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Chapter 11Dil.1.11

Haec amoris perfectio non competit etiam solutis animabus beatorum, ante resurrectionem.

The Soul Awaits Its Body

Separated souls enjoy divine light but remain incomplete until reunited with their glorified bodies.

What about souls already freed from their bodies? We believe they are plunged wholly into that immense sea of eternal light and of luminous eternity. But if — and this is not denied — they wish to have received back their bodies, or at least desire and hope to receive them back, it is clear, far from any doubt, that they are not yet wholly transformed from within; it is established that something of their own is not yet entirely lacking, by which their attention is drawn back even slightly. Therefore, until death is swallowed up in victory, and the light of eternity invades and occupies on every side the boundaries of night, so that heavenly glory also shines forth in their bodies, souls cannot wholly lay themselves open and pass over into God — bound, no doubt, to their bodies even then, if not by life or sense, then certainly by natural affection, so that without these they neither wish nor are able to be made complete.✦1 And so, before the restoration of bodies, there will not be that lack of souls which is their perfect and highest state; nor would the spirit already require the companionship of the flesh, if it were perfected without it. For indeed, without the soul's advance, the body is neither laid down nor taken up again. In short, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.2 But if death is precious, what must life be — and that life?

The Body as Faithful Companion

Even a weak body serves God's purposes for the loving soul across every stage of its existence.

And it's no wonder if the body, now in glory, seems to contribute to the spirit — since it is established that the body, weak and mortal as it is, has not been of merely moderate strength to the spirit. How true are the words of the one who said: all things work together for good for those who love God.✦ For the soul that loves God, its own body avails — weak as it is; it avails even when dead; and it avails when raised up. First, for the fruit of repentance; then, for rest; and finally, for consummation. Rightly God does not will to be perfected without the body, for He perceives clearly that in every condition the body serves His purposes for good.

The Threefold Banquet of Love

The Bridegroom invites souls to eat, drink, and be drunk—corresponding to labor, rest, and glory.

Clearly the flesh is a good and faithful companion to a good spirit: it helps the spirit even when it burdens it; when it doesn't help, it at least relieves it; and when it certainly helps, it burdens it least of all. The first condition is laborious but fruitful; the second is idle but not at all disdainful; the third is glorious. Listen to the Bridegroom in the Song of Songs inviting us to this threefold advance. "Eat, my friends," he says, "and drink, and be drunk, most beloved."✦ He calls those laboring in the body to food; those at rest, with the body now laid down, he invites to drink; and those taking up their bodies again, he urges on even to be drunk — those he calls most beloved, surely because they are filled fullest with love. For even among the others, whom he calls not most beloved but friends, there is a difference: those who are still burdened in the flesh and groan are held dear on account of the love they have; but those who are now freed from the fetter of the flesh are all the more dear, and more ready and more unencumbered they are made for loving. Moreover, above both of these, those who have received the second robe and taken up their bodies again in glory are rightly and justly called most beloved; they are carried into the love of God all the more freely and eagerly, since there is nothing left of their own that could trouble them or hold them back in any way.✦3 Indeed, neither of these two states claims this for itself alone, since in the first the body is carried with labor, and in the second it is awaited not without a certain quality of longing.

Eating Bread, Drinking Wine

In the flesh the soul eats bread by faith working through love; freed from flesh it drinks wine tempered by longing for its body.

First, then, the faithful soul eats its own bread — but alas!✦ By the sweat of its face.✦ For while it still remains in the flesh, it walks by faith — and faith like this must be worked through love, because if it doesn't work, it's dead.✦✦ And so the work itself is food, as the Lord says: My food is to do the will of my Father.✦ Then, stripped of the flesh, it no longer feeds on the bread of sorrow; but the wine of love, as if after a meal, it's allowed to drink more deeply — not unmixed, however, but just as it's written under the Bridegroom's name in the Song of Songs: I drank my wine with my milk.✦4 For with the wine of divine love, the soul then also mingles the sweetness of a natural affection — the longing by which it desires to take back its own body, now glorified. So having drunk the wine of holy charity, the soul burns with love — yet clearly not all the way to drunkenness, because the mixture of this milk tempers its ardor in the meantime.5 Drunkenness, after all, usually overturns the mind and renders it entirely forgetful of itself.✦

Drunk with the Abundance of God's House

Once the body is raised, nothing holds the soul back from total self-forgetfulness in divine love.

But she is not entirely forgetful of herself, since she still thinks about her own body being raised. And once this has been obtained — the one thing that was surely still lacking — what now keeps her from departing, in a sense, from herself, and going wholly into God, and by that very means becoming utterly unlike herself, by which she is granted to become most like God? Then at last, having been admitted to the cup of wisdom — that cup of which it is written: 'And my cup, how glorious it is, making me drunk!'✦ Is it any wonder, then, if she is drunk with the abundance of God's house, since she drinks that pure and new drink — free from any gnawing anxiety about herself, secure — with Christ in the kingdom of his Father?✦

Wisdom's Feast and the Wedding of the Lamb

Wisdom feeds, gives drink, and intoxicates; the glorified Church is presented spotless at the Lamb's wedding feast.

This threefold banquet Wisdom indeed celebrates, and with one love she fills all things — herself feeding those who labor, herself giving drink to those who rest, herself intoxicating those who reign.✦ Now just as at a bodily banquet food is set before drink, because nature requires that order — so it is here as well. First, before death, in our mortal flesh we eat the labors of our hands, chewing what must be swallowed with toil. But after death, in the spiritual life, we already drink, straining what is received with a certain most sweet ease. At last, with our bodies made alive again, in the immortal life we are intoxicated, overflowing with a wonderful fullness. These things — because the Bridegroom says in the Song of Songs: Eat, friends, and drink; and be intoxicated, most beloved.✦ Eat before death, drink after death, be intoxicated after the resurrection. Rightly, then, are the most beloved, who are intoxicated by love — and rightly are they intoxicated, who deserve to be brought to the wedding of the Lamb, eating and drinking at his table in his kingdom, when he now presents to himself the glorious Church, having neither spot nor wrinkle, nor anything of that kind.✦✦ Then he utterly intoxicates his most beloved; then he gives them drink from the torrent of his pleasure — because in that tightest and purest embrace of Bridegroom and Bride, the rush of the river gladdens the city of God.✦ This I consider to be none other than the Son of God, who passing through ministers to us, just as he himself promised — so that from this the righteous may now feast and rejoice in the sight of God, and delight in joy.✦✦

Sober Intoxication and the Fourth Degree of Love

The soul reaches the highest degree of love—loving God alone and finding in God its eternal reward.

From this comes a satisfaction free of disgust; from that, an insatiable curiosity free of restlessness; from this, an eternal and inexplicable desire that knows no want; and from this, finally, that sober intoxication — not gulping down wine, not getting drunk on it, but burning with God.67 From this, that fourth step of love is now possessed perpetually, when God is loved supremely and alone — because we no longer even love ourselves except for his sake, so that he himself may be the reward of those who love him, the eternal reward of those who love into eternity.✦8910

Read the original Latin

Quid autem jam solutas corporibus? Immersas ex toto credimus immenso illi pelago aeterni luminis, et luminosae aeternitatis. Sed si (quod non negatur) velint sua corpora recepisse, aut certe recipere desiderent et sperent; liquet procul dubio necdum a seipsis penitus immutatas, quibus constat necdum penitus deesse de proprio, quo vel modice intentio reflectatur. Donec ergo absorpta sit mors in victoria, et noctis undique terminos lux perennis invadat et occupet usquequaque, quatenus et in corporibus gloria coelestis effulgeat; non possunt ex toto animae seipsas exponere, et transire in Deum, nimirum ligatae corporibus etiam tunc, etsi non vita vel sensu, certe affectu naturali, ita ut absque his nec velint, nec valeant consummari. Itaque ante restaurationem corporum non erit ille defectus animorum, qui perfectus et summus est ipsorum status: nec carnis jam sane consortium spiritus requireret, si absque illa consummaretur. Enim vero absque profectu animae nec ponitur corpus, nec resumitur. Denique pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus. Quod si mors pretiosa, quid vita, et illa vita?

Nec mirum, si corpus jam gloriae conferre videtur spiritui, quod et infirmum et mortale constat ipsi non mediocriter valuisse. O quam verum locutus est qui dixit, diligentibus Deum omnia cooperari in bonum. Valet Deum diligenti animae corpus suum infirmum, valet et mortuum, valet et resuscitatum: primo quidem ad fructum poenitentiae, secundo ad requiem, postremo ad consummationem. Merito sine illo perfici non vult, quod in omni statu in bonum sibi subservire persentit.

Bonus plane fidusque comes caro spiritui bono, quae ipsum aut si onerat, juvat; aut si non juvat, exonerat; aut certe juvat, et minime onerat. Primus status laboriosus, sed fructuosus: secundus otiosus, sed minime fastidiosus: tertius et gloriosus. Audi et sponsum in Canticis ad profectum hunc trimodum invitantem. Comedite, inquit, amici, et bibite; et inebriamini, charissimi. Laborantes in corpore vocat ad cibum: jam posito corpore quiescentes ad potum invitat: resumentes corpora, etiam ut inebrientur impellit: quos et vocat charissimos, nimirum charitate plenissimos. Nam et in caeteris, quos non charissimos, sed amicos appellat, differentia est: ut hi quidem qui in carne adhuc gravati gemunt, chari habeantur pro charitate quam habent: qui vero jam soluti carnis compede sunt, eo sint chariores, quo et promptiores atque expeditiores facti ad amandum. Porro prae utrisque merito nominantur et sunt charissimi, qui recepta jam secunda stola, in corporibus utique cum gloria resumptis, tanto in Dei feruntur amorem liberiores et alacriores, quanto et de proprio nil jam residuum est, quod eos aliquatenus sollicitet vel retardet. Quod quidem neuter sibi reliquorum statuum vindicat; cum et in priori corpus cum labore portetur, et in secundo quoque non sine proprietate aliqua desiderii exspectetur.

Primo ergo fidelis anima comedit panem suum, sed heu! in sudore vultus sui. In carne quippe manens adhuc ambulat per fidem, quam sane operari per dilectionem necesse est: quia si non operatur, mortua est. Porro ipsum opus cibus est, dicente Domino: Meus cibus est, ut faciam voluntatem Patris mei. Dehinc carne exuta jam pane doloris non cibatur; sed vinum amoris, tanquam post cibum, plenius haurire permittitur, non purum tamen, sed quomodo sub sponsi nomine in Canticis dictum legitur: bibi vinum meum cum lacte meo. Vino enim divini amoris etiam tunc anima suavitatem naturalis immiscet affectionis, qua resumere corpus suum, ipsumque glorificatum desiderat. Aestuat ergo jam tunc sanctae charitatis potata vino, sed plane nondum usque ad ebrietatem: quoniam temperat interim ardorem illum hujus lactis permistio. Ebrietas denique solet evertere mentes, atque omnino reddere immemores sui.

At non ex toto sui oblita est, quae adhuc de proprio corpore cogitat suscitando. Caeterum hoc adepto, quod solum utique deerat, quid jam impedit a se ipsa quodammodo abire, et ire totam in Deum, eoque sibi penitus dissimillimam fieri, quo Deo simillimam effici donatur? Tum demum ad crateram admissa sapientiae, illam de qua legitur, Et calix meus inebrians quam praeclarus est! quid mirum jam si inebriatur ab ubertate domus Dei, cum nulla mordente cura de proprio, secura bibit purum et novum illud cum Christo in regno Patris ejus?

Hoc vero convivium triplex celebrat Sapientia, et ex una complet charitate, ipsa cibans laborantes, ipsa potans quiescentes, ipsa regnantes inebrians. Quomodo autem in convivio corporali ante cibus quam potus apponitur, quoniam et tali ordine natura requirit; ita et hic. Primo quidem ante mortem in carne mortali labores manuum nostrarum manducamus, cum labore quod glutiendum est masticantes: post mortem vero in vita spirituali jam bibimus, suavissima quadam facilitate quod percipitur colantes: tandem redivivis corporibus in vita immortali inebriamur, mira plenitudine exuberantes. Haec pro eo quod sponsus in Canticis dicit: Comedite, amici, et bibite; et inebriamini, charissimi. Comedite ante mortem, bibite post mortem, inebriamini post resurrectionem. Merito jam charissimi, qui charitate inebriantur: et merito inebriati, qui ad nuptias Agni introduci merentur, edentes et bibentes super mensam illius in regno suo, quando sibi jam exhibet gloriosam Ecclesiam, non habentem maculam, neque rugam, aut aliquid hujusmodi. Tunc prorsus inebriat charissimos suos, tunc torrente voluptatis suae potat: quoniam quidem in complexu illo arctissimo et castissimo sponsi et sponsae, fluminis impetus laetificat civitatem Dei. Quod non aliud esse arbitror quam Dei Filium, qui transiens ministrat, quemadmodum ipse promisit: ut ex hoc jam justi epulentur et exsultent in conspectu Dei, et delectentur in laetitia.

Hinc illa satietas sine fastidio: hinc insatiabilis illa sine inquietudine curiositas: hinc aeternum illud atque inexplicabile desiderium, nesciens egestatem: hinc denique sobria illa ebrietas, vero, non mero ingurgitans, non madens vino, sed ardens Deo. Ex hoc jam quartus ille amoris gradus perpetuo possidetur, cum summe, et solus diligitur Deus: quia nec nos ipsos jam nisi propter ipsum diligimus, ut sit ipse praemium amantium se, praemium aeternum amantium in aeternum.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Cor.15.54 — But when this perishable puts on imperishability, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'
  2. ↩Rom.8.28 — And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good — for those who are called according to his purpose.
  3. ↩Song.5.1 — I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends; drink, and be drunk with love.
  4. ↩Matt.22.11-Matt.22.12;Rev.7.9-Rev.7.14 — But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding garment. Matt.22.12 — "And he says to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Rev.7.9 — After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. Rev.7.10 — and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!' Rev.7.11 — And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, Rev.7.12 — saying, 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.' Rev.7.13 — And one of the elders answered, saying to me, 'These who are clothed in the white robes — who are they, and where have they come from?' Rev.7.14 — And I said to him, 'My lord, you know.' And he said to me, 'These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'
  5. ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
  6. ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
  7. ↩Gal.5.6 — For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power; but only faith working through love.
  8. ↩Jas.2.17 — So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
  9. ↩John.4.34 — Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.
  10. ↩Song.5.1 — I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends; drink, and be drunk with love.
  11. ↩Song.5.1 — I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends; drink, and be drunk with love.
  12. ↩Ps.22.5 — In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
  13. ↩Song.5.1 — I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends; drink, and be drunk with love.
  14. ↩Prov.9.1-Prov.9.5 — Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. Prov.9.2 — She has slaughtered her beasts, mixed her wine, and set her table. Prov.9.3 — She has sent out her young women; she calls from the highest places of the city, Prov.9.4 — Whoever is simple, let him turn in here! To him who lacks sense she says, Prov.9.5 — Come, eat my bread and drink the wine I have mixed.
  15. ↩Song.5.1 — I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends; drink, and be drunk with love.
  16. ↩Eph.5.27 — so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, so that she might be holy and blameless.
  17. ↩Rev.19.9 — And he said to me, "Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."
  18. ↩Ps.45.5;Ps.47.4-Ps.47.5 — And in your splendor, ride forth victoriously for the cause of truth and humble righteousness; and your right hand will teach you awesome deeds. Ps.47.4 — He will choose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah. Ps.47.5 — God has chosen our inheritance for us—the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah.
  19. ↩Luke.12.37 — Blessed are those servants whom the master finds watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and come and serve them." This harmonizes servant language and strengthens the action sequence.
  20. ↩Ps.68.4;Ps.69.3 — But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God, and rejoice with joy. Ps.69.3 — I have sunk into deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into the deep waters, and the flood has swept over me.
  21. ↩Matt.16.25;John.12.25 — For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. John.12.25 — Whoever loves their life loses it, and whoever hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Death is swallowed up in victory — echoes 1 Corinthians 15:54 (absorpta mors in victoria)
  2. 2 ↩Direct quotation of Psalm 116:15 (Vulgate 115:6) — 'Preciosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus'
  3. 3 ↩secunda stola (second robe) likely refers to the glorified body at resurrection, a key eschatological image. The 'second robe' may allude to the wedding garment of Matthew 22:11-12 or the white robes of Revelation 7:9-14.
  4. 4 ↩The 'bread of sorrow' (pane doloris) and 'wine of love' (vinum amoris) map onto the second state of the soul — freed from the body but not yet glorified. The wine is 'not pure' (non purum) because the soul still carries a natural longing for its body, symbolized by the 'milk' mixed with wine in the Song of Songs citation.
  5. 5 ↩The 'milk' (lac) represents the natural affection for one's own body and its resurrection; it tempers the soul's burning love so that it does not reach the point of 'drunkenness' — a total self-forgetfulness the soul cannot yet attain while still longing for its body.
  6. 6 ↩Ebrietas rendered 'intoxication' rather than 'drunkenness' to preserve the paradox with sobria ('sober') and to keep the devotional sense of being overwhelmed by divine love rather than by literal wine.
  7. 7 ↩ardens Deo: the ablative Deo is rendered 'with God' as ablative of means/cause — burning because of God, on fire with God — rather than a dative 'burning for God.' The sense is that God himself is the flame.
  8. 8 ↩cum with indicative possidetur: rendered temporally/causally as 'when' rather than a purely circumstantial 'since,' as the context describes the condition under which the fourth degree is actually attained.
  9. 9 ↩praemium amantium se: the reflexive se is rendered 'those who love him' for clarity. The Latin is compressed — literally 'the reward of those loving themselves/him' — but the sense from context is that God becomes the reward of those who love God.
  10. 10 ↩amantium in aeternum: 'those who love into eternity' — the phrase suggests love that endures eternally, not merely love directed toward eternal things. Rendered to preserve the active, ongoing sense.

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