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Chapter 12BenjaminMinor.1.12

CAPUT XII. Quid sit proprium amoris

The Voice of Love

The soul in love pours out silent praise and longing for the Beloved, confessing His goodness and desiring to possess Him.

Now consider some soul that loves beyond measure and burns with overflowing love. Notice what it feels, and what it says to itself about the one it loves so much and so deeply admires. So what does it say? What does it say silently to itself? Oh, it says, how good, how kind! Oh how sweet, how delightful! Oh how lovable, how much to be embraced! How wholly admirable, how wholly desirable!✦ Oh how blessed is the one it loves! Oh how happy is the one it judges worthy of its love! Happy me, if I may enjoy him; blessed me, if it should fall to me to possess him!1

Judah's Confession of Praise

The author identifies this voice as Judah's confession of praise, which is the unceasing song of perfect love.

This, unless I'm mistaken, is that voice of exultation and confession that always rings out from Judah's mouth in the ears of divine loving-kindness. What do you say, Leah? What do you proclaim for Judah? What do you give back to the Lord? What do you repay for such a son? "Now," she says, "I will confess the Lord. I will confess the Lord," she says, "abundantly with my mouth." Truly, yes, and without a doubt, you confess the Lord not only often but even without ceasing—if, that is, you love perfectly: "I will bless the Lord," he says, "at all times; his praise is always in my mouth." You always praise, in fact, if you always love and always long for him.

The Nature of Confession

The author defines confession as praise and approval, then introduces the question of whether Judah also knows the confession of guilt.

For you wouldn't love if you didn't approve. For what is it, as was said, to approve, if not to praise? And praise itself is confession itself.2 And don't think it's enough for Judah to confess only in the heart, unless he also confesses with his mouth. For Judah also wants to commend him to others and kindle in them love for the one he judges worthy of everyone's love, and he longs for him to be loved by all. All of this has been said about the confession of praise. But what should we say about the confession of guilt?3 Or does Judah perhaps not know this one, even though he recognizes that other so excellently?4

The Twofold Confession of God's Honor

Both confession of praise and confession of guilt honor God, for His mercy forgives our evils and His generosity bestows His goods.

I don't think so, because I know that both this and that contribute greatly to the honor of God.5 And I know that anyone who truly loves gladly does whatever they have recognized as serving God's honor.6 Not only does His own generosity greatly commend the goodness of God, but our iniquity does as well. For if it is a great thing to freely pour out many gifts on those who deserve nothing, what kind and how great a thing will it be to give good things to those who have deserved evils?✦ Oh, what loving-kindness, which no impiety of ours can surpass!7 There are some things He mercifully forgives, and others He lavishly bestows. He forgives our evils; He freely gives His goods. Always ready to forgive, always prepared to give freely. Here merciful, there generous; kind in both, good everywhere.8

Judah's Unceasing Confession

The soul confesses both its evils and God's goods, and this unceasing confession defines Judah, the lover of God, who is first to accuse himself.

So let's confess our evils to him; let's confess our goods to him. Let's confess that our evils come from us, so that he may mercifully forgive them; let's confess that our goods come from him, so that he may preserve and increase them.9 Judah keeps doing these things without stopping, so he won't look ungrateful—either for the pardon granted him, or for the grace he's been given.10 So this son is rightly called Judah, as I see it—that is, 'the one who confesses'—because true love always confesses. Finally, since it is written, "God is truth," anyone who is ashamed to confess the truth is proven not to love God. "The just person," says Scripture, "is first of all his own accuser." So anyone who believes himself—or wants—to be a lover of God has something to do, unless he happens to think that loving God is something other than loving God's justice. See—now we have covered the four sons of Leah. The first is fear of punishment; the second, the sorrow of repentance; the third, hope of pardon; the fourth, love of justice—and after these she stops bearing children.

The Sufficiency of True Love

The soul judges itself sufficient when it truly loves true goods.

For he judges that he can be enough for himself when he considers that he truly loves true goods.

Read the original Latin

Attende nunc animum aliquem nimium amantem; et nimio amore ferventem. Attende quid sentiat, quid secum loquatur de eo quem multum amat, quem valde miratur. Quid ergo dicit? Quid secum tacitus loquitur? O, inquit, quam bonus, quam benignus, o quam suavis, quam dulcis, o quam amandus, quantum amplectendus, quam totus admirabilis, quam totus desiderabilis! O beatum quem amat! o felicem, quem suo amore dignum judicat! Me felicem, si eo frui liceat; me beatum, si eum possidere contingat!

Haec, nisi fallor, est illa vox exsultationis et confessionis qui semper ex ore Judae resonat in auribus divinae pietatis. Quid tu dicis, Lia? Quid tu proclamas pro Juda? Quid tu reddis Domino? Quid retribuis pro tali puero? Nunc, inquit, confitebor Domino: Confitebor, inquit, Domino nimis in ore meo. Vere utique et absque dubio non solum frequenter, sed etiam indesinenter Domino confiteris, si tamen perfecte diligis: Benedicam, inquit, Dominum in omni tempore, semper laus ejus in ore meo. Semper quidem laudas, si semper amas et semper desideras.

Nam non amares, si non approbares. Quid est enim, ut dictum est, approbare, nisi laudare? Et ipsa laudatio, ipsa est confessio. Nec putes quod sufficiat Judae confiteri tantum corde, nisi etiam confiteatur et ore. Cupit enim Judas et aliis commendare, et ad ejus amorem accendere, quem omnium amore dignum judicat, et ab omnibus amari desiderat. Haec omnia dicta sunt de confessione laudis. Sed quid dicemus de confessione criminis. An forte Judas istam ignorat, quamvis illam tam excellenter agnoscat?

Ego non sic existimo, quia et hanc et illam ad honorem Dei multum pertinere cognosco. Et scio quia qui veraciter diligit, libenter facit quidquid honori Dei militare cognoverit? Multum commendat bonitatem Dei non solum largitas sua, sed etiam iniquitas nostra, Si enim magnum est nil promerentibus gratis impendere multa, quale quantumve erit tribuere bona promerentibus mala? O qualis pietas, quam nulla nostra superare potest impietas! Alia sunt quae misericorditer ignoscit, alia quae affluenter tribuit. Ignoscit mala nostra, largitur bona sua. Semper praesto ad ignoscendum, semper paratus ad largiendum. Hic pius, illic largus; utrobique benignus, ubique bonus.

Confiteamur ergo illi mala nostra; confiteamur illi bona nostra. Confiteamur a nobis esse mala nostra; ut pie ignoscat, confiteamur ab ipso esse bona nostra, ut conservet, et augeat. Haec Judas incessanter actitat, ne ingratus appareat, vel de indulta venia, vel de concessa gratia. Recte ergo, ut arbitror, hic filius Judas, id est confitens, vocatur, quia verus amor semper confitetur. Denique, cum scriptum sit: Quia Deus veritas est, Deum non amare convincitur quisquis veritatem confiteri erubescit: Justus, inquit Scriptura, in initio accusator est sui. Habet ergo quid agat, qui se credit, vel cupit esse amatorem Dei, nisi forte putet aliud esse amare Deum, quam amare justitiam Dei. Ecce jam habemus de quatuor filiis Liae. Primus est timor poenae, secundus dolor poenitentiae, tertius spes veniae, quartus amor justitiae, et posthaec desinit parere.

Sufficere enim sibi posse existimat, cum se vera bona veraciter amare considerat.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Song.5.16 — His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
  2. ↩Rom.5.6-Rom.5.8;Titus.3.3-Titus.3.5 — For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Rom.5.7 — For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though for a good person someone might perhaps even dare to die. Rom.5.8 — But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Titus.3.3 — For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Titus.3.4 — But when the kindness and the love for humankind of our Savior God appeared, Titus.3.5 — not by works of righteousness that we ourselves had done, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of renewal and rebirth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Notes

  1. 1 ↩frui keeps the classical Augustinian sense of enjoying the beloved as an end, not merely using him; parallel to possidere (possess).
  2. 2 ↩Confessio here continues the dual medieval sense of praise-confession (confessing God's goodness) already established by confitebor Domino in the preceding section, not primarily sacramental confession of sins.
  3. 3 ↩Crimen rendered as guilt (sinful offense), in deliberate contrast with confessio laudis; not civil crime.
  4. 4 ↩Istam points to confessio criminis (just named); illam points back to confessio laudis. The following section answers that both belong to the honor of God.
  5. 5 ↩From the previous section: hanc = confession of guilt (confessio criminis); illam = confession of praise (confessio laudis).
  6. 6 ↩militare honori Dei: military metaphor of 'serving' or 'campaigning for' God's honor; rendered as plain 'serving'.
  7. 7 ↩pietas here is God's tender regard/loving-kindness, not human religious piety; kept in parallel with impietas.
  8. 8 ↩Hic/illic point back to the two fields just named: forgiving evils and bestowing goods. pius continues the pietas/mercy line of s4–s7.
  9. 9 ↩Parallel purpose clauses are supplied for the double confession (evils from us → forgiveness; goods from him → preservation and increase), matching the theological sense even though the Latin punctuation places the first ut somewhat awkwardly.
  10. 10 ↩Judas here is Leah's son Judah (the allegorical 'confessor'), not Judas Iscariot; English 'Judah' is used for that clarity.

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