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Chapter 68SermC.1.68

Sermo 68

The Bride's Word and Our Joy

Bernard invites the congregation to share the joy he experienced from the bride's words, identifies the bride and bridegroom, and marvels at God's attention to humanity despite the vast disparity between Creator and creature.

Hear now what I put off until today — hear the joy I experienced. And it belongs to you: hear it rejoicing. I experienced this in a single word from the bride, and as though I had perceived it by its fragrance, I was hidden, so that today I might show it to you more joyfully, and thereby more seasonably. The bride has spoken, and she said that the bridegroom pays attention to her. Who is the bride, and who is the bridegroom? He is our God — and she, if I dare say it, is us, along with the rest of the multitude of captives, whom he himself knows. Let us rejoice: this is our glory — we are the ones on whom God fixes his gaze. Yet what a vast disparity there is.

The Boldness of Mutual Love

The bride's boasting in Song 2:16 is examined: both she and the Bridegroom act with astonishing boldness, and a pure heart and good conscience dare to claim that God's devoted attention belongs to the soul.

What are earthborn creatures and mortal humans before him?✦ As the prophet says, they are as though they did not exist, and reckoned as nothing and emptiness before him.✦ What then does this comparison mean, drawn between such unequal parties? Either she boasts beyond all measure, or he loves beyond all measure. How astonishing, that she claims his devoted attention as though it were her own, saying, My beloved is mine and I am his.✦ Not even satisfied with that, she goes further in her boasting, answering him as though on equal terms, treating him as a peer and returning his affection measure for measure. For the text continues: And I am his.✦ A startling phrase: and I am his. And my beloved is no less brazen toward me: except that, in both respects, each is even more brazen — both at once.1

God's Personal Care for the Church

The bride is identified as the Church of the elect, for whom God's providence is personal and singular, not merely general; Paul's words about all things being for the elect and the rhetorical question about oxen confirm that God's special care is for his bride.

O what a pure heart dares — and a good conscience, and a faith that isn't put on! "It directs itself to me," it says. Is that majesty really focused on this — on her to whom the governance and administration of the universe equally rests upon, and the care of the ages is transferred to mere affairs — no, rather to the delights of this love and desire? Clearly so. For she herself is the Church of the elect, about whom the Apostle says: "All things," he says, "are for the sake of the elect."✦ And who doubts that the grace and mercy of God is toward his holy ones, and his regard toward his elect? So we don't deny that God's providence extends to other creatures: but the bride claims personal care for herself. Is God concerned about oxen?✦

The Order of Divine Love in Peter's Words

All creatures are cared for, but Peter's exhortation to cast anxiety on God reveals that God already cares for the Church first; the apostle would not have used such language had he not observed the bride's own order of love.

And there's no doubt that we can say the same about horses, about camels, about elephants, and about all the beasts of the earth; similarly also about the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky; finally, about everything that is on earth — setting aside those to whom it is said: "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."✦ Doesn't it seem to you, as though by these words — "Pay attention to him" — it is said, because he himself pays attention to you? And notice that the apostle Peter (for the words are his) would not have used them either, had he not also observed the bride's own order in his words. He doesn't say, you see, "Cast all your anxiety on him, so that he may care for you"; but rather, "because he cares for you" — openly showing, then, that the Church of the saints is not only greatly loved, but was in fact loved before that.✦

The Shepherd Who Carries His Sheep

Christ the Good Shepherd has charge of the Church, sought her from heaven, carried her on his shoulders, and the Lord of hosts directs his loving attention to her; therefore she rightly boasts in his anxious care and promised recompense.

It's clear that this doesn't apply to the word the Apostle spoke about oxen: for the one who loved her has charge of her, and gave himself up for her.✦2 Isn't this the wandering sheep whose care is preferred even over the heavenly care of the flocks above?3 In fact, once those things were set forth, the Good Shepherd came down to this sheep, searched for her diligently, and when he found her he didn't simply lead her back — he carried her, bringing new festivals of joy with her and on her behalf into the heavens, with the peoples of angels summoned to the celebration.✦45 What then? He has deigned to carry her back on his own shoulders — and will he not have charge of her?✦ That's why the Lord isn't ashamed to say: 'The Lord is anxious for me.' Nor does he think he's mistaken when he likewise says: 'The Lord will repay me' — and if there's anything else that seems to signify God's care for her.✦ That's why he calls the Lord of hosts his beloved, and boasts that the one who judges all things with perfect calm directs his loving attention to him.

He Is Mine, and I Am His

The bride glories because God will not forget her; the eyes of the Lord are over the just, and the congregation of the just is the bride, so the mutual claim 'He is mine, and I am his' is sealed.

Why shouldn't she glory? She heard him saying to her: Can a mother forget, so as not to have mercy on the son of her womb? And even if she forgets, yet I will not forget you. In the end, the eyes of the Lord are over the just. And what is the bride, if not the congregation of the just? What is she herself, if not a generation of those who seek the Lord, who seek the face of the bridegroom? For he does not look at her, and she does not look at him. Therefore he puts both together, saying: He is mine, and I am his.

Grace for Grace

The mutual exchange is explained: God gives grace for grace, lives for the soul's freedom and salvation; the soul lives for his honor and will, and because she is his one dove she listens to no stranger's voice.

He is mine, because he is kind and merciful; I am his, because I am not ungrateful. He gives me grace for grace; I give him grace in return for grace. He lives for my freedom; I live for his honor. He lives for my salvation; I live for his will. He is mine, and no one else's, because I am his one dove; I am his, and no one else's — for I don't listen to the voice of strangers, and I don't trust those who tell me, 'Look, here is Christ,' or 'Look, there he is.'✦67 This is the Church.

Can One Soul Be the Bride?

Bernard questions whether any individual among the congregation can claim the bride's prerogatives, yet reasons that God worked not for one soul alone but to gather the Church as one bride, and a soul united to the One would dare greatly before so ambitious a lover.

What single one of us — each one, individually? Do we suppose there's anyone among us who could be fitted to what is being said? What did I say — 'among us'? But I think that if anyone within the established Church should seek this, he wouldn't be entirely to blame. For the reasoning of one person is not the same as that of many. In short, God did and endured so many things — not for the sake of one soul, but so that many might be gathered into one Church and bound together as one bride — since he worked out salvation in the midst of the earth. Most beloved is that one soul, united to the One — not clinging to another bridegroom, not yielding to another bride. What would that soul not dare before so ambitious a lover?

He Sought Us and Gained Us

God sought us from heaven and gained us in blood; he acts for the sake of his chosen ones so that they praise him with their inheritance, and the perfection of the Church is the end on which all things depend.

What could anyone not hope for from the one who sought us out from heaven and called us from the ends of the earth? He didn't merely seek us — he gained us. Add to that the manner of his gaining us: in the blood of the one who gained us. At other times, as is the case, he presumes all the more because, looking ahead to the future, he is not unaware that the Lord has need of him. What are you asking about? To see the goodness of his chosen ones, to rejoice in the gladness of his people, so that he may be praised along with his inheritance. Don't think this work small: I tell you, no work will remain perfect if this one wavers. Doesn't the end of all things depend on the state and completion of the Church?

The Church's Removal Would Unravel All

If the Church were removed, creation's longing would be vain, the patriarchs and prophets would not be perfected, and even angelic glory would be incomplete, because the city of God requires the fullness of the elect.

Remove this, and the lower creature awaits the revelation of the sons of God in vain.✦ Remove this, and neither patriarchs nor any prophets will be perfected, since Paul asserts that God has provided for us in such a way that they would not be perfected without us.✦8 Remove this, and even the glory of the holy angels will falter because of the imperfection of their own number, nor will the city of God rejoice in its completeness.9

Praise Out of the Mouths of Children

God's mystery and will are fulfilled through the Church, which nurtures infants and children whose praise completes the Psalm; heaven knows this joy only through the Church, and the passage from suffering to rest makes security and light all the sweeter.

So how will God's purpose be fulfilled, and the mystery of his will, and that great Sacrament of devotion?✦ So then, will you give me infants and nursing ones, out of whose mouth God may bring his praise to completion?✦ Heaven has no infants; the Church does, and to them it says: I gave you milk to drink, not solid food.✦ And these are invited, as if to complete the praise spoken by the Prophet: Praise the Lord, children.✦ Do you think our God will have all the praise of his glory until those come who sing psalms to him in the sight of angels: We rejoiced for the days in which you humbled us, for the years in which we saw evil?✦ Heaven has never known this kind of joy except through the children of the Church; and no one ever rejoices in this who isn't always rejoicing. How fittingly joy follows after sadness, rest after labor, harbor after shipwreck. Security pleases everyone, but it pleases the one who has feared even more.

Life's Joy and the Angels' Delight

Life is doubled when passed from death to life; the soul's portion at the heavenly feast is unique, and even blessed life is bereft without mutual joy between the soul and God; angels rejoice at repentance, and the Church's works praise God most fully when they include the testimony of deliverance from trial.

Light is pleasant to everyone, but more pleasant still to the one escaping from the power of darkness. To have passed from death to life doubles the grace of life. This is my portion in the heavenly feast, and set apart even from the blessed spirits themselves. I dare to say that blessed life itself is bereft of my blessedness, unless she deigns to confess that she finds her joy in me through love, and through me.10 Indeed, it seems that something has even been added to that perfection from me, and no small thing at that.11 In the end, the angels rejoice at the sinner's repentance. And if my tears are the angels' delight, what then is their delight?12 Every work of theirs is to praise God — but the praise falls short if there are none to say: 'We passed through fire and water, and you led us into refreshment.'13

Boasting in God's Purpose

The Church's every boast exceeds its reason, for God's purpose is firmer than human merits; God cannot deny himself, so there is no anxiety about merits when one hears that God acts for his own sake, and it is enough for merit to know that merits are not enough.

Happy, then, in its own fullness is the Church, whose every boast falls short of the reason for it — not only for the things already done for it, but also for those still to be accomplished in it. Why should anyone be anxious about merits, when what's available to them is firmer because of God's purpose and the grounds for boasting are more secure? God cannot deny himself, nor fail to do what he has already done, as it is written: 'He who made the things that are to come.' He will act, he will act, and God will not fall short of his purpose. So there's no reason to ask now by which merits we should hope for good things, especially since you hear in the prophet: 'Not for your sake, but for my own sake I will act, says the Lord.' It is enough for merit to know that merits are not enough. But just as not presuming about your own merits is enough to merit, so lacking merits is enough for judgment. Furthermore, none of the reborn infants lack merits, but they have the merits of Christ.

Merits Without Presumption

The mature age risks joining its own merits to grace; one must acknowledge gifts, hope for mercy, and avoid both ruinous poverty of merits and deceptive riches of presumption, for the Church lacks neither merits without presumption nor presumption without merits.

Yet by those very things they make themselves unworthy, if they could have joined what was their own but neglected it. And that is indeed a danger of mature age. So then, take care to have merits; acknowledge what has been given you; hope for the fruit of God's mercy — and you'll have escaped every danger of poverty, ingratitude, and presumption. A ruinous poverty is a lack of merits, but presumption of spirit is deceptive riches. And so, don't give me riches or poverty, Lord, says the Wise One.✦ Blessed is the Church, which lacks neither merits without presumption nor presumption without merits. It has grounds for presumption, but not its own merits; it has merits, but for deserving, not for presuming. Isn't refraining from presumption itself a way of deserving?

Secure Glory and Enduring Mercy

The more one does not presume on self, the more securely one presumes on God, and the soul will not be put to shame because the mercies of the Lord are many and his truth endures forever.

So the more someone doesn't presume, the more securely they presume; and that means they won't be put to shame by the word of glory, which gives them plenty of reason to glory. The mercies of the Lord are many, and his truth endures forever.✦

The Church's Confident Claim and the Question for Another Discourse

The Church glories securely because mercy and truth meet her, and she appropriates all the scriptural voices of singular divine favor; yet whether an individual holy soul may also dare such things is a question reserved for prayer and another discourse, concluded with a doxology to Christ the Bridegroom.

Why shouldn't she glory securely, when mercy and truth have met her as the testimony of his glory? Whether she says, 'My beloved is mine,' or goes on to say, 'I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me,' or even, 'The Lord cares for me,' or if there are any other such voices, one after another, that seem to express a certain divine affection and singular favor toward something similar — she will think none of these things foreign to herself, when the reason for presuming on the Lord rests on his covenant, especially since she does not see another bride or another church to which what cannot fail to happen might be able to happen.✦✦ Therefore it is clear regarding the church that she will in no way be afraid to adapt all things to herself. It is also asked concerning one soul — if she is spiritual and holy — whether it may be permitted to her in any way to dare such things. Nor indeed will one person from the multitude arrogate to herself all the prerogatives of that one catholic multitude — the one on account of which all things are done — however greatly she may excel in holiness. And so, as I see it, it will be more difficult — if indeed it can be found at all — to determine how this can be permitted. For this reason I think it necessary that this be attempted in another discourse, and not merely enter the paths of a scrupulous dispute whose outcome we still do not know — unless first, in prayer over the hidden word, there has been recourse to him who opens and no one shuts: Jesus Christ our Lord, the bridegroom of the church, who is God over all, blessed forever.✦ Amen.

Read the original Latin

Audite iam quod heri distulimus, audite gaudium meum quod sensi. Et vestrum est: audite gaudentes. In uno verbo sponsae sensi hoc, et quasi odoratus abscondi, eo vobis hodie festivius exhibendum, quo tempestivius. Sponsa locuta est, et dixit sponsum intendere sibi. Quae est sponsa, et quis est sponsus? Hic Deus noster est: et illa, si audeo dicere, nos sumus, cum reliqua quidem multitudine captivorum, quos ipse novit. Gaudeamus: gloria nostra haec est; nos sumus in quos intendit Deus. Quanta tamen disparitas.

Quid terrigenae et filii hominum coram illo? Secundum prophetam, sic sunt, quasi non sint, et quasi nihilum et inane reputati sunt ei. Quid sibi ergo vult ista inter tam dispares comparatio? Aut illa in immensum gloriatur, aut is in immensum amat. Quam admirabile est, quod illius intentionem ista sibi quasi propriam vindicat, dicens: Dilectus meus mihi? Nec eo contenta tamen, pergit amplius gloriari, respondere se illi quasi ex aequo, morem gerere, rependere vicem. Sequitur enim: Et ego illi. Insolens verbum, et ego illi.

Nec minus insolens, dilectus meus mihi: nisi quod utroque insolentius utrumque simul.

O quid audet cor purum, et conscientia bona, et fides non ficta! Mihi, inquit, intendit. Itane huic intenta est illa maiestas, cui gubernatio pariter et administratio universitatis incumbit; et cura saeculorum ad sola transfertur negotia, imo otia amoris et desiderii huius? Ita plane. Ipsa est enim Ecclesia electorum, de quibus Apostolus: Omnia, inquit, propter electos. Et cui dubium, quod gratia et misericordia Dei sit in sanctos eius, et respectus in electos illius? Ergo providentiam caeteris creaturis non negamus: curam sponsa vindicat sibi. Nunquid de bobus cura est Deo?

Nec dubium quin idem possimus dicere de equis, de camelis, de elephantis, et de cunctis bestiis terrae: similiter et de piscibus maris, et volatilibus coeli; postremo de omni re quae est super terram, solis sane exceptis, quibus dicitur: Omnem sollicitudinem vestram proiicientes in eum, quoniam ipsi cura est de vobis. Annon tibi videtur veluti his verbis dictum, Intendite illi, quia ipse intendit vobis? Et observa apostolum Petrum (eius enim verba sunt) si non et ipse verborum sponsae observaverit ordinem. Nempe non ait: Omnem sollicitudinem vestram proiicientes in eum, ut sit ipsi cura de vobis; sed, quia ipsi cura est de vobis: aperte proinde monstrans, Ecclesia sanctorum non modo quam dilecta, sed et quod prius dilecta fuerit.

Constat ad eam non pertinere de verbo, quod de bobus dixit Apostolus: nam curam illius habet qui dilexit illam, et semetipsum dedit pro illa. Nonne haec est ovis illa errans, cuius cura etiam supernorum curae gregum praelata est? Denique illis expositis, pastor descendit ad istam, quaesivit diligenter, inventam non reduxit, sed revexit: nova cum illa et de illa intulit coelis festa gaudiorum, populis angelorum invitatis ad solemnitatem. Quid ergo? propriis humeris dignatus est eam reportare; et curam illius non habebit? Ideo non confunditur dicere: Dominus sollicitus est mei. Nec se existimat errare, cum item dicit: Dominus retribuet pro me; et si quid est aliud, quod curam Dei circa ipsam significare videatur. Inde est quod Dominum sabaoth dilectum suum dicit, et eum qui cum tranquillitate iudicat omnia, sibi intendere gloriatur.

Quidni glorietur? Audivit illum dicentem sibi: Nunquid mater potest oblivisci, ut non misereatur filio uteri sui? Et si illa oblita fuerit, ego tamen non obliviscar tui. Denique oculi Domini super iustos. Et quid sponsa, nisi congregatio iustorum? Quid ipsa, nisi generatio quaerentium Dominum, quaerentium faciem sponsi? Non enim ille intendit huic, et non ista illi. Propterea utrumque ponit, dicens: Ille mihi, et ego illi.

Ille mihi, quia benignus et misericors est; ego illi, quia non sum ingrata. Ille mihi gratiam ex gratia, ego illi gratiam pro gratia; ille meae liberationi, ego illius honori; ille saluti meae, ego illius voluntati; ille mihi, et non alteri, quoniam una sum columba eius; ego illi, et non alteri: nec enim audio vocem alienorum; nec enim acquiesco dicentibus mihi: Ecce hic est Christus; aut: Ecce illic est. Haec Ecclesia.

Quid singulus quisque nostrum? putamusne in nobis quempiam esse, cui aptari queat quod dicitur? Quid dixi, in nobis? Ego autem et de quovis intra Ecclesiam constituto si quis hoc quaerat, non omnino reprehendendum censuerim. Nec enim una unius ratio est, atque multorum. Denique non propter animam unam, sed propter multas in unam Ecclesiam colligendas, in unicam astringendas sponsam, Deus tam multa et fecit et pertulit, cum operatus est salutem in medio terrae. Charissima illa est una uni, non adhaerens alteri sponso, non cedens alteri sponsae. Quid ista non audeat apud tam ambitiosum amatorem?

Quid non ab illo speret, qui se quaesivit e coelo, vocavit a finibus terrae? Nec modo quaesivit, sed acquisivit. Adde et de modo acquisitionis in sanguine acquisitoris. Alias vero, ut assolet, propterea magis praesumit, quoniam prospiciens in futurum non ignorat quod Dominus se opus habet. Quaeris ad quid? Ad videndum in bonitate electorum suorum, ad laetandum in laetitia gentis suae, ut laudetur cum haereditate sua. Nec parum hoc opus existimes: nullum, dico tibi, remanebit opus perfectum, si hoc nutarit. Nonne de statu et consummatione Ecclesiae finis omnium pendet?

Tolle hanc, et frustra inferior ista creatura revelationem filiorum Dei exspectat. Tolle hanc, et neque patriarchae, neque prophetae aliqui consummabuntur, cum Paulus asserat, Deum ita providisse pro nobis, ne sine nobis consummarentur. Tolle hanc et ipsa sanctorum angelorum pro imperfectione sui numeri gloria claudicabit, nec Dei civitas de sui integritate gaudebit.

Unde ergo implebitur propositum Dei, et mysterium voluntatis eius, magnumque illud pietatis sacramentum? Unde postremo dabis mihi infantes et lactentes, quorum, ex ore laudem suam perficiat Deus? Coelum non habet infantes, habet Ecclesia, quibus et dicit: Lac vobis potum dedi, non escam. Et hi ad laudem quasi complendam a Propheta invitantur, dicente: Laudate, pueri, Dominum. Tu putas Deum nostrum totam habiturum suae gloriae laudem, donec veniant qui in conspectu angelorum psallant sibi: Laetati sumus pro diebus quibus nos humiliasti, annis quibus vidimus mala? Hoc genus laetitiae coeli nescierunt, nisi per Ecclesiae filios; hoc nemo unquam laetatur, qui nunquam non laetatur. Opportune post tristitiam gaudium subit, post laborem quies, post naufragium portus. Placet cunctis securitas, sed ei magis qui timuit.

Iucunda omnibus, lux, sed evadenti de potestate tenebrarum iucundior. Transisse de morte ad vitam, vitae gratiam duplicat. Pars mea haec in coelesti convivio, et seorsum ab ipsis spiritibus beatis. Audeo dicere expertem meae beatitudinis ipsam beatam vitam, nisi si dignetur fateri, quod per charitatem ea in me fruitur, et per me. Aliquid sane videtur etiam perfectioni illi accessisse ex me, neque hoc parum. Denique gaudent angeli ad poenitentiam peccatoris. Quod si deliciae angelorum lacrymae meae, quid deliciae? Omne opus ipsorum laudare Deum: sed deest laudi, si desint qui dicant: Transivimus per ignem et aquam, et eduxisti nos in refrigerium.

Felix proinde in sua universitate Ecclesia, cuius omnis gloriatio impar est causae, non pro his tantum quae illi iam facta sunt, sed pro his quoque quae de illa adhuc oportet fieri. Nam et de meritis quid sollicita sit, cui de proposito Dei firmior suppetit securiorque gloriandi ratio? Non potest se ipsum negare Deus, neque non facere quae iam fecit, ut scriptum est, qui fecit quae futura sunt. Faciet, faciet, nec deerit suo proposito Deus. Sic non est quod iam quaeras, quibus meritis speremus bona, praesertim cum audias apud prophetam: Non propter vos, sed propter me ego faciam, dicit Dominus. Sufficit ad meritum scire, quod non sufficiant merita. Sed, ut ad meritum satis est de meritis non praesumere, sic carere meritis satis ad iudicium est. Porro infantium renatorum neminem carere meritis, sed Christi habere merita.

Quibus se tamen indignos reddunt, si sua iungere non nequiverint, sed neglexerint. Quod quidem periculum iam adultae aetatis est. Merita proinde habere cures; habita, data noveris; fructum speraveris, Dei misericordiam: et omne periculum evasisti paupertatis, ingratitudinis, praesumptionis. Perniciosa paupertas, penuria meritorum; praesumptio autem spiritus, fallaces divitiae. Et ideo divitias et paupertas ne dederis mihi, Domine, ait Sapiens. Felix Ecclesia, cui nec merita sine praesumptione, nec praesumptio absque meritis deest. Habet unde praesumat, sed non merita: habet merita, sed ad promerendum, non ad praesumendum. Ipsum non praesumere, nonne promereri est?

Ergo eo praesumit securius, quo non praesumit: et non est quod confundatur in verbo gloriae, cui multa materies gloriandi. Misericordiae Domini multae, et veritas eius manens in aeternum.

Quidni glorietur secura, in cuius testimonium gloriae, misericordia et veritas obviaverunt sibi? Sive dicat: Dilectus meus mihi; sive igitur dicat Exspectans exspectavi Dominum, et intendit mihi; sive etiam: Dominus sollicitus est mei; vel si quae sunt eiusmodi voces aliae atque aliae, quae divinum quemdam affectum ac singularem favorem erga aliquid similiter exprimere videantur: nihil horum a se alienum putabit, cui ratio praesumendi Domini constitutio est, praesertim cum non alteram videat sponsam, alteramve Ecclesiam, cui possint fieri quae non possunt non fieri. Ergo de Ecclesia patet, quod in nullo illa omnia sibi aptare verebitur. De una anima quaeritur etiam, si sit spiritualis et sancta, liceatne illi ullo modo audere in talibus. Neque enim praerogativas omnes unius illius catholicae multitudinis, ob quam omnia fiunt, una de multitudine arrogabit sibi, quantalibet emineat sanctitate. Et ideo difficilius, ut sentio ego, invenietur, si tamen invenietur, quomodo possit licere. Unde necessarium reor, alio istud sermone tentari, nec modo ingredi vias scrupulosae disputationis, quarum adhuc exitum ignoramus, nisi prius super verbo abscondito oratum fuerit ad eum, qui aperit, et nemo claudit, sponsum Ecclesiae Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.8.4 — When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have set in place—
  2. ↩Isa.40.17 — All the nations are as nothing before him; they are counted as less than nothing and emptiness.
  3. ↩Song.2.16 — My beloved is mine, and I am his — the one who grazes among the lilies.
  4. ↩Song.2.16 — My beloved is mine, and I am his — the one who grazes among the lilies.
  5. ↩Rom.8.32 — He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
  6. ↩1Cor.9.9 — For in the law of Moses it is written, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it for the oxen that God is concerned?
  7. ↩1Pet.5.7 — Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
  8. ↩1Pet.5.7 — Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
  9. ↩1Pet.5.7 — Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
  10. ↩Luke.15.5 — And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
  11. ↩Luke.15.5 — And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
  12. ↩Ps.138.8 — The LORD will accomplish what concerns me. O LORD, your steadfast love endures forever; do not forsake the work of your hands.
  13. ↩John.1.16 — For from his fullness we all received, grace upon grace.
  14. ↩Rom.8.19 — For the eager longing of creation waits for the revelation of the sons of God.
  15. ↩Heb.11.39-Heb.11.40 — And all these, having been commended through their faith, did not receive the promise, Heb.11.40 — God having provided something better concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made complete.
  16. ↩Eph.1.9 — He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself,
  17. ↩Ps.8.3 — From the mouth of infants and nursing babes you have established strength, because of your adversaries, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
  18. ↩1Cor.3.2 — I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able. But indeed, even now you are not able,
  19. ↩Ps.148.12 — Young men and also maidens, old men together with children—
  20. ↩Ps.89.15 — Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before your face.
  21. ↩Prov.30.8 — Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread allotted to me.
  22. ↩Ps.100.5 — For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
  23. ↩Song.2.16;Song.5.16 — My beloved is mine, and I am his — the one who grazes among the lilies. Song.5.16 — His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
  24. ↩Ps.40.1 — For the choirmaster. Of David. A Psalm.
  25. ↩Rev.3.7 — And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things says the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one opens.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin plays on insolens/insolentius ('brazen, bold, audacious') applied both to the soul's claim ('my beloved is mine') and to the beloved's reciprocal claim ('I am his'). The tone is deliberately startling: the boldness of mutual belonging in the Song of Songs is intensified, not softened. 'Brazen' captures the audacity; 'bold' is an alternative.
  2. 2 ↩The Latin 'bobus' is a variant form (likely for 'bovem/bovibus'); the gloss 'oxen' follows the candidate evidence and the broader context of animal care imagery from the preceding section.
  3. 3 ↩'supernorum curae gregum' is rendered as 'the heavenly care of the flocks above,' but the exact referent — whether angelic hosts, heavenly assemblies, or celestial ordering — remains open.
  4. 4 ↩'revexit' (a rare compound) is rendered as 'carried her' in the sense of bringing back with joy, distinct from 'reduxit' (led back); the contrast emphasizes the shepherd's tender effort, not mere return.
  5. 5 ↩'nova' is ambiguous in form and function; rendered as 'new' modifying 'festa gaudiorum' (festivals of joy), though it could also be adverbial or carry a deeper sense of 'new things.'
  6. 6 ↩The repeated 'grace for grace' (gratiam ex gratia / gratiam pro gratia) echoes John 1:16, but the Latin here is not a direct quotation; the allusion is preserved as a candidate.
  7. 7 ↩The 'one dove' image draws on Song of Songs and traditional bridal-ecclesial imagery; the exclusivity of devotion ('and not another's') reinforces the spousal bond between Christ and the soul or Church.
  8. 8 ↩cum is read as causal ('since') rather than temporal, given that Paul's assertion functions as the grounds for the preceding claim.
  9. 9 ↩claudicabit is metaphorical ('will limp'), conveying that the angels' glory will be deficient or halting without the fullness of the elect.
  10. 10 ↩Personification of 'blessed life' (beatam vitam) as a woman who 'confesses' finding joy through the speaker's love; the precise sense of ea (ablative of means or pronoun) is rendered as 'through love' following the charitatem above.
  11. 11 ↩hoc parum: accusative of extent rendered idiomatically as 'no small thing'; the precise nuance of perfectioni illi (dative) is rendered as 'to that perfection'.
  12. 12 ↩Rhetorical question with apo koinou construction: deliciae is both predicate ('are delight') and interrogative focus ('what is their delight?'). Rendered to preserve the rhetorical force.
  13. 13 ↩Embedded quotation of Psalm 65:12 (Vulgate 64:13): Transivimus per ignem et aquam, et eduxisti nos in refrigerium. Preserved as familiar scriptural cadence.

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