SR
← On Loving God/Book 1 · On Loving God
Chapter 3Dil.1.3

Christiani quantos habeant stimulos amandi Deum prae infidelibus.

The Church Wounded by Love

The faithful, overwhelmed by the surpassing love of Christ crucified, are pierced with shame and love, beholding His Passion, death, and triumphant ascent in a way that Jews and pagans cannot.

Against this, the faithful know clearly how absolutely they need Jesus—and this Jesus crucified. As they marvel at and embrace in him the love that surpasses all knowledge, they are overcome with shame that they cannot repay even in the smallest measure what they are, in return for such great love and such great favor. Naturally, then, those who understand themselves to be more deeply loved love all the more in return; but the one to whom less has been given loves less. A Jew, certainly, or a pagan is by no means stirred by such goads of love as the Church experiences, who says: 'I am wounded with love'; and again: 'Support me with flowers, surround me with apples, because I languish with love.' She sees King Solomon in the diadem with which his mother crowned him; she sees the Only-begotten of the Father carrying the cross for himself; she sees the Lord of majesty struck and spat upon; she sees the author of life and glory pierced with nails, struck with a lance, filled with reproaches, and at last laying down that beloved soul of his for his friends. She sees these things, and all the more does the sword of love pierce through her own soul, and she says: 'Support me with flowers, surround me with apples, because I languish with love.'✦ These are, in fact, pomegranate apples, which the bride, brought into the garden of the beloved, plucks from the tree of life, having borrowed their flavor from the heavenly bread and their color from the blood of Christ. She sees, next, death itself dead, and the author of death triumphed over. She sees captivity led captive from the underworld to the earth, and from the earth to the heights, so that in the name of Jesus every knee may be bent—of heavenly beings, of earthly beings, and of those below.✦

The Earth Renewed, the Bride in Bloom

The Church beholds the earth freed from its curse and blossoming anew, desiring to flourish from the Passion's sufferings and the Resurrection's flowers.

She turns her attention to the earth, which under the ancient curse had produced thorns and thistles, and sees that it has bloomed forth again, renewed to the grace of a new blessing.✦✦ And in all these things, having remembered that verse — And my flesh has bloomed again, and with my whole will I will confess to him — she desires to flourish from the sufferings of the Passion, which the tree of the cross had borne, and from the flowers of the Resurrection, whose fragrance especially invites the Bridegroom to revisit her more often.✦✦ .

The Bridegroom Delights in the Blooming Heart

The Bride invites her Beloved to a bed in bloom, drawing her fragrance not from her own merits but from the flowers of Christ's Passion and Resurrection, which draw Him ever nearer.

Finally he says: Look at you — you are beautiful, my love, and graceful; our bed is in bloom. She who shows the bed reveals clearly enough what she desires, and when she announces it is in bloom, she indicates well enough from where she may presume to obtain what she longs for. Not from her own merits, you see, but from the flowers of the field that God has blessed. Christ delights in these flowers — Christ, who chose to be conceived and raised in Nazareth. The heavenly bridegroom rejoices in fragrances like these, and gladly and often enters the bridal chamber of the heart, because he has found it filled and scattered with fruits and flowers of exactly this kind. Wherever he sees — with careful attention, that is — the grace of his Passion or the glory of his Resurrection dwelling there in thought, there he surely is present himself: present and eager, present and willing. Recognize the fruits of the Passion's memorials as if from a past year — yes, from all the times that have elapsed under the dominion of sin and death — now at last appearing in the fullness of time. And further, look at the fresh flowers of the Resurrection's signs in the season now dawning, in the new summer growing green again under grace. Their fruit the future general resurrection will bring forth at the end — a fruit that will remain without end.

Winter Past, the New Summer of Grace

With the winter of death past and flowers appearing in the land, the risen Christ makes all things new, and the soul's dry, cold, dead places come alive at the first breath of His fragrance.

Now, she says, the winter is past, the rain has gone and passed away, flowers have appeared in our land. The arrival of summer signifies the one who, released from the frost of death into a kind of springtime mildness of new life, says: See, I am making all new things. His flesh was sown in death and has bloomed again in the resurrection; and at the first breath of his fragrance in the field of lilies, our dry places grow green again, our cold places grow warm again, our dead places come back to life.✦✦123

The Father's Delight and the Bride's Fragrant Heart

The Father delights in the Son's renewal of all things; the Bride gathers flowers of mercy and power to perfume her heart, keeping Christ as her frequent guest through faithful testimony to His saving acts.

Therefore, because of the newness of these flowers and fruits, and the beauty of the field breathing forth the sweetest fragrance, the Father himself also takes delight in the Son, who is renewing all things, so that he says: Behold, the fragrance of my Son is like the fragrance of a full field, which the Lord has blessed.✦ Well said, 'full' — for from his fullness we have all received.✦ The Bride, however, more familiarly gathers flowers for herself from him, when she wishes, and plucks fruits, with which she may sprinkle the inmost parts of her conscience, and the bed of the heart may be sweetly fragrant for the entering Bridegroom. For if we wish to have Christ as a frequent guest, it is necessary for us to keep our hearts always fortified by faithful testimonies, both concerning the mercy of the one who died and concerning the power of the one who rose — just as David was saying: I have heard two things: that power belongs to God, and to you, O Lord, belongs mercy. Since indeed the testimonies of each matter have been made exceedingly credible: Christ certainly died for our sins, and rose for our justification, and ascended for our protection, and sent the Spirit for our consolation, and will one day return for our consummation.✦ That is, in his death he showed mercy, in his resurrection power, and both of these in each of the remaining acts.

Into the Chamber: Embrace, Memory, and Glory

The bride, sustained by flowers of love until she is received in the Bridegroom's embrace, comes to despise all lesser consolations, tasting His sweetness in the present age through memory while awaiting His presence in the kingdom.

These fruits and flowers, with which the bride asks to be hemmed in and held up, I believe — sensing as I do that the force of love in her can easily grow lukewarm and languish in some way, if she's not continually kept warm by incentives like these — until, led at last into the chamber, she's received with the embraces she's longed for, and says: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand has embraced me.✦ She will indeed perceive then, and experience, all the evidences of love which she had received in his first coming, as it were from the left hand of the beloved — because of the overwhelming sweetness of the right hand that embraced her — as things to be despised, and now as things to be counted as nothing beneath her feet.✦ She will grasp what she had heard: The flesh is of no avail; it is the spirit that gives life.✦ She will experience what she had read: My spirit is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. What then follows — My memory throughout the generations of the ages — this means: as long as the present age endures, in which generation comes and generation passes away, the elect will not lack consolation from that memory, even though the full refreshment of his presence is not yet granted to them.✦ Whence it is written: They will pour forth the memory of your abundant sweetness — there is no doubt that these are the ones he had spoken of a little earlier: Generation and generation will praise your works.✦ Memory throughout the generations of the ages — presence in the kingdom of heaven. Through that memory, the chosen company — now taken up into glory — is already glorified; through that same memory, the generation still on its pilgrimage is consoled.

Read the original Latin

Contra quod plane fideles norunt, quam omnino necessarium habeant Jesum, et hunc crucifixum: dum admirantes et amplexantes supereminentem scientiae charitatem in ipso, id vel tantillum quod sunt, in tantae dilectionis et dignationis vicem non rependere confunduntur. Facile proinde plus diligunt, qui se amplius dilectos intelligunt: cui autem minus donatum est, minus diligit. Judaeus sane, sive paganus, nequaquam talibus aculeis incitatur amoris, quales Ecclesia experitur, quae ait, Vulnerata charitate ego sum: et rursum, Fulcite me floribus, stipate me malis, quia amore langueo. Cernit regem Salomonem in diademate, quo coronavit eum mater sua; cernit Unicum Patris, crucem sibi bajulantem; cernit caesum et consputum Dominum majestatis; cernit auctorem vitae et gloriae confixum clavis, percussum lancea, opprobriis saturatum, tandem illam dilectam animam suam ponere pro amicis suis. Cernit haec, et suam magis ipsius animam gladius amoris transverberat, et dicit: Fulcite me floribus, stipate me malis, quia amore langueo. Haec sunt quippe mala punica, quae in hortum introducta dilecti sponsa carpit ex ligno vitae, a coelesti pane proprium mutuata saporem, colorem a sanguine Christi. Videt deinde mortem mortuam, et mortis auctorem triumphatum. Videt de inferis ad terras, de terris ad superos captivam duci captivitatem, ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur, coelestium, terrestrium, et infernorum.

Advertit terram, quae spinas et tribulos sub antiquo maledicto produxerat, ad novae benedictionis gratiam innovatam refloruisse. Et in his omnibus, illius recordata versiculi, Et refloruit caro mea, et ex voluntate mea confitebor ei; passionis malis, quae de arbore tulerat crucis, cupit vigere et de floribus resurrectionis, quorum praesertim fragrantia sponsum ad se crebrius revisendam invitet. .

Denique ait: Ecce tu pulcher es, dilecte mi et decorus; lectulus noster floridus. Quae lectulum monstrat, satis quid desideret aperit: et cum floridum nuntiat, satis indicat, unde quod desiderat obtinere praesumat. Non enim de suis meritis, sed de floribus agri, cui benedixit Deus. Delectatur floribus, Christus, qui in Nazareth et concipi voluit, et nutriri. Gaudet sponsus coelestis talibus odoramentis, et cordis thalamum frequenter libenterque ingreditur, quod istiusmodi refertum fructibus, floribusque respersum invenerit. Ubi suae videlicet aut passionis gratiam, aut resurrectionis gloriam sedula inspicit cogitatione versari, ibi profecto adest sedulus, adest libens. Monumenta siquidem Passionis, fructus agnosce quasi anni praeteriti, omnium utique retro temporum sub peccati mortisque imperio decursorum, tandem in plenitudine temporis, apparentes. Porro autem Resurrectionis insignia, novos adverte flores sequentis temporis, in novam sub gratia revirescentis aestatem, quorum fructum generalis futura resurrectio in fine parturiet sine fine mansurum.

Jam, inquit, hiems transiit, imber abiit et recessit, flores apparuerunt in terra nostra: aestivum tempus advenisse cum illo significans, qui de mortis gelu in vernalem quamdam novae vitae temperiem resolutus, Ecce, ait, nova facio omnia: cujus caro seminata est in morte, refloruit in resurrectione; ad cujus mox odorem in campo convaliis nostrae revirescunt arida, recalescunt frigida, mortua reviviscunt.

Horum ergo novitate florum ac fructuum, et pulchritudine agri suavissimum spirantis odorem, ipse quoque Pater in Filio innovante omnia delectatur, ita ut dicat: Ecce odor filii mei, sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus. Bene pleni, de cujus plenitudine omnes accepimus. Sponsa tamen familiarius ex eo sibi, cum vult, flores legit, et carpit poma, quibus propriae aspergat intima conscientiae, et intranti sponso cordis lectulus suave redoleat. Oportet enim nos, si crebrum volumus habere hospitem Christum, corda nostra semper habere munita fidelibus testimoniis, tam de misericordia scilicet morientis, quam de potentia resurgentis; quomodo David aiebat: Duo haec audivi, quia potestas Dei est, et tibi, Domine, misericordia. Siquidem utriusque rei testimonia credibilia facta sunt nimis; Christo utique moriente propter delicta nostra, et resurgente propter justificationem nostram, et ascendente ad protectionem nostram, et mittente Spiritum ad consolationem nostram, et quandoque redituro ad consummationem nostram. Nempe in morte misericordiam, potentiam in resurrectione, utramque in singulis exhibuit reliquorum.

Haec mala, hi flores, quibus sponsa se interim stipari postulat et fulciri, credo sentiens facile vim in se amoris posse tepescere et languescere quodammodo, si non talibus jugiter foveatur incentivis, donec introducta quandoque in cubiculum, diu cupitis excipiatur amplexibus, et dicat: Laeva ejus sub capite meo, et dextera illius amplexata est me. Sentiet quippe tunc et probabit universa dilectionis testimonia, quae in priori adventu, tanquam de sinistra dilecti, acceperat, prae multitudine dulcedinis amplexantis dexterae contemnenda, et omnino jam quasi subtus habenda. Sentiet quod audierat: Caro non prodest quidquam; spiritus est qui vivificat. Probabit quod legerat: Spiritus meus super mel dulcis, et haereditas mea super mel et favum. Quod vero sequitur, Memoria mea in generatione saeculorum; hoc dicit, quia quandiu stare praesens cernitur saeculum, in quo generatio advenit, et generatio praeterit, non deerit electis consolatio de memoria, quibus nondum de praesentia plena refectio indulgetur. Unde scriptum est, Memoriam abundantiae suavitatis tuae eructabunt: haud dubium, quin hi, quos paulo superius dixerat, Generatio et generatio laudabit opera tua. Memoria ergo in generatione saeculorum, praesentia in regno coelorum. Ex ista glorificatur jam assumpta electio: de illa interim peregrinans generatio consolatur.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Song.2.5 — Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.
  2. ↩Phil.2.10 — so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
  3. ↩Gen.3.18 — And thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field.
  4. ↩Isa.35.1 — The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus.
  5. ↩Ps.28.7;Ps.31.13 — The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped. My heart exults, and with my song I give him thanks. Ps.31.13 — I am forgotten like one dead from the heart; I have become like a vessel that is perishing.
  6. ↩Song.1.3-Song.1.4 — The fragrance of your oils is good; your name is poured oil; therefore young women love you. Song.1.4 — Draw me after you—let us run together! The king has brought me into his chambers. We will rejoice and be glad in you; we will remember your love more than wine. The upright love you.
  7. ↩Song.2.11-Song.2.12 — For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. Song.2.12 — The blossoms have appeared in the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
  8. ↩Rev.21.5 — And the One seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' And He said, 'Write, for these words are trustworthy and true.'
  9. ↩Gen.27.27 — So he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the fragrance of his garments and blessed him. And he said, "See, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field that the LORD has blessed."
  10. ↩John.1.16 — For from his fullness we all received, grace upon grace.
  11. ↩Rom.4.25 — who was handed over because of our trespasses and was raised because of our justification.
  12. ↩Song.2.6 — His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.
  13. ↩Song.2.6 — His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.
  14. ↩John.6.63 — It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
  15. ↩Ps.144.7 — Reach down your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from many waters, from the hand of foreign sons.
  16. ↩Ps.144.7 — Reach down your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from many waters, from the hand of foreign sons.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The opening lines echo Song of Songs 2:11–12 (Vulgate). The phrase 'Ecce nova facio omnia' echoes Revelation 21:5 (Vulgate). Both are candidate allusions pending Moses resolution.
  2. 2 ↩temperiem rendered 'mildness' to capture the sense of a temperate, balanced condition (temperies) as the soul passes from death's harsh cold into the gentleness of new life.
  3. 3 ↩cum at token 16 is ambiguous between temporal ('when') and causal ('since'); causal reading chosen as primary because the summer's arrival serves as a sign pointing to Christ's passage from death to life.

On Loving God companion

Fourteen days is a start. Love grows by daily practice.

Continue with a short daily portion of historic devotion in the free Chosen Portion app.

Bernard argues love of God deepens through repeated, ordinary acts of devotion — the daily portions in Chosen Portion are precisely that repeated practice.

  • Finish the plan, then keep a 10-minute daily devotional habit
  • Read classics like Bernard's in plain modern English, one portion a day
  • Track which of the four degrees you are practicing, week by week
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →