Sermons on the Song of Songs

All this applies in varying senses to Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Flower of the garden, inasmuch as He is a virgin Blossom produced from a virgin stem. He is the Flower of the field, because He is a martyr, the Crown of martyrs, and the Model of martyrs. For He was led forth from the city, “He suffered without the camp,” He was lifted up on the cross, in the sight of all, for the mockery of all. He is finally the Flower of the chamber, being the Example and Pattern of all well-doing, as He Himself declared to the Jews, when He said, “Many good works have I shown to you from My Father.” And the Scripture bears witness of Him that He “went about doing good, and healing all.” But if the Lord Jesus is thus each of the three flowers, what motive can He have for choosing to call Himself the Flower of the field rather than the flower of the garden or the flower of the chamber? The reason doubtless is that He desires to animate His Spouse to patient endurance, as knowing that she would have to suffer persecution, since she wished “to live godly in Christ.” Therefore, He presents Himself to her under the type of that in which He particularly wants her to imitate Him. This is only what I have said elsewhere, viz., that the Bride is ever longing for repose, and the Bridegroom as constantly urging her to labour, warning her “that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” Hence, when He was on the point of returning to the Father after newly espousing to Himself His young Bride on earth, He said to her, “The hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God.” Again, “If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” You can discover for yourselves in the Gospel many similar predictions of sufferings to be endured by the Spouse.

“I am the Flower of the field, and the Lily of the valleys.” Thus, whilst the Bride invites her Beloved to repose, she is summoned by Him to the field and exhorted to devote herself to labour. And it appears to Him that He can find no surer means of inducing her to enter the conflict than by proposing Himself both as the Pattern of the combatant and as the victor’s Crown. “I am the Flower of the field.” In these few words He is manifestly designated in this twofold character, namely, as the warrior’s Example and the Prize of conquest. Thou art both to me, O Lord Jesus, Thou art my Model in suffering and the Reward of my suffering. And whether Thou showest Thyself as Pattern or as Prize, we are powerfully attracted to Thee and violently inflamed. It is Thou “who teachest my hand to fight” by the example of Thy virtues. It is Thou Who crownest me after victory by the unveiling of Thy Majesty. For I keep constantly before my mind the representation of Thy combat; and I hope not only to receive the recompense from Thy Hands, but to receive even Thyself as that recompense. Yes, as my Model and my Crown Thou dost draw me to Thyself in a wonderful way, as it were with two chains exceedingly strong. Draw me still after Thee; gladly shall I follow Thee and more gladly enjoy Thee. O Lord, if Thou art so good to those who seek Thee, what wilt Thou be to those who find? “I am the Flower of the field,” Thou sayest. “Let him who loves Me enter the field. Let him not refuse to engage in the conflict for My sake and by My side, so that he may be able to say, ‘I have fought the good fight.’”

But because it is not the proud and arrogant that are deemed worthy of the grace of martyrdom, but rather the humble and such as know not how to presume on their own strength, therefore the Bridegroom goes on to say, “I am the Lily of the valleys.” That is, He declares that He will be the Crown of the humble, the special exaltation in store for whom is indicated by the tallness of the lily. For the time will come when “every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.” Then, certainly, He Who is the “Brightness of Eternal Life,” shall appear as “the Lily” not of the hills but “of the valleys.” It is written, “The just shall spring as the lily.” Now, who is just but the humble? When the Lord Jesus bowed Himself beneath the hands of His servant John, He saw the Baptist trembling with awe in presence of His Divine Majesty, and “said to him: suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfil all justice.” Thus He made it clear that the consummation of justice consists in the perfection of humility. The just man, consequently, is the humble man; the just man is he who resembles the lily of the valleys in his love of lowly places. And if we, my brethren, are found to be humble, we also “shall spring as the lily,” we “shall flourish forever before the Lord.” Do you not agree that the Bridegroom shall then in an especial manner prove Himself “the Lily of the valleys,” when He “will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the Body of His glory”? Notice how the Apostle does not say “our body,” but the “body of our lowness,” thereby insinuating that none save the lowly shall be glorified by a participation in the transcendant and everlasting brightness of this Divine Lily. Let so much suffice concerning the words of the Bridegroom, “I am the Flower of the field, and the Lily of the valleys.”

It would be profitable to treat here also the Bridegroom’s eulogy of His dearly beloved. But the time will not permit. For our Rule tells us that nothing ought to be preferred to the work of God. By this name of the “work of God” our holy Father St. Benedict willed should be designated the solemn service of praise which we daily discharge in our churches, and his purpose was to impress upon our minds the necessity of devoting ourselves with all earnestness to that great duty. Therefore, I exhort you, dearest brethren, to assist at every hour of the canonical office with zeal and recollection. You must be zealous in order to join fervently, yet reverently, in chanting the praises of God, not lazily, not drowsily, not yawningly, not sparing yourselves, not mutilating the words or omitting any, not with weak and mincing voices effeminately stammering or sounding through the nose; but singing with the manly fulness and sonorousness and the religious affection proper to songs which have been inspired by the Holy Ghost. Recollection is also necessary so that your minds may entertain no other thoughts than such as are suggested by the psalms you sing. Observe, I do not say you are only bound to refrain from thinking of vain and unprofitable things during the divine office. Even such thoughts as the officials of the monastery are frequently obliged to occupy themselves with for the common good, and which are therefore necessary, must be put away at that time and in that place. Nay, I would strongly recommend you not to let your minds dwell—whilst engaged in the work of God—on what perchance you had been reading in a spiritual book just before, sitting in the cloister, or what might be still fresh in your memories after listening to my lectures in this auditorium of the Spirit of God. Reflections of this kind are doubtless wholesome, but it would not be wholesome for you to admit them during the hour of public prayer. For the Holy Ghost will not take pleasure in any offering whatever which you may make Him at that time to the neglect of the one which He demands of you, and which alone can content Him. May He give us the light and the strength ever to accomplish His will, according to His will, through the grace and mercy of the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.