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Chapter 7SermC.1.7

Sermo 7

From the Feet to the Hands

Bernard invites the soul to move beyond the first kiss and seek the hands of God, distinguishing their breadth and strength.

Take on the labor for me, since I'm the one who stirs you up to seek on your own. For because I took care, at the occasion of the first kiss, to point out the spiritual feet of God with my own definitions and names — and indeed from an abundance — you go on to inquire about the hand, which is set forth in the second place to be kissed. I nod, I carry out the custom for you; what's more, I show not a hand but hands, and I distinguish them with my own words. Let one be called breadth, the other strength: that it may both give abundantly and powerfully defend what it has given. Both will certainly be kissed by one who has not been ungrateful, recognizing and confessing God as both the giver and the preserver of all good things. I think enough has been said about the two kisses; let's look at the third.

The Thirsting Soul and the Gift of Love

The bride is identified as a soul thirsting for God, and love is shown to be the highest affection because it returns to its source in God.

Let her kiss me with the kiss of her mouth, she says. Who says this? The bride. Who then is she herself? A soul thirsting for God. But I set out various affections, so that what properly belongs to the bride may shine forth more clearly. If someone is a slave, they fear the Lord's face; if a hired worker, they hope for the Lord's hand; if a disciple, they prepare their ear for the teacher; if a son, they honor their father — but the one who demands a kiss loves. This affection of love excels among nature's gifts, especially since it returns to its own source, which is God.

One Bride, One Flesh with Christ

Christ and the soul share all things in a bridal union of one house, one bed, and one flesh, so the soul rightly seeks the kiss of intimate love.

And yet no names have been found equally sweet by which the affections of the Word and the soul toward each other might be expressed, just as with a bridegroom and bride: seeing that all things are common to them, with nothing held as private, nothing divided from themselves. One inheritance for both, one house, one table, one marriage bed, even one flesh. In fact, because of this he will leave his father and mother, and will cling to his wife; and the two will become one flesh.✦ These too he is commanded to forget — his own people and his father's house — so that he may long for her beauty.✦ If then it is especially and principally fitting for bridegrooms to love, the soul that loves is not undeservedly called by the name of bride. But she who seeks a kiss loves. She does not seek freedom, not a reward, not an inheritance, not even teaching or doctrine — but a kiss; in the manner clearly of a most chaste bride and one breathing holy love, and not altogether strong enough to disguise the flame she suffers. See, then, what kind of beginning of discourse she snatches.

Holy Boldness in Prayer

The soul asks for the kiss of his mouth with complete openness and boldness, making no preamble or flattery before God.

She asks for something great from the Great One, yet — as is the way — she uses no flattery's paint, no roundabout maneuvering to get what she longs for.12 She makes no preamble, she courts no favor; but out of a full heart, suddenly breaking through, with complete openness and boldness: 'Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.'345

Drunk with Pure Love

Pure love seeks nothing but the beloved, and holy intoxication with that love makes the soul tremble at the earth yet boldly demand the kiss.

Doesn't it seem to you to speak plainly, as it were: What do I have in heaven, and what have I desired from you above the earth? The one who loves purely truly loves, and seeks nothing else of him whom she loves. She loves in a holy way, because not in the desire of the flesh, but in the purity of the spirit. She loves ardently, and is so intoxicated by her own love that she does not think about majesty. For what, you ask? She looks at the earth and makes it tremble, and she demands to be kissed by him! Is she drunk? Completely drunk.

The Wine Cellar of the Spirit

The soul's boldness suggests she has come from the wine cellar of divine pleasure, where perfect love casts out fear.

And perhaps at the moment she burst out with these things, she had just come from the wine cellar, where she surely boasts of having been brought afterward. For David too said to God of certain ones: 'They will be drunk with the abundance of your house, and you will make them drink from the torrent of your pleasure.'✦ O how great is the power of love! How great is the confidence born of freedom in the spirit! What is clearer than this: perfect love casts fear out?✦

Prayer Sent Through the Angels

With reverent restraint the bride prays through the household of heaven, because holy angels offer pure prayers to God and join the Church's worship.

Yet it's with a kind of reverent restraint that her speech is directed not to the Bridegroom himself, but to others, as if about someone absent: 'Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.'✦ What's being asked for is a great thing, and it calls for a kind of reverence to accompany the prayer, to commend the one who prays. And so it's through those who belong to the household, those closest to him, that access to the innermost things is sought, courted, so as to reach the one longed for. Who are they? We believe that holy angels stand beside those who are praying, offering to God the prayers and vows of human beings — but only where they have seen that pure hands are being raised without anger or quarreling.✦ An angel proves this when he speaks to Tobias: 'When you were praying with tears, and burying the dead, and leaving your meal aside, and hiding the dead by day in your house, and burying them by night, I offered your prayer to the Lord.' I think this is convincing enough for you, along with other testimonies from Scripture. For that holy angels also graciously mingle with those who sing — what could be clearer than what the Psalmist says: 'The princes went forward joined with those who sing, in the midst of young maidens playing timbrels'?

Awake to the Angelic Witness

The preacher warns the drowsy that angels withdraw from the careless, leaving them exposed, and threatens the lukewarm with being spit out of God's mouth.

So too she used to say: In the sight of angels I will sing to you.✦ So I'm sorry that some of you are weighed down by heavy sleep during the sacred vigils — citizens of heaven who should be standing in awe — and that in the presence of your leaders you appear as though you were dead, when they themselves are stirred by their own eagerness and are delighted to be present at your solemn observances.6 I'm afraid that, coming to detest your laziness, they will eventually withdraw in disgust, and that each one of you will begin, too late and with a groan, to speak to God.7 You have put my acquaintances far from me; they have made me an abomination to themselves. And again: You have removed my friend and my neighbor, and my acquaintances from my misery. And again: Those who were near me stood far off, and those who sought my life used violence against it.✦8 For surely, if good spirits have withdrawn from us, who can withstand the onslaught of the wicked?9 So I say to those who are like this: Cursed is the one who does the work of God carelessly.✦10 He says — not I, but the Lord: If only I had found you hot or cold!✦11 But because I found you lukewarm, I will begin to spit you out of my mouth.✦12

Sing Praise with the Angels

Since angels carry our devotion to heaven and bring back grace, we must join them in antiphonal praise as citizens of the saints.

So pay attention to your leaders when you stand to pray or sing psalms, and stand with reverence and discipline, and take pride, because your angels see the Father's face every day.✦ Indeed, sent into ministry for our sake — we who receive the inheritance of salvation — they carry our devotion into the heavenly realm and bring back grace. Let us take on the duty of those whose fellowship we share by lot, so that in the mouths of infants and of those who fashion praise, it may be brought to completion.✦✦ Let us say to them: 'Sing praises to our God, sing praises,' and then let us hear them respond in turn: 'Sing praises to our king, sing praises.'✦

Tasting the Honeycomb of the Word

The soul must chew the honeycomb of Scripture with understanding so that, singing with the Spirit and mind, it tastes spirit and life.

So then, sing praises wisely, leading praise in common with the singers of heaven, since you are citizens of the saints and members of God's household. In the mouth, food; in the heart, a psalm tastes its sweetness. Let a faithful and prudent soul not neglect to grind it down with certain teeth of its own understanding, lest perhaps, if it swallows it whole and unchewed, the palate be robbed of a taste more desirable and sweeter than honey and honeycomb. Let us offer with the apostles, at the heavenly feast and the Lord's table, the honeycomb of honey. Honey is in the wax; devotion is in the letter. Otherwise the letter kills, if you swallow it without the seasoning of the Spirit. But if you sing with the Apostle in the Spirit, and sing also with the mind, you too will come to know the truth of that word which Jesus spoke: "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life"; and likewise the one we read, with Wisdom saying: "My spirit is sweeter than honey."

Ascending as a Column of Fragrance

The soul that delights in God's richness ascends like a column of spice-scented smoke, offering the first fruits of the spirit through praise, self-restraint, and contemplation.

Your soul will delight in its richness this way; this way your offering will grow fat and acceptable.13 This is how you will please the king; this is how you will please his princes; and in the end, this is how you will win over the whole court to look on you with favor. And those who catch the fragrance of your sweetness in the heavenly places will say of you too: 'Who is this ascending through the wilderness, like a column of smoke from spices of myrrh and frankincense, with all the perfumer's powders?'✦1415 'The princes of Judah,' he says, 'their leaders, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali' — that is, the ones who confess, who practice self-restraint, who contemplate.✦16 Our leaders know well that the king himself has found acceptable the confession of those who sing his praise, the strength of those who practice self-restraint, and the purity of those who contemplate. And they are eager to demand from us these first fruits of the spirit, which are nothing other than the first and purest fruit of wisdom.✦17 For as you know well, Judah means one who praises or confesses, and Zebulun, a dwelling of strength, while Naphtali — a deer sent forth — signifies one who contemplates: one who expresses the soul's ecstatic leaps through the nimbleness of its own agility, yet also penetrates the dark, shadowed places of the woods, as the one we spoke of is accustomed to do with the senses.1819 And we know the one who said: 'A sacrifice of praise will honor me.'20

Clinging to God in Purity

Continence and purity of intention are needed so that the soul may cling to God, which is to see God, and so become a familiar messenger in prayer.

But if praise is not beautiful in the mouth of a sinner, don't you absolutely need the virtue of continence, through which it comes about that sin no longer reigns in your mortal body? Furthermore, continence has no merit before God if it seeks human glory. Therefore there is especially need for purity of intention as well, by which your mind alone seeks to please God and is able to cling to him. For clinging to God is nothing other than seeing God, and that is given to the pure in heart alone as their singular happiness. David had a clean heart, who said to God: My soul has clung to you; and again: For me, clinging to God is good. By seeing he was clinging, and by clinging he was seeing. Therefore souls trained in these things present themselves as familiar and frequent messengers, especially if they have often perceived the one praying. Who will grant me, through you, kind princes, that my petitions become known before God?

Raised to Sit with Princes

The soul prays to be lifted from the dung heap and seated with princes, confident that those who visit the lowly will welcome them in glory.

For it isn't to God — before whom even a person's thought is laid bare — but among God's own; that is, among those who are with God, as much in the blessed virtues as among the spirits freed from the flesh. Who will raise me from the earth, the needy one, and lift the poor man from the dung heap, so that I may sit with princes and hold the throne of glory?✦✦ I don't doubt that they gladly welcome into the palace the one they graciously visit in the dung heap. Finally, they rejoiced at a conversion — and will they not recognize it in the taking up?✦

Let Him Kiss Me

The bride speaks familiarly to the Bridegroom's companions, crying out 'Let him kiss me' without naming him, because she knows him fully and is known.

So I think that among those who pray, these words address the Bride, and that she opens the desire of her heart to those who are, as it were, the household and companions of the Bridegroom, when she says, 'Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.'✦ And notice how familiar and friendly the soul's conversation is, sighing in the flesh, as it is with heavenly powers. She yearns for kisses and seeks what she longs for; yet she does not name the one she loves, because she has no doubt about knowing him, seeing that she is so accustomed to being in close conversation with him. That is why she does not say, 'Let this one or that one kiss me,' but only, 'Let him kiss me' — just as Mary Magdalene did not specify by name the one she was looking for, but only said to the one she took to be the gardener, 'Sir, if you have carried him away…'✦ Which one? She does not say openly, because she believes he is known to all, and that what comes from her heart cannot depart from it even for a moment. And so this woman, speaking to the companions of her Bridegroom, as though they were aware of what she had made known to them, suddenly breaks out in these words about the beloved, saying nothing of his name: 'Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.'✦ On this kiss I don't want to hold you any longer now, but in tomorrow's discourse you'll hear whatever the anointing that teaches about all things may deign to suggest to me as you pray.✦

Amen in the Holy Spirit

The secret of the kiss is revealed not by flesh and blood but by the Holy Spirit, who searches the depths of God.

For flesh and blood don't reveal this secret, but the Holy Spirit, who searches the depths of God, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and who lives and reigns with them both for ever and ever.✦✦ Amen.

Read the original Latin

Ipse mihi laborem suscito, qui vos sponte provoco ad quaerendum. Quia enim ego primi osculi occasione spirituales Dei pedes propriis definitionibus ac nominibus, et quidem ex abundanti, demonstrare curavi; vos pergitis inquirere et de manu, quae secundo loco osculanda proponitur. Annuo, gero vobis morem; insuper non manum, sed manus ostendo, propriisque distinguo vocabulis. Latitudo una, altera fortitudo dicatur: quod et tribuat affluenter, et defendat potenter quod dederit. Utramque profecto osculabitur qui ingratus non fuerit, Deum utique bonorum omnium sicut largitorem, ita et conservatorem recognoscens et confitens. Satis de duobus osculis dictum esse reor: videamus et de tertio.

Osculetur, inquit, me osculo oris sui. Quis dicit? Sponsa. Quaenam ipsa? Anima sitiens Deum. Sed pono diversas affectiones, ut ea quae proprie sponsae congruit, distinctius elucescat. Si servus est, timet a facie Domini; si mercenarius, sperat de manu Domini; si discipulus, aurem parat magistro; si filius, honorat patrem; quae vero osculum postulat, amat. Excellit in naturae donis affectio haec amoris, praesertim cum ad suum recurrit principium, quod est Deus.

Nec sunt inventa aeque dulcia nomina, quibus Verbi, animaeque dulces ad invicem exprimerentur affectus, quemadmodum sponsus et sponsa: quippe quibus omnia communia sunt, nil proprium, nil a se divisum habentibus. Una utriusque haereditas, una domus, una mensa, unus torus, una etiam caro. Denique propter hanc relinquet ille patrem et matrem, et adhaerebit uxori suae; et erunt duo in carne una. Haec quoque iubetur nihilominus oblivisci populum suum, et domum patris sui; ut concupiscat ille decorem eius. Si ergo amare specialiter sponsis ac principaliter convenit, non immerito sponsae nomine censetur anima quae amat. Amat autem quae osculum petit. Non petit libertatem, non mercedem, non haereditatem, non denique vel doctrinam, sed osculum; more plane castissimae sponsae ac sacrum spirantis amorem, nec omnino valentis flammam dissimulare quam patitur. Vide enim quale praeripiat sermonis exordium.

Magnum quid a magno petitura, nullo tamen, ut assolet, utitur blanditiarum fuco; nullis circumvolutionibus ad id quod desiderat ambit. Non facit prooemium, non captat benevolentiam; sed ex abundantia cordis repente prorumpens, nude frontoseque satis: Osculetur me, ait, osculo oris sui.

An non tibi quasi dicere manifeste videtur: Quid mihi est in coelo, et a te quid volui super terram? Amat profecto caste, quae ipsum quem amat, quaerit; non aliud quidquam ipsius. Amat sancte, quia non in concupiscentia carnis, sed in puritate spiritus. Amat ardenter, quae ita proprio debriatur amore, ut maiestatem non cogitet. Quid enim? respicit terram, et facit eam tremere; et ista se ab eo postulat osculari! Ebriane est? Ebria prorsus.

Et forte tunc, cum ad ista prorupit, exierat de cella vinaria, quo se nimirum introductam postmodum gloriatur. Nam et David de quibusdam dicebat Deo: Inebriabuntur ab ubertate domus tuae et torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos. O quanta amoris vis! quanta in spiritu libertatis fiducia! Quid manifestius, quam quod perfecta charitas foras mittit timorem?

Verecunde tamen non ad ipsum sponsum sermonem dirigit, sed ad alios, tanquam de absente: Osculetur me, inquiens, osculo oris sui. Grandis quippe res petitur, et opus est verecundia comitari precem, commendari petentem. Itaque per domesticos et intimos, accessus ad intima quaeritur, ambitur ad desideratum. Quinam illi? Credimus angelos sanctos astare orantibus, offerre Deo preces et vota hominum: ubi tamen sine ira et disceptatione levari puras manus perspexerint. Probat hoc angelus ita loquens ad Tobiam: Quando orabas cum lacrymis, et sepeliebas mortuos, et derelinquebas prandium, et mortuos abscondebas per diem in domo tua, et nocte sepeliebas; ego obtuli orationem tuam Domino. Puto id vobis satis et ex aliis Scripturae testimoniis persuasum. Nam quod psallentibus quoque dignanter admisceri sancti angeli soleant, quid eo manifestius quod Psalmista ait: Praevenerunt principes coniuncti psallentibus in medio iuvencularum tympanistriarum?

Unde et dicebat: In conspectu angelorum psallam tibi. Doleo proinde aliquos vestrum gravi in sacris vigiliis deprimi somno, nec coeli cives revereri, sed in praesentia principum tanquam mortuos apparere, cum vestra ipsi alacritate permoti, vestris interesse solemniis delectentur. Vereor, ne vestram desidiam quandoque abominantes, cum indignatione recedant, et incipiat unusquisque vestrum sero cum gemitu dicere Deo. Longe fecisti notos meos a me, posuerunt me abominationem sibi; et illud: Elongasti a me amicum et proximum, et notos meos a miseria; item: Qui iuxta me erant, de longe steterunt, et vim faciebant qui quaerebant animam meam. Pro certo enim si se a nobis boni spiritus elongaverint, impetus malignorum quis sustine it? Dico ergo his qui eiusmodi sunt: Maledictus qui opus Dei facit negligenter. Dicit quoque, non ego, sed Dominus: Utinam te calidum aut frigidum invenissem! sed quia te tepidum inveni, incipiam te evomere ex ore meo.

Ea propter attendite principes vestros, cum statis ad orandum vel psallendum, et state cum reverentia et disciplina; et gloriamini, quia angeli vestri quotidie vident faciem Patris. Nimirum missi in ministerium propter nos, qui haereditatem capiimus salutis, devotionem nostram in superna ferunt, referunt gratiam. Usurpemus officium quorum sortimur consortium, ut in ore infantium et factentium perficiatur laus. Dicamus eis: Psallite Deo nostro, psallite; atque audiamus eos vicissim respondentes: Psallite regi nostro, psallite.

Laudem ergo cum coeli cantoribus in commune ducentes, utpote cives sanctorum et domestici Dei, psallite sapienter. Cibus in ore, psalmus in corde sapit. Tantum illum terere non negligat fidelis et prudens anima quibusdam dentibus intelligentiae suae, ne si forte integrum glutiat et non mansum, frustretur palatum sapore desiderabili, et dulciori super mel et favum. Offeramus cum apostolis in coelesti convivio et in Dominica mensa favum mellis. Mel in cera, devotio in littera est. Alloquin littera occidit, si absque spiritus condimento glutieris. Si autem cum Apostolo psallas spiritu, psallas et mente; cognosces et tu de illius veritate sermonis, quem dixit Iesus: Verba quae locutus sum vobis, spiritus et vita sunt; et item quem legimus dicente Sapientia: Spiritus meus super mel dulcis.

Sic delectabitur in crassitudine anima tua, sic holocaustum tuum pingue fiet. Sic placabis regem, sic placebis principibus, sic denique totam tibi curiam benevolam reddes; et odorati odorem suavitatis in coelestibus, de te quoque dicent: Quae est ista quae ascendit per desertum, sicut virgula fumi, ex aromatibus myrrhae et thuris, et universi pulveris pigmentarii? Principes, inquit, Iuda, duces eorum, principes Zabulon, principes Neptalim; hoc est confitentium, continentium, contemplantium. Norunt siquidem principes nostri Regi suo acceptam esse psallentium confessionem, continentium fortitudinem, contemplantium puritatem: et solliciti sunt exigere a nobis istiusmodi primitias spiritus, quae profecto non aliud sunt, quam primi et purissimi fructus sapientiae. Quod enim non ignoratis, Iudas laudans vel confitens, et Zabulon habitaculum fortitudinis, Neptalim cervus emissus interpretatur: qui nimirum agilitatis suae saltibus exprimit speculantis excessus, sed et opaca penetrare nemorum, ut ille sensuum, consuevit. Scimus autem qui dixerit: Sacrificium laudis honorificabit me.

Verum si non est speciosa laus in ore peccatoris; nonne pernecessariam habetis continentiae virtutem, per quam fiat ut non regnet peccatum in vestro mortali corpore? Porro continentia non habet meritum apud Deum, quae gloriam requirit humanam. Ideoque maxime opus est etiam puritate intentionis, qua soli mens vestra Deo et placere appetat, et valeat inhaerere. Neque enim aliud est inhaerere Deo, quam videre Deum; quod solis mundicordibus singulari felicitate donatur. Cor mundum habebat David, qui dicebat Deo: Adhaesit anima mea post te; item: Mihi autem adhaerere Deo bonum est. Videndo adhaerebat, et adhaerendo videbat. Animae ergo in his exercitatae coelestes sese nuntii familiares exhibent et frequentes, praesertim si frequenter orantem persenserint. Quis dabit mihi per vos, o benigni principes, petitiones meas innotescere apud Deum?

Non enim Deo, cui etiam cogitatio hominis confitetur, sed apud Deum; hoc est, ipsis qui cum Deo sunt, tam beatis virtutibus, quam carne solutis spiritibus. Quis suscitabit me de terra inopem, et de stercore eriget pauperem, ut sedeam cum principibus et solium gloriae teneam? Non ambigo quin gratanter in palatio colligant, quem dignanter in sterquilinio visitant. Denique laetati sunt de conversione: et in assumptione non agnoscent?

Hos itaque puto inter orandum alloqui sponsam, et ipsis, tanquam sponsi domesticis ac sodalibus, desiderium cordis sui aperire, cum ait: Osculetur me osculo oris sui. Et vide familiare amicumque colloquium animae in carne suspirantis cum coelestibus potestatibus. Gestit in oscula, petit quod cupit; non tamen nominat quem amat; quia illos nosse non dubitat, utpote de quo sibi frequens cum illis soleat esse confabutatio. Propterea non dicit: Osculetur me ille vel ille; sed: Osculetur me tantum; sicut et Maria Magdalena non exprimebat ex nomine quem quaereret, sed tantum aiebat ei quem putabat hortulanum: Domine, si tu sustulisti eum. Quem eum? Non aperit; quia palam omnibus esse credit, quod a suo corde nec ad momentum recedere potest. Ita ergo et ista loquens sodalibus sponsi sui, tanquam consciis et quibus se noverat manifestam, tacito nomine repente in haec de dilecto verba prorumpit: Osculetur me osculo oris sui. De quo iam osculo nolo vos diutius protrahere, sed sermone crastino audietis quidquid orantibus vobis suggerere mihi inde dignabitur unctio docens de omnibus.

Neque enim hoc secretum revelat caro et sanguis; sed is qui scrutatur profunda Dei Spiritus sanctus, qui a Patre Filioque procedens, cum ipsis pariter vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.2.24 — Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
  2. ↩Ps.45.10 — Daughters of kings are among your honored women; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
  3. ↩Ps.35.9 — Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD; it will exult in his salvation.
  4. ↩1John.4.18 — There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.
  5. ↩Song.1.2 — Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine.
  6. ↩1Tim.2.8 — I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or disputing.
  7. ↩Ps.137.1 — By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and we wept when we remembered Zion.
  8. ↩Ps.37.12-Ps.37.13 — The wicked plots against the righteous, and gnashes his teeth at him. Ps.37.13 — The Lord laughs at the wicked one, for He sees that his day is coming.
  9. ↩Jer.48.10 — Cursed is the one who does the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed is the one who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.
  10. ↩Rev.3.15 — I know your works—that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot!
  11. ↩Rev.3.16 — So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
  12. ↩Matt.18.10 — See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
  13. ↩Ps.8.2 — O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
  14. ↩Matt.21.16 — And they said to him, 'Do you hear what these are saying?' And Jesus said to them, 'Yes. Have you never read, "Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise"?'
  15. ↩Ps.47.7 — Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.
  16. ↩Song.3.6 — Who is this coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?
  17. ↩Song.6.6 — Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing, all of them bearing twins, and not one among them is bereaved.
  18. ↩Rom.8.2 — For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
  19. ↩1Sam.2.8 — He raises the poor from the dust, lifts the needy from the ash heap, to seat them with princes and to give them a throne of honor. For the pillars of the earth belong to the LORD, and on them he has set the world.
  20. ↩Ps.113.7 — He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap
  21. ↩Luke.15.7 — I tell you, there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents more than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance.
  22. ↩Song.1.2 — Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine.
  23. ↩John.20.15 — Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, thinking that he was the gardener, said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
  24. ↩Song.1.2 — Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine.
  25. ↩1John.2.27 — And as for the anointing you received from him, it remains in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and it is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, remain in him.
  26. ↩1Cor.2.10 — But to us God has revealed it through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
  27. ↩Matt.11.27;Luke.10.22 — All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Luke.10.22 — All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Latin blanditiarum fuco: literally 'the coloring/dye of caresses or flattery' — a cosmetic metaphor for insinuating speech. Rendered as 'flattery's paint' to keep the image of artificial coloring without archaism.
  2. 2 ↩circumvolutionibus: 'windings, circuits, indirect approaches.' The contrast is between artful preamble and the directness that follows in s2.
  3. 3 ↩Quoted Latin is the Vulgate of Song of Songs 1:1 (Osculetur me osculo oris sui). The familiar English cadence is retained.
  4. 4 ↩nude frontoseque: 'nude and boldly' — i.e., without disguise and without shame. Rendered 'with complete openness and boldness' to capture both the nakedness (lack of artifice) and the frankness.
  5. 5 ↩ex abundantia cordis: echoing the Vulgate formula (e.g., Matt 12:34, Luke 6:45); the heart's fullness overflows without premeditation.
  6. 6 ↩coeli cives ('citizens of heaven') is rendered to capture the honorific force; the rebuke is that those who belong to heaven should be reverent, not drowsy.
  7. 7 ↩abominantes is rendered 'coming to detest' to capture the growing revulsion; the subjunctive recedant expresses the speaker's fear of a future outcome.
  8. 8 ↩The three quoted clauses echo Psalm 37:12, Psalm 87:19, and Psalm 37:12–13 (Vulgate numbering); final resolution deferred to scripture-allusion stage.
  9. 9 ↩sustine it: the form is uncertain (possibly imperative or syncopated); rendered as 'withstand' on the most plausible intended sense. The final it is treated as a variant form of the verb 'to go' or an enclitic; the overall sense is clear.
  10. 10 ↩Maledictus qui opus Dei facit negligenter echoes Jeremiah 48:10 (Vulgate); final resolution deferred.
  11. 11 ↩Utinam te calidum aut frigidum invenissem echoes Revelation 3:15; final resolution deferred.
  12. 12 ↩evomere ex ore meo echoes Revelation 3:16; final resolution deferred.
  13. 13 ↩Crassitudo (thickness, fatness) and pingue (fat, rich) draw on sacrificial language: a 'fat' offering is one given from abundance. The sense is that the soul that gives generously finds its own interior joy, and the offering itself becomes more pleasing.
  14. 14 ↩The quoted line closely echoes Song of Songs 3:6. Final source resolution belongs to a later stage.
  15. 15 ↩Odorati is morphologically ambiguous (genitive singular or nominative plural). The gloss 'of the one who smells / of those who smell' is uncertain; the rendering 'those who catch the fragrance' follows the more likely sense of heavenly beings perceiving the soul's pleasing odor.
  16. 16 ↩The passage interprets the tribal names allegorically: Judah (praise/confession), Zebulun (dwelling of strength/fortitude), Naphtali (deer sent forth/contemplation). The etymologies follow traditional medieval exegesis.
  17. 17 ↩Primitiae spiritus ('first fruits of the spirit') evokes Romans 8:23 (primitiae spiritus) and the broader Pauline theme of the Spirit as first installment. The gloss istiusmodi ('of this kind') is rendered 'these' for naturalness.
  18. 18 ↩Excessus carries semantic weight here: it can mean 'departures' or, in mystical usage, 'ecstasies.' The rendering 'ecstatic leaps' tries to hold both the physical image of the deer bounding and the contemplative sense of the soul carried beyond itself.
  19. 19 ↩The final clause (ut ille sensuum, consuevit) is syntactically compressed. 'Ille sensuum' ('the one of the senses') likely refers back to the contemplative soul or to the deer figure; 'consuevit' ('is accustomed') suggests habitual penetration of hidden, shadowy places — whether of creation or of interior experience.
  20. 20 ↩The quoted line closely matches Psalm 49:23 (Vulgate 48:24): Sacrificium laudis honorificabit me. Final source resolution belongs to a later stage.

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