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Chapter 21SermC.1.21

Sermo 21

Drawn by the Bridegroom

The bride's plea to be drawn is explored as a confession of weakness and a prayer for grace rather than a sign of unwillingness.

Draw me after you; we will run at the fragrance of your ointments.✦ What? So does the bride therefore need to be drawn, and this, after the bridegroom? As if indeed she were unwilling and followed him without willing it. But not everyone who is drawn is drawn unwillingly. For it's no bother for the weak or feeble — that is, someone who can't go on his own — to be drawn to a bath or to a meal, though it would be a bother for the accused to be drawn to judgment or to punishment. In short, she who asks to be drawn also asks for this; yet she would not ask if she were able by herself to follow the beloved as she wished. Why indeed is she not able?

The Weakness of the Bride

Even the perfect Bride confesses weakness because the burden of the body and the prison of this age hinder the soul from following the Bridegroom.

So should we confess that she is weak — and yet the Bride? If any one of the young women called herself weak and asked to be drawn, we would not be surprised at all. But in the case of the Bride, who seemed strong and perfect enough to draw and carry others along — wouldn't it sound harsh that she too should need to be drawn, as if she were weak or feeble? Then again, for what soul would we now confidently believe it strong and sound, if we had agreed to call that one weak — she who, by the singular perfection and more excellent virtue of her very self, is called the Bride of the Lord? Could it have been the Church who said this, as she gazed on the Beloved ascending, longing eagerly to follow him and to be taken up with him into glory? Yet no matter how great the perfection of a soul, as long as it groans under this body of death and is held back, shut in the prison of this wretched age, bound by its torments, twisted by wicked deeds, it must rise more slowly and more sluggishly toward things on high, and it does not have complete freedom to follow the Bridegroom wherever he has gone. From this comes that tearful, groaning voice: Unhappy man that I am, who will free me from this body of death? From this comes that humble prayer: Lead my soul out of prison.

Longing to Be with Christ

The Bride asks to be drawn because she longs to be freed and with Christ, especially when others already cling to him in love.

Let her say then — let the bride say it with her groaning: Draw me after you; because the body that is corrupted weighs down the soul, and this earthly dwelling presses down the mind as it thinks about so many things. Or is this what she says — longing to be set free and to be with Christ — especially when she sees those on whose account it seemed necessary for her to remain in the flesh, now progressing well as they love the bridegroom and stand firm in the safety of love? Indeed, he had said this earlier: That is why, he says, the young women have loved you.✦ Now therefore, as if she were saying: Look, the young women love you, and by loving they hold fast to you, and they have no further need of me — there is no reason for me to remain any longer in this life; that is why she says: Draw me after you.

Following After Christ

To be drawn after Christ means not only to come to him but to imitate his life, which requires grace because many want reward without suffering.

I would feel this, if he had said, 'Draw me to you.' But now, because he says 'after you,' it seems to me to demand even more: that she be strong enough to follow the footsteps of his way of life, that she be able to imitate his virtue and hold to the standard of his life, and that she be capable of grasping his moral discipline. In these matters above all, there is need of help — the help by which she can be strong enough to deny herself, take up her own cross, and so follow Christ. Here the bride must surely be drawn — and not, of course, by anyone other than him who says himself: 'Without me you can do nothing.'✦ I know, she says, that I can in no way reach you by walking after you — but not even that, unless you help me; and so I beg you to draw me after you. Blessed indeed is the one whose help comes from you; he has set ascents in his heart in the valley of tears, destined at last to reach you on the mountains of joy.✦ How few there are who want to go after you, O Lord Jesus! And yet there is no one who would not want to reach you — this is known to all who understand — because the delights at your right hand last forever.✦

To Reign but Not to Suffer

Many desire Christ's reward but not his imitation, wanting to reign with him but not to remain with him in trial.

And so everyone wants to enjoy you, but not in the same way to imitate you; they long to reign with you, but not to suffer with you. Among these was the one who said: Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like theirs.✦ He desired the final destiny of the righteous, but not in the same way their beginning. Even worldly people long for themselves the death of the spiritually alive, though they shrink from their way of life, knowing that the death of the saints is precious: because when he gives his beloved ones sleep, see, this is the Lord's heritage; and blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; whereas on the contrary, by the prophet's word, the death of sinners is most wretched.✦ They don't bother to seek the one they nevertheless long to find; they want to attain him, but not also to follow him. Not so were those to whom he said: You are the ones who have remained with me in my trials.✦ Blessed are those found worthy of your testimony, kind Jesus! They truly went after you, with their feet and with their hearts.

The Call to Follow

Christ calls his own to follow him, promising that where he is, they also will be.

You made known to them the ways of life, calling them after you, because you are the way and the life, and you say, 'Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men'; likewise, 'Whoever serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also.'✦✦ Therefore they were saying, boasting: 'Look, we have left everything and have followed you.'✦

Drawn by the Father and the Son

The Bride prays to be drawn because no one comes to Christ unless the Father draws him, and the Son shares that same drawing work.

And so your beloved, having left all things for your sake, longs always to go after you, always to cling to your footsteps, and to follow you wherever you go — knowing that your ways are beautiful ways, and all your paths are peaceful, and that whoever follows you does not walk in darkness.✦✦✦ She prays, then, to be drawn, because your justice is like the mountains of God, and her own strength is not sufficient for it.✦ She prays to be drawn, as is her custom, because no one comes to you unless your Father has drawn them.✦ Furthermore, those the Father draws, you also draw. For the works the Father does, the Son also does in the same way.✦ But more intimately she asks the Son to draw her, as from her own bridegroom, whom the Father sent to meet her as guide and teacher — one who would go before her on the way of conduct, prepare the path of virtues, instruct her as he instructed himself, teach her the way of prudence, and hand over to her the law of life and discipline — and so, rightly, she herself would desire his beauty.✦

Running in the Fragrance of Grace

Spiritual fervor has cooled, so the Bride asks to be drawn until grace returns and they can again run in the fragrance of his ointments.

Draw me after you; in the fragrance of your perfumes, let us run.✦ That's why I need to be drawn: the fire of your love has cooled a little in us, and we can no longer run as we did yesterday and the day before, faced with this cold. But let us run again, later on, when you restore the joy of your salvation, when a gentler season of grace returns, when the sun of justice grows warm again and the cloud of temptation that covered it for a while has passed — seen only for an hour — and when, at the soft breath of a breeze more soothing than usual, the perfumes begin to melt and the spices to flow and give off their fragrance. Then we will run — we will run in that fragrance. Once the perfumes are breathing out their scent, I say, we will run — because the sluggishness that's here now will pass, and devotion will return, and there will no longer be any need for us to be drawn, since once we're roused by the fragrance, we'll run on our own. But for now, in the meantime, draw me after you. Do you see that the person who walks by the Spirit doesn't stay in one state at all, or always advance with the same ease — and that their path isn't under their own control? Instead, just as the Spirit directs them, dispensing things as the Spirit wills, now more sluggishly, now more eagerly, they forget what lies behind and stretch forward to what lies ahead.✦ I think that, if you pay attention to this very thing, your own experience within you confirms what I'm saying from the outside.

Warning Against Presumption

While grace is present, one must not become complacent or presume it is permanently possessed, lest its withdrawal bring collapse.

So when you feel weighed down by sluggishness, listlessness, or weariness, don't let that make you lose heart or give up your spiritual effort. Instead, reach for the hand of the one who helps you, begging to be drawn along, following the example of the bride, until grace stirs you up again and, made more eager and alive, you run and say: "I have run the way of your commandments, when you enlarged my heart."✦ While grace is present, then, take delight in it — but don't start treating God's gift as though you possessed it by hereditary right, so secure about it that you act as though you could never lose it. Otherwise, when God perhaps withdraws his hand and removes the gift, you may collapse in spirit and become more downcast than you should be. Above all, never say in your own abundance, "I will never be moved" — lest you even be forced to say with grief the words that follow: "You have turned your face away from me, and I was troubled."✦ If you have any wisdom, you will take the counsel of the Wise One instead: in times of trouble you will not forget the good things you have known, and in times of prosperity you will not forget the hard times.

Steadfastness in Changing Times

In adversity one should hope, in prosperity one should not be reckless, and through both the soul can recover its ancient dignity in Christ.

So when you're in a season of strength, don't grow complacent — cry out to God with the prophet and say: "When my strength fails, don't abandon me."✦ And in the time of temptation, take heart and say with the bride: "Draw me after you; we will run at the fragrance of your ointments."✦ In this way hope won't desert you in hard times, and providence won't fail you in good ones. You'll stand between adversity and prosperity, holding through all life's shifting seasons something of eternity's own character — that unbreakable, unshakable evenness of a steadfast soul, blessing the Lord at every moment. And in doing so you'll claim for yourself, even amid this wavering world's uncertainties and inevitable losses, a share in the enduring permanence that belongs to the unchanging — as soon as you begin to renew and reshape yourself into that ancient, noble likeness of the eternal God, with whom there is no alteration, no shadow cast by turning.✦ Indeed, as he himself is, so you'll be in this world — not timid in hardships, not reckless in prosperity.✦ In this, I say — this noble creature made in the image and likeness of the one who made it — the dignity of its ancient honor is already beginning, even now, to take hold again and recover itself. It considers it unworthy to conform to this fallen age, and strives instead to be remade, following Paul's teaching, in the newness of its own mind, into that likeness in which it knows it was first created. And through this it even compels the world — which was made for its sake — to conform to it in turn, wonderfully and by a kind of reversal, as all things begin to work together for its good, as though in their proper and natural form, once the degenerate appearance has been cast off and it recognizes its Lord, for whose service it was created.✦✦✦

Lifted Up to Draw Others

As Christ, when lifted up, draws all to himself, so the conformed faithful share in this drawing, possessing all things as lords without grasping.

So I think that the saying the Only-Begotten spoke about himself — that if he were lifted up from the earth, he would draw all things to himself — can also apply to all his brethren, to those whom the Father foreknew and predestined to be made like the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And so I too, if I am lifted up from the earth, say confidently: 'I will draw all things to myself.' And I don't rashly claim this voice for myself, my brethren — the one whose likeness I put on. But if this is so, let the rich of this world, the brethren of Christ, not think they possess heavenly things alone, because they hear him say: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' I don't say they should consider them to possess heavenly things alone, who hear them only in the promise. They possess both earthly things — and indeed as though having nothing — yet all things they possess: not begging like the wretched, but possessing as lords, all the more certainly lords the less grasping they are. In short, for the faithful person the whole world is a treasury of riches. The whole world, clearly: because adverse things no less than prosperous ones all serve him, and work together for his good.

Begging Like a Beggar or Possessing Like a Lord

The greedy hunger for earthly things like beggars, while the faithful despise them like lords, yet often approve what they cannot do.

So the greedy person hungers for earthly things like a beggar, while the faithful person despises them like a lord. By possessing, the one begs; by despising, the other keeps. Ask any of those who gape at temporal gains with an insatiable heart what they think of those who, selling what they have and giving it to the poor, purchase the kingdoms of heaven for earthly substance—ask whether they act wisely or not.✦✦1 Without a doubt, he'll answer: "Wisely." Ask also why he doesn't do what he approves.✦ "I can't," he'll say. Why? Assuredly, because the mistress avarice doesn't permit it; because he isn't free; because the things he seems to possess aren't his own; and he isn't even his own master.2

Trained to Abound and to Endure

The Bride, trained by wisdom, knows how to abound and to endure scarcity, asking not for money but for virtue and not despairing in failure.

If what you have is truly yours, spend it for profit, and trade earthly things for heavenly. If you can't do that, then admit that you're not the master of your money but its slave — its guardian, not its owner. In the end, you become like your purse — like a servant to his mistress — since, just as he necessarily rejoices when she rejoices and grieves when she grieves, you too grow in spirit as your wallet grows, and shrink as it shrinks. For you are also contracted with sadness when it loosened with joy — or certainly puffed up with pride — when it is filled. That is the one. Let us, then — the bride's own — strive to match her freedom and constancy: since, well instructed in everything and trained in heart by wisdom, she knows how to abound and how to endure scarcity. When she asks to be drawn to him, she shows what she lacks — not money, but virtue. Again, when she consoles herself on the hope of grace yet to return — even if she is failing — she proves that she does not despair.

Drawn Like the Giant

The Bride needs to be drawn because she runs after a giant whose word runs swiftly, and she asks to be drawn lest she wander or remain in torpor.

She says, therefore: Draw me after you; we will run in the fragrance of your ointments.✦ And what wonder is it if she needs to be drawn, she who runs after a giant, she who strives to grasp the one who leaps on the mountains and springs over the hills?✦ His word, it is said, runs swiftly.✦ She can't run on level ground; she can't compete in speed with the one who exults as a giant for the race set before him; she can't by her own strength, and so she asks to be drawn.✦ I am weary, she says, I am failing; do not abandon me, but draw me after you, lest I begin to wander after other lovers, lest I run as if into uncertainty. Draw me after you, because it's better for me that you draw me — that you bring to bear on me whatever force you will, whether by terrifying threats or by wielding the lash — than that you, sparing me, leave me behind in my torpor, falsely secure. Draw me, in a way unwilling, so that you may make me willing; draw me torpid, so that you may make me run. There'll come a time when I'll need no one to draw me, because willingly and with all eagerness we will run.

Running Together

The Bride does not want to run alone but invites the young women to run with her in the fragrance of the Bridegroom's ointments.

I don't want to run alone, even if I've asked to be drawn along by myself: let the young women run with me too.✦ Let us run equally, let us run together — I drawn by the fragrance of your ointments, they aroused by my example and encouragement: and so all of us will run in the fragrance of your ointments.✦ The bride has those who imitate her. For just as she herself belongs to Christ, and so she doesn't say, 'I will run,' by herself, but 'let us run.'

Why 'Draw Me' and Not 'Draw Us'

A question arises why the bride says 'Draw me' in singular when the young women will soon run with her.

But a question arises: why is it that when she asked to be drawn, she didn't also include the young women, so that she might say, not 'Draw me,' but 'Draw us'? What then? Perhaps the bride needs to be drawn, and the young women don't? Oh, how beautiful, how happy, how blessed! Explain to us the reason for this distinction. 'Draw me,' you say. Why 'me,' and not 'us'? Or do you begrudge us this good?

Correction and Consolation

The bride's distinction reveals two helps from God: outward correction and inward consolation, each forming a different aspect of the spiritual life.

God forbid! You certainly wouldn't have said the young women were about to run along with you, if you had wanted to go after the bridegroom alone. Why, then, would we soon be running as a group — with another added to our number — when you asked in private to be the one drawn? Love, he says, asked it this way. Learn from me, through this word and in spiritual practice, to hope for a twofold help from above: correction and consolation. One trains you from the outside; the other visits you within. The first reins in arrogance; the second lifts you up in confidence. The first works humility; the second comforts faintheartedness. The first makes you cautious; the second makes you devout. The first teaches the fear of the Lord; the second seasons that very fear with a joyful, healing gladness, as it is written: Let my heart rejoice so that it may fear your name; and again: Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice before him with trembling.

Dragged in Trial, Running in Consolation

The strong are content to be dragged in trial, while the weak are invited to run in consolation, so that all share in the fragrance of grace.

We are dragged when we're exercised by temptations and tribulations; we run when, visited by inward consolations and inspirations, we breathe as if in sweet-smelling ointments. So what seems harsh and hard I keep for myself — as for the strong, as for the healthy, as for the perfect — and I say in the singular, "Draw me."✦ What is sweet and pleasant I share with you as with the weak, and I say, "We will run."✦ I know that young women are delicate and tender, and less fit to endure temptations; and therefore I want them to run with me, but not to be dragged with me. I want companions in consolation, not in labor. Why? Because they are weak, and I fear they may fail, that they may succumb. "Me," she says, "O bridegroom, correct me, exercise me, test me, draw me after you; because I am prepared for the scourges, and strong enough to endure."✦ But together we will run: I alone will be dragged, but together we will run.

Running in the Fragrance, Not in Our Merits

The Bride and the young women resolve to run not by their own strength but in the fragrance of the Bridegroom's ointments, deferring deeper teaching on them.

Let us run, let us run — but in the fragrance of your ointments, not in the confidence of our own merits; nor do we trust the greatness of our own strength to carry us in our running, but the abundance of your compassions. For even if we ran and were willing at times, it was not the willing one's own doing, nor the running one's, but the merciful God's. Let compassion return, and we will run. You, in your strength, run like a giant, powerful; but we won't run unless your ointments breathe upon us. You, whom the Father anointed with the oil of gladness before your companions, run in that very anointing; we run in its fragrance: you in fullness, we in fragrance. It would be time to pay what I remember promising long ago about the ointments of the bridegroom, if the length of this sermon didn't forbid it. I therefore postpone it, for the dignity of the subject isn't well served by being squeezed into a brevity that would be burdensome. Pray to the Lord of anointing, that he may deign to do the willing pleasures of my mouth, to instill into your desires the memory of the abundance of his sweetness, which is in the bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

The sermon concludes with a single doxological 'Amen.'

Amen.

Read the original Latin

Trahe me post te, in odore unguentorum tuorum curremus. Quid? sponsane ergo necesse habet trahi, et hoc post sponsum? Quasi vero invita eum, et non libens sequatur. Sed non omnis qui trahitur, invitus trahitur. Nec enim infirmum aut debilem, eum videlicet qui per se ire non valet, trahi ad balneum, seu ad prandium piget, etsi reum pigeat trahi ad iudicium, vel ad poenam. Denique trahi vult quae et hoc rogat: non autem rogaret, si sequi per se ipsam dilectum, prout vellet, valeret. Utquid vero non valet?

an infirmam fateamur et sponsam? Si una quaevis ex adolescentulis infirmam se diceret, et peteret trahi, nequaquam miraremur. At vero de sponsa, quae trahere et alios, utpote fortis et perfecta, posse sufficere videbatur: cui non durum sonet, quod et ipsa trahi, tanquam infirma vel debilis, necesse habeat? De quanam anima iam confidimus quod valida sit et sana, si illam infirmam dici consenserimus, quae pro sui singulari perfectione et excellentiori virtute sponsa Domini nominatur? An Ecclesia forte id dixerit, cum intueretur dilectum ascendentem, gestiens eum sequi, atque assumi cum ipso in gloria? Quanquam et quantaevis perfectionis anima, quamdiu quidem gemit sub corpore mortis huius, et huius saeculi nequam retinetur inclusa carcere, vincta necessitatibus, torta sceleribus, lentius segniusque assurgat necesse est ad contemplanda sublimia, nec omnino liberum habet sequi sponsum quocunque ierit. Hinc lacrymosa vox illa gementis: Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius? Hinc supplex illa precatio: Educ de carcere animam meam.

Dicat proinde, dicat cum gemitu etiam sponsa: Trahe me post te; quia corpus quod corrumpitur, aggravat animam, et deprimit terrena inhabitatio sensum multa cogitantem. An hoc dicat cupiens dissolvi et esse cum Christo, praesertim dum videat eas, propter quas manere ipsam in carne necessarium videbatur, bene proficientes amare iam sponsum, et stare in tuto charitatis? Siquidem hoc praemiserat: Propterea, inquiens, adolescentulae dilixerunt te. Nunc ergo quasi dicat, Ecce adolescentulae amant te, et amando firmiter inhaerent tibi, meque minime iam opus habent, nulla mihi causa in hac vita ulterius commorandi; idcirco ait, Trahe me post te.

Hoc sentirem, si dixisset, Trahe me ad te. Nunc vero quia dicit, post te, magis illud mihi postulare videtur, ut conversationis eius valeat vestigia sequi, ut possit aemulari virtutem, et normam tenere vitae, et morum queat apprehendere disciplinam. In his quippe maxime opus est adiutorio, quo valeat abnegare semetipsam, et tollere crucem suam, et sic sequi Christum. Hic prorsus trahi necesse habet sponsa, nec sane trahi ab alio quam ab eo ipso qui ait: Sine me nihil potestis facere. Scio, inquit, me nequaquam posse pervenire ad te, nisi gradiendo post te; sed neque hoc quidem, nisi adiutam abs te: ideoque precor ut trahas me post te. Beatus siquidem cuius est auxilium abs te; ascensiones in corde suo disposuit in valle lacrymarum, perventurus quandoque ad te in montibus gaudiorum. Quam pauci post te, o Domine Iesu, ire volunt! cum tamen ad te pervenire nemo sit qui nolit, hoc scientibus cunctis, quia delectationes in dextera tua usque in finem.

Et propterea volunt omnes te frui, at non ita et imitari; conregnare cupiunt, sed non compati. Ex his erat ille qui dicebat: Moriatur anima mea morte iustorum, et fiant novissima mea horum similia. Optabat sibi extrema iustorum, sed non ita et principia. Mortem spiritualium optant sibi etiam carnales, quorum tamen vitam abhorrent, scientes pretiosam mortem esse sanctorum: quoniam cum dederit dilectis suis somnum, ecce haereditas Domini; et quia beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur : cum e contrario, iuxta prophetae sententiam, Mors peccatorum pessima sit. Non curant quaerere, quem tamen desiderant invenire; cupientes consequi, sed non et sequi. Non sic illi quibus aiebat: Vos estis qui permansistis mecum in tentationibus meis. Beati qui digni habiti sunt testimonio tuo, benigne Iesu! Ipsi revera ibant post te, et pedibus et affectibus.

Notas eis fecisti vias vitae, vocans eos post te, quia via et vita es, et dicis, Venite post me, faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum; item: Qui mihi ministrat, me sequatur: et ubi sum ego, illic et minister meus erit. Dicebant ergo gloriantes: Ecce nos reliquimus omnia, et secuti sumus te.

Sic itaque et dilecta tua, relictis omnibus propter te, concupiscit semper ire post te, semper tuis inhaerere vestigiis, ac sequi te quocunque ieris: sciens quoniam viae tuae viae pulchrae, et omnes semitae tuae pacificae; et quia qui sequitur te, non ambulat in tenebris. Precatur autem se trahi, quoniam iustitia tua sicut montes Dei, nec sufficit ad illam suis viribus. Precatur se trahi, ut assolet; quia nemo venit ad te, nisi Pater tuus traxerit eum. Porro quos Pater trahit, trahis et tu. Opera quippe quae Pater facit, haec et Filius similiter facit. Sed familiarius a Filio postulat trahi, tanquam a sponso proprio, quem Pater misit obviam ei ducem ac praeceptorem, qui sibi praeiret in via morum, et praepararet iter virtutum, et erudiret eam sicut semetipsum, et viam prudentiae doceret, et traderet ei legem vitae et disciplinae; et sic merito ipse concupisceret decorem eius.

Trahe me post te, in odore unguentorum tuorum curremus. Propterea opus habeo trahi, quoniam refriguit paulisper in nobis ignis amoris tui; nec valemus a facie frigoris huius currere modo, sicut heri et nudiustertius. Curremus autem postea, cum reddideris laetitiam salutaris tui, cum redierit melior temperies gratiae, cum Sol iustitiae iterum incaluerit, et pertransierit tentationis nubes, quae hunc operire ad horam cernitur, atque ad lenem flatum aurae blandioris solito coeperint unguenta liquescere, et aromata fluere, et dare odorem suum. Tunc curremus, in odore illo curremus. Spirantibus, inquam, unguentis curremus, quoniam abscedet torpor qui nunc est, et revertetur devotio, et iam non erit opus nobis ut trahamur, quippe odore excitatis, ut sponte curramus. Nunc vero interim trahe me post te. Videsne illum qui in spiritu ambulat, nequaquam permanere in uno statu, nec eadem semper facilitate proficere, et quod non sit in homine via eius; sed quemadmodum ei spiritus moderator, prout vult, dispensat, nunc segnius, nunc alacrius quae retro sunt oblivisci, et ad anteriora sese extendere? Puto quod, hoc ipsum si attenditis, vestra vobis experientia intus respondet quod ego foris loquor.

Ergo cum te torpore, acedia, vel taedio affici sentis, noli propterea diffidere aut desistere a studio spirituali; sed iuvantis require manum, trahi te obsecrans sponsae exemplo, donec denuo suscitante gratia factus promptior alacriorque, curras, et dicas: Viam mandatorum tuorum cucurri, cum dilatasti cor meum. Sic autem, quandiu adest gratia, delectare in ea, ut non te existimes donum Dei iure haereditario possidere, ita videlicet securus de eo, quasi nunquam perdere possis: ne subito, cum forte retraxerit manum, et subtraxerit donum, tu animo concidas, et tristior quam oportet fias. Denique ne dixeris in abundantia tua, Non movebor in aeternum; ne etiam illud quod sequitur, dicere cum gemitu quidem cogaris: Avertisti faciem tuam a me, et factus sum conturbatus. Curabis potius, si sapis, pro consilio Sapientis, in die malorum non immemor esse bonorum, atque in die bonorum non immemor esse malorum.

Ergo in die virtutis tuae noli esse securus, sed clama ad Deum cum Propheta, et dic: Cum defecerit virtus mea, ne derelinquas me. Porro in tempore tentationis consolare, et dic cum sponsa: Trahe me post te, in odore unguentorum tuorum curremus. Sic te non deseret spes in tempore malo, nec in bono providentia deerit, erisque inter adversa et prospera mutabilium temporum tenens quamdam aeternitatis imaginem, utique hanc inviolabilem et inconcussam constantis animi aequalitatem, benedicens Dominum in omni tempore, proindeque vindicans tibi etiam in huius nutabundi saeculi dubiis eventibus, certisque defectibus, perennis quodammodo incommutabilitatis statum, dum te coeperis renovare et reformare in insigne illud antiquum similitudinis aeterni Dei, apud quem non est transmutatio, nec vicissitudinis obumbratio. Quippe sicut ipse est, ita et tu eris in hoc mundo, nec in adversis timidus, nec in prosperis dissolutus. In hoc, inquam, nobilis creatura facta ad imaginem et similitudinem eius qui se fecit, antiqui honoris dignitatem receptare, iam iamque et recuperare se indicat, cum sibi indignum ducit huic labenti saeculo conformari, reformari magis satagens, iuxta Pauli doctrinam, in novitate sui sensus, in eam similitudinem in qua se conditam novit; ac per hoc etiam cogens, ut dignum est, saeculum istud, quod propter se factum fuit, versa vice mirum in modum conformari sibi, dum omnia ei cooperari in bonum incipiunt, tanquam in propria et naturali forma, abiecta degeneri specie recognoscentia Dominum suum, cui ad serviendum creata fuere.

Unde arbitror illum sermonem, quem dixit de se Unigenitus, videlicet si exaltaretur a terra, omnia traheret ad se ipsum; cunctis quoque eius fratribus posse esse communem, his utique quos Pater praescivit et praedestinavit conformes fieri imaginis Filii sui, ut sit ipse primogenitus in multis fratribus. Et ego igitur si exaltatus fuero a terra, audacter dico, omnia traham ad me ipsum. Nec enim temerarie usurpo mihi, fratres mei, vocem, cuius me induo similitudinem. Quod si ita est, non putent divites huius saeculi, fratres Christi sola possidere coelestia, quia audiunt dicentem: Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum. Non eos, inquam, aestiment sola coelestia possidere, qui ea sola audiunt in promissione. Possident et terrena, et quidem tanquam nihil habentes, sed omnia possidentes: non mendicantes, ut miseri, sed ut domini possidentes, eo pro certo magis domini, quo minus cupidi. Denique fideli homini totus mundus divitiarum est. Totus plane: quia tam adversa, quam prospera ipsius, aeque omnia serviunt ei, et cooperantur in bonum.

Ergo avarus terrena esurit ut mendicus, fidelis contemnit ut dominus. Ille possidendo mendicat, iste contemnendo servat. Quaere a quovis corum qui insatiabili corde lucris temporalibus inhiant, quidnam de his sentiat, qui sua vendentes et dantes pauperibus, regna coelorum pro terrena mercantur substantia, sapienter agant necne? Procul dubio respondebit: Sapienter. Quaere item cur quod approbat, ipse non facit? Non possum, inquiet. Quare? Profecto quia domina avaritia non permittit; quia liber non est; quia non sunt sua quae possidere videtur; sed nec ipse sui iuris.

Si vere tua sunt, expende ad lucra, et pro terrenis coelestia commutato. Si non vales, fatere te pecuniae tuae non dominum esse, sed servum; custodem, non possessorem. Denique et conformaris crumenae tuae, tanquam servus dominae suae, dum, quomodo ille illi necessario et congaudet gaudenti, et dolenti condolet, tu quoque cum crescente tuo marsupio crescis pariter animo, et cum decrescente decrescis. Nam et contraheris tristitia, cum illud exinanitur; et laetitia solveris, aut certe inflaris superbia, cum impletur. Hoc ille. Nos vero sponsae curemus aemulari libertatem atque constantiam, quae sicut bene instructa in omnibus, et erudita corde in sapientia, scit et abundare, scit et penuriam pati. Cum se rogat trahi, ostendit quid desit sibi, non pecuniae, sed virtutis. Rursum cum se nihilominus de spe rediturae gratiae consolatur; etsi deficere, non tamen diffidere se probat.

Dicit ergo: Trahe me post te, in odore unguentorum tuorum curremus. Et quid mirum si indiget trahi, quae post gigantem currit, quae comprehendere nititur eum qui salit in montibus, transilit colles? Velociter, ait, currit sermo eius. Non valet ex aequo currere, non potest pari cum illo celeritate contendere, qui exsultat ut gigas ad currendam viam; non potest suis viribus et propterea rogat se trahi. Fessa sum, inquit, deficio, noli me deserere, sed trahe me post te, ne incipiam vagari post amatores alios, ne curram quasi in incertum. Trahe me post te; quia satius mihi est ut me trahas, ut scilicet vim qualemcunque mihi, aut terrendo minis, aut exercendo flagellis inferas, quam parcens in meo me torpore male securam derelinquas. Trahe quodam modo invitam, ut facias voluntariam; trahe torpentem, ut reddas currentem. Erit quando non indigebo tractore, quoniam voluntarie et cum omni alacritate curremus.

Non curram ego sola, etsi solam me trahi petierim: current et adolescentulae mecum. Curremus pariter, curremus simul; ego odore unguentorum tuorum, illae meo excitatae exemplo atque hortatu: ac per hoc omnes in odore unguentorum tuorum curremus. Habet sponsa imitatores sui. sicut et ipsa est Christi, Et ideo non ait singulariter, Curram; sed curremus.

Sed oritur quaestio, cur similiter, cum se petiit trahi, etiam adolescentulas non adiunxit, ut non, Trahe me; sed: Trahe nos diceret. Quid enim? fortene sponsa indiget trahi, et adolescentulae non indigent? O pulchra, o felix, o beata! edissere nobis huius distinctionis rationem. Trahe me, ais. Quare, me; et non, Nos? An hoc bonum invides nobis?

Absit! Neque enim protinus dixisses adolescentulas tecum esse cursuras, si sola post sponsum ire voluisses. Cur ergo pluraliter mox subiunctuza curremus, trahi te singulariter postulasti? Charitas, inquit, ita postulabat. Disce per hoc verbum a me in spirituali exercitio duplex auxilium desuper sperare: correptionem, et consolationem. Altera foris exercet, altera visitat intus. Illa reprimit insolentiam, ista in fiduciam erigit; illa operatur humilitatem, ista pusillanimitatem consolatur; illa cautos, ista devotos facit. Timorem Domini docet illa; ista ipsum timorem infuso temperat gaudio salutari, sicut scriptum est: Laetetur cor meum ut timeat nomen tuum; item: Servite Domino in timore, et exsultate ei cum tremore.

Trahimur, cum tentationibus et tribulationibus exercemur; currimus, cum, internis consolationibus et inspirationibus visitati, tanquam in suaveolentibus unguentis respiramus. Ergo quod austerum et durum videtur, retineo mihi, tanquam forti, tanquam sanae, tanquam perfectae, et dico singulariter, Trahe me. Quod suave et dulce, tibi tanquam infirmo communico, et dico, Curremus. Novi ego adolescentulas delicatas et teneras esse, et minus idoneas sufferre tentationes: et propterea mecum volo ut currant, sed non ut mecum trahantur; volo habere socias consolationis, non autem et laboris. Quare? Quoniam infirmae sunt, et vereor ne deficiant, ne succumbant. Me, inquit, o sponse, corripe, me exerce, me tenta, me trahe post te; quoniam ego in flagella parata sum, et potens ad sustinendum. Caeterum simul curremus: sola trahar, sed simul curremus.

Curremus, curremus, sed in odore unguentorum tuorum non nostrorum fiducia meritorum: nec in magnitudine virium nostrarum currere nos confidimus, sed in multitudine miserationum tuarum. Nam et si quando cucurrimus ac voluntariae fuimus, non fuit volentis, neque currentis, sed miserentis Dei. Revertatur miseratio, et curremus. Tu quidem in virtute tua, tanquam gigas et potens, curris: nos, nisi unguenta tua spiraverint, non curremus. Tu, quem Pater unxit oleo laetitiae prae consortibus tuis, curris in ipsa unctione; nos in illius odore curremus: tu in plenitudine, nos in odore. Tempus esset ut persolverem quod de unguentis sponsi longe supra promisisse me memini, si non huius sermonis longitudo vetaret. Differo ergo: nam et materiae dignitas arctari molesta brevitate non patitur. Rogate Dominum unctionis, ut voluntaria oris mei beneplacita facere dignetur ad insinuandam vestris desideriis memoriam abundantiae suavitatis suae, quae est in sponso Ecclesiae Iesu Christo Domino nostro.

Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Song.1.3 — The fragrance of your oils is good; your name is poured oil; therefore young women love you.
  2. ↩Song.1.3 — The fragrance of your oils is good; your name is poured oil; therefore young women love you.
  3. ↩John.15.5 — I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.
  4. ↩Ps.84.6-Ps.84.7 — Blessed is the person whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. Ps.84.7 — Those who pass through the Valley of Baca make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with blessings.
  5. ↩Ps.16.11 — You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
  6. ↩Num.23.10 — Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!
  7. ↩Ps.33.22 — Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
  8. ↩Luke.22.28 — But you are those who have remained with me in my trials,
  9. ↩Matt.4.19 — And he said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.'
  10. ↩John.12.26 — If anyone serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
  11. ↩Matt.19.27 — Then Peter answered him, 'Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us?'
  12. ↩Ps.25.4 — Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; your paths, teach me.
  13. ↩John.8.12 — Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'
  14. ↩Ps.119.35 — Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
  15. ↩Ps.36.6 — O LORD, your steadfast love reaches to the heavens; your faithfulness stretches to the skies.
  16. ↩John.6.44 — No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
  17. ↩John.5.19 — So Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing on his own, unless he sees the Father doing something. For whatever that one does, the Son also does in the same way.
  18. ↩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.
  19. ↩Song.1.3 — The fragrance of your oils is good; your name is poured oil; therefore young women love you.
  20. ↩Phil.3.13-Phil.3.14 — Brothers, I do not yet consider myself to have taken hold of it; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, Phil.3.14 — I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
  21. ↩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.
  22. ↩Ps.29.7-Ps.29.8 — The voice of the LORD splits flames of fire. Ps.29.8 — The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
  23. ↩Ps.71.9 — Do not cast me off in the time of old age; when my strength is spent, do not forsake me.
  24. ↩Song.1.3 — The fragrance of your oils is good; your name is poured oil; therefore young women love you.
  25. ↩Jas.1.17 — Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
  26. ↩John.15.18-John.15.20 — If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. John.15.19 — If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John.15.20 — Remember the word that I spoke to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
  27. ↩Rom.12.2 — And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
  28. ↩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.
  29. ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.27 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  30. ↩Matt.19.21 — Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
  31. ↩Luke.12.33 — Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves purses that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief draws near and no moth destroys.
  32. ↩Rom.7.19 — For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
  33. ↩Song.1.3 — The fragrance of your oils is good; your name is poured oil; therefore young women love you.
  34. ↩Song.2.8 — The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
  35. ↩Song.2.8 — The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
  36. ↩Heb.12.1 — Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us.
  37. ↩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.
  38. ↩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.
  39. ↩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.
  40. ↩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.
  41. ↩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.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin 'corum' is likely a scribal error for 'eorum' ('of them'); translated as 'of those'.
  2. 2 ↩The idiom 'sui iuris' (of one's own right) is rendered as 'his own master' to capture the legal and personal force of lacking self-determination under avarice.

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