John, Spiritual Canticle 12
Turn them away, O my Beloved!
I am on the Wing.
THE BRIDEGROOM
Return, My Dove!
The wounded hart
Looms on the hill
In the air of thy flight and is refreshed.
EXPLANATION
1 AMID those fervent affections of love, such as the soul has shownin the preceding stanzas, the Beloved is wont to visit His bride,tenderly, lovingly, and with great strength of love; forordinarily the graces and visits of God are great in proportion tothe greatness of those fervours and longings of love which havegone before. And, as the soul has so anxiously longed for thedivine eyes--as in the foregoing stanza--the Beloved reveals to itsome glimpses of His majesty and Godhead, according to itsdesires. These divine rays strike the soul so profoundly and sovividly that it is rapt into an ecstasy which in the beginning isattended with great suffering and natural fear. Hence the soul,unable to bear the ecstasies in a body so frail, cries out, 'Turnaway thine eyes from me.'
'Turn them away, O my Beloved!'
2. That is, 'Thy divine eyes, for they make me fly away out ofmyself to the heights of contemplation, and my natural forcecannot bear it.' This the soul says because it thinks it hasescaped from the burden of the flesh, which was the object of itsdesires; it therefore prays the Beloved to turn away His eyes;that is, not to show them in the body where it cannot bear andenjoy them as it would, but to show them to it in its flight fromthe body. The Bridegroom at once denies the request and hindersthe flight, saying, 'Return, My Dove! for the communications Imake to thee now are not those of the state of glory wherein thoudesirest to be; but return to Me, for I am He Whom thou, woundedwith love, art seeking, and I, too, as the hart, wounded with thylove, begin to show Myself to thee on the heights ofcontemplation, and am refreshed and delighted by the love whichthy contemplation involves.' The soul then says to the Bridegroom:
'Turn them away, O my Beloved!'
3. The soul, because of its intense longing after the divine eyes--that is, the Godhead--receives interiorly from the Beloved suchcommunications and knowledge of God as compel it to cry out, 'Turnthem away, O my Beloved!' For such is the wretchedness of ourmortal nature, that we cannot bear--even when it is offered to us--but at the cost of our life, that which is the very life of thesoul, and the object of its earnest desires, namely, the knowledgeof the Beloved. Thus the soul is compelled to say, with regard tothe eyes so earnestly, so anxiously sought for, and in so manyways--when they become visible--'Turn them away.'
4. So great, at times, is the suffering of the soul during theseecstatic visitations--and there is no other pain which so wrenchesthe very bones, and which so oppresses our natural forces--that,were it not for the special interference of God, death wouldensue. And, in truth, such is it to the soul, the subject of thesevisitations, for it feels as if it were released from the body anda stranger to the flesh. Such graces cannot be perfectly receivedin the body, because the spirit of man is lifted up to thecommunion of the Spirit of God, Who visits the soul, and musttherefore of necessity be in some measure a stranger to the body.Hence it is that the flesh has to suffer, and consequently thesoul in it, by reason of their union in one person. The greatagony of the soul, therefore, in these visitations, and the greatfear that overwhelms it when God deals with it in the supernaturalway, (123) force it to cry out, 'Turn them away, O my Beloved!'
5. But it is not to be supposed, however, that the soul reallywishes Him to turn away His eyes; for this is nothing else but theexpression of natural awe, as I said before. (124) Yea, rather,cost they what they may, the soul would not willingly miss thesevisitations and favours of the Beloved; for though nature maysuffer, the spirit flies to this supernatural recollection inorder to enjoy the spirit of the Beloved, the object of itsprayers and desires. The soul is unwilling to receive thesevisitations in the body, when it cannot have the perfect fruitionof them, and only in a slight degree and in pain; but it covetsthem in the flight of the disembodied spirit when it can enjoythem freely. Hence it says, 'Turn them away, my Beloved'--that is,Do not visit me in the flesh.
'I am on the wing.'
6. It is as if it said, 'I am taking my flight out of the body,that Thou mayest show them when I shall have left it; they beingthe cause of my flight out of the body.' For the betterunderstanding of the nature of this flight we should consider thatwhich I said just now. (125) In this visitation of the divineSpirit the spirit of the soul is with great violence borne upwardsinto communion with the divine, the body is abandoned, all itsacts and senses are suspended, because they are absorbed in God.Thus the Apostle, St. Paul, speaking of his own ecstasy, saith,'Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell.' (126) Butwe are not to suppose that the soul abandons the body, and thatthe natural life is destroyed, but only that its actions have thenceased.
7. This is the reason why the body remains insensible in rapturesand ecstasies, and unconscious of the most painful inflictions.These are not like the swoons and faintings of the natural life,which cease when pain begins. They who have not arrived atperfection are liable to these visitations, for they happen tothose who are walking in the way of proficients. They who arealready perfect receive these visitations in peace and in thesweetness of love: ecstasies cease, for they were only graces toprepare them for this greater grace.
8. This is a fitting place for discussing the difference betweenraptures, ecstasies, other elevations and subtile flights of thespirit, to which spiritual persons are liable; but, as I intend todo nothing more than explain briefly this canticle, as I undertookin the prologue, I leave the subject for those who are betterqualified than I am. I do this the more readily, because ourmother, the blessed Teresa of Jesus, has written admirably on thismatter, (127) whose writings I hope in God to see published soon.The flight of the soul in this place, then, is to be understood ofecstasy, and elevation of spirit in God. The Beloved immediatelysays:
'Return, My Dove.'
9. The soul was joyfully quitting the body in its spiritualflight, thinking that its natural life was over, and that it wasabout to enter into the everlasting fruition of the Bridegroom,and remain with Him without a veil between them. He, however,restrains it in its flight, saying:
'Return, My Dove.'
10. It is as if He said, 'O My Dove, in thy high and rapid flightof contemplation, in the love wherewith thou art inflamed, in thesimplicity of thy regard'--these are three characteristics of thedove--'return from that flight in which thou aimest at the truefruition of Myself--the time is not yet come for knowledge sohigh--return, and submit thyself to that lower degree of it whichI communicate in this thy rapture.'
'The wounded hart.'
11. The Bridegroom likens Himself to a hart, for by the hart hereHe means Himself. The hart by nature climbs up to high places, andwhen wounded hastens to seek relief in the cooling waters. If hehears his consort moan and sees that she is wounded, he runs toher at once, comforts, and caresses her. So the Bridegroom now;for, seeing the bride wounded with His love, He, too, hearing hermoaning, is wounded Himself with her love; for with lovers thewound of one is the wound of the other, and they have the samefeelings in common. The Bridegroom, therefore, saith in effect:'Return, my bride, to Me; for as thou art wounded with the love ofMe, I too, like the hart, am wounded by love for thee. I am likethe hart, looming on the top of the hill.' Therefore He says:
'Looms on the hill.'
12. That is, 'on the heights of contemplation, to which thou hastascended in thy flight.' Contemplation is a lofty eminence whereGod, in this life, begins to communicate Himself to the soul, andto show Himself, but not distinctly. Hence it is said, 'Looms onthe hill,' because He does not appear clearly. However profoundthe knowledge of Himself which God may grant to the soul in thislife, it is, after all, but an indistinct vision. We now come tothe third property of the hart, the subject of the line thatfollows:
'In the air of thy flight, and is refreshed.'
13. The flight is contemplation in the ecstasy spoken of before,(128) and the air is the spirit of love produced in the soul bythis flight of contemplation, and this love produced by the flightis here with great propriety called 'air,' for the Holy Ghost alsois likened to air in the Sacred Writings, because He is the breathof the Father and the Son. And so as He is there the air of theflight--that is, that He proceeds by the will from thecontemplation and wisdom of the Father and the Son, and isbreathed--so here the love of the soul is called air by theBridegroom, because it proceeds from the contemplation of God andthe knowledge of Him which at this time is possessed by the soul.
14. We must observe here that the Bridegroom does not say that Hecometh at the flight, but at the air of the flight, becauseproperly speaking God does not communicate Himself to the soulbecause of that flight, which is, as I have said, the knowledge ithas of God, but because of the love which is the fruit of thatknowledge. For as love is the union of the Father and the Son, sois it also of God and the soul.
15. Hence it is that notwithstanding the most profound knowledgeof God, and contemplation itself, together with the knowledge ofall mysteries, the soul without love is nothing worth, and can donothing, as the Apostle saith, towards its union with God. (129)In another place he saith, 'Have charity, which is the bond ofperfection.' (130) This charity then and love of the soul make theBridegroom run to drink of the fountain of the Bride's love, asthe cooling waters attract the thirsty and the wounded hart, to berefreshed therein.
'And is refreshed.'
16. As the air cools and refreshes him who is wearied with theheat, so the air of love refreshes and comforts him who burns withthe fire of love. The fire of love hath this property, the airwhich cools and refreshes it is an increase of the fire itself. Tohim who loves, love is a flame that burns with the desire ofburning more and more, like the flame of material fire. Theconsummation of this desire of burning more and more, with thelove of the bride, which is the air of her flight, is here calledrefreshment. The Bridegroom says in substance, 'I burn more andmore because of the ardour of thy flight, for love kindles love.'
17. God does not establish His grace and love in the soul but inproportion to the good will of that soul's love. He, therefore,that truly loves God must strive that his love fail not; for so,if we may thus speak, will he move God to show him greater love,and to take greater delight in his soul. In order to attain tosuch a degree of love, he must practise those things of which theApostle speaks, saying: 'Charity is patient, is benign: charityenvieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up, is notambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinkethnot evil, rejoiceth not upon iniquity, but rejoiceth with thetruth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth allthings, endureth all things.' (131)
NOTE
WHEN the dove--that is the soul--was flying on the gale of loveover the waters of the deluge of the weariness and longing of itslove, 'not finding where her foot might rest,' (132) thecompassionate father Noe, in this last flight, put forth the handof his mercy, caught her, and brought her into the ark of hischarity and love. That took place when the Bridegroom, as in thestanza now explained, said, 'Return, My Dove.' In the shelterwithin the ark, the soul, finding all it desired, and more than itcan ever express, begins to sing the praises of the Beloved,celebrating the magnificence which it feels and enjoys in thatunion, saying:
THE BRIDE
My Beloved is the mountains,
The solitary wooded valleys,
The strange islands,
The roaring torrents,
The whisper of the amorous gales;
The tranquil night
At the approaches of the dawn,
The silent music,
The murmuring solitude,
The supper which revives, and enkindles love.
1 BEFORE I begin to explain these stanzas, I must observe, in orderthat they and those which follow may be better understood, thatthis spiritual flight signifies a certain high estate and union oflove, whereunto, after many spiritual exercises, God is wont toelevate the soul: it is called the spiritual betrothal of theWord, the Son of God. In the beginning, when this occurs the firsttime, God reveals to it great things of Himself, makes itbeautiful in majesty and grandeur, adorns it with graces andgifts, and endows it with honour, and with the knowledge ofHimself, as a bride is adorned on the day of her betrothal. Onthis happy day the soul not only ceases from its anxieties andloving complaints, but is, moreover, adorned with all grace,entering into a state of peace and delight, and of the sweetnessof love, as it appears from these stanzas, in which it doesnothing else but recount and praise the magnificence of theBeloved, which it recognises in Him, and enjoys in the union ofthe betrothal.
2. In the stanzas that follow, the soul speaks no more of itsanxieties and sufferings, as before, but of the sweet and peacefulintercourse of love with the Beloved; for now all its troubles areover. These two stanzas, which I am about to explain, contain allthat God is wont at this time to bestow upon the soul; but we arenot to suppose that all souls, thus far advanced, receive all thatis here described, either in the same way or in the same degree ofknowledge and of consciousness. Some souls receive more, othersless; some in one way, some in another; and yet all may be in thestate of spiritual betrothal. But in this stanza the highestpossible is spoken of, because that embraces all.
EXPLANATION
3. As in the ark of Noe there were many chambers for the differentkinds of animals, as the Sacred Writings tell us, and 'all foodthat may be eaten,' (133) so the soul, in its flight to the divineark of the bosom of God, sees therein not only the many mansionsof which our Lord speaks, but also all the food, that is, all themagnificence in which the soul may rejoice, and which are herereferred to by the common terms of these stanzas. These aresubstantially as follows:
4. In this divine union the soul has a vision and foretaste ofabundant and inestimable riches, and finds there all the reposeand refreshment it desired; it attains to the secrets of God, andto a strange knowledge of Him, which is the food of those who knowHim most; it is conscious of the awful power of God beyond allother power and might, tastes of the wonderful sweetness anddelight of the Spirit, finds its true rest and divine light,drinks deeply of the wisdom of God, which shines forth in theharmony of the creatures and works of God; it feels itself filledwith all good, emptied, and delivered from all evil, and, aboveall, rejoices consciously in the inestimable banquet of love whichconfirms it in love. This is the substance of these two stanzas.
5. The bride here says that her Beloved in Himself and to her isall the objects she enumerates; for in the ecstatic communicationsof God the soul feels and understands the truth of the saying ofSt. Francis: 'God is mine and all things are mine.' And becauseGod is all, and the soul, and the good of all, the communicationin this ecstasy is explained by the consideration that thegoodness of the creatures referred to in these stanzas is areflection of His goodness, as will appear from every linethereof. All that is here set forth is in God eminently in aninfinite way, or rather, every one of these grandeurs is God, andall of them together are God. Inasmuch as the soul is one withGod, it feels all things to be God according to the words of St.John: 'What was made, in Him was life.' (134)
6. But we are not to understand this consciousness of the soul asif it saw the creatures in God as we see material objects in thelight, but that it feels all things to be God in this fruition ofHim; neither are we to imagine that the soul sees God essentiallyand clearly because it has so deep a sense of Him; for this isonly a strong and abundant communication from Him, a glimmeringlight of what He is in Himself, by which the soul discerns thisgoodness of all things, as I proceed to explain.
'My Beloved is the mountains.'
7. Mountains are high fertile, extensive, beautiful, lovely,flowery, and odorous. These mountains my Beloved is to me.
'The solitary wooded valleys.'
8. Solitary valleys are tranquil, pleasant, cooling, shady,abounding in sweet waters, and by the variety of trees growing inthem, and by the melody of the birds that frequent them, enlivenand delight the senses; their solitude and silence procure us arefreshing rest. These valleys my Beloved is to me.
'The strange islands.'
9. Strange islands are girt by the sea; they are also, because ofthe sea, distant and unknown to the commerce of men. They producethings very different from those with which we are conversant, instrange ways, and with qualities hitherto unknown, so as tosurprise those who behold them, and fill them with wonder. Thus,then, by reason of the great and marvellous wonders, and thestrange things that come to our knowledge, far beyond the commonnotions of men, which the soul beholds in God, it calls Him thestrange islands. We say of a man that he is strange for one of tworeasons: either because he withdraws himself from the society ofhis fellows, or because he is singular or distinguished in hislife and conduct. For these two reasons together God is calledstrange by the soul. He is not only all that is strange inundiscovered islands, but His ways, judgments, and works are alsostrange, new, and marvellous to men.
10. It is nothing wonderful that God should be strange to men whohave never seen Him, seeing that He is also strange to the holyangels and the souls who see Him; for they neither can nor shallever see Him perfectly. Yea, even to the day of the last judgmentthey will see in Him so much that is new in His deep judgments, inHis acts of mercy and justice, as to excite their wonder more andmore. Thus God is the strange islands not to men only, but to theangels also; only to Himself is He neither strange nor new.
'The roaring torrents.'
11. Torrents have three properties. 1. They overflow all that isin their course. 2. They fill all hollows. 3. They overpower allother sounds by their own. And hence the soul, feeling mostsweetly that these three properties belong to God, says, 'MyBeloved is the roaring torrents.'
12. As to the first property of which the soul is conscious, itfeels itself to be so overwhelmed with the torrent of the Spiritof God, and so violently overpowered by it, that all the waters inthe world seem to it to have surrounded it, and to have drownedall its former actions and passions. Though all this be violent,yet there is nothing painful in it, for these rivers are rivers ofpeace, as it is written, God, speaking through Isaias, saying, 'Iwill decline upon her, as it were, a flood of peace, and as atorrent overflowing glory.' (135) That is, 'I will bring upon thesoul, as it were, a river of peace, and a torrent overflowing withglory.' Thus this divine overflowing, like roaring torrents, fillsthe soul with peace and glory. The second property the soul feelsis that this divine water is now filling the vessels of itshumility and the emptiness of its desires, as it is written: 'Hehath exalted the humble, and filled the hungry with good.' (136)The third property of which the soul is now conscious in theroaring torrents of the Beloved is a spiritual sound and voiceoverpowering all other sounds and voices in the world. Theexplanation of this will take a little time.
13. This voice, or this murmuring sound of the waters, is anoverflowing so abundant as to fill the soul with good, and a powerso mighty seizing upon it as to seem not only the sound of manywaters, but a most loud roaring of thunder. But the voice is aspiritual voice, unattended by material sounds or the pain andtorment of them, but rather with majesty, power, might, delight,and glory: it is, as it were, a voice, an infinite interior soundwhich endows the soul with power and might. The Apostles heard inspirit this voice when the Holy Ghost descended upon them in thesound 'as of a mighty wind,' (137) as we read in the Acts of theApostles. In order to manifest this spiritual voice, interiorlyspoken, the sound was heard exteriorly, as of a rushing wind, byall those who were in Jerusalem. This exterior manifestationreveals what the Apostles interiorly received, namely, fulness ofpower and might.
14. So also when our Lord Jesus prayed to the Father because ofHis distress and the rage of His enemies, He heard an interiorvoice from heaven, comforting Him in His Sacred Humanity. Thesound, solemn and grave, was heard exteriorly by the Jews, some ofwhom said that it thundered: others said, 'An angel hath spoken toHim.' (138) The voice outwardly heard was the outward sign andexpression of that strength and power which Christ then inwardlyreceived in His human nature. We are not to suppose that the souldoes not hear in spirit the spiritual voice because it is alsooutwardly heard. The spiritual voice is the effect on the soul ofthe audible voice, as material sounds strike the ear, and impressthe meaning of it on the mind. This we learn from David when hesaid, 'He will give to His voice the voice of strength;' (139)this strength is the interior voice. He will give to His voice--that is, the outward voice, audibly heard--the voice of strengthwhich is felt within. God is an infinite voice, and communicatingHimself thus to the soul produces the effect of an infinite voice.
15. This voice was heard by St. John, saying in the Apocalypse, 'Iheard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as thevoice of great thunder.' And, lest it should be supposed that avoice so strong was distressing and harsh, he adds immediately,'The voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping ontheir harps.' (140) Ezechiel says that this sound as of manywaters was 'as it were the sound of the High God,' (141)profoundly and sweetly communicated in it. This voice is infinite,because, as I have said, it is God Who communicates Himself,speaking in the soul; but He adapts Himself to each soul, utteringthe voice of strength according to its capacity, in majesty andjoy. And so the bride sings in the Canticle: 'Let Thy voice soundin my ears, for Thy voice is sweet.' (142)
'The whisper of the amorous gales.'
16. Two things are to be considered here--gales and whisper. Theamorous gales are the virtues and graces of the Beloved, which,because of its union with the Bridegroom, play around the soul,and, most lovingly sent forth, touch it in their own substance.The whisper of the gales is a most sublime and sweet knowledge ofGod and of His attributes, which overflows into the understandingfrom the contact of the attributes of God with the substance ofthe soul. This is the highest delight of which the soul is capablein this life.
17. That we may understand this the better, we must keep in mindthat as in a gale two things are observable--the touch of it, andthe whisper or sound--so there are two things observable also inthe communications of the Bridegroom--the sense of delight, andthe understanding of it. As the touch of the air is felt in thesense of touch, and the whisper of it heard in the ear, so alsothe contact of the perfections of the Beloved is felt and enjoyedin the touch of the soul--that is, in the substance thereof,through the instrumentality of the will; and the knowledge of theattributes of God felt in the hearing of the soul--that is, in theunderstanding.
18. The gale is said to blow amorously when it strikesdeliciously, satisfying his desire who is longing for therefreshing which it ministers; for it then revives and soothes thesense of touch, and while the sense of touch is thus soothed, thatof hearing also rejoices and delights in the sound and whisper ofthe gale more than the touch in the contact of the air, becausethe sense of hearing is more spiritual, or, to speak with greatercorrectness, is more nearly connected with the spiritual than isthat of touch, and the delight thereof is more spiritual than isthat of the touch. So also, inasmuch as this touch of God greatlysatisfies and comforts the substance of the soul, sweetlyfulfilling its longing to be received into union; this union, ortouch, is called amorous gales, because, as I said before, theperfections of the Beloved are by it communicated to the soullovingly and sweetly, and through it the whisper of knowledge tothe understanding. It is called whisper, because, as the whisperof the air penetrates subtiley into the organ of hearing, so thismost subtile and delicate knowledge enters with marvelloussweetness and delight into the inmost substance of the soul, whichis the highest of all delights.
19. The reason is that substantial knowledge is now communicatedintelligibly, and stripped of all accidents and images, to theunderstanding, which philosophers call passive or passible,because inactive without any natural efforts of its own duringthis communication. This is the highest delight of the soul,because it is in the understanding, which is the seat of fruition,as theologians teach, and fruition is the vision of God. Sometheologians think, inasmuch as this whisper signifies thesubstantial intelligence, that our father Elias had a vision ofGod in the delicate whisper of the air, which he heard on themount at the mouth of the cave. The Holy Scripture calls it 'thewhistling of a gentle wind,' (143) because knowledge is begottenin the understanding by the subtile and delicate communication ofthe Spirit. The soul calls it here the whisper of the amorousgales, because it flows into the understanding from the lovingcommunication of the perfections of the Beloved. This is why itis called the whisper of the amorous gales.
20. This divine whisper which enters in by the ear of the soul isnot only substantial knowledge, but a manifestation also of thetruths of the Divinity, and a revelation of the secret mysteriesthereof. For in general, in the Holy Scriptures, everycommunication of God said to enter in by the ear is amanifestation of pure truths to the understanding, or a revelationof the secrets of God. These are revelations on purely spiritualvisions, and are communicated directly to the soul without theintervention of the senses, and thus, what God communicatesthrough the spiritual ear is most profound and most certain. WhenSt. Paul would express the greatness of the revelations made tohim, he did not say, 'I saw or I perceived secret words,' but 'Iheard secret words which it is not granted to man to utter.' (144)It is thought that St. Paul also saw God, as our father Elias, inthe whisper of a gentle air. For as 'faith cometh by hearing'--sothe Apostle teaches--that is, by the hearing of the material ear,so also that which the faith teaches, the intelligible truth,cometh by spiritual hearing.
21. The prophet Job, speaking to God, when He revealed Himselfunto him, teaches the same doctrine, saying, 'With the hearing ofthe ear I have heard Thee, but now my eye seeth Thee.' (145) It isclear, from this, that to hear with the ear of the soul is to seewith the eye of the passive understanding. He does not say, 'Iheard with the hearing of my ears,' but 'with the hearing of myear'; nor, 'with the seeing of my eyes,' but 'with the eye of myunderstanding'; the hearing of the soul is, therefore, the visionof the understanding.
22. Still, we are not to think that what the soul perceives,though pure truth, can be the perfect and clear fruition ofHeaven. For though it be free from accidents, as I said before,(146) it is dim and not clear, because it is contemplation, whichin this life, as St. Dionysius saith, 'is a ray of darkness,'(147) and thus we may say that it is a ray and an image offruition, because it is in the understanding, which is the seat offruition. This substantial truth, called here a whisper, is the'eyes desired' which the Beloved showed to the bride, who, unableto bear the vision, cried, 'Turn them away, O my Beloved.' (148)
23. There is a passage in the book of Job which greatly confirmswhat I have said of rapture and betrothal, and, because I considerit to be much to the purpose, I will give it here, though it maydelay us a little, and explain those portions of it which belongto my subject. The explanation shall be short, and when I shallhave made it, I shall go on to explain the other stanza. Thepassage is as follows: 'To me there was spoken a secret word,'said Eliphaz the Themanite, 'and, as it were, my ear by stealthreceived the veins of its whisper. In the horror of a vision bynight, when deep sleep is wont to hold men, fear held me andtrembling, and all my bones were made sore afraid: and when thespirit passed before me the hair of my flesh stood upright. Therestood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before mine eyes,and I heard the voice, as it were, of a gentle wind.' (149)
24. This passage contains almost all I said about rapture in thethirteenth stanza, where the bride says: 'Turn them away, O myBeloved.' The 'word spoken in secret' to Eliphaz is that secretcommunication which by reason of its greatness the soul was notable to endure, and, therefore, cried out: 'Turn them away, O myBeloved.' Eliphaz says that his 'ear as it were by stealthreceived the veins of its whisper.' By that is meant the puresubstance which the understanding receives, for the 'veins' heredenote the interior substance. The whisper is that communicationand touch of the virtues whereby the said substance iscommunicated to the understanding. It is called a whisper becauseof its great gentleness. And the soul calls it the amorous galesbecause it is lovingly communicated. It is said to be received asit were by stealth, for as that which is stolen is alienated, sothis secret is alien to man, speaking in the order of nature,because that which he received does not appertain to himnaturally, and thus it was not lawful for him to receive it;neither was it lawful for St. Paul to repeat what he heard. Forthis reason the prophet saith twice, 'My secret to myself, mysecret to myself.' (150)
25. When Eliphaz speaks of the horror of the vision by night, andof the fear and trembling that seized upon him, he refers to theawe and dread that comes upon the soul naturally in rapture,because in its natural strength it is unable, as I said before,(151) to endure the communication of the Spirit of God. Theprophet gives us to understand that, as when sleep is about tofall upon men, a certain vision which they call a nightmare iswont to oppress and terrify them in the interval between sleepingand waking, which is the moment of the approach of sleep, so inthe spiritual passage between the sleep of natural ignorance andthe waking of the supernatural understanding, which is thebeginning of an ecstasy or rapture, the spiritual vision thenrevealed makes the soul fear and tremble.
26. 'All my bones were affrighted'; that is, were shaken anddisturbed. By this he meant a certain dislocation of the boneswhich takes place when the soul falls into an ecstasy. This isclearly expressed by Daniel when he saw the angel, saying, 'O mylord, at the sight of thee my joints are loosed.' (152) 'When thespirit passed before me'--that is, 'When my spirit was made totranscend the ways and limitations of nature in ecstasies andraptures'--'the hair of my flesh stood upright'; that is, Ômy bodywas chilled, and the flesh contracted, like that of a dead man.'
27. 'There stood One'--that is God, Who reveals Himself after thismanner--'Whose countenance knew not': in these communications orvisions, however high they may be, the soul neither knows norbeholds the face and being of God. 'An image before my eyes'; thatis, the knowledge of the secret words was most deep, as it werethe image and face of God; but still this is not the essentialvision of God. 'I heard the voice, as it were, of a gentle wind';this is the whisper of the amorous gales--that is, of the Belovedof the soul.
28. But it is not to be supposed that these visits of God arealways attended by such terrors and distress of nature: thathappens to them only who are entering the state of illuminationand perfection, and in this kind of communication; for in othersthey come with great sweetness.
STANZA XV
1THE tranquil night.' In this spiritual sleep in the bosom of theBeloved the soul is in possession and fruition of all the calm,repose, and quiet of a peaceful night, and receives at the sametime in God a certain dim, unfathomable divine intelligence. Thisis the reason why it says that the Beloved is to it the tranquilnight.
2. 'At the approaches of the dawn.' This tranquil night is notlike a night of darkness, but rather like the night when thesunrise is drawing nigh. This tranquillity and repose in God isnot all darkness to the soul, as the dark night is, but rathertranquillity and repose in the divine light and in a new knowledgeof God, whereby the mind, most sweetly tranquil, is raised to adivine light.
3. This divine light is here very appropriately called theapproaches of the dawn, that is, the twilight; for as the twilightof the morn disperses the darkness of the night and reveals thelight of day, so the mind, tranquil and reposing in God, is raisedup from the darkness of natural knowledge to the morning light ofthe supernatural knowledge of God; not clear, indeed, as I havesaid, but dim, like the night at the approaches of the dawn. Foras it is then neither wholly night nor wholly day, but, as theysay, twilight, so this solitude and divine repose is neitherperfectly illumined by the divine light nor yet perfectly alienfrom it.
4. In this tranquillity the understanding is lifted up in astrange way above its natural comprehension to the divine light:it is like a man who, after a profound sleep, opens his eyes tounexpected light. This knowledge is referred to by David when hesays, 'I have watched, and am become as the lonely sparrow on thehousetop'; (153) that is, 'I opened the eyes of my understandingand was raised up above all natural comprehension, lonely, withoutthem, on the housetop, lifted up above all earthlyconsiderations.' He says that he was 'become as the lonelysparrow,' because in this kind of contemplation, the spirit hasthe properties of the sparrow. These are five in number: i. It frequents in general high places; and the spirit, inthis state, rises to the highest contemplation. ii. It is ever turning its face in the direction of the wind,and the spirit turns its affections thither whence comes thespirit of love, which is God. iii. It is in general solitary, abstaining from thecompanionship of others, and flying away when any approach it: sothe spirit, in contemplation, is far away from all worldlythoughts, lonely in its avoidance of them; neither does it consentto anything except to this solitude in God. iv. It sings most sweetly, and so also does the spirit atthis time sing unto God; for the praises which it offers upproceed from the sweetest love, most pleasing to itself, and mostprecious in the sight of God. v. It is of no definite colour; so also is the perfectspirit, which in this ecstasy is not only without any tinge ofsensual affection or self-love, but also without any particularconsideration of the things of heaven or earth; neither can itgive any account whatever of them, because it has entered into theabyss of the knowledge of God.
'The silent music.'
5. In this silence and tranquillity of the night, and in thisknowledge of the divine light, the soul discerns a marvellousarrangement and disposition of God's wisdom in the diversities ofHis creatures and operations. All these, and each one of them,have a certain correspondence with God, whereby each, by a voicepeculiar to itself, proclaims what there is in itself of God, soas to form a concert of sublimest melody, transcending all theharmonies of the world. This is the silent music, because it isknowledge tranquil and calm, without audible voice; and thus thesweetness of music and the repose of silence are enjoyed in it.The soul says that the Beloved is silent music, because thisharmony of spiritual music is in Him understood and felt. He isnot this only, He is also--
'The murmuring solitude.'
6. This is almost the same as the silent music. For though themusic is inaudible to the senses and the natural powers, it is asolitude most full of sound to the spiritual powers. These powersbeing in solitude, emptied of all forms and natural apprehensions,may well receive in spirit, like a resounding voice, the spiritualimpression of the majesty of God in Himself and in His creatures;as it happened to St. John, who heard in spirit as it were 'thevoice of harpers harping on their harps.' (154) St. John heardthis in spirit: it was not material harps that he heard, but acertain knowledge that he had of the praises of the blessed, whichevery one of them, each in his own degree of glory, is continuallysinging before God. It is as it were music. For as every one ofthe saints had the gifts of God in a different way, so every oneof them sings His praises in a different way, and yet allharmonise in one concert of love, as in music.
7. In the same way, in this tranquil contemplation, the soulbeholds all creatures, not only the highest, but the lowest also,each one according to the gift of God to it, sending forth thevoice of its witness to what God is. It beholds each onemagnifying Him in its own way, and possessing Him according to itsparticular capacity; and thus all these voices together unite inone strain in praise of God's greatness, wisdom, and marvellousknowledge. This is the meaning of those words of the Holy Ghost inthe Book of Wisdom: 'The Spirit of our Lord hath replenished thewhole world, and that which containeth all things hath theknowledge of the voice.' (155) 'The voice' is the murmuringsolitude, which the soul is said to know, namely, the witnesswhich all things bear to God. Inasmuch as the soul hears thismusic only in solitude and in estrangement from all outwardthings, it calls it silent music and murmuring solitude. These arethe Beloved.
'The supper which revives, and enkindles love.'
8. Lovers find recreation, satisfaction, and love in feasts.And because the Beloved in this sweet communication produces thesethree effects in the soul, He is here said to be the supper thatrevives, and enkindles love. In Holy Scripture supper signifiesthe divine vision, for as supper is the conclusion of the day'slabours, and the beginning of the night's repose, so the soul inthis tranquil knowledge is made to feel that its trials are over,the possession of good begun, and its love of God increased.Hence, then, the Beloved is to the soul the supper that revives,in being the end of its trials, and that enkindles love, in beingthe beginning of the fruition of all good.
9. That we may see more clearly how the Bridegroom is the supperof the soul, we must refer to those words of the Beloved in theApocalypse: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any manshall hear My voice, and open to Me the gate, I will enter in tohim, and will sup with him, and he with Me.' (156) It is evidentfrom these words that He brings the supper with Him, which isnothing else but His own sweetness and delights, wherein Herejoiceth Himself, and which He, uniting Himself to the soul,communicates to it, making it a partaker of His joy: for this isthe meaning of 'I will sup with him, and he with Me.' These wordsdescribe the effect of the divine union of the soul with God,wherein it shares the very goods of God Himself, Who communicatesthem graciously and abundantly to it. Thus the Beloved is Himselfthe supper which revives, and enkindles love, refreshing the soulwith His abundance, and enkindling its love in His graciousness.
10. But before I proceed to explain the stanzas which follow, Imust observe that, in the state of betrothal, wherein the soulenjoys this tranquillity, and wherein it receives all that it canreceive in this life, we are not to suppose its tranquillity to beperfect, but that the higher part of it is tranquil; for thesensual part, except in the state of spiritual marriage, neverloses all its imperfect habits, and its powers are never whollysubdued, as I shall show hereafter. (157) What the soul receivesnow is all that it can receive in the state of betrothal, for inthat of the marriage the blessings are greater. Though the bride-soul has great joy in these visits of the Beloved in the state ofbetrothal, still it has to suffer from His absence, to enduretrouble and afflictions in the lower part, and at the hands of thedevil. But all this ceases in the state of spiritual marriage.
NOTE
THE bride now in possession of the virtues in their perfection,whereby she is ordinarily rejoicing in peace when the Belovedvisits her, is now and then in the fruition of the fragrance andsweetness of those virtues in the highest degree, because theBeloved touches them within her, just as the sweetness and beautyof the lilies and other flowers when in their bloom are perceivedwhen we handle them. For in many of these visits the soul discernswithin itself all its virtues which God has given it; He sheddinglight upon them. The soul now, with marvellous joy and sweetnessof love, binds them together and presents them to the Beloved as anosegay of beautiful flowers, and the Beloved in accepting them--for He truly accepts them then--accepts thereby a great service.All this takes place within the soul, feeling that the Beloved iswithin it as on His own couch, for the soul presents itself withthe virtues which is the greatest service it can render Him, andthus this is one of the greatest joys which in its interiorconverse with God the soul is wont to receive in presents of thiskind made to the Beloved.
2. The devil, beholding this prosperity of the soul, and in hisgreat malice envying all the good he sees in it, now uses all hispower, and has recourse to all his devices, in order to thwart it,if possible, even in the slightest degree. He thinks it of moreconsequence to keep back the soul, even for an instant, from thisabundance, bliss, and delight, than to make others fall into manyand mortal sins. Other souls have little or nothing to lose, whilethis soul has much, having gained many and great treasures; forthe loss of one grain of refined gold is greater than the loss ofmany of the baser metals.
3. The devil here has recourse to the sensual appetites, thoughnow they can give him generally but little or no help because theyare mortified, and because he cannot turn them to any greataccount in distracting the imagination. Sometimes he stirs up manymovements in the sensitive part of the soul, and causes othervexations, spiritual as well as sensual, from which the soul isunable to deliver itself until our Lord shall send His angel, asit is written, 'The angel of the Lord shall put in himself aboutthem that fear Him, and shall deliver them;' (158) and soestablish peace, both in the spiritual and sensitive parts of thesoul. With a view to show forth this truth, and to ask thisfavour, the soul, apprehensive by experience of the craft whichthe devil makes use of to thwart this good, addressing itself tothe angels, whose function it is to succour it at this time byputting the evil spirits to flight, speaks as in the followingstanza:
John, Spiritual Canticle 12