Canción XXXIII
The Four Graces of God’s Gaze
God's gaze cleanses, graces, enriches, and enlightens the soul, and once forgiven, He never remembers sin, though the soul should remember with humility and gratitude.
Annotation of the following song To better understand what's been said and what follows, you should know that God's gaze brings about four goods in the soul: it cleanses her, graces her, enriches her, and enlightens her—just as the sun, when it sends out its rays, dries, warms, beautifies, and shines.1 And once God has placed these last three goods in the soul, since through them the soul is very pleasing to him, he never again remembers the ugliness and sin she had before, as he says through Ezekiel: Omnium iniquitatum ejus, quas operatus est, non recordabor.2 And so, once he has taken away her sin and ugliness, he never throws it in her face again; nor does he for that reason stop granting her still more favors, because he does not judge the same thing twice: Non vindicavit vis in idipsum in tribulatione.3 But even though God forgets the wickedness and sin once it has been forgiven, that does not mean it is good for the soul to forget her first sins, for the Wise Man says: De propiciato peccato, noli esse sine metu—Of forgiven sin, do not wish to be without fear. And this for three reasons: first, so that she always has occasion not to presume; second, so that she always has matter for thanksgiving; third, so that it serves her to trust more in order to receive more; because if, while she was in sin, she received so much good from God, now that she is set in so much good, in the love of God and free from sin, how much greater favors can she hope for?
The Soul Remembers and Gains Boldness
Recalling past mercies and her own unworthiness, the soul rejoices and boldly asks for continued spiritual union.
So here, remembering all these mercies she has received, and seeing herself placed beside the Bridegroom with such dignity, the soul rejoices greatly with delight and gratitude and love—helped toward this a great deal by the memory of that first state of hers, so low and so ugly that she not only did not deserve, and was not fit, for God even to look at her, but was not even fit for him to take her name in his mouth, as he says through his prophet David: "Nor will I remember their names with my lips."✦4 Hence, seeing that on her part there is no reason—nor can there be any—for God to look on her and exalt her, but only on God's part, which is his beautiful grace and his sheer will alone, attributing to herself her misery and to the Beloved all the goods she possesses; and seeing that through them she already deserves what she did not deserve, she takes heart and boldness to ask that the divine spiritual union continue, in which he may keep multiplying for her the mercies of everything she conveys in the song that follows.
Do Not Despise Me: From Unworthiness to Beauty
The soul pleads not to be despised because God's first look has left her with grace and beauty, making her worthy of further loving gazes.
Don't despise me; for if you found dark coloring in me, you can look at me freely now, after you have looked at me—for you left grace and beauty in me.5 Explanation Now taking courage, and valuing herself by the tokens and worth she has from her Beloved—seeing that, because they are his, although she herself is of little worth and deserves no esteem, she at least deserves it through them—she ventures to her Beloved and tells him not to hold her cheap or despise her any longer; for if she once deserved that because of the ugliness of her guilt and the baseness of her nature, now that he has looked on her the first time—when he adorned her with his grace and clothed her with his beauty—he can well look on her a second time and many more, increasing her grace and beauty, since there is already ample reason and cause for it in his having looked on her when she neither deserved it nor had any qualities for it.67 Do not despise me. She does not say this because the soul wants to be held in any regard—for on the contrary, contempt and insults are of great esteem and joy to the soul that truly loves God, and because she sees that of her own making she deserves nothing else—but because of the grace and gifts she has from God, as she goes on to make clear, saying:8 Even though you found me dark-skinned. That is to say, before you looked on me with grace, you found in me the ugliness and blackness of faults and imperfections, and the baseness of my natural condition:✦9 Now you can look at me freely, After you looked at me. After you looked at me, taking from me this dark and wretched color of guilt that made me unfit to be seen—in which look you first gave me grace—now you may well look at me; that is, now I myself can well be looked at and deserve to be seen, receiving more graces from your eyes; for with them you not only took away my dark color the first time, but you also made me worthy of being seen, for with your look of love10 You left grace and beauty in me.
Grace upon Grace: The Divine Economy of Love
Through examples from John, Moses, Isaiah, and Esther, the soul explains how God multiplies grace and honors those He has already favored.
What the soul says in the two preceding verses is intended to clarify what Saint John says in the Gospel—namely, that God gives grace upon grace; because when he sees the soul gracious in his eyes, he is deeply moved to give her still more grace, since he dwells in her with pleasure. Knowing this, Moses asked God for more grace, wanting to hold God to the grace he had already received from him, saying: Since you have said, I know you by name, and you have found grace before me.11 If, then, I have found grace in your sight, show me your face. That I may know you and find grace before your eyes; that is: You say that you know me by name and that I have found grace in your presence; show me your face so that I may know you and find grace before your eyes.12 And because with this grace the soul stands before God exalted, honored, and made beautiful, as we have said, that is why she is loved by him beyond words. So then, if before she was in his grace he loved her for his own sake alone, now that she is already in his grace he loves her not only for his own sake but also for hers; and so, enamored of her beauty through the effects and works of that grace, now that she has them, he keeps giving her more love and graces; and as he goes on honoring and exalting her more, he keeps growing more captivated and in love with her; because God makes this clear when speaking to his friend Jacob through Isaiah, saying: Since you became honorable in my eyes, and glorious, I have loved you; that is: After you have been made honorable and glorious in my eyes, I have loved you. Which is as much as to say: After my eyes gave you grace by looking on you, through which you became glorious and worthy of honor in my presence, you have merited still more gifts of my favors; because for God to love more is to grant more favors.13 The Bride makes the same point clear in the Song of Songs when she says to the other souls: I am dark but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem; and the Church adds in her name: Therefore the King has loved me and brought me into his chamber; I am dark but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem; therefore the King has loved me and brought me into the inner place of his bed. Which is to say: Souls who neither know nor understand these favors shouldn't be surprised that the heavenly King has granted me such great ones that he has brought me into the inmost place of his love; for though I am dark by nature, after he first looked on me he fixed his eyes on me so intently that he was not content until he betrothed me to himself and called me into the innermost bed of his love. Who can say how far God goes in enlarging a soul when He takes delight in her? It can't be said, or even imagined; for in the end, He does it as God, to show that He is. Only something of God's way of continually giving more to whoever already has more can be made understood, and what He keeps giving comes multiplied according to the proportion of what the soul already has—as the Gospel makes clear, saying For to the one who has, it will be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who doesn't have, even what he has will be taken away. That is: to anyone who has, more will be given until he has an abundance, and from the one who doesn't have, it will be taken away. And so the money the servant held without his master's favor was taken from him and given to the one who had more money, so that he might hold it all together in his master's favor; and from this it follows that God piles up the best and most important goods of his household—that is, of his Church, both militant and triumphant—in the one who is his greatest friend, and arranges them for him so that he may honor God and offer sacrifice all the more, just as a great light absorbs many smaller lights into itself, as God also made known in the passage from Isaiah mentioned above, according to the spiritual sense, speaking to Jacob and saying: 'I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior; I have given Egypt as your propitiation, Ethiopia and Saba for you.'1415 . . And I will give people for you, and peoples for your soul; that is: I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your propitiation, Ethiopia and Saba for you, and I will give people for you and peoples for your soul.1617 You may well look now, God, and greatly prize the soul you look upon, for with your gaze you set in her the worth and the love-tokens that you yourself prize and cherish; and for that reason you deserve to look on her not only once, but many times after you first looked on her—for as it is said in the book of Esther by the Holy Spirit: Worthy of such honor is the one whom the King wishes to honor; Hoc honore condignus est, quemcumque Rex voluerit honorare.18
Read the original Spanish
Anotación de la canción siguiente
Para más inteligencia de lo dicho y de lo que sigue, es de saber que la mirada de Dios hace cuatro bienes en el alma, que son limpiarla, agraciarla, enriquecerla y alumbrarla; así como el sol cuando envía sus rayos, que enjuga, calienta, hermosea y resplandece. Y después que Dios pone en el alma estos tres bienes postreros, por cuanto por ellos le es el alma muy agradable, nunca más se acuerda de la fealdad y pecado que antes tenía, según lo dice por Ecequiel: Omnium iniquitatum ejus, quas operatus est, non recordabor. Y así, habiéndole quitado una vez el pecado y fealdad, nunca más le da en cara con ello, no por eso le deja de hacer más mercedes; porque él no juzga dos veces una cosa: Non vindicavit vis in idipsum in tribulatione. Pero aunque Dios se olvida de la maldad y pecado después de perdonado una vez, no por eso le conviene olvidar sus pecados primeros al alma, pues dice el Sabio: De propiciato peccato, noli esse sine metu; Del pecado perdonado no quieras estar sin miedo; y esto por tres cosas: la primera, para tener siempre ocasión de no presumir; la segunda, para tener materia de siempre agradecer; la tercera, para que le sirva de más confiar para más recibir; porque si estando en pecado recibió de Dios tanto bien, cuando está puesta en tanto bien en amor de Dios y fuera de pecado, ¿cuánto mayores mercedes podrá esperar?
Acordándose, pues, el alma aquí de todas estas misericordias recibidas, y viéndose puesta junto al Esposo con tanta dignidad, gózase grandemente con deleite y agradecimiento y amor, ayudándole mucho para esto la memoria de aquel su primer estado tan bajo y tan feo, que, no solo no merecía ni estaba para que la mirara Dios, mas ni aún para que tomara en su boca su nombre, según lo dice por su profeta David: Nec menor era nominum eorum per labia mea. De donde, viendo que de su parte ninguna razón hay, ni la puede haber, para que Dios la mirase y engrandeciese, sino sólo de parte de Dios, que es su bella gracia y la mera voluntad suya, atribuyéndose a sí su miseria, y al Amado todos los bienes que posee; viendo que por ellos ya merece lo que no merecía, toma ánimo y osadía para pedir continuación de la divina unión espiritual, en la cual le vaya multiplicando las mercedes de todo lo que ella da a entender en la canción siguiente.
No quieras despreciarme; Que si color moreno en mí hallaste, Ya bien puedes mirarme Después que me miraste, Que gracia y hermosura en mí dejaste.
DECLARACIÓN
Animándose ya la esposa, y apreciándose a sí en las prendas y precio que de su amado tiene, viendo que por ser cosas de él, aunque ella de suyo sea de bajo precio y no merezca alguna estima, a lo menos por ellas la merece, atrévese a su Amado y dícele que ya no la quiera tener en poco ni despreciarla; porque, si antes merecía esto por la fealdad de su culpa y bajeza de su naturaleza, ya después que él la miró la primera vez, en que la arreó con su gracia y la vistió con su hermosura, que bien la puede ya mirar la segunda y más veces, augmentándola la gracia y hermosura, pues hay ya razón y causa bastante para ello en haberla mirado cuando no lo merecía ni tenía partes para ello.
No quieras despreciarme
No dice esto por querer el alma ser tenida en algo, porque antes los desprecios y vituperios son de grande estima y gozo para el alma que de veras ama a Dios, y porque ve que de su cosecha no merece otra cosa; sino por la gracia y dones que tiene de Dios, según ella va dando a entender, diciendo:
Que si color moreno en mí hallaste.
Es a saber que, antes que me miraras graciosamente, hallaste en mí fealdad y negrura de culpas e imperfecciones y bajeza de condición natural:
Ya bien puedes mirarme, Después que me miraste.
Después que me miraste, quitando de mí este color moreno y desgraciado de culpa, con que no estaba de ver, en que me diste la primera vez gracia, ya bien puedes mirarme; esto es, ya bien puedo yo y merezco ser vista, recibiendo más gracias de tus ojos; pues con ellos, no sólo la primera vez me quitaste el color moreno, pero también me hiciste digna de ser vista, pues con tu vista de amor
Gracia y hermosura en mí dejaste.
Lo que ha dicho el alma en los dos versos antecedentes es para dar a entender lo que dice San Juan en el Evangelio; es a saber, que Dios da gracia por gracia; porque cuando ve al alma graciosa en sus ojos, se mueve mucho a hacerle más gracia, por cuanto mora en ella bien agradado. Lo cual, conociendo Moisés, pidió a Dios más gracia, queriéndolo obligar por la que ya de él tenía, diciéndole: Cum dixeris novi te exnomine, et invenisti gratiam coram me. Si ergo inveni gratiam in conspectu tuo, ostende mihi faciem tuam. Ut sciam te, et inveniam tratiam ante oculos tuos; esto es: Tú dices que me conoces de nombre y que he hallado gracia delante de tu presencia; muéstrame tu cara para que te conozca y halle gracia delante de tus ojos. Y porque con esta gracia está el alma delante de Dios engrandecida, honrada y hermoseada, como habemos dicho, por eso es amada de él inefablemente. De manera que, si antes que tuviese en su gracia por sí sólo la amaba, ahora que ya está en su gracia, no sólo la ama por sí, sino también por ella; y así, enamorado él de su hermosura mediante los efectos y obras de ella, ahora que no está sin ellos, siempre le va él comunicando más amor y gracias; y como la va honrando y engrandeciendo más, siempre se va más prendando y enamorando de ella; porque así lo da a entender Dios, hablando con su amigo Jacob por Isaías, diciendo: Ex quo honorabilis factus est in oculis meis, et gloriosus: ego dilexi te; esto es: Después que en mis ojos eres hecho honrado y glorioso, yo te he amado. Lo cual es tanto como decir: Después que mis ojos te dieron gracia con su vista, por lo cual te hiciste glorioso y digno de honra en mi presencia, has merecido más gracias de mercedes mías; porque amar Dios más es hacer más mercedes. Esto mismo da a entender la Esposa en los Cantares diciendo a las otras almas: Nigra sum, sed formosa, filiae Jerusalem; y añade la Iglesia en su nombre: Ideo dilexit me Rex, et introduxit me in cubiculum suum; Morena soy, pero hermosa, hijas de Jerusalén; por tanto, me ha amado el Rey y entrádome en lo interior de su lecho.
Lo cual es decir: Almas que no sabéis ni conocéis de estas mercedes, no os maravilléis porque el Rey celestial me las haya hecho a mí tan grandes, que haya llegado a meterme en lo interior de su amor; porque, aunque soy morena de mío, puso él tanto en mí sus ojos después de haberme mirado la primera vez, que no se contentó hasta desposarme consigo y llamarme hasta el interior lecho de su amor.
¿Quién podrá decir adónde llega lo que Dios engrandece un alma cuando da en agradarse de ella? No hay poderlo decir ni aun imaginar; porque al fin lo hace como Dios para mostrar que él es. Sólo se puede dar algo a entender la condición que Dios tiene de ir dando más a quien más tiene, y lo que le va dando es multiplicadamente según la proporción de lo que antes el alma tiene; como el Evangelio lo da a entender, diciendo
: Qui enim habet dabitur ei, et abundabit: qui autem non habet, et quod habet auferetur ab eo; esto es: A cualquiera que tuviere, se le dará más, hasta que llegue a abundar, y al que no tiene le será quitado. Y así, el dinero que tenía el siervo no en gracia de su señor, le fue quitado, y dado al que tenía más dineros, para que todos juntos los tuviese en gracia de su señor; de donde, los mejores y principales bienes de su casa, esto es, de su Iglesia, así militante como triunfante, acumula Dios en el que es más amigo suyo, y le ordena para más honrarle y sacrificarle; así como una luz grande absorbe en sí muchas luces pequeñas, como también lo dio Dios a entender en la sobredicha autoridad de Isaías, según el sentido espiritual, hablando con Jacob, diciendo: Ego Dominus Deus tuus, Sanctus Israel, et Salvator tuus, dedi propiciationem tuam Aegiptum, Aetiopiam, et Saba pro te. . . e dabo homines pro te, et Populos pro anima tua; esto es: Yo soy tu Señor, Dios santo de Israel, tu Salvador; a Egipto he dado por tu propiciación a Etiopía y Saba por ti, y daré hombres por ti y pueblos por tu alma.
Bien puedes ya, Dios, mirar y preciar mucho al alma que miras, pues con tu vista pones en ella precio y prendas de que tú te precias y prendas; y por eso, no ya una vez sola, sino muchas, mereces que la mires después que la miraste; pues, como se dice en el libro de Ester por el Espíritu Santo: Digno es de tal honra a quien quiere honrar el Rey; Hoc honore condignus est, quemcumque Rex voluerit honorare.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.16.4 — Their sorrows will multiply for those who hasten after another god; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips.
- ↩Song.1.5-Song.1.6 — I am dark and lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
Notes
- 1 ↩agraciarla: rendered as 'graces her' (bestows grace / adorns with grace), matching the solar parallel of warming.
- 2 ↩tres bienes postreros: the last three goods from the prior sentence (gracing, enriching, enlightening), not the cleansing.
- 3 ↩Latin citation appears corrupt or variant beside the Spanish gloss 'he does not judge a thing twice' (cf. common Nahum 1:9 form Non vindicabit bis in idipsum).
- 4 ↩The supplied Latin reading "Nec menor era nominum eorum per labia mea" looks corrupt; the intended Vulgate form is almost certainly "Nec memor ero nominum eorum per labia mea" (Ps 15:4 Vg / Ps 16:4), which matches the Spanish sense that God would not even take the soul's name in his mouth.
- 5 ↩"color moreno" carries the Song of Songs bridal image of sun-darkened / unfinished complexion; rendered as "dark coloring" to keep the literal chromatic sense without archaic "swarthy."
- 6 ↩Spanish prendas here means love-tokens or pledges received from the Beloved, not garments; rendered as "tokens".
- 7 ↩partes means endowments or qualifying gifts, not bodily parts; rendered as "qualities".
- 8 ↩Spanish idiom: literally 'from her own harvest'; rendered as 'of her own making'—what the soul yields of herself, apart from grace.
- 9 ↩graciosamente: rendered as "with grace" (divine favor), not mere graceful appearance; continues the Song of Songs dark/fair motif from the previous stanza.
- 10 ↩"color moreno" keeps San Juan's Song-of-Songs image of the soul darkened by guilt; "desgraciado de culpa" is rendered "wretched color of guilt" rather than mere physical swarthiness.
- 11 ↩Embedded Latin reads 'Cum dixeris novi te exnomine'; translated as the intended Exodus wording 'Since you have said, I know you by name' (ex nomine).
- 12 ↩Normalized source has Latin 'tratiam'; treated as intended 'gratiam' ('grace').
- 13 ↩'mercedes' rendered as 'favors' (gracious gifts bestowed), not generic kindness; paired with 'gracias' as further gifts of grace.
- 14 ↩Spanish 'en gracia de su señor' is the idiom for a master's favor/good graces; rendered 'favor' in the parable frame, while the spiritual application concerns God's grace and friendship.
- 15 ↩Vulgate 'propiciationem' / Spanish 'propiciación' in Isaiah 43:3 is often English 'ransom' or 'atonement'; kept as 'propitiation' to track San Juan's wording.
- 16 ↩Opening 'e dabo' continues the Latin Isaiah quotation begun in s2 after empty s3–s4 segments; Spanish 'esto es' then glosses the whole Isaiah span, including the earlier 'Ego Dominus...' clause.
- 17 ↩'propiciación' retained as 'propitiation' to match San Juan; in Isaiah 43:3 English often prefers 'ransom' or 'atonement'.
- 18 ↩Spanish precio/preciar and prendas/prender is deliberate wordplay: God places in the soul the worth and love-tokens (prendas) of which He Himself takes pride and which He cherishes. Rendered as worth and love-tokens...prize and cherish to keep the sense without archaic diction.
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