Canción IV: ¡Cuán manso y amoroso!

How gentle and loving you awaken in my breast, where you secretly dwell alone, and in your sweet breathing, full of good and glory, how delicately you enamor me!¹² Here the soul turns to her Spouse with great love, esteeming Him and thanking Him for two wonderful effects that He sometimes works in her through this union, noting also the way He produces each one and the effect that overflows into her as a result. The first effect is God's awakening in the soul, and the way this is done is with gentleness and love.³ The second is God's breathing in the soul, and the manner of this is the good and glory that are communicated to it in that breathing.⁴⁵ And what overflows from this into the soul is that it's made to fall in love, delicately and tenderly. And so it is as if she were saying: The remembrance you work, O Word, Bridegroom, in the center and depths of my soul—which is her pure and most intimate substance, where you dwell secretly and silently as her only Lord, not only as in your house, nor only as in your own bed, but also as in my very breast, intimately and closely united—how gently and lovingly you work it!⁶ That is, exceedingly gentle and loving; and in the delightful breathing that, in that remembrance of yours, you make delightful for me—which is full of good and glory—with what delicacy you make me fall in love with you and draw my affection to yourself!⁷ In this, the soul takes on the likeness of someone who draws a breath upon waking from sleep, because that is truly how she feels it.⁸ The verse follows: How gently and lovingly / You awaken in my breast! 4.⁹ God works many kinds of remembrances in the soul—so many that if we tried to count them, we would never finish. But this remembrance that the soul here wants to make known—the one the Son of God works—is, as I see it, among the most exalted and among those that do the soul the most good. For this remembrance is a movement the Word makes in the substance of the soul, of such greatness, lordship, and glory, and of such intimate sweetness, that it seems to the soul as if all the balms, fragrant spices, and flowers of the world were tumbling and stirring, whirling about to release their sweetness; and as if all the kingdoms and dominions of the world, and all the powers and virtues of heaven, were set in motion.¹⁰ And not only that, but also all the virtues and substances and perfections and graces of every created thing shine forth and make that same movement, all as one and in one.¹¹ Since, as Saint John says, all things are life in him, and as the Apostle says, in him they live and move and have their being, it follows that when this great Emperor moves within the soul—whose government, as Isaiah says, he bears upon his shoulders, which are the three realms of heaven, earth, and hell, and all that is in them, sustaining them all, as Saint Paul says, by the word of his power—they all seem to move as one. It is just as when the earth moves, every material thing on it moves with it, as if those things were nothing. So it is when this Prince moves: he carries his court upon himself, and the court does not carry him.^✦^✦^✦^✦¹²¹³ Although this comparison is quite inadequate, because here they not only seem to move, but also reveal the beauties of their being, virtue, loveliness, and graces, and the root of their lasting and life. For there the soul comes to see how every creature above and below has its life and lasting in him, and it sees clearly what is said in the book of Wisdom: By me kings reign; by me princes govern, and the powerful exercise justice and understand it.^✦¹⁴ And although it's true that there the soul comes to see that these things are distinct from God, insofar as they have created being, and sees them there in him with their force, root, and vigor, so much does it know God to be—in his own being, with infinite eminence—all these things, that it knows them better in his being than in the things themselves.¹⁵ And this is the great delight of this awakening: to know creatures through God, and not God through creatures—which is to know the effects through their cause, and not the cause through the effects; the latter is secondary knowledge, and the former is essential.¹⁶ It is a marvelous thing how this knowledge exists in the soul, even though God is immovable. Although God does not actually move, it seems to the soul that he truly does. Because she is renewed and moved by God to perceive this supernatural sight—and because that divine life, along with the being and harmony of every creature and their movements in God, is revealed to her with such newness—it seems to her that God is the one moving. The cause takes the name of the effect it produces, and in that sense, it can be said that God moves, just as the Wise Man says: "Wisdom is more mobile than all movable things."¹⁷ This isn't because she moves, but because she is the principle and root of all movement; remaining stable in herself, as he says next, she renews all things.¹⁸ So, what he means there is that wisdom is more active than all active things. We should say here that the soul in this movement is the one being moved and awakened from the sleep of natural sight to supernatural sight, which is why he quite properly calls it an awakening.¹⁹ God is always exactly as the soul has come to see him: moving, governing, and bestowing being, power, grace, and gifts upon all creatures, holding them all within himself virtually, presentially, and substantially. The soul sees in a single vision what God is in himself and what he is in his creatures, much like someone for whom a palace is opened sees in one glance both the eminence of the person within and, at the same time, what that person is doing.²⁰ And so, what I understand about how this awakening and vision of the soul comes about is this: while the soul is substantially in God, as every creature is, he takes away from before it some of the many veils and curtains it has set up in front of itself so that it can see how he is; and then that face of his, full of graces, shines through and is seen somewhat darkly (because not all the veils are taken away); and since with his power he is moving all things, what he is doing appears together with him, and he seems to move in them and they in him with continuous motion; and for that reason it seems to the soul that he moved and awoke, though she herself is the one who was moved and awakened.²¹ For this is the baseness of this condition of life of ours: that as we ourselves are, we think others are; and as we are, we judge everyone else, starting the judgment from ourselves and not from outside. So, the thief assumes others steal; the lustful person assumes others are the same; and the malicious person assumes others are malicious, judging them by the malice within his own heart. Conversely, the good person thinks well of others, a judgment born from the goodness he has cultivated within himself; and the one who is careless and asleep assumes everyone else is, too. And this is why, when we are careless and asleep before God, it seems to us that God is the one who is asleep and careless of us, as we see in Psalm forty-three, where David says to God: Arise, Lord!²² Why do you sleep? He projects onto God what was actually in men; for even though they were the ones who had fallen asleep, he tells God to rise and wake, even though the one who guards Israel never sleeps.²³ In truth, since all human goodness comes from God and we can do nothing good on our own, it is accurate to say that our remembering is God's remembering, and our rising is God's raising us. It is as if David were saying: Raise us twice and remember us, for we are asleep and fallen in two ways. Hence, because the soul was asleep in sleep—so that she could never of herself remember—and only God is the one who could open her eyes and make this remembrance, he very properly calls it remembrance of God, saying: You remember in my breast.²⁴ Remember us yourself and enlighten us, my Lord, so that we may know and love the goods you have always held out before us, and we will know that you moved to grant us favors and that you remembered us. What the soul knows and feels in this remembrance of God's excellence is utterly beyond words, because—being a communication of God's excellence in the substance of the soul, which is its bosom spoken of here—there resounds in the soul an immense power of voice, a multitude of excellences of thousands upon thousands of virtues.^✦²⁵ In these the soul is fixed and remains, awe-inspiring and solidly ordered among them like ranks of armies, and sweetened and graced with all the sweetnesses and graces of creatures.^✦²⁶ But the question will arise: how can the soul endure so strong a communication while still in the flesh—when in fact there is in the flesh no capacity or strength to bear so much without collapsing—since Queen Esther, merely from seeing King Ahasuerus on his throne in royal robes, with gold and precious stones shining, feared so much at seeing him so terrible in appearance that she fainted, as she herself confesses there, saying that from the fear his great glory caused her, because he seemed to her like an angel and his face full of graces, she fainted; for glory oppresses the one who looks on it when that person is not glorified?²⁷ So how much more ought the soul to faint here, since it isn't an angel it beholds, but God, with his face full of the graces of all creatures, and of terrible power and glory and a voice of a multitude of excellences? Of which Job says that when we have scarcely heard so much as a drop, who will be able to endure the greatness of his thunder?^✦²⁸ .²⁹ And in another place he says: I don't want him to contend or deal with me with great strength, lest he crush me with the weight of his greatness.^✦³⁰ But the reason the soul doesn't faint or fear during this powerful and glorious recollection comes down to two things. The first is that, with the soul already in a state of perfection—as it is here—where the lower part is thoroughly purged and in conformity with the spirit, it does not suffer the harm and pain that the unpurged spirit and sense usually suffer in spiritual communications when they are not prepared to receive them; though even this is not enough to keep it from receiving harm before so much greatness and glory, since even if the natural part is very pure, still, because this exceeds the natural, it will overwhelm it, as an intense sense-object does to the faculty—and that is how we should understand what we cited from Job.³¹³² The second cause is the one that really settles the matter—what the soul says to him here in the first verse: that he shows himself gentle and loving. For just as God shows the soul this greatness and glory to delight her and exalt her, so he favors her so that she may receive no harm, protecting the natural part, showing his greatness to the spirit with gentleness and love, for the natural part’s sake—the soul not knowing whether this takes place in the body or outside it.³³ Which he can very well do who with his right hand protected Moses so that he might see his glory.³⁴ And so the soul feels as much gentleness and love in him as power, dominion, and greatness, because in God everything is one and the same. And so the delight is strong, and the protection is strong in gentleness and love, so that she can bear strong delight; and so the soul is left powerful and strong rather than faint. For if Esther fainted, it was because the king at first showed himself to her not as favorable, but—as it says there—with burning eyes showed her the fury of his breast. But as soon as he showed her favor—extending his scepter, touching her with it, and embracing her—she came to herself, for he had told her that he was her brother and that she shouldn't be afraid. And so, once the King of heaven has begun here to treat the soul as a friend—as her equal and her brother—the soul no longer fears; because, showing her in gentleness and not in fury the strength of his power and the love of his goodness, he imparts to her the strength and love of his breast, coming forth to her from his throne in the soul like a bridegroom from his marriage bed where he was hidden, leaning toward her, touching her with the scepter of his majesty and embracing her as a brother; and there are the royal garments and their fragrance, which are the marvelous virtues of God; there the radiance of gold, which is charity; there the precious stones of the knowledge of the higher and lower substances shine; there the face of the Word, full of graces that strike and clothe the queen of the soul, so that, transformed into these virtues of the King of heaven, she sees herself made a queen, and of her it can truly be said what David says in Psalm forty-four, namely: The queen stood at your right hand in garments of gold and surrounded by variety.³⁵ And because all of this takes place in the inmost substance of the soul, she then says: Where secretly you alone dwell.³⁶ She says that he dwells secretly in her breast because, as we have said, this sweet embrace happens in the depths of the soul's substance.³⁷ It should be known that God dwells secretly and hidden in the substance of every soul; if this weren't so, they couldn't endure. But there is a difference in this dwelling—and a great one—because in some he dwells alone, and in others he does not dwell alone; in some he dwells well pleased, and in others he dwells displeased; in some he dwells as in his own house, commanding and ruling everything, and in others he dwells as a stranger in a house that is not his, where they let him neither command nor do anything. The soul where fewer of its own appetites and tastes dwell is the one where he dwells most alone, most well pleased, and most as in his own house, ruling and governing it. And he dwells all the more secretly the more alone he is; and so in this soul, where no appetite dwells any longer, nor any other images or forms of any created thing, he dwells most secretly, with a so much more intimate, interior, and close embrace the more pure she is, as we say, and empty of anything other than God. And so he is secret, because neither the devil nor any understanding can reach this place and embrace so as to know what it is like.³⁸ But to the soul herself in this perfection, it is not secret, for she always feels him within herself. It is a matter of these awakenings: when he makes them, it seems to the soul that the one who was sleeping before in her breast is waking. Though she felt and tasted him, it was like the Beloved asleep in her breast, and the insights and love of both are not shared until both are awake.³⁹⁴⁰ Oh, how blessed is this soul that always feels God resting and reposing in her breast! Oh, how much it suits her to withdraw from things, flee from affairs, and live in immense stillness! so that she doesn't disturb or unsettle the Beloved's breast, even in the slightest.⁴¹ He is ordinarily there as if asleep in this embrace with the substance of the soul; she feels him very well, and ordinarily enjoys him very well—for if he were always awake in her, what would that be?⁴² If the knowings and the loves were being shared, it would mean being in glory.⁴³ Because if once when he awakens—and so rare a time!⁴⁴ opening his eye, he does such things to the soul, as we have said—what would it be if he were ordinarily fully awake in her?⁴⁵ . In other souls that haven't reached this union—though He isn't displeased, since they aren't yet well disposed for it—He dwells secretly in their soul; for they don't usually feel Him, except when He gives them some delightful awakenings, though these aren't of the same kind as this one, nor do they have anything to do with it. But to the devil and to the understanding, it isn't as secret as the other; for they could still grasp something through the movements of the senses, since until the union the sense isn't well annihilated, so that it still has some activity concerning spiritual things, because those things aren't yet entirely spiritual.⁴⁶ But in this awakening that the Bridegroom works in this perfect soul, everything is perfect; because He does it all. And then, in that stirring and awakening—which is like when someone wakes and breathes—the soul feels the breathing of God, and that is why she says: And in your delightful breathing, full of goodness and glory, how delicately you make me fall in love!⁴⁷ Of that breathing of God I would not want to speak—I don't even want to—because I see clearly that I cannot know how to put it into words, and it would only seem less if I did. For it is a breathing that God produces, in which, in that awakening of the lofty knowledge of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit breathes the soul in the same measure as the knowledge in which he absorbs her most deeply into the Holy Spirit, enamoring her most delicately according to what she saw. For since that breathing is filled with good and glory, the Holy Spirit filled her with goodness and glory, and in that he made her fall in love with himself beyond all speech and sense in the depths of God. And so I leave it here.⁴⁸⁴⁹⁵⁰

Read the original Latin

¡Cuán manso y amoroso Recuerdas en mi seno Donde secretamente solo moras, Y en tu aspirar sabroso De bien y gloria lleno Cuán delicadamente me enamoras!

Conviértese el alma aquí a su Esposo con mucho amor, estimándole y agradeciéndole dos efectos admirables que a veces en ella hace por medio de esta unión, notando también el modo con que hace cada uno y también el efecto que en ella redunda en este caso.

El primer efecto, es recuerdo de Dios en el alma, y el modo con que éste se hace es de mansedumbre y de amor. El segundo, es aspiración de Dios en el alma, y el modo de éste es de bien y gloria que se le comunica en lá aspiración. Y lo que de aqui en el alma redunda es enamorarla delicada y tiernamente.

Y* así, es como si dijera: El recuerdo que haces, oh Verbo Esposo, en el centro y fondo de mi alma, que es la pura e íntima sustancia de ella, en que secreta y calladamente sólo como Señor de ella moras, no sólo como en tu casa, ni sólo como en tu mismo lecho, sino también como en mi propio seno íntima y estrechamente unido, ¡cuán mansa y amorosamente le haces! Esto es, grandemente manso y amoroso; y en la sabrosa aspiración que en ese recuerdo tuyo haces sabrosa para mí, que está llena de bien y gloria, ¡con cuánta delicadez me enamoras y aficionas a ti! En el cual toma el alma la semejanza del que cuando recuerda de su sueño respira; porque, a la verdad, ella así lo siente. Sigúese el verso: ¡Cuán manso y amoroso Recuerdas en mi seno! '4. Muchas maneras de recuerdos hace Dios al alma; tantas, que si las hubiésemos de contar nunca acabaríamos. Pero este recuerdo que aquí quiere dar a entender el alma que hace el Hijo de Dios, es, a mi ver, de los más levantados y que más bien hace al alma. Porque este recuerdo es un movimiento que hace el Verbo en la sustancia del alma, de tanta grandeza y señorío y gloria y de tan íntima suavidad, que le parece al alma que todos los bálsamos y especies odoríferas y flores del mundo se trabucan y menean revolviéndose para dar suavidad; y que todos los reinos y señoríos del mundo, y todas las potestades y virtudes del cielo se mueven.

Y no sólo eso, sino que también todas las virtudes y sustancias y perfecciones y gracias de todas las cosas criadas relucen y hacen ei mismo movimiento, todo a una y en uno. Que por cuanto como dice San Juan: todas las cosas en él son vida y en él viven y son y se mueven, como también dice el Apóstol; de aquí es que, moviéndose este gran Emperador en el alma, cuyo principado, como dice Isaías, trae sobre sus hombros, que son las tres máquinas: celeste, terrestre e infernal, y las cosas que hay en ellas, sustentándolas todas, como dice San Pablo, en el Verbo de su virtud, todas a una parezcan moverse; al modo que al movimiento de la tierra se mueven todas las cosas materiales que hay en ella, como si no fuesen nada; así es cuando se mueve este Príncipe que trae sobre sí su corte, y no la corte a él.

Aunque esta comparación harto impropia es, porque acá no sólo parecen moverse, sino que también descubren las bellezas de su ser, virtud y hermosura y gracias, y la raíz de su duración y vida. Porque echa allí de ver el alma cómo todas las criaturas de arriba y abajo tienen su vida y duración en él, y ve claro lo que dice en el libro de la Sabiduría, diciendo: Por mi reinan los Reyes, por raí gobiernan los Príncipes y los poderosos ejercitan justicia y la entienden. Y aunque es verdad que echa allí de ver el alma que estas cosas son distintas de Dios, en cuanto tienen ser criado, y las ve allí en él con su fuerza, raíz y vigor, es tanto lo que conoce ser Dios en su ser con infinita eminencia todas estas cosas, que las conoce mejor en su ser que en ellas mismas. Y éste es el deleite grande de este recuerdo: conocer por Dios las criaturas, y no por las cria-^ turas a Dios; que es conocer los efectos por su causa, y no la causa por los efectos, que es conocimiento postrero, y ese otro es esencial.

Y cómo sea este conocimiento en el alma, comoquiera que Dios sea inmovible, es cosa maravillosa, porque aunque entonces Dios no se mueve realmente, al alma le parece que en verdad se mueve; porque como ella es innovada y movida por Dios para que vea esta sobrenatural vista, y se le descubre con tanta novedad aquella divina vida y el ser y armonía de toda criatura en ella con sus movimientos en Dios, parécele que Dios es el que se mueve y que toma la causa el nombre del efecto que hace, según el cual efecto se puede decir que Dios se mueve, según el Sabio dice: Que la sabiduría es mas movible que todas las cosas movibles. Y es, no porque ella se mueva, sino porque es el principio y raíz de todo movimiento; permaneciendo en sí estable, como dice luego, todas las cosas innova. Y así, lo que allí quiere decir, es que la sabiduría es más activa que todas las cosas activas. Y así debemos decir aquí que el alma en este movimiento es la movida y la recordada del sueño de vista natural a vista sobrenatural, y por eso la pone bien propiamente nombre de recuerdo.

Pero Dios siempre se está así como el alma lo echó de ver, moviendo, rigiendo y dando ser y virtud y gracia y dones a todas las criaturas, teniéndolas todas en sí virtual, presencial y sustancialmente, viendo el alma lo que Dios es en sí y lo que es en las criaturas en una sola vista; así como quien abriéndole un palacio, ve en un acto la eminencia de la persona que está adentro, y ve juntamente lo que está haciendo. Y así, lo que yo entiendo cómo se haga este recuerdo y vista del alma es, que estando el alma en Dios substancialmente, como lo está toda criatura, quítale delante algunos de los muchos velos y cortinas que ella tiene antepuestos para poder ver cómo él es; y entonces traslúcese y vese algo oscuramente (porque no se quitan todos los velos), aquel rostro suyo lleno de gracias; el cual, como todas las cosas está moviendo con su virtud, parécese juntamente con él lo que está haciendo, y parece él moverse en ellas y ellas en él con movimiento continuo; y por eso le parece al alma que él se movió y recordó, siendo ella la movida y recordada.

Que ésta es la bajeza de esta nuestra condición de vida, que como nosotros estamos, pensamos que están los otros; y como somos, juzgamos a los demás, comenzando de nosotros mismos el juicio y no de fuera. Y así, el ladrón piensa que los otros también hurtan; y el lujurioso, que los otros lo son; y el malicioso, que los otros son maliciosos, saliendo ya aquel juicio de su malicia; y el bueno piensa bien de los demás, saliendo aquel juicio de bondad que tiene en sí concebida; el que es descuidado y dormido, parécele que los otros lo son. Y de aquí es que cuando nosotros estamos descuidados g dormidos delante de Dios, nos parezca que Dios es el que está dormido y descuidado de nosotros, como se ve en el Salmo cuarenta g tres donde David dice a Dios: ¡Levántate, Señor! , ¿por qué duermes? , poniendo en Dios lo que había en los hombres, que siendo ellos los caídos g dormidos, dice a Dios que él sea el que se levante y se despierte, como quiera que nunca duerme el que guarda a Israel.

Pero a la verdad, como quiera que todo el bien del hombre venga de Dios, y el hombre de suyo ninguna cosa pueda que sea buena, con verdad se dice que nuestro recuerdo es recuerdo de Dios, y nuestro levantamiento es levantamiento de Dios; y así, es como si dijera David: levántanos dos veces y recuérdanos, porque estamos dormidos y caídos de dos maneras. De donde porque el alma estaba dormida en sueno, de que ella jamás no pudiera por sí misma recordar, y solo Dios es el que la pudo abrir los ojos y hacer este recuerdo, muy propiamente le llama recuerdo de Dios, diciendo: Recuerdas en mi seno. Recuérdanos tú y alúmbranos, Señor mío, para que conozcamos y amemos los bienes que siempre nos tienes propuestos, y conoceremos que te moviste a hacernos mercedes y que te acordaste de nosotros.

Totalmente es indecible lo que el alma conoce y siente en este recuerdo de la excelencia de Dios, porque siendo comunicación de la excelencia de Dios en la substancia del alma, que es el seno suyo que aquí dice, suena en el alma una potencia inmensa de voz de multitud de excelencias de millares de millares de virtudes. En éstas el alma estancada, queda terrible y sólidamente entre ellas ordenada como haces de ejércitos, y suavizada y agraciada en todas las suavidades y gracias de las criaturas.

Pero será la duda: ¿cómo puede sufrir el alma tan fuerte comunicación en la carne, que en efecto no hay sujeto y fuerza en ella para sufrir tanto para no desfallecer, pues que solamente de ver la reina Ester al rey Asuero en su trono con vestiduras reales y resplandeciendo el oro y piedras preciosas, temió tanto de verle tan terrible en su aspecto, que desfalleció como ella lo confiesa allí diciendo: Que por el temor que le hizo su gran gloria, porque le pareció como un ángel y su rostro lleno de gracias, desfalleció; porque la gloria oprime al que la mira, cuando no glorifica? Pues ¿cuánto más había el alma de desfallecer aquí, pues no es ángel el que echa de ver, sino Dios con su rostro lleno de gracias de todas las criaturas, y de terrible poder y gloria y voz de multitud de excelencias? De la cual dice Job, que cuando oyéremos tan mala vez una stilla, ¿quién podrá sufrir la grandeza de su trueno? . Y en otra parte dice: No quiero que entienda y trate conmigo con mucha fortaleza, porque por ventura no me oprima con el peso de su grandeza.

Pero la causa porque el alma no desfallece y teme en aqueste recuerdo tan poderoso y glorioso, es por dos cosas. La primera, porque estando ya el alma en estado de perfección, como aquí está, en el cual está la parte inferior muy purgada y conforme con el espíritu, no tiene el detrimento y pena que en fas comunicaciones espirituales suele tener el espíritu y sentido no purgado y dispuesto para recibirlas; aunque no basta ésta para dejar de recibir detrimento delante de tanta grandeza y gloria; por cuanto aunque esté el natural muy puro, todavía, porque excede al natural, le corromperá, como hace el excelente sensible a la potencia, que a este propósito se entiende lo que alegamos de Job. La segunda causa es lo que hace al caso, que es la que el primer verso le dice aquí el alma, que es mostrarse manso y amoroso. Porque así como Dios muestra al alma esta grandeza y gloria para regalarla y engrandecerla, así la favorece para que no reciba detrimento, amparando al natural, mostrando al espíritu su grandeza con blandura y amor, a excusa del natural, no sabiendo el alma si pasa en el cuerpo o fuera de él. Lo cual puede muy bisn hacer el que con su diestra amparó a Moisés para que viese su gloria. Y así tanta mansedumbre y amor siente el alma en él, cuánto poder y señorío y grandeza, porque en Dios todo es una misma cosa. Y así es el deleite fuerte, y el amparo fuerte en mansedumbre y amor, para sufrir fuerte deleite; y así antes el alma queda poderosa y fuerte que desfallecida. Que si Ester se desmayó, fué porque el Rey se le mostró al principio no favorable, sino, como allí dice, los ojos ardientes, le mostró el furor de su pecho.

Pero luego que la favoreció, extendiendo su cetro y tocándola con él y abrazándola, volvió sobre sí, habiéndola dicho que él era su hermano, que no temiese.

Y así, habiéndose aquí el Rey del cielo desde luego con el alma amigablemente, como su igual y hermano, desde luego no teme el alma; porque mostrándole en mansedumbre y no en furor la fortaleza de poder y el amor de su bondad, la comunica la fortaleza y amor de su pecho, saliendo a ella de su trono del alma como esposo de su tálamo donde estaba escondido, inclinado a ella, tocándola con el cetro de su majestad y abrazándola como hermano; y allí las vestiduras reales y fragancia de ellas, que son fas virtudes admirables de Dios; allí el resplandor de oro que es la caridad; allí lucir las piedras preciosas de las noticias de las substancias superiores e inferió^ res; allí el rostro del Verbo lleno de gracias que embisten y visten a la reina del alma, de manera que transformada ella en estas virtudes del Rey del cielo se ve ñecha reina, y que se puede en verdad decir de ella lo que dice David en el Salmo cuarenta y cuatro, es a saber: La reina estuvo a tu diestra en vestiduras de oro y cercada de variedad. Y porque toda esto pasa en la íntima substancia del alma, dice luego ella: Donde secretamente sólo moras.

Dice que en su seno mora secretamente, porque, como habernos dicho, en el fondo de la sustancia del alma es hecho este dulce abrazo. Es de saber, que Dios en todas las almas mora secreto y encubierto en la sustancia de ellas; porque si esto no fuese, no podrían ellas durar. Pero hay diferencia en este morar, y mucha; porque en unas mora solo, y en otras no mora solo; en unas mora agradado, y en otras mora desagradado; en unas mora como en su casa, mandando y rigiéndolo todo, y en otras mora como extraño en casa ajena, donde no le dejan mandar nada ni hacer nada. El alma donde menos apetitos y gustos propios moran, es donde él más solo y más agradado y más como en casa propia rigiéndola y gobernándola mora. Y mora tanto más secreto, cuanto más solo; y asi en esta alma en que ya ningún apetito mora, ni otras imágenes ni formas de alguna cosa criada secretísimamente mora, con tanto más íntimo interior y estrecho abrazo, cuanto ella, como decimos, está más pura y sola de otra cosa que Dios. Y asi está secreto, porque a este puesto g abrazo no puede llegar el demonio, ni entendimiento alguno a saber cómo es. Pero a la misma alma en esta perfección no le está secreto, que siempre le siente en sí; sino según estos recuerdos, que cuando los hace le parece al alma que recuerda el que estaba dormido antes en su seno, que aunque le sentía y gustaba, era como ei ámado dormido en el seno ', que no se comunican las inteligencias y amores de entrambos, hasta que entrambos están recordados.

¡Oh, cuán dichosa es esta alma que siempre siente estar a Dios reposando y descansando en su seno! ¡Oh, cuánto le conviene apartarse de cosas, huir de negocios, vivir con inmensa tranquilidad! , porque con una motica no inquiete ni remueva el seno del Amado. Está allí de ordinario como dormido en este abrazo con la sustancia del alma; al cual ella muy bien siente, y de ordinario muy bien goza porque si estuviese en ella siempre recordado, ¿qué sería? Comunicándose las noticias y los amores, seria estar en gloria. Porque si una vez que recuerda, ¡tan mala vez! , abriendo el ojo, pone tal al alma, como habernos dicho, ¿qué sería si de ordinario estuviese en ella bien despierto? .

En otras almas que no han llegado a esta unión, aunque no está desagradado, por cuanto aun no están bien dispuestas para ella, mora secreto en su alma; porque no le sienten de ordinario , sino es cuando él las hace algunos recuerdos sabrosos, aunque no son del genero de éste, ni tienen que ver con él. Pero al demonio y al entendimiento no le está tan secreto como estotro; porque todavía podria entender algo por los movimientos del sentido, por cuanto hasta la unión no está bien aniquilado, que todavía tiene algunas acciones acerca de lo espiritual, por no ser ello totalmente espiritual. Mas en este recuerdo que el esposo hace en esta alma perfecta, todo es perfecto; porque él lo hace todo, y entonces en acjuel excitar y recordar, que es al modo de como cuando uno recuerda y respira, siente el alma la aspiración de Dios, y por eso dice: Y en tu aspirar sabroso De bien y gloria lleno ¡Cuán delicadamente me enamoras!

En aquel aspirar de Dios, yo no querría hablar, ni aun quiero; porque veo claro que no lo tengo de saber decir, y parecería menos si lo dijese; porque es una aspiración que Dios hace, en que en aquel recuerdo del alto conocimiento de la Deidad la aspira el Espíritu Santo con la misma proporción que es la noticia en que la absorbe profundisima«mente en el Espíritu Santo, enamorándola delicadísimamente según aquello que vió; porque siendo llena de bien y gloria, la llenó de bondad y gloria el Espíritu Santo, en que la enamoró de si sobre toda lengua y sentido en los profundos de Dios; y por eso, aquí lo dejo.

Scripture echoes

↩John.1.3-John.1.4 — All things came into being through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. John.1.4 — In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
↩Acts.17.28 — For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'
↩Isa.9.6 — For the increase of his government and for peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
↩Heb.1.3 — He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's own being, and he upholds all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
↩Prov.8.15-Prov.8.16 — By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just. Prov.8.16 — By me princes rule, and nobles—all who judge justly.
↩Dan.7.10;Rev.5.11;Ezek.1.24 — A river of fire flowed and poured out before him. A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. Rev.5.11 — And I saw, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. Ezek.1.24 — And I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty; when they went, the sound of tumult like the sound of an army; when they stood still, they let down their wings.
↩Song.6.3-Song.6.4 — I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine — the one who grazes among the lilies. Song.6.4 — You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as bannered hosts.
↩Job.26.14 — Look, these are the fringes of his ways, and how faint a word we hear of him—but the thunder of his mighty power, who can comprehend?
↩Job.23.6 — Would He contend with me with His great power? No, but He would place it in me.

Notes

1 ↩In San Juan's own sense here, recordar is not mere remembering but a gentle awakening or stirring of the soul (as from sleep) by the Bridegroom's presence.
2 ↩aspirar is the Spirit's breathing/spiration in the soul, not ordinary physical breath; 'sweet breathing' keeps the sensory force of sabroso.
3 ↩Spanish recuerdo here is technical mystical usage (as in the stanza Recuerdas en mi seno): not ordinary 'memory' but God's stirring/awakening of the soul from within, continued in the following section (recuerda de su sueño).
4 ↩Source reading 'en lá aspiración' treated as 'en la aspiración' (definite article la); lá is not a standard form here.
5 ↩aspiración kept as 'breathing' for the divine spiration/aspiration of God in the soul (cf. next section: sabrosa aspiración), not mere human longing or ambition.
6 ↩Source opens with 'Y*'; the asterisk looks like an editorial mark, not part of the Spanish sense. Translated as ordinary connective 'And so'.
7 ↩'aspiración' is kept as 'breathing': San Juan's technical sense of God's breathing into the soul, not mere human aspiration or desire.
8 ↩'recuerda de su sueño' rendered as 'awakens from sleep' (not 'remembers his dream'), matching the mystical analogy of waking and breathing.
9 ↩Source is only the fragment "'4.", almost certainly a stray section/number marker, not a real sentence.
10 ↩'potestades y virtudes del cielo' rendered 'powers and virtues of heaven', preserving the traditional angelic-order coloring without forcing a settled hierarchy reading.
11 ↩Source reading 'ei mismo movimiento' treated as 'el mismo movimiento' ('the same movement'); 'ei' is almost certainly a typographical corruption of 'el'.
12 ↩'las tres máquinas: celeste, terrestre e infernal' rendered as 'the three realms, heavenly, earthly, and infernal' (cosmic domains under God's rule); period Spanish 'máquinas' can mean the structured world-systems of heaven, earth, and the underworld.
13 ↩The text attributes 'all things in him are life' to Saint John and the living/being/moving formula also to the Apostle; the second half more closely echoes Acts 17:28, while 'sustaining all things by the Word of his power' is Hebrews 1:3 (here cited as Saint Paul).
14 ↩Source reading 'por raí' is corrupt (likely hyphenation/OCR of 'por mí'); translated as 'by me', parallel to the first 'Por mi' in the Wisdom quotation.
15 ↩'Con infinita eminencia' rendered as 'with infinite eminence': classical mystical language for God's containing/virtually being all creaturely perfections in a higher, non-identical mode, without collapsing creature into Creator.
16 ↩'Recuerdo' is San Juan's technical name for this stirring of God in the soul; rendered 'awakening' to match the chapter's sense of being woken from natural sight (cf. neighboring 1.6.7). 'Postrero' = secondary/posterior (a posteriori from effects), opposed to 'esencial'.
17 ↩innovada: rendered as 'renewed' (made new by God), not modern 'innovated.' The scholastic point is that the unmoved Cause may be named from its effect of moving/renewing the soul.
18 ↩ella tracks sabiduría (Wisdom) from the preceding quotation: Wisdom is called mobile not by undergoing motion but as the unmoved principle that moves and renews all things.
19 ↩recuerdo / recordada: in this Living Flame usage, technical for a God-worked stirring of the soul; rendered as 'awakening' / 'awakened' to match 'del sueño' (from sleep). Literal 'remembrance' would blur the sleep-to-waking image.
20 ↩Spanish virtual, presencial, and sustancialmente names the scholastic modes of God's holding of creatures: by power (virtually), by presence (presentially), and by substance (substantially).
21 ↩Recuerdo / recordó / recordada continue the chapter's technical sense of awakening from the sleep of natural sight (not ordinary memory); kept as awakening / awoke / awakened to match the prior section.
22 ↩Source reads 'descuidados g dormidos' and 'Salmo cuarenta g tres'; the isolated 'g' is treated as the conjunction 'y' (and), yielding 'careless and asleep' and 'Psalm forty-three' (Vulgate numbering).
23 ↩Source reads 'caídos g dormidos'; the isolated 'g' is treated as the conjunction 'y' (and).
24 ↩Normalized source reads 'sueno' without ñ; translated as 'sueño' (sleep), which is the only sense that fits the surrounding argument about spiritual sleep and awakening.
25 ↩recuerdo keeps the technical force of divine awakening/remembrance from the preceding section (recuerdo de Dios), not ordinary memory; seno is the soul's inmost substance, the 'bosom' of the verse under comment.
26 ↩estancada rendered as 'fixed' (stationed/settled), not 'stagnant'; context is ordered military array among the excellences. terrible keeps the biblical force of awe-inspiring dread (Song of Songs castrorum acies), not mere fright.
27 ↩"cuando no glorifica" is rendered as when the one looking is not glorified (passive incapacity before glory), not as a failure to give glory; the Esther parallel and the surrounding argument favor that reading.
28 ↩"tan mala vez" is archaic Spanish for scarcely/barely; "stilla" is the Latinate drop (stilla), matching Vulgate Job's stillam.
29 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period; no Spanish content to translate. Likely a segmentation artifact between the two Job citations.
30 ↩"entienda y trate" is rendered as contend and deal, following the Job sense (contendat / deal with me in force); "entienda" alone would more usually mean understand, which fits the verse poorly.
31 ↩Source reads «en fas comunicaciones»; treated as «en las comunicaciones» (typo/variant).
32 ↩«corromperá» rendered as «overwhelm» (sensory overload of a faculty), not moral corruption; «el excelente sensible» as «an intense sense-object».
33 ↩«a excusa del natural» rendered as «for the natural part’s sake / to spare the natural»; also possible «as a safeguard for nature».
34 ↩Source reads «muy bisn»; treated as «muy bien».
35 ↩Source corruptions corrected for sense: 'fas virtudes' → 'las virtudes'; 'inferió^ res' → 'inferiores'; 'ñecha' → 'hecha'.
36 ↩Source has 'toda esto'; rendered as 'todo esto' / 'all of this' (gender agreement).
37 ↩Source reading 'habernos dicho' treated as 'habemos dicho' ('as we have said').
38 ↩Source reading 'a este puesto g abrazo' treated as 'a este puesto y abrazo' ('this place and embrace').
39 ↩Source readings 'ei ámado' and stray punctuation treated as 'el Amado' (the Beloved).
40 ↩'recuerdos' / 'recordados' rendered as awakenings/awake (older Spanish sense of recordar = to wake), matching the sleep/wake metaphor and neighboring context on God as 'dormido' vs. 'recordado'.
41 ↩motica = a tiny mote/speck of dust; purpose-clause subjunctive continues the counsel of s2.
42 ↩recordado here is San Juan's technical sense 'awakened/roused' (from sleep), not 'remembered'; context of recuerdos and despierto in this chapter.
43 ↩noticias in San Juan's mystical Spanish = infused knowings/notices of God, not 'news' in the ordinary sense.
44 ↩recuerda = awakens (transitive/mystical); ¡tan mala vez! marks how rare/scarce that occasion is. Sentence is syntactically incomplete and continues in s7.
45 ↩Source 'habernos dicho' almost certainly stands for 'hemos dicho' ('we have said'), a recurring OCR/typesetting corruption in this witness; translated on that reading.
46 ↩Subject of 'no está bien aniquilado' is implied from 'movimientos del sentido': the sensory faculty is not yet annihilated until full union. Rendered as 'the sense' to keep San Juan's technical contrast between sense and pure spirit.
47 ↩Source reading 'acjuel' is treated as a corruption of 'aquel' ('that'); translation follows the corrected sense.
48 ↩Source reads «profundisima«mente»; translated as profundísimamente (most deeply).
49 ↩«aspirar / aspiración» rendered as breathing, following the poem’s respiratory image and the prior section’s compare-with-breathing analogy; Sanjuanist English often retains «aspiration» as a technical term for the same act.
50 ↩«de si» read as «de sí» (of himself), referring to the Holy Spirit / God.

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