John, Spiritual Canticle 26

STANZA XXVII

There He gave me His breasts,
There He taught me the science full of sweetness.
And there I gave to Him
Myself without reserve;
There I promised to be His bride.

1 HERE the soul speaks of the two contracting parties in thisspiritual betrothal, itself and God. In the inner cellar of lovethey both met together, God giving to the soul the breasts of Hislove freely, whereby He instructs it in His mysteries and wisdom,and the soul also actually surrendering itself, making noreservation whatever either in its own favour or in that ofothers, promising to be His for ever.

'There He gave me His breasts.'

2. To give the breast to another is to love and cherish him andcommunicate one's secrets to him as a friend. The soul says herethat God gave it His breasts--that is, He gave it His love andcommunicated His secrets to it. It is thus that God deals with thesoul in this state, and more, too, as it appears from the wordsthat follow:

'There He taught me the science full of sweetness.'

3. This science is mystical theology, which is the secret scienceof God, and which spiritual men call contemplation. It is mostfull of sweetness because it is knowledge by love, love is themaster of it, and it is love that renders it all so sweet.Inasmuch as this science and knowledge are communicated to thesoul in that love with which God communicates Himself, it is sweetto the understanding, because knowledge belongs to it, and sweetto the will, because it comes by love which belongs to the will.

'There I gave to Him myself without reserve'

4. The soul in this sweet draught of God, surrenders itself whollyto Him most willingly and with great sweetness; it desires to bewholly His, and never to retain anything which is unbecoming HisMajesty. God is the author of this union, and of the purity andperfection requisite for it; and as the transformation of the soulin Himself makes it His, He empties it of all that is alien toHimself. Thus it comes to pass that, not in will only, but in actas well, the whole soul is entirely given to God without anyreserve whatever, as God has given Himself freely unto it. Thewill of God and of the soul are both satisfied, each given up tothe other, in mutual delight, so that neither fails the other inthe faith and constancy of the betrothal; therefore the soul says:

'There I promised to be His bride.'

5. As a bride does not give her love to another, and as all herthoughts and actions are directed to her bridegroom only, so thesoul now has no affections of the will, no acts of theunderstanding, neither object nor occupation of any kind which itdoes not wholly refer unto God, together with all its desires. Thesoul is, as it were, absorbed in God, and even its first movementshave nothing in them--so far as it can comprehend them--which isat variance with the will of God. The first movements of animperfect soul in general are, at least, inclined to evil, in theunderstanding, the memory, the will, the desires andimperfections; but those of the soul which has attained to thespiritual state of which I am speaking are ordinarily directed toGod, because of the great help and courage it derives from Him,and its perfect conversion to goodness. This is set forth withgreat clearness by David, when he saith: 'Shall not my soul besubject to God? For from Him is my salvation. For He is my God andmy Saviour; He is my protector, I shall be moved no more.' (228)'He is my protector' means that the soul, being now received underthe protection of God and united to Him, is no longer subject toany movements contrary to God.

6. It is quite clear from this that the soul which has attainedthe spiritual betrothal knows nothing else but the love of theBridegroom and the delights thereof, because it has arrived atperfection, the form and substance of which is love, according toSt. Paul. (229) The more a soul loves, the more perfect it is inits love, and hence it follows that the soul which is alreadyperfect is, if we may say so, all love, all its actions are love,all its energies and strength are occupied in love. It gives upall it has, like the wise merchant, (230) for this treasure oflove which it finds hidden in God, and which is so precious in Hissight, and the Beloved cares for nothing else but love; the soul,therefore, anxious to please Him perfectly, occupies itself whollyin pure love for God, not only because love does so occupy it, butalso because the love wherein it is united influences it towardslove of God in and through all things. As the bee draws honey fromall plants, and makes use of them only for that end, so the soulmost easily draws the sweetness of love from all that happens toit; makes all things subserve it towards loving God, whether theybe sweet or bitter; and being animated and protected by love, hasno sense, feeling, or knowledge, because, as I have said, it knowsnothing but love, and in all its occupations, its joy is its loveof God. This is explained by the following stanza.

NOTE

I HAVE said that God is pleased with nothing but love; but beforeI explain this, it will be as well to set forth the grounds onwhich the assertion rests. All our works, and all our labours, howgrand soever they may be, are nothing in the sight of God, for wecan give Him nothing, neither can we by them fulfil His desire,which is the growth of our soul. As to Himself He desires nothingof this, for He has need of nothing, and so, if He is pleased withanything it is with the growth of the soul; and as there is no wayin which the soul can grow but in becoming in a manner equal toHim, for this reason only is He pleased with our love. It is theproperty of love to place him who loves on an equality with theobject of his love. Hence the soul, because of its perfect love,is called the bride of the Son of God, which signifies equalitywith Him. In this equality and friendship all things are common,as the Bridegroom Himself said to His disciples: 'I have calledyou friends, because all things, whatsoever I have heard of myFather, I have made known to you.' (231)



STANZA XXVIII

My soul is occupied,
And all my substance in His service;
Now I guard no flock,
Nor have I any other employment:
My sole occupation is love.

1 THE soul, or rather the bride having given herself wholly to theBridegroom without any reserve whatever, now recounts to theBeloved how she fulfils her task. 'My soul and body,' she says,'all my abilities and all my capacities, are occupied not withother matters, but with those pertaining to the service of theBridegroom.' She is therefore not seeking her own propersatisfaction, nor the gratification of her own inclinations,neither does she occupy herself in anything whatever which isalien to God; yea, even her communion with God Himself is nothingelse but acts of love, inasmuch as she has changed her former modeof conversing with Him into loving.

'My soul is occupied.'

2. This refers to the soul's surrender of itself to the Beloved inthis union of love, wherein it devotes itself, with all itsfaculties, understanding, will, and memory, to His service. Theunderstanding is occupied in considering what most tends to Hisservice, in order that it might be accomplished; the will inloving all that is pleasing to God, and in desiring Him in allthings; the memory in recalling what ministers to Him, and whatmay be more pleasing unto Him.

'And all my substance in His service.'

3. By substance here is meant all that relates to the sensual partof the soul, which includes the body, with all its powers,interior and exterior, together with all its natural capacities--that is, the four passions, the natural desires, and the wholesubstance of the soul, all of which is employed in the service ofthe Beloved, as well as the rational and spiritual part, as Iexplained in the previous section. As to the body, that is nowordered according to God in all its interior and exterior senses,all the acts of which are directed to God; the four passions ofthe soul are also under control in Him; for the soul's joy, hope,fear, and grief are conversant with God only; all its appetites,and all its anxieties also, are directed unto Him only.

4. The whole substance of the soul is now so occupied with God, sointent upon Him, that its very first movements, eveninadvertently, have God for their object and their end. Theunderstanding, memory, and will tend directly to God; theaffections, senses, desires, and longings, hope and joy, the wholesubstance of the soul, rise instantly towards God, though the soulis making no conscious efforts in that direction. Such a soul isvery often doing the work of God, intent upon Him and the thingsof God, without thinking or reflecting on what it is doing forHim. The constant and habitual practice of this has deprived it ofall conscious reflection, and even of that fervour which itusually had when it began to act. The whole substance of the soulbeing thus occupied, what follows cannot be but true also.

'Now I guard no flock.'

5. 'I do not now go after my likings and desires; for having fixedthem upon God, I no longer feed or guard them.' The soul not onlydoes not guard them now, but has no other occupation than to waitupon God.

'Nor have I any other employment.'

6. Before the soul succeeded in effecting this gift and surrenderof itself, and of all that belongs to it, to the Beloved, it wasentangled in many unprofitable occupations, by which it sought toplease itself and others, and it may be said that its occupationsof this kind were as many as its habits of imperfection.

7. To these habits belong that of speaking, thinking, and thedoing of things that are useless; and likewise, the not making useof these things according to the requirements of the soul'sperfection; other desires also the soul may have, wherewith itministers to the desires of others, to which may be referreddisplay, compliments, flattery, human respect, aiming at beingwell thought of, and the giving pleasure to people, and otheruseless actions, by which it laboured to content them, wasting itsefforts herein, and finally all its strength. All this is over,says the soul here, for all its words, thoughts, and works aredirected to God, and, conversant with Him, freed from theirprevious imperfections. It is as if it said: 'I follow no longereither my own or other men's likings, neither do I occupy orentertain myself with useless pastimes, or the things of thisworld.'

'My sole occupation is love.'

8. 'All my occupation now is the practice of the love of God, allthe powers of soul and body, memory, understanding, and will,interior and exterior senses, the desires of spirit and of sense,all work in and by love. All I do is done in love; all I suffer, Isuffer in the sweetness of love.' This is the meaning of Davidwhen he said, 'I will keep my strength to Thee.' (232)

9. When the soul has arrived at this state all the acts of itsspiritual and sensual nature, whether active or passive, and ofwhatever kind they may be, always occasion an increase of love anddelight in God: even the act of prayer and communion with God,which was once carried on by reflections and divers other methods,is now wholly an act of love. So much so is this the case that thesoul may always say, whether occupied with temporal or spiritualthings, 'My sole occupation is love.' Happy life! happy state!and happy the soul which has attained to it! where all is the verysubstance of love, the joyous delights of the betrothal, when itmay truly say to the Beloved with the bride in the Canticle, 'Thenew and the old, my Beloved, have I kept for Thee' (233) 'All thatis bitter and painful I keep for Thy sake, all that is sweet andpleasant I keep for Thee.' The meaning of the words, for mypurpose, is that the soul, in the state of spiritual betrothal, isfor the most part living in the union of love--that is, the willis habitually waiting lovingly on God.

NOTE

OF a truth the soul is now lost to all things, and gained only tolove, and the mind is no longer occupied with anything else. Itis, therefore, deficient in what concerns the active life, andother exterior duties, that it may apply in earnest to the onething which the Bridegroom has pronounced necessary; (234) andthat is waiting upon God, and the continuous practice of His love.So precious is this in the eyes of God that He rebuked Marthabecause she would withdraw Mary from His feet to occupy heractively in the service of our Lord. Martha thought that she wasdoing everything herself, and that Mary at the feet of Christ wasdoing nothing. But it was far otherwise: for there is nothingbetter or more necessary than love. Thus, in the Canticle, theBridegroom protects the bride, adjuring the daughters ofJerusalem--that is, all created things--not to disturb herspiritual sleep of love, nor to waken her, nor to let her open hereyes to anything till she pleased. 'I adjure you, O daughters ofJerusalem, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved till sheplease.' (235)

2. Observe, however, that if the soul has not reached the state ofunitive love, it is necessary for it to make acts of love, as wellin the active as in the contemplative life. But when it hasreached it, it is not requisite it should occupy itself in otherand exterior duties--unless they be matters of obligation--whichmight hinder, were it but for a moment, the life of love in God,though they may minister greatly to His service; because aninstant of pure love is more precious in the eyes of God and thesoul, and more profitable to the Church, than all other good workstogether, though it may seem as if nothing were done. Thus, MaryMagdalene, though her preaching was most edifying, and might havebeen still more so afterwards, out of the great desire she had toplease God and benefit the Church, hid herself, nevertheless, inthe desert thirty years, that she might surrender herself entirelyto love; for she considered that she would gain more in that way,because an instant of pure love is so much more profitable andimportant to the Church.

3. When the soul, then, in any degree possesses the spirit ofsolitary love, we must not interfere with it. We should inflict agrievous wrong upon it, and upon the Church also, if we were tooccupy it, were it only for a moment, in exterior or activeduties, however important they might be. When God Himself adjuresall not to waken it from its love, who shall venture to do so, andbe blameless? In a word, it is for this love that we are allcreated. Let those men of zeal, who think by their preaching andexterior works to convert the world, consider that they would bemuch more edifying to the Church, and more pleasing unto God--setting aside the good example they would give if they would spendat least one half their time in prayer, even though they may havenot attained to the state of unitive love. Certainly they would domore, and with less trouble, by one single good work than by athousand: because of the merit of their prayer, and the spiritualstrength it supplies. To act otherwise is to beat the air, to dolittle more than nothing, sometimes nothing and occasionally evenmischief; for God may give up such persons to vanity, so that theymay seem to have done something, when in reality their outwardoccupations bear no fruit; for it is quite certain that good workscannot be done but in the power of God. O how much might bewritten on this subject! this, however, is not the place for it.

4. I have said this to explain the stanza that follows, in whichthe soul replies to those who call in question its holytranquillity, who will have it wholly occupied with outwardduties, that its light may shine before the world: these personshave no conception of the fibres and the unseen root whence thesap is drawn, and which nourish the fruit.



STANZA XXIX

If then on the common land
I am no longer seen or found,
You will say that I am lost;
That, being enamoured,
I lost myself; and yet was found.

1 THE soul replies here to a tacit reproach. Worldly people are inthe habit of censuring those who give themselves up in earnest toGod, regarding them as extravagant, in their withdrawal from theworld, and in their manner of life. They say also of them thatthey are useless for all matters of importance, and lost toeverything the world prizes and respects! This reproach the soulmeets in the best way; boldly and courageously despising it witheverything else that the world can lay to its charge. Havingattained to a living love of God, it makes little account of allthis; and that is not all: it confesses it itself in this stanza,and boasts that it has committed that folly, and that it is lostto the world and to itself for the Beloved.

2. That which the soul is saying here, addressing itself to theworld, is in substance this: 'If you see me no longer occupiedwith the subjects that engrossed me once, with the other pastimesof the world, say and believe that I am lost to them, and astranger to them, yea, that I am lost of my own choice, seeking myBeloved whom I so greatly love.' But that they may see that thesoul's loss is gain, and not consider it folly and delusion, itadds that its loss was gain, and that it therefore lost itselfdeliberately.

'If then on the common I am no longer seen or found.'

3. The common is a public place where people assemble forrecreation, and where shepherds feed their flocks. By the commonhere is meant the world in general, where men amuse themselves andfeed the herd of their desires. The soul says to the worldly-minded: 'If you see me no more where I used to be before I gavemyself up wholly to God, look upon me as lost, and say so': thesoul rejoices in that and would have men so speak of it.

'Say that I am lost.'

4. He who loves is not ashamed before men of what he does for God,neither does he hide it through shame though the whole worldshould condemn it. He who shall be ashamed to confess the Son ofGod before men, neglecting to do His work, the Son of God alsowill be ashamed to acknowledge him before His Father. 'He thatshall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My FatherWho is in heaven.' (236) The soul, therefore, in the courage ofits love, glories in what ministers to the honour of the Beloved,in that it has done anything for Him and is lost to the things ofthe world.

5. But few spiritual persons arrive at this perfect courage andresolution in their conduct. For though some attempt to practiseit, and some even think themselves proficient therein, they neverentirely lose themselves on certain points connected with theworld or self, so as to be perfectly detached for the sake ofChrist, despising appearances and the opinion of the world. Thesecan never answer, 'Say that I am lost,' because they are not lostto themselves, and are still ashamed to confess Christ before menthrough human respect; these do not therefore really live inChrist.

'That being enamoured,'

That is, practising virtues for the love of God,

'I lost myself; and yet was found.'

6. The soul remembers well the words of the Bridegroom in theGospel: 'No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate theone and love the other,' (237) and therefore, in order not to loseGod, loses all that is not God, that is, all created things, evenitself, being lost to all things for the love of Him. He who trulyloves makes shipwreck of himself in all else that he may gain themore in the object of his love. Thus the soul says that it haslost itself--that is, deliberately, of set purpose.

7. This loss occurs in two ways. The soul loses itself, making noaccount whatever of itself, but of the Beloved, resigning itselffreely into His hands without any selfish views, losing itselfdeliberately, and seeking nothing for itself. Secondly, it losesitself in all things, making no account of anything save thatwhich concerns the Beloved. This is to lose oneself--that is, tobe willing that others should have all things. Such is he thatloves God; he seeks neither gain nor reward, but only to lose all,even himself, according to God's will; this is what such an onecounts gain. This is real gain, for the Apostle saith, 'to die isgain' (238)--that is, to die for Christ is my gain and profitspiritually. This is why the soul says that it 'was found'; for hewho knows not how to lose, finds not, but rather loses himself, asour Saviour teaches us in the Gospel, saying, 'He that will savehis life shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for Mysake shall find it.' (239)

8. But if we wish to know the deeper spiritual meaning of thisline, and its peculiar fitness here, it is as follows: When a soulhas advanced so far on the spiritual road as to be lost to all thenatural methods of communing with God; when it seeks Him no longerby meditation, images, impressions, nor by any other created ways,or representations of sense, but only by rising above them all, inthe joyful communion with Him by faith and love, then it may besaid to have found God of a truth, because it has truly lostitself as to all that is not God, and also as to its own self.

NOTE

THE soul being thus gained, all its works are gain, for all itspowers are exerted in the spiritual intercourse of most sweetinterior love with the Beloved. The interior communicationsbetween God and the soul are now so delicious, so full ofsweetness, that no mortal tongue can describe them, nor humanunderstanding comprehend them. As a bride on the day of herbetrothal attends to nothing but to the joyous festival of herlove, and brings forth all her jewels and ornaments for thepleasure of the bridegroom, and as he too in the same way exhibitshis own magnificence and riches for the pleasure of his bride, sois it in the spiritual betrothal where the soul feels that whichthe bride says in the Canticle, 'I to my Beloved and my Beloved tome.' (240) The virtues and graces of the bride-soul, the grandeurand magnificence of the Bridegroom, the Son of God, come forthinto the light, for the celebration of the bridal feast,communicating each to the other the goods and joys with the wineof sweet love in the Holy Ghost. The present stanza, addressed tothe Bridegroom by the soul, has this for its subject.



STANZA XXX

Of emeralds, and of flowers
In the early morning gathered,
We will make the garlands,
Flowering in Thy love,
And bound together with one hair of my head.

1 THE bride now turns to the Bridegroom and addresses Him in theintercourse and comfort of love; the subject of the stanza beingthe solace and delight which the bride-soul and the Son of Godfind in the possession of the virtues and gifts of each other, andin the exercise thereof, both rejoicing in their mutual love.Thus the soul, addressing the Beloved, says that they will makegarlands rich in graces and acquired virtues, obtained at thefitting and convenient season, beautiful and lovely in the love Hebears the soul, and kept together by the love which it itself hasfor Him. This rejoicing in virtue is what is meant by makinggarlands, for the soul and God rejoice together in these virtuesbound up as flowers in a garland, in the common love which eachbears the other.

'Of emeralds, and of flowers.'

2. The flowers are the virtues of the soul; the emeralds are thegifts it has received from God. Then of these flowers and emeralds

'In the early morning gathered.'

3. That is, acquired in youth, which is the early morning of life.They are said to be gathered because the virtues which we acquirein youth are most pleasing unto God; because youth is the seasonwhen our vices most resist the acquisition of them, and when ournatural inclinations are most prone to lose them. Those virtuesalso are more perfect which we acquire in early youth. This timeof our life is the early morning; for as the freshness of thespring morning is more agreeable than any other part of the day,so also are the virtues acquired in our youth more pleasing in thesight of God.

4. By the fresh morning we may understand those acts of love bywhich we acquire virtue, and which are more pleasing unto God thanthe fresh morning is to the sons of men; good works also, wroughtin the season of spiritual dryness and hardness; this is thefreshness of the winter morning, and what we then do for God indryness of spirit is most precious in His eyes. Then it is that weacquire virtues and graces abundantly; and what we then acquirewith toil and labour is for the most part better, more perfect andlasting than what we acquire in comfort and spiritual sweetness;for virtue sends forth its roots in the season of dryness, toil,and trial: as it is written, 'Virtue is made perfect ininfirmity.' (241) It is with a view to show forth the excellenceof these virtues, of which the garland is wrought for the Beloved,that the soul says of them that they have been gathered in theearly morning; because it is these flowers alone, with theemeralds of virtue, the choice and perfect graces, and not theimperfect, which are pleasing to the Beloved, and so the bridesays:

'We will make the garlands.'

5. All the virtues and graces which the soul, and God in it,acquire are as a garland of divers flowers wherewith the soul ismarvellously adorned as with a vesture of rich embroidery. Asmaterial flowers are gathered, and then formed into a garland, sothe spiritual flowers of virtues and graces are acquired and setin order in the soul: and when the acquisition is complete, thegarland of perfection is complete also. The soul and theBridegroom rejoice in it, both beautiful, adorned with thegarland, as in the state of perfection.

6. These are the garlands which the soul says they will make. Thatis, it will wreathe itself with this variety of flowers, with theemeralds of virtues and perfect gifts, that it may present itselfworthily before the face of the King, and be on an equality withHim, sitting as a queen on His right hand; for it has merited thisby its beauty. Thus David saith, addressing himself to Christ:'The queen stood on Thy right hand in vestments of gold, girt withvariety.' (242) That is, at His right hand, clad in perfect love,girt with the variety of graces and perfect virtues.

7. The soul does not say, 'I will make garlands,' nor 'Thou wiltmake them,' but, 'We will make them,' not separately, but bothtogether; because the soul cannot practise virtues alone, noracquire them alone, without the help of God; neither does Godalone create virtue in the soul without the soul's concurrence.Though it be true, as the Apostle saith, that 'every best gift,and every perfect gift, is from above, descending from the Fatherof lights,' (243) still they enter into no soul without thatsoul's concurrence and consent. Thus the bride in the Canticlesaith to the Bridegroom; 'Draw me; we will run after thee.' (244)Every inclination to good comes from God alone, as we learn here;but as to running, that is, good works, they proceed from God andthe soul together, and it is therefore written, 'We will run'--that is, both together, but not God nor the soul alone.

8. These words may also be fittingly applied to Christ and HisChurch, which, as His bride, says unto Him, 'We will make thegarlands.' In this application of the words the garlands are theholy souls born to Christ in the Church. Every such soul is byitself a garland adorned with the flowers of virtues and graces,and all of them together a garland for the head of Christ theBridegroom.

9. We may also understand by these beautiful garlands the crownsformed by Christ and the Church, of which there are three kinds.The first is formed of the beauty and white flowers of thevirgins, each one with her virginal crown, and forming altogetherone crown for the head of the Bridegroom Christ. The second, ofthe brilliant flowers of the holy doctors, each with his crown ofdoctor, and all together forming one crown above that of thevirgins on the head of Christ. The third is composed of the purpleflowers of the martyrs, each with his own crown of martyrdom, andall united into one, perfecting that on the head of Christ.Adorned with these garlands He will be so beautiful, and so lovelyto behold, that heaven itself will repeat the words of the bridein the Canticle, saying: 'Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and seeking Solomon in the diadem wherewith his mother crowned him in theday of his betrothal, and in the day of the joy of his heart.'(245) The soul then says we will make garlands.

'Flowering in Thy love.'

10. The flowering of good works and virtues is the grace and powerwhich they derive from the love of God, without which they notonly flower not, but become even dry, and worthless in the eyes ofGod, though they may be humanly perfect. But if He gives His graceand love they flourish in His love.

'And bound together with one hair of my head.'

11. The hair is the will of the soul, and the love it bears theBeloved. This love performs the function of the thread that keepsthe garland together. For as a thread binds the flowers of agarland, so loves knits together and sustains virtues in the soul.'Charity'--that is, love--saith the Apostle, 'is the bond ofperfection.' (246) Love, in the same way, binds the virtues andsupernatural gifts together, so that when love fails by ourdeparture from God, all our virtue perishes also, just as theflowers drop from the garland when the thread that bound themtogether is broken. It is not enough for God's gift of virtuesthat He should love us, but we too must love Him in order toreceive them, and preserve them.

12. The soul speaks of one hair, not of many, to show that thewill by itself is fixed on God, detached from all other hairs;that is, from strange love. This points out the great price andworth of these garlands of virtues; for when love is single,firmly fixed on God, as here described, the virtues also areentire, perfect, and flowering in the love of God; for the love Hebears the soul is beyond all price, and the soul also knows itwell.

13. Were I to attempt a description of the beauty of that bindingof the flowers and emeralds together, or of the strength andmajesty which their harmonious arrangement furnishes to the soul,or the beauty and grace of its embroidered vesture, expressionsand words would fail me; for if God says of the evil spirit, 'Hisbody is like molten shields, shut close up with scales pressingupon one another, one is joined to another, and not so much as anyair can come between them'; (247) if the evil spirit be so strong,clad in malice thus compacted together--for the scales that coverhis body like molten shields are malice, and malice is in itselfbut weakness--what must be the strength of the soul that isclothed in virtues so compacted and united together that noimpurity or imperfection can penetrate between them; each virtueseverally adding strength to strength, beauty to beauty, wealth towealth, and to majesty, dominion and grandeur?

14. What a marvellous vision will be that of the bride-soul, whenit shall sit on the right hand of the Bridegroom-King, crownedwith graces! 'How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince'sdaughter!' (248) The soul is called a prince's daughter because ofthe power it has; and if the beauty of the steps in shoes begreat, what must be that of the whole vesture? Not only is thebeauty of the soul crowned with admirable flowers, but itsstrength also, flowing from the harmonious order of the flowers,intertwined with the emeralds of its inumerable graces, isterrible: 'Terrible as the army of a camp set in array.' (249)For, as these virtues and gifts of God refresh the soul with theirspiritual perfume, so also, when united in it, do they, out oftheir substance, minister strength. Thus, in the Canticle, whenthe bride was weak, languishing with love--because she had notbeen able to bind together the flowers and the emeralds with thehair of her love--and anxious to strengthen herself by that unionof them, cries out: 'Stay me with flowers, compass me about withapples; because I languish with love.' (250) The flowers are thevirtues, and the apples are the other graces.

NOTE

I BELIEVE I have now shown how the intertwining of the garlandsand their lasting presence in the soul explain the divine union oflove which now exists between the soul and God. The Bridegroom, asHe saith Himself, is the Ôflower of the field and the lily of thevalleys,' (251) and the soul's love is the hair that unites toitself this flower of flowers. Love is the most precious of allthings, because it is the 'bond of perfection,' as the Apostlesaith, (252) and perfection is union with God. The soul is, as itwere, a sheaf of garlands, for it is the subject of this glory, nolonger what it was before, but the very perfect flower of flowersin the perfection and beauty of all; for the thread of love bindsso closely God and the soul, and so unites them, that ittransforms them and makes them one by love; so that, though inessence different, yet in glory and appearance the soul seems Godand God the soul. Such is this marvellous union, baffling alldescription.

2. We may form some conception of it from the love of David andJonathan, whose 'soul was knit with the soul of David.' (253) Ifthe love of one man for another can be thus strong, so as to knittwo souls together, what must that love of God be which can knitthe soul of man to God the Bridegroom? God Himself is here thesuitor Who in the omnipotence of His unfathomable love absorbs thesoul with greater violence and efficacy than a torrent of fire asingle drop of the morning dew which resolves itself into air.The hair, therefore, which accomplishes such a union must, ofnecessity, be most strong and subtile, seeing that it penetratesand binds together so effectually the soul and God. In the presentstanza the soul declares the qualities of this hair.



STANZA XXXI

By that one hair
Thou hast observed fluttering on my neck,
And on my neck regarded,
Thou wert captivated;
And wounded by one of my eyes.

1 THERE are three things mentioned here. The first is, that the loveby which the virtues are bound together is nothing less than astrong love; for in truth it need be so in order to preserve them.The second is, that God is greatly taken by this hair of love,seeing it to be alone and strong. The third is, that God is deeplyenamoured of the soul, beholding the purity and integrity of itsfaith.

'By that one hair
Thou hast observed fluttering on my neck.'

2. The neck signifies that strength in which, it is said,fluttered the hair of love, strong love, which bound the virtuestogether. It is not sufficient for the preservation of virtuesthat love be alone, it must be also strong so that no contraryvice may anywhere destroy the perfection of the garland; for thevirtues so are bound up together in the soul by the hair, that ifthe thread be once broken, all the virtues are lost; for where onevirtue is, all are, and where one fails, all fail also. The hairis said to flutter on the neck, because its love of God, withoutany hindrance whatever, flutters strongly and lightly in thestrength of the soul.

3. As the air causes hair to wave and flutter on the neck, so thebreath of the Holy Ghost stirs the strong love that it may flyupwards to God; for without this divine wind, which excites thepowers of the soul to the practice of divine love, all the virtuesthe soul may possess become ineffectual and fruitless. The Belovedobserved the hair fluttering on the neck--that is, He consideredit with particular attention and regard; because strong love is agreat attraction for the eyes of God.

'And on my neck regarded.'

4. This shows us that God not only esteems this love, seeing italone, but also loves it, seeing it strong; for to say that Godregards is to say that He loves, and to say that He observes is tosay that He esteems what He observes. The word 'neck' is repeatedin this line, because it, being strong, is the cause why God lovesit so much. It is as if the soul said, 'Thou hast loved it, seeingit strong without weakness or fear, and without any other love,and flying upwards swiftly and fervently.'

5. Until now God had not looked upon this hair so as to becaptivated by it, because He had not seen it alone, separate fromthe others, withdrawn from other loves, feelings, and affections,which hindered it from fluttering alone on the neck of strength.Afterwards, however, when mortifications and trials temptationsand penance had detached it, and made it strong, so that nothingwhatever could break it, then God beholds it, and is taken by it,and binds the flowers of the garlands with it; for it is now sostrong that it can keep the virtues united together in the soul.

6. But what these temptations and trials are, how they come, andhow far they reach, that the soul may attain to that strength oflove in which God unites it to Himself, I have described in the'Dark Night,' (254) and in the explanation of the four stanzas(255) which begin with the words, 'O living flame of love!' Thesoul having passed through these trials has reached a degree oflove so high that it has merited the divine union.

'Thou wert captivated.'

7. O joyful wonder! God captive to a hair. The reason of thiscapture so precious is that God was pleased to observe thefluttering of the hair on the soul's neck; for where God regardsHe loves. If He in His grace and mercy had not first looked uponus and loved us, (256) as St. John saith, and humbled Himself, Henever could have been taken by the fluttering of the hair of ourmiserable love. His flight is not so low as that our love couldlay hold of the divine bird, attract His attention, and fly sohigh with a strength worthy of His regard, if He had not firstlooked upon us. He, however, is taken by the fluttering of thehair; He makes it worthy and pleasing to Himself, and then iscaptivated by it. 'Thou hast seen it on my neck, Thou wertcaptivated by it.' This renders it credible that a bird whichflies low may capture the royal eagle in its flight, if the eagleshould fly so low and be taken by it willingly.

'And wounded by one of my eyes.'

8. The eye is faith. The soul speaks of but one, and that this haswounded the Beloved. If the faith and trust of the soul in Godwere not one, without admixture of other considerations, God nevercould have been Wounded by love. Thus the eye that wounds, and thehair that binds, must be one. So strong is the love of theBridegroom for the bride, because of her simple faith, that, ifthe hair of her love binds Him, the eye of her faith imprisons Himso closely as to wound Him through that most tender affection Hebears her, which is to the bride a further progrees in His love.

9. The Bridegroom Himself speaks in the Canticle of the hair andthe eyes, saying to the bride, 'Thou hast wounded My heart, Mysister, My bride; thou hast wounded My heart with one of thy eyes,and with one hair of thy neck.' (257) He says twice that His heartis wounded, that is, with the eye and the hair, and therefore thesoul in this stanza speaks of them both, because they signify itsunion with God in the understanding and the will; for theunderstanding is subdued by faith, signified by the eye, and thewill by love. Here the soul exults in this union, and gives thanksto the Bridegroom for it, it being His gift; accounting it a greatmatter that He has been pleased to requite its love, and to becomecaptive to it. We may also observe here the joy, happiness, anddelight of the soul with its prisoner, having been for a long timeHis prisoner, enamoured of Him.

NOTE

GREAT is the power and courage of love, for God is its prisoner.Blessed is the soul that loves, for it has made a captive of GodWho obeys its good pleasure. Such is the nature of love that itmakes those who love do what is asked of them, and, on the otherhand, without love the utmost efforts will be fruitless, but onehair will bind those that love. The soul, knowing this, andconscious of blessings beyond its merits, in being raised up to sohigh a degree of love, through the rich endowments of graces andvirtues, attributes all to the Beloved, saying:




John, Spiritual Canticle 26