Sermons on the Song of Songs

“I held Him and I will not let Him go till I bring Him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that bore me.” So it is, my brethren. From that time and thenceforward there has been no failure of the Christian family, nor of faith from the earth, nor of charity in the Church. “The floods came and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, because it was founded upon a rock,” “and the rock was Christ.” And so neither the verbiage of philosophers, nor the sophistry of heretics, nor the sword of persecutors, has ever been able, and never shall be able, to separate her (the Church) “from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.” So strongly does she hold on to Him Whom her soul loveth, so good does she find it to adhere to her God. To charity may be applied the words of the Prophet Isaias, “It is good for soldering.” For where shall we find a firmer bond of union than this solder, which can neither be worn away by water nor broken by tempests, nor severed by the sword? “Many waters cannot quench charity,” as we read further on in this Canticle. “I held Him and I will not let Him go,” says the Spouse. And the holy Prophet Jacob said to Him before her, “I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me.” The Spouse accordingly is unwilling to let her Bridegroom go, and perhaps is more unwilling than was the Patriarch, because he consented to let Him go after receiving a blessing, but not so the Spouse. “It is not Thy blessing I want,” she seems to say, “but Thyself. ‘For what have I in heaven? And besides Thee what do I desire upon earth?’ I will not let Thee go, no, not even if Thou shouldst bless me.”

“I held Him and I will not let Him go,” so speaks the Spouse. But perhaps He is as desirous to be held as she is to hold Him, since He has declared, “My delights are to be with the children of men,” and has moreover promised ever to abide with us, where He says, “Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world.” What can be stronger than this bond which is constituted by one and the same most ardent desire of two wills? “I held Him,” she says. But at the same time she is herself held in turn by Him Whom she holds, and to Whom she elsewhere addresses the words, “Thou hast held me by my right hand.” How is it possible for her to fall now, whilst she holds Him and is held by Him? She holds Him by the strength of her faith; she also holds Him by the tenderness of her devotion. But not for long would she continue to hold Him, if she ceased to be held by Him. And she is held by the power of the Lord and by His mercy. “I held Him and will not let Him go till I bring Him into my mother’s house and into the chamber of her that bore me.” Boundless, my brethren, is the charity of the Church which begrudges not a participation in her delights even to her jealous rival, the Synagogue. Can anything be kinder than the readiness which she here manifests to communicate Him Whom her soul loveth even to her enemy? However, it should not surprise us, since “salvation is of the Jews.” Thither whence He came let the Saviour return in order that a “remnant” of Israel may be saved: Let not the branches be ungrateful to the root, nor the children to their mother. The branches ought not to begrudge the root a share of the sap they have derived from it; nor should the children envy their mother a participation in the milk they have drawn from her breasts. Let the Church, therefore, keep a firm hold of the salvation which the Synagogue has lost; let her hold fast to it “until the fulness of the gentiles shall come in, and so all Israel shall be saved.” At the same time, let her be willing that the universal salvation should be universally participated in, since it can be so communicated to all that each shall have thereby nothing the less. But as a matter of fact, she does do this, aye, and more than this. Do you ask me, my brethren, what does she more? I will tell you. She desires for her rival both the name and the grace of a Spouse. That certainly is something more than mere salvation.

Such charity, my brethren, would be incredible did not the words of the Spouse prove it to be a fact. For if you have observed, she expressed her intention to bring Him Whom she holds not only into her mother’s house, but into her mother’s chamber also, which signifies a high prerogative. It would be sufficient for salvation that the Bridegroom should enter the house: “This day is salvation come to this house,” said Jesus to Zacheus. But His entrance into the privacy of the chamber means the communication of special grace. How should there not be salvation for the household when the Saviour comes into the home? But the soul that deserves to receive Him into her chamber has Him all to herself and enjoys Him in secret. Salvation comes to the house, but for the chamber are reserved the delights of holy love. “Till I bring Him into my mother’s house,” she says. Of what house is she speaking except that whereof the Bridegroom Himself declared to the Jews, “Behold your house shall be left to you desolate”? And He did what He threatened to do, as we have it again on His own testimony, spoken by the mouth of His Prophet Jeremias, “I have forsaken My house, I have left My inheritance.” But now the Spouse promises to bring Him back and to restore to the house of her mother the salvation she has lost. And should you consider this a slight favour, attend to the grace which she promises in addition, “And I will bring Him into the chamber of her that bore me.” Now, if He enters this chamber it can only be as a Bridegroom. Oh, how great is the power of love! The Saviour in anger had forsaken His home and His inheritance, and now, appeased by the love of the daughter, He so far relents that He goes back to the mother not alone as a Saviour, but even as a Bridegroom. “Blessed art thou of the Lord, O daughter,” because thou hast appeased His indignation and restored to Him His inheritance. And blessed art thou of thy mother, since it is by thee that the wrath of heaven has been averted from her, grace recovered for her, and the Bridegroom brought back to say to her, “I am thy salvation.” And lest this should not be enough, thou hast even induced Him to add and to say to her, “I will espouse thee to Me in faith, I will espouse thee to Me in judgment and in justice, and I will espouse thee to Me in mercy and in commiserations.” But remember that she who thus reconciles the Bridegroom to her mother is the Spouse. How then can she consent to yield her Bridegroom, and such a Bridegroom as hers, to another, not to speak of her desiring to do so? Such is not the case, however. She does indeed, like a good daughter, desire Him for her mother, yet only by communication, not as renouncing her own rights. One Bridegroom is sufficient for the two, although it would be more correct to say that they shall now no longer be two, but one Spouse in Him. “For He is our peace Who hath made both one,” so that there might be one Bride and one Bridegroom, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.