Sermons on the Song of Songs

And thou, my brother, dost thou expect to find in the midst of hell the salvation which has been wrought in the midst of the earth? How canst thou imagine that any time shall be given amidst the “everlasting burnings” for impetrating pardon, when the season of mercy shall have then gone by? Having died in thy sins, for thee “there is now left no sacrifice for sins.” The Son of God is not to be crucified a second time. “He died once,” He “dieth now no more.” The Blood Which was poured out upon the earth, has not penetrated as far as the infernal regions. “All the sinners of the earth shall drink” thereof; but neither the demons themselves, nor reprobate men condemned to their society, are allowed to use It in any way to extinguish the flames which torment them. The Saviour’s Soul, not his Blood, descended once to hell. That was the portion of those who were confined there, that one visitation, made by the presence of His Soul whilst His Body was hanging lifeless above the earth. By the Blood the dry land was irrigated, by the Blood the earth was overrun and inundated, by the same Blood Which has made “peace both as to the things on earth, and the things that are in heaven.” But It made no peace as to the things that are in hell: excepting that His Soul made one visit to that place, as I have said, and accomplished there a partial redemption. For He was unwilling that the work of charity should be suspended even for that short time. But never more shall He go down thither. Therefore, “now is the acceptable time,” the time proper for seeking Him in which beyond question “He that seeketh findeth”; if yet he seeks in the right manner and in the right place. I have now explained sufficiently one of the reasons on account of which the Bridegroom cannot be found by those who seek Him, because, namely, they do not seek Him at an opportune time. But as the Spouse does call upon and seek Him at a seasonable hour, this cannot be the reason that prevents her from finding Him. Neither does she seek Him with tepidity, with negligence, or with indifference; but evidently as she ought, with ardent affection and indefatigable zeal.

It only remains to enquire concerning the last of my three reasons, lest perchance the Spouse is not seeking in the place where she ought. “In my little bed (lectulo) by night,” she says, “I sought Him Whom my soul loveth.” But perhaps it was not in a little bed but in a large bed she should have looked for Him for Whom, in truth, the universe is not wide enough. I do not, however, object to the little bed, because I remember that He made Himself a Little One. As a Little One He was born for us. Yet listen to Isaias: “Rejoice and praise, O thou habitation of Sion, for great is He That is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel.” The same Lord, Who is great in Sion, is found amongst us to be weak and little, having to lie down because of His weakness, and because of His littleness to lie in a little bed. Was not the sepulchre a little bed? Was not the manger a little bed? And the Virgin’s womb, was not it also a little bed? But no little bed is the Bosom of the great Father. It is undoubtedly a great bed, whereof the Father says to His Son, “From the womb before the day-star I begot Thee”: although perhaps it is not proper to compare that Bosom to any kind of bed, since it is rather the throne of an Emperor than a couch of repose. For the Son abiding in the Father, governs the universe with the Father. We have it on the infallible authority of our faith that He reclines not, but sits at the Father’s Right Hand. And He tells us Himself by His Prophet that heaven is His throne, not His bed, in order to teach us that in His own home beyond the stars, the supports of infirmity are nowhere in evidence, but only the emblems of power.

Justly, therefore, does the Spouse, in referring to the little bed, speak of it as her own; because, as is manifest, whatever of weakness and littleness is found with God must be attributed not to His Divine but to the Human Nature Which He has in common with us. For the infirmities to which He submitted for our sakes, such as, to be born, to be suckled, to die, to be buried, belong to the Humanity Which He borrowed from us. Mine is the mortality of the Infant, mine the helplessness of the Child, mine also the death upon the cross, and mine the sleep of the tomb. But now “the former things have passed away” and behold all things are made new. “In my little bed by night I sought Him Whom my soul loveth.” What is this? Hast thou been seeking in thine for Him who has already returned to His own bed? Didst thou not “see the Son of man ascend up where He was before”? He has now exchanged for heaven the tomb and the stable, and wilt thou still seek Him in thy little bed? “He is risen, He is not here.” Why dost thou seek in the couch of infirmity for One Who is hale? Or for One so great in a little bed? Or in a stable for One in glory? “He hath entered into the powers of the Lord,” “He is clothed with beauty, the Lord is clothed with strength.” And behold He Who lay beneath the sepulchral slab now “sitteth above the cherubim.” Henceforward He will no more recline, but will sit; and art thou getting ready a couch for Him as for one about to lie down? But perhaps it would be more true to say of Him that He sits to judge us and stands to assist us.

For whom, then, ye holy women, are you thus keeping watch? For whom, I ask, have you bought the sweet spices and confected the ointments? If you did but know how great He is, and how “free amongst the dead” Whom you have come forth to anoint, you perhaps would have asked rather to be anointed by Him. Is not this He of Whom the Psalmist says, “God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows”? Blessed shall you be if on your return you are able to boast and to say, “And of His fulness we (also) have received.” And so has it been in truth. For they who came to anoint Him returned by Him anointed. How could they help being anointed with the tidings so gladdening of His fresh and fragrant resurrection? “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things!” By commission of the angel they “do the work of an evangelist.” They become the apostles of the apostles themselves (apostolae apostolorum) whilst they hasten “to announce in the morning the mercy of the Lord.” saying, “we will run to the odour of Thy ointments.” From that time and thenceforward it has been in vain for the Spouse to seek the Bridegroom in her little bed. “And if (the Church has) known Christ according to the flesh, but now (she knows) Him so no longer” Thus, St. Peter and St. John came together after the the holy women to seek Him in the sepulchre, but they found Him not. Do you not suppose, my brethren, that each of them could then truly and appropriately say with the Spouse, “In my little bed by night I sought Him Whom my soul loveth”? For the holy Flesh when about to ascend to the Father—although It proceeded not from the Father,—first by the glory of the resurrection put off all that was infirm in It, girded Itself with power, and clothed Itself with light as with a garment. That is to say, It was adorned with such splendours and beauty as would make It worthy to be presented to the Eyes of the heavenly Father.