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Chapter 28CanticoEsp.1.28

Canción XXVII

The Tender Embrace of God

The annotation introduces a song describing God's tender, motherly love for the soul in interior union, surpassing all human affection.

Notes on the following song In this interior union God communicates himself to the soul with such earnest love that no mother's affection caresses her child with so much tenderness, nor can a brother's love or a friend's friendship compare; for the tenderness and truth of love with which the immense Father delights and exalts this humble and loving soul reach so far—oh, marvelous thing, worthy of all awe and wonder! He truly subjects himself to her in order to exalt her, as if he were her servant and she were his Lord. And he is as eager to delight her as if he were her slave and she were his God: so deep are God's humility and sweetness. For in this communication of love, he somehow carries out that service which the Gospel says he will do for his chosen ones in heaven: Amen dico vobis, quod precinget se, et faciet illos discumbere, et transiens ministrabit illis—that is, girding himself and going from one to another, he will serve them. And so here he is occupied in delighting and caressing the soul, as a mother does her child, nursing him at her own breasts; and in this the soul knows the truth of Isaiah's saying: Ad ubera portabimini, et super genua blandientur vobis—that is: You will be carried at God's breasts, and on his knees he will caress you. What, then, will the soul feel here amid such sovereign favors? How it will melt with love! How it will give thanks when it sees these breasts of God open for it with such sovereign and lavish love!

The Mutual Surrender of Love

The soul responds to God's love by giving herself entirely, echoing the Bride of the Song of Songs in a mutual exchange of breasts and promises.

Feeling herself surrounded by so many delights, she gives herself entirely to him, and she also gives him the breasts of her will and love; and feeling him pass through her in this way, she says to her Beloved what the Bride felt in the Song of Songs when speaking with her Bridegroom, like this: I am my beloved's, and his turning is toward me.1 Come, my beloved, let us go out into the field; let us dwell in the villages.2 Let us rise early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has flowered, if the blossoms are producing fruit, if the pomegranates have flowered: there I will give you my breasts; that is, I am for my beloved, and his turning is toward me. Come, my Beloved, and let us go out to the field; let us dwell together in the farmsteads; let us rise in the morning to the vineyards, and see if the vine has flowered and if the flowers are bearing fruit, if the pomegranates have flowered. There I will give you my breasts; that is, I will offer the delights and strength of my will to the service of your love. And because these two surrenders of the soul and of God take place in this way in this union, she recounts them, saying: There he gave me his breast; there he taught me a most delightful knowledge; and I truly gave myself to him—my whole self, holding nothing back; there I promised to be his bride.34

The Explanation of the Betrothal

The explanation clarifies that the bride recounts the mutual surrender of the spiritual betrothal, where God gives His breast of love and the soul gives herself entirely.

EXPLANATION In this song the bride recounts the surrender that took place on both sides in this spiritual betrothal—namely, hers and God's—saying that in that inner wine cellar of love he and she came together in communion, he already freely giving her the breast of his love, in which he taught her wisdom and secrets; and she, for her part, already giving herself to him entirely in fact, holding nothing back for herself or for anyone else, affirming that she is his forever.56

The Gift of the Breast and Delightful Science

God gives His breast, signifying love and friendship, and teaches the soul the delightful science of mystical theology, which is contemplation through love.

There He gave me His breast✦ To give one's breast to another is to offer them your love and friendship, and to share your secrets with them as you would a friend. So, when the soul says that He gave her His breast, it means that He has shared His love and His secrets with her—which is exactly what God does with the soul in this state. Furthermore, consider what she says in the following verse: There he taught me a most delightful science. This delightful knowledge is mystical theology, which is the secret knowledge of God that spiritual people call contemplation; it is very delightful because it is knowledge through love, which is both its teacher and the source of all delight. And since God communicates this knowledge and understanding to the soul in the love with which He communicates Himself to it, it is delightful to the understanding because it is knowledge that belongs to the understanding, and delightful to the will because it is in love, which belongs to the will. And then it says:

The Soul's Total Self-Gift

The soul gives herself wholly to God, holding nothing back, and promises to be His bride, as God transforms her into Himself.

And I gave myself to him in truth, keeping nothing back. In that sweet drink of God in which, as we have said, the soul is steeped in God, the soul gives herself wholly to God very willingly and with great sweetness, wanting to be wholly his and never again to have anything in herself alien to him; God causing in her that union, and the purity and perfection needed for it; for inasmuch as the transformation into himself makes her wholly his, he empties out of her everything she had that was alien to God. And so, she remains not only in will but also in deed, leaving nothing behind, and is given wholly to God, just as God has freely given Himself wholly to her. As a result, both wills are settled, surrendered, and satisfied with one another, so that neither needs to fail the other in anything anymore, with the faith and firmness of a betrothal; and that is why she adds, saying:7 That’s where I promised you I’d be his bride.

The State of Spiritual Betrothal

In spiritual betrothal, the soul's every movement inclines toward God, and she draws love from all things, living only to love.

For just as a betrothed bride sets her love, her care, and her work on no one but her bridegroom, so the soul in this state no longer has affections of the will, insights of the understanding, or any care or work that is not entirely inclined toward God, together with its appetites—because it is, as it were, absorbed in God. And so it goes about in such a way that it does not even have first movements against what is God's will, in everything it can understand.8 For just as an imperfect soul very ordinarily has, at least, first movements inclined toward evil—according to the understanding, the will, memory, appetites, and imperfections—so the soul in this state, according to the understanding, memory, will, and appetites, in its first movements ordinarily moves and inclines toward God, because of the great help and firmness it already has in God and its perfect conversion to the good. All of this David makes clear when he said, speaking of his soul in this state: "Will not my soul be subject to God?" For from him is my salvation. For he himself is my God and my Savior, my upholder; I will not be moved any longer. "Will my soul not," he says, "be subject to God?"9 Yes, because from him I have my salvation, and because he is my God and my Savior, my receiver, I will have no further movement.10 In saying "my receiver," he makes it clear that because his soul is received into God and united with him, as we were saying here, it was no longer to have any further movement against God. From what has been said, it is clearly understood that the soul that has reached this state of spiritual betrothal knows nothing else but to love and to walk always in the delights of love with the Bridegroom; for since she has reached perfection in this—and the form and being of that perfection (as Saint Paul says) is love, because the more a soul loves, the more perfect she is in what she loves—it follows that this soul, already perfect, is all love, if one may put it that way, and all her actions are love, and she employs all her powers and resources in love, giving away everything she has, like the wise merchant, for this treasure of love she finds hidden in God, which is so precious in his sight that, since the soul sees that her Beloved values nothing and makes use of nothing apart from love, it follows that, wanting to serve him perfectly, she employs everything in pure love of God; and not only because she herself employs it that way, but also because the love in which she is united, in all things and through them all, moves her in the love of God.11 For just as the bee draws from every plant the honey that is there, and makes use of the plants for nothing else, so too from everything that passes through the soul she draws, with great ease, the sweetness of love—that is, whatever there is in it with which to love God—whether it is pleasant or unpleasant; for since she is formed and sheltered by love, as she is, she neither feels it, nor tastes it, nor knows it; because, as we have said, she knows nothing but how to love, and her delight in all things and dealings is always, as we have said, the delight of the love of God; and to declare this, she sings the following song.12

Read the original Spanish

Anotación de la canción siguiente

Comunícase Dios en esta interior unión la alma con tantas veras de amor, que no hay afición de madre que con tanta ternura acaricie a su hijo, ni amor de hermano ni amistad de amigo que se le compare; porque llega a tanto la ternura y verdad de amor con que el inmenso Padre regala y engrandece a esta humilde y amorosa alma, ¡oh cosa maravillosa y digna de todo pavor y admiración! que se sujeta a ella verdaderamente para la engrandecer, como si él fuese su siervo y ella fuese su Señor. Y está tan solícito en la regalar como si él fuese su esclavo y ella fuese su Dios: tan profunda es la humildad y la dulzura de Dios. Porque en esta comunicación de amor en alguna manera ejercita aquel servicio que dice en el Evangelio que hará a sus escogidos en el cielo: Amen dico vobis, quod precinget se, et faciet illos discumbere, et transiens ministrabit illis; es a saber, que ciñéndose, pasándose de uno a otro, los servirá. Y así, aquí está empleado en regalar y acariciar al alma, como la madre a su niño, criándole a sus mismos pechos; en lo cual conoce el alma la verdad del dicho de Isaías, que dice: Ad ubera portabimini, et super genua blandientur vobis; esto es: A los pechos de Dios seréis llevados, y sobre las rodillas os halagará. ¿Qué sentirá, pues, el alma, aquí entre tan soberanas mercedes? ¡Cómo se derretirá en amor! ¡Cómo agradecerá viendo estos pechos de Dios abiertos para sí con tan soberano y largo amor!

Sintiéndose puesta en tantos deleites, entrégase toda a sí misma a él, y dale también sus pechos de su voluntad y amor; y sintiendo y pasando así por ella, dice a su Amado lo que la Esposa sentía en los Cantares hablando con su Esposo en esta manera: Ego dilecto meo, et ed me conversio ejus. Veni dilecti mi, egrediamur en agrum commoremur in villis. Mane surgamus ad vineas, videamus si floruit vinea, si flores fructus parturiunt, si floruerunt mala punica: ibi dabo tibi ubera mea; esto es: Yo para mi amado, y la conversión de él para mí. Ven, Amado mío, y salgamos al campo, moremos juntos en granjas, levantémonos por la mañana a las viñas, y veamos si ha florecido la viña y si las flores paren frutos, si florecieron las granadas. Allí te daré mis pechos; esto es, los deleites y fuerza de mi voluntad emplearé en servicio de tu amor. Y por pasar así estas dos entregas del alma y Dios en esta unión, las refiere ella, diciendo:

Allí me dio su pecho, Allí me enseñó ciencia muy sabrosa, Y yo le di de hecho A mí, sin dejar cosa; Allí le prometí de ser su esposa.

DECLARACIÓN

En esta canción cuenta la esposa la entrega que hubo de ambas partes en este espiritual desposorio; conviene a saber, de ella y de Dios, diciendo que en aquella interior bodega de amor se juntaron en comunicación él y ella, dándole el pecho ya libremente de su amor, en que le enseñó sabiduría y secretos; y ella a él, entregándosele ya toda de hecho, sin reservar nada para sí ni para otro, afirmando ser suya para siempre.

Allí me dio su pecho

Dar el pecho uno a otro es darle su amor y amistad y descubrirle sus secretos como amigo. Y así, decir el alma que le dio allí su pecho, es decir que allí le comunicó su amor y sus secretos; lo cual hace Dios con el alma en este estado. Y más, lo que también dice en el verso siguiente:

Allí me enseñó ciencia muy sabrosa.

Esta ciencia sabrosa es la teología mística, que es ciencia secreta de Dios, que llaman los espirituales contemplación; la cual es muy sabrosa, porque es ciencia por amor, el cual es maestro de ella y el que todo lo hace sabroso. Y por cuanto Dios le comunica esta ciencia e inteligencia en el amor con que se comunica al alma, es sabrosa para el entendimiento, por ser ciencia que pertenece a él, y sabrosa para la voluntad; por ser en amor que le pertenece a la voluntad. Y dice luego:

Y yo le di de hecho A mí, sin dejar cosa.

En aquella bebida de Dios suave, en que, como habemos dicho, se embebe el alma en Dios, muy voluntariamente y con grande suavidad se entrega el alma toda a Dios, queriendo ser toda suya y no tener cosa en sí ajena de él para siempre; causando Dios en ella la dicha unión, la pureza y perfección que para esto es menester; que, por cuanto la transformación en sí la hace toda suya, evacua en ella todo lo que tenía ajeno de Dios. De aquí es que, no solamente según la voluntad, sino también según la obra, queda ella de hecho sin dejar cosa, toda dada a Dios, así como Dios se ha dado todo libremente a ella; de manera que quedan pagadas ambas voluntades, entregadas y satisfechas entre sí; de suerte que en nada haya de faltar ya la una a la otra, con fe y firmeza de desposorio; que por eso añade ella, diciendo:

Allí te prometí de ser su esposa.

Porque así como la desposada no pone en otro su amor ni su cuidado ni su obra fuera de su esposo, así el alma en este estado no tiene ya ni afectos de voluntad ni inteligencias de entendimiento, ni cuidado ni obra alguna que todo no sea incliando a Dios, junto con sus apetitos, porque está como embebida en Dios; y así, anda de manera que hasta los primeros movimientos aún no tiene contra lo que es la voluntad de Dios, en todo lo que ella pueda entender. Porque, así como un alma imperfecta tiene muy ordinariamente, a lo menos, primeros movimientos inclinados a mal, según el entendimiento y según la voluntad, y memoria y apetitos e imperfecciones, así el alma de este estado, según el entendimiento, memoria y voluntad y apetitos, en los primeros movimientos de ordinario se mueve e inclina a Dios, por la grande ayuda y firmeza que tiene ya en Dios y perfecta conversión al bien. Todo lo cual da bien a entender David cuando dijo, hablando de su alma en este estado: Nonne Deo subjecta erit anima mea? Ab ipso enim salutare meum. Nam, et ipse Deus meus, et salutaris meus, susceptor meus non movebor amplius; ¿Por ventura, dice, no estará mi alma sujeta a Dios? Sí, porque de él tengo yo mi salud, y porque él es mi Dios y mi salvador, recibidor mío, no tendré más movimiento. En lo que dice, recibidor mío, da a entender que por estar su alma recibida en Dios y unida, como aquí decíamos, no había de tener ya más movimiento contra Dios.

De lo dicho queda entendido claro que el alma que ha llegado a este estado de desposorio espiritual no sabe otra cosa sino amar y andar siempre en deleites de amor con el Esposo; porque, como en esto ha llegado a la perfección, cuya forma y ser (como dice San Pablo es el amor, pues cuanto un alma más ama, tanto es más perfecta en aquello que ama; de aquí es que esta alma, que ya está perfecta, todo es amor, si así se puede decir, y todas sus acciones son amor, y todas sus potencias y caudal emplea en amor, dando todas sus cosas, como el sabio mercader, por este tesoro de amor que halla escondido en Dios, el cual es tan precioso delante de él, que, como el alma ve que su Amado nada precia ni de nada se sirve fuera del amor, de aquí es que, deseando ella servirle perfectamente todo lo emplea en amor puro de Dios; y no sólo porque ella lo emplea así, sino también porque el amor en que está unida en todas las cosas y por todas ellas, la mueve en amor de Dios. Porque, así como la abeja saca de todas las yerbas la miel que allí hay, y no se sirve de ellas más que para esto, así también de todas las cosas que pasan por el alma, con grande facilidad saca ella la dulzura de amor, que es lo que hay que amar a Dios en ella, ora sea sabroso o desabrido; que, estando ella informada y amparada con el amor, como lo está, ni lo siente, ni lo gusta, ni lo sabe; porque, como habemos dicho, no sabe sino amar, y su gusto en todas las cosas y tratos siempre, como habemos dicho, es deleite de amor de Dios; y para declararlo dice ella la canción siguiente.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Song.1.2 — Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Source Latin reads 'et ed me conversio ejus'; translated as the standard Vulgate Song 7:10 reading 'et ad me conversio eius' ('and his turning is toward me').
  2. 2 ↩Source reads 'Veni dilecti mi, egrediamur en agrum'; translated from the intended Vulgate Song 7:11 'Veni, dilecte mi, egrediamur in agrum, commoremur in villis'.
  3. 3 ↩pecho keeps the Song of Songs breast/ubera image from the preceding declaration (nourishing intimacy of union), not a flattened paraphrase such as 'heart' alone.
  4. 4 ↩ciencia muy sabrosa rendered as 'most delicious knowledge' for the experiential mystical knowing San Juan names ciencia; 'science' would sound scholastic or clinical in Modern Readable English.
  5. 5 ↩bodega de amor: San Juan's mystical image for the inner wine cellar of love (Song of Songs cella vinaria); rendered 'wine cellar of love' to keep the cellar sense rather than a generic banquet hall.
  6. 6 ↩dándole el pecho... de su amor: bridal Song of Songs imagery for God's free gift of intimate love and instruction; kept as 'breast of his love' rather than paraphrased away.
  7. 7 ↩Spanish "pagadas" of both wills rendered as "settled" (fulfilled in mutual exchange), not commercial "paid".
  8. 8 ↩Source reading "incliando" treated as intended "inclinando" (inclining); otherwise the clause is ungrammatical.
  9. 9 ↩Latin susceptor rendered "upholder"; the Spanish gloss in s6–s7 uses "recibidor" (receiver), emphasizing reception into God.
  10. 10 ↩"recibidor" keeps John's Spanish for Latin susceptor; s7 glosses it as God receiving and uniting the soul.
  11. 11 ↩Source has an unclosed parenthesis at «cuya forma y ser (como dice San Pablo es el amor»; translated as the intended «(as Saint Paul says) is love».
  12. 12 ↩«informada» rendered as «formed» in the scholastic sense that love is the soul's informing form, not mere intellectual briefing.

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