Christus loquitur sponse dicens, quod ipsa debet habere membra pulchra et sine macula, comparans omnia membra spiritualiter perfecte dileccioni Dei et proximorum et presertim amicorum Dei; concludit eciam, quod debeat facere spiritualiter, sicut fenix facit corporaliter, que colligit ligna et ibidem se ipsam comburit.
The Beauty of the Interior Life
Christ instructs the bride on the necessity of purity in mind and desire, urging her to offer her whole self to God.
The Son says to the bride, "I told you before that you must have clear eyes, so you can see the evils you've done and the good you've left undone." Your mouth—that is, your mind—must be clean of all evil. Your lips represent two desires you must hold: the desire to leave everything behind for my sake, and the will to remain with me. These lips are a deep red, which is the most becoming of colors and the one that can be seen from the greatest distance. The color signifies beauty, and all beauty is found in the virtues, because it is most acceptable to God when you offer Him what you love most, and from which others may be most built up in their souls. Therefore, you must give to God whatever you hold most dear, whether in your affections or in your actions. This is why it's written that God took delight in His perfect works. God likewise rejoices when a person offers their whole self to Him, willing to be in suffering or in joy according to the will of God.
The Arms and Ribs of Charity
The bride is taught to use her spiritual arms for gratitude and fervent love, while protecting her heart through love for God's chosen ones.
The arms, however, are said to be flexible and light for the honor of God. Therefore, the left arm is the consideration of the good things and benefits I have done for you—namely, creating and redeeming you—and your ingratitude toward me. The right arm is a love for me so fervent that you would rather endure torments than lose me or provoke me to anger. I rest gladly between these two arms, and your heart will be my heart, because I am like a fire of divine love, and so I want to be loved fervently there. The ribs that protect your heart aren't your biological parents, but my chosen ones, whom you're bound to love as you love me—and even more than your biological parents. They are, in truth, the parents who have brought you to new life for eternity.
The Unblemished Skin of Neighborly Love
The bride is warned that hatred for a neighbor wounds the soul, and she is encouraged to maintain a perfect, unblemished love for all.
The skin or outer covering of the soul must be so beautiful that it has no blemish. By this skin, I mean every neighbor of yours; if you love them as you love yourself, my love and the love of my saints is kept unharmed. If, however, you harbor hatred, your heart is wounded and your ribs laid bare—which is to say, the love of my saints within you will be diminished. So, keep your skin free of blemish, because you must not hate your neighbor but love everyone according to God; for then my heart is sound with your heart.
The Phoenix of Divine Love
Christ describes the nature of His divine fire and uses the metaphor of the phoenix to illustrate how the soul is renewed through charity.
I told you before that I want to be loved fervently, because I am a kind of fire of divine love. In my fire, there are indeed three wonders. The first is that it burns without ever being kindled; the second is that it is never extinguished; the third is that it always burns and is never consumed. My love was like this toward humanity from the beginning in my divinity, and it burned even more intensely in the assumption of my humanity; it burns still, to such a degree that it is never extinguished, but instead makes the soul fervent, and it doesn't consume her, but rather always strengthens her all the more. You can see this in the phoenix, which, when weighed down by old age, gathers wood on a high mountain; once the heat of the sun has set that wood ablaze, it throws itself into the fire, and in this way, it dies only to come back to life from that very fire. In the same way, the soul that is set on fire by the flame of divine charity rises up from it like a phoenix, better and stronger than before."
Read the original Latin
Filius loquitur sponse: "Dixi tibi prius, quod debes habere oculos serenos, ut videas mala que fecisti et bona que omisisti. Os tuum, id est mens tua sit ab omni malo munda.
Labia vero sunt duo desideria habenda, scilicet desiderium relinquendi omnia pro me et voluntas manendi mecum; et hec labia sunt de colore rubeo, qui decencior colorum est et longius videtur.
Color vero significat pulchritudinem, et omnis pulchritudo est in virtutibus, quia illud accepcius est Deo, quando hoc ei offertur, quod homo magis diligit et unde alii possint plus ad animam edificari.
Ergo hoc dandum est Deo, quod homo carius habet siue affectu siue opere. Ideo legitur, quod Deus operibus suis perfectis letatus est. Sic et letatur Deus, quando homo se totum offert ei volendo esse in supplicio seu gaudio ad voluntatem Dei.
Brachia vero dicuntur esse flexibilia et leuia ad honorem Dei. Ergo brachium sinistrum est consideracio bonorum et beneficiorum meorum, que tibi feci, scilicet creando te et redimendo, et ingratitudo tua ad me.
Brachium vero dextrum est dileccio tam feruens ad me, quod malles tormenta ferre quam me perdere et ad iram prouocare. Inter hec duo brachia libenter quiesco, et cor tuum erit cor meum, quia ego sum quasi ignis quidam diuine dileccionis, et ideo volo ibi feruenter diligi.
Coste vero defendentes cor sunt parentes tui non carnales sed electi mei, quos tu teneris diligere sicut me et plus quam parentes carnales. Ipsi vero sunt parentes tui, qui te regenerauerunt ad eternam vitam.
Pellis vero seu cutis anime debet esse sic pulchra, quod non habeat maculum. Per pellem vero intelligitur omnis proximus tuus, quem si sicut te ipsam dilexeris amor meus et sanctorum meorum illesus seruatur.
Si autem odis, leditur cor et coste erunt denudate, id est amor sanctorum meorum in te minor erit. Ideo pellis nullam habeat maculam, quia proximum tuum odire non debes sed omnes diligere secundum Deum, quia tunc est cor meum sanum com corde tuo.
Item dixi tibi prius, quod ego volo feruenter diligi, quia sum ignis quidam diuine dileccionis. In igne quippe meo sunt tria mirabilia. Primum quod ardet et nunquam incenditur, secundum quod nunquam extinguitur, tercium quod semper ardet et nunquam consumitur.
Sic caritas mea ab inicio erat ad hominem in deitate mea, que in assumpcione humanitatis mee amplius ardebat et ardet in tantum, quod nunquam extinguitur sed feruentem facit animam nec consumit eam sed amplius semper fortificat.
Sicut in fenice colligere poteris, que senectute grauata colligit ligna in monte altissimo et illis ex calore solis succensis proiicit se in ignem et sic ex illo igne mortua reuiuiscit,
sic anima, que ex igne caritatis diuine succenditur de eo quasi fenix melior et forcior consurgit."
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