He has called Himself a lily, because, namely, He is entirely surrounded and covered all over with lilies, and everything that belongs to Him is a lily; such as His conception, His birth, His life, His speech, His miracles, His sacraments, His passion, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. Which of these is not lily-white and redolent of the lily’s sweet odour? As regards His conception, so great was the brilliancy of the heavenly light which shone forth in this mystery from the abundance of the descending Spirit, that not even the holy virgin herself would have been able to endure it, had she not been overshadowed by the power of the Most High. His birth also borrowed lustre from His mother’s unspotted virginity, His life from the whiteness of His innocence, His speech from the truth of His utterances, His miracles from the purity of His Heart, His sacraments from the mystery of piety which they embodied, His passion from the voluntariness of His sufferings, His death from His liberty to die or not to die, His resurrection from the fortitude of the martyrs, His ascension from the fulfilment of His promises. And how good an odour of faith from each of these lilies, perfuming even our own times and hearts, who have not witnessed their brightness! “Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed.” My portion in the lilies is the odour of life which proceeds from them. Using faith as a suitable instrument, I inhale that sweet perfume through my spiritual nostrils, and the more abundantly the more numerous the lilies; and thus I temper the bitterness of my banishment and at the same time am constantly renewing in my heart the love and the longing for the heavenly home-land.

Some of the companions of the Bridegroom have also their lilies, yet not in abundance. For all of them have received the Spirit in measure, and in measure His virtues and gifts. He alone has unlimited possession to Whom the Spirit entirely belongs. It is one thing to have lilies, but quite another to have nothing except lilies. Show me, if you can, a single one amongst the sons of captivity who is so holy and innocent that he is able to cover all his land with flowers, and with such flowers. It is certain that “even the infant of one day is not without stain upon the earth.” He is reputed a great man who can grow in his garden even three or four lilies amid the prolific crop of thorns and thistles which has long occupied the ground, as the fruit of the ancient malediction. But as for me, who am so poor, I shall count myself fortunate if ever I succeed in clearing of this most vile growth of sins and passions, and rendering fit for cultivation, even so much of my little plot as may suffice for the production of a single lily. Perhaps then He who feeds among the lilies, will not disdain to feed occasionally even with me.

But I have erred, my brethren, in speaking as if one lily would suffice. Out of the poverty of my heart my mouth has spoken. One is certainly not enough. Two at the very least are required. I mean the lily of continence and the lily of innocence, of which the one without the other shall not avail to save us. It will be useless for me to invite the Bridegroom to either of them alone, because He is said to feed not on the lily but among the lilies. I will therefore strive my best to produce several lilies, lest He should take offence at the poverty of one, since He will feed only among the lilies, and so should “depart in anger from His servant.” Accordingly, I will first of all apply myself to the cultivation of the lily of innocence. If to this I shall be able to add continence of life, I shall regard myself as quite rich in the possession of lilies. But I am a very king, if only to these two I can manage to unite the third lily of patience. Absolutely speaking, innocence and continence would be sufficient. Nevertheless, since they may fail in temptation, for the “life of man upon earth is a warfare,” patience also is clearly necessary, for this is the protector of the other two. I have no doubt that if the Divine Lover of lilies comes and finds us adorned with all three, He will not now refuse to feed amongst us and to eat with us the pasch. For in the two first, namely, continence and innocence, He shall discover an abundance of sweetness, and in the third a great security. But in what sense He, Who is the Feeder of all, may be said to feed among the lilies, I shall endeavour to explain on another occasion. What I have said in the present discourse has made it clear, I hope, not only that the Bridegroom is found among the lilies, but also that He is never found away from the lilies; since everything that appertains to Him is a lily, and He is Himself the “Lily of the Valleys,” the Spouse of the Church, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.