Libro Segundo — Capítulo 14
The Soul's Departure in the Night
The author introduces the metaphor of the soul leaving its house at night to seek union with the Beloved.
In this section, the final three verses of the first song are presented and explained. 1. This “happy fortune” came about because of what the soul goes on to say in the following verses:1 I went out unnoticed, my house already at rest. taking the metaphor of someone who, to carry out his purpose better, leaves his house at night, in the dark, with those of the house already at rest, so that no one will hinder him.
Quieting the Household of the Soul
To reach union with God, the soul must put its natural passions and appetites to sleep, as these hinder the reception of supernatural grace.
For since this soul had to go out to do a deed so heroic and so rare—uniting itself with its divine Beloved outside, because the Beloved is found only alone outside, in solitude, and for that reason the Bride longed to find him alone, saying (Song 8:1): O that you were my brother, that I might find you alone outside and share my love with you!✦2 It is fitting for the soul in love, if she is to reach her desired end, to do the same: to go out by night, with all the household of her house asleep and at rest—that is, the low operations, passions, and appetites of her soul put to sleep and quenched by means of this night, for these are the people of the house, and when they are awake they always hinder the soul from these goods of hers, being enemies of her going free to them.3 For these are the household servants our Savior speaks of in the Gospel (Mt. 10:36), who are a person's enemies. It was right that their operations and movements should be asleep in this night, so they wouldn't block the soul from the supernatural goods of the union of love with God—because while they are lively and active, that cannot happen. All their natural work and movement hinders rather than helps the receiving of the spiritual goods of the union of love, since every natural ability falls short of the supernatural goods that God, by his infusion alone, places in the soul passively and secretly, in silence. And so, all the faculties must keep silence and remain passive in order to receive it, not thrusting their low work and base inclinations into the midst of it.4
The Blessed Fortune of Spiritual Freedom
The soul experiences true freedom and wealth once it is liberated from the slavery of its own sensory faculties and appetites.
2. But it was a happy fortune for this soul that God, in this night, put to sleep all the household of her house—that is, all the powers, passions, affections, and appetites that live in the soul, both sensory and spiritual—so that she, without being noticed (that is, without being hindered by these affections, etc.),5 (because they remained asleep and mortified in this night, in which they were left in the dark so they could not notice or feel things in their own low natural way and so hinder the soul from going out of herself and out of the house of sensuality) might reach the spiritual union of perfect love of God.6 3. Oh, what a blessed fortune it is that the soul can free itself from the house of the senses! In my view, only a soul that has tasted this can truly understand it. It will see clearly what a miserable slavery it lived under and how many miseries it endured while subject to its faculties and appetites. It will realize that the life of the spirit is true freedom and wealth, bringing with it immeasurable goods. We will note some of these in the following songs, where it will be even clearer why the soul has such reason to sing of its passage through this dreadful night—already described above—as a blessed fortune.
Read the original Latin
En que se ponen y explican los tres versos últimos de la primera canción.
1. Esta “dichosa ventura” fue por lo que dice luego en los siguientes versos, diciendo:
salí sin ser notada estando ya mi casa sosegada
tomando la metáfora del que, por hacer mejor su hecho, sale de su casa de noche, a oscuras, sosegados ya los de la casa, porque ninguno se lo estorbe.
Porque, como esta alma había de salir a hacer un hecho tan heroico y tan raro, que era unirse con su Amado divino afuera, porque el Amado no se halla sino solo afuera, en la soledad, que por eso la Esposa le deseaba hallar solo, diciendo (Ct. 8, 1): ¿Quién te me diese, hermano mío, que te hallase yo solo afuera y se comunicase contigo mi amor? , conviénele al alma enamorada, para conseguir su fin deseado, hacerlo también así, que saliese de noche, adormidos y sosegados todos los domésticos de su casa, esto es, las operaciones bajas y pasiones y apetitos de su alma adormidos y apagados por medio de esta noche, que son la gente de casa, que recordada, siempre estorban el alma estos sus bienes, enemiga de que el alma salga libre a ellos. Porque éstos son los domésticos que dice nuestro Salvador en el Evangelio (Mt. 10, 36) que son los enemigos del hombre. Y así convenía que las operaciones de éstos con sus movimientos estén dormidos en esta noche, para que no impidan al alma los bienes sobrenaturales de la unión de amor de Dios, porque durante la viveza y operación de éstos no puede ser; porque toda su obra y movimiento natural antes estorba que ayuda a recibir los bienes espirituales de la unión de amor, por cuanto queda corta toda habilidad natural acerca de los bienes sobrenaturales que Dios por sólo infusión suya pone en el alma pasiva y secretamente, en el silencio. Y así es menester que le tengan todas las potencias y se hayan pasivamente para recibirle, no entremetiendo allí su baja obra y vil inclinación.
2. Pero fue dichosa ventura en esta alma que Dios en esta noche le adormeciese toda la gente doméstica de su casa, esto es, todas las potencias, pasiones, afecciones y apetitos que viven en el alma sensitiva y espiritualmente, para que ella, sin ser notada, esto es, sin ser impedida de estas afecciones, etc. , (por quedar ellas adormidas y mortificadas en esta noche, en que las dejaron a oscuras para que no pudiesen notar ni sentir a su modo bajo natural, y así impidiesen al alma el salir de sí y de la casa de la sensualidad) llegase a la unión espiritual de perfecto amor de Dios.
3. ¡Oh, cuán dichosa ventura es poder el alma librarse de la casa de la sensualidad! No se puede bien entender si no fuera, a mi ver, el alma que ha gustado de ello; porque verá claro cuán mísera servidumbre era la que tenía y a cuántas miserias estaba sujeta cuando lo estaba a la obra de sus potencias y apetitos y conocerá cómo la vida del espíritu es verdadera libertad y riqueza que trae consigo bienes inestimables, como iremos notando algunos de ellos en las siguientes canciones, en que se verá más claro cuánta razón tenga el alma de cantar por dichosa ventura el paso de esta horrenda noche que arriba queda dicho.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Song.8.1 — Oh, that you were like a brother to me, one who nursed at my mother's breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.
Notes
- 1 ↩Spanish dichosa ventura is a fixed phrase from the poem; rendered as “happy fortune” to keep the traditional sense of a blessed, unexpected good chance, without archaism.
- 2 ↩Spanish '¿Quién te me diese, hermano mío…' is the optative wish form of Song 8:1; rendered as natural modern English while keeping the bridal address and the solitude of the meeting.
- 3 ↩'recordada' is taken in the Golden Age sense 'awakened/awake' (not 'remembered'), which matches the household-asleep metaphor and the following night imagery.
- 4 ↩'le tengan' is read with the preceding 'silencio' (keep silence); 'recibirle' points to the infused gift/union God places in the soul. Both readings serve the same passive-reception doctrine.
- 5 ↩"gente doméstica de su casa" continues the household-servant metaphor from the previous section (domestic powers of the soul as servants of the house). "alma sensitiva y espiritualmente" marks both sensory and spiritual operation of those interior powers.
- 6 ↩Parenthetical explains why the household powers must sleep: left a oscuras, they cannot register or respond in their low natural mode. The finite verb llegase continues the purpose clause begun in s2 (para que ella… llegase).
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