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Chapter 37CanticoEsp.1.37

Canción XXXVI

Longing for the Beloved Alone

The soul, having attained perfection, desires to enjoy the Beloved alone and longs for the open vision of God.

Annotation of the following song It's a strange trait lovers have: they much prefer to enjoy themselves alone, free from any other creature, than with any company; because even when they're together, if some outsider is present — even if they wouldn't act or speak any differently when she's not there than when she is there, and even if that outsider herself neither speaks nor does anything — her mere presence is enough to keep them from enjoying themselves to their full liking.1 The reason is that love, since it is the union of just two, desires to share itself only with them.2 So once the soul is set on this summit of perfection and freedom of spirit in God, with all the resistances and conflicts of the sensual nature finished, it no longer has anything else to occupy itself with or any other exercise to engage in except giving itself to the delight and joys of intimate love with the Bridegroom — as it is written of holy Tobit, that after he had passed through the trials of his poverty and temptations, God enlightened him, and he spent all the rest of his life in joy; just as this soul we're speaking of already does, because the goods it sees in itself are such a joy and delight, as Isaiah makes clear concerning the soul that, having practiced the works of perfection, has reached the point of perfection we're discussing. So he speaks this way, addressing the perfect soul: "Your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like the noonday."✦ "And the Lord will give you rest always, and will fill your soul with splendors, and will free your bones, and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of waters whose waters will not fail."3 "And the deserts of the ages will be rebuilt in you; you will raise up the foundations of generation upon generation; and you will be called the builder of the hedges, turning the pathways into quiet."✦ "If you keep your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your own will on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord glorious, and glorify him by not going your own ways and not finding your own will, so as to speak a word: then you will delight in the Lord, and I will lift you up on the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob"; that is: "Then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like the noonday."✦45 "And the Lord your God will always give you rest, and will fill your soul with splendors, and will free your bones, and you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of waters whose waters will not fail."✦6 The ruins of the ages will be rebuilt in you, and you will raise up the origins and foundations of every generation; you will rise again and be called a builder of hedges, turning your paths and byways toward quiet.7 If you turn your own toil away from leisure and from doing your will on my holy day, and call yourself a delicate rest and the Lord's holy glory, and glorify him by not walking your own ways and not carrying out your own will, then you will delight yourself in the Lord, and I will exalt you above the heights of the earth, and I will feed you in the inheritance of Jacob, which is God himself.»8 And so, as we've said, this soul no longer concerns herself with anything except wandering and enjoying the delights of this pasture, and only one desire remains: to enjoy him perfectly in eternal life.9 And so, in the following song and in those that come after it, she devotes herself to asking the Beloved for this beatific pasture in the open vision of God. And so she says:

The Song of Perfect Love

The soul invites the Beloved to rejoice, to see each other in his beauty, and to enter the thicket, expressing the three desires of perfect love.

Let us rejoice, Beloved, and let us go to see in your beauty the mountain and the hill where the pure water springs; let us enter farther into the thicket.10 Explanation Since the perfect union of love between the soul and God is already complete, the soul wants to occupy and exercise herself in the qualities that love has; and so she is the one who speaks in this song with the Bridegroom, asking for the three things that belong to love: the first is to receive the joy and savor of love, and that is what she asks when she says, "Let us rejoice, Beloved"; the second is to desire to become like the Beloved, and that is what she asks when she says, "Let us go and see in your beauty"; and the third is to search out and know the things and secrets of the Beloved himself, and this she asks of him when she says, "Let us enter farther into the thicket."

Rejoicing in the Beloved

The soul asks to participate in the sweetness of love through affectionate acts and service to the Beloved.

Let us rejoice, Beloved. That is, in the sharing of love's sweetness—not only the sweetness we already have in the ordinary joining and union of the two, but the sweetness that overflows into the exercise of love, effectively and in action: now with the will in an act of affection, now outwardly, doing works that belong to the Beloved's service. Because, as we have said, this is what love does wherever it resides: it always wants to go about savoring its joys and sweetnesses, which are the exercise of love inwardly and outwardly, as we have said. It does all of this in order to become more like the Beloved; and so she goes on to say.11

Transformed in Your Beauty

The soul longs to be so transformed in God's beauty that both see each other in the same divine beauty, sharing the Son's inheritance.

And let us go to see ourselves in your beauty. Which means: Let us act so that through this exercise of love we've already described, we may come at last to see ourselves in your beauty in eternal life; that is, that I may be so transformed in your beauty that, being alike in beauty, we may both see ourselves in your beauty, already possessing your very beauty; so that, looking at one another, each may see in the other their own beauty, the beauty of the one and of the other being your beauty alone, absorbed in it; and so I will see you in your beauty, and myself in your beauty, and I will see myself in you in your beauty, and you in me in your beauty; and so I may appear as you in your beauty, and you may appear as me in your beauty, and my beauty may be yours, and yours mine; and so I will be you in it, and you will be me in that same beauty of yours, because your very beauty will be my beauty; and so we will see one another in your beauty. This is the adoption of the children of God, who will truly say to God what his own Son said through Saint John to his eternal Father, saying: Mea omnia tua sunt, et tua mea sunt; which means: Father, all that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine; he by essence, because he is the natural Son, and we by participation, because we are adopted children. And so he said it not only for himself, who is the head, but for the whole mystical body, which is the Church. She will share in the same beauty of the Bridegroom on the day of her triumph, and that will be when she sees God face to face; and that is why the soul asks here that she and the Bridegroom go to see themselves in his beauty.

Wisdom Above and Below

The soul desires to be formed in divine wisdom, both the morning knowledge of the Word and the evening knowledge of creatures.

To the mountain and to the hill.✦ This refers to the morning and essential knowledge of God, which is knowledge in the divine Word. Because of its height, it is represented here by the mountain, just as Isaiah says when he urges them to know the Son of God: Venite, et ascendamus ad montem Domini—that is, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord."12 And again: Et erit in novissimis diebus praeparatus mons domus Domini—that is, "In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be prepared."13 And to the hill; that is, to the evening knowledge of God, which is his wisdom found in his creatures, his works, and his wonderful ordinances. This is signified here by the hill because it is a lower wisdom than the morning one; yet the soul asks for both here when it says, "To the mountain and to the hill."14 So when the soul says to the Bridegroom, "Let's go see the mountain in your beauty," it means: Transform me and make me like you in the beauty of divine wisdom, which, as we were saying, is the Word, the Son of God. And by saying "to the hill," she is also asking him to form her in the beauty of this other, lesser wisdom found in his creatures and mysterious works; this, too, is the beauty of the Son of God, in which the soul longs to be enlightened.15 The soul cannot see itself in the beauty of God except by being transformed into the wisdom of God, in which what is above and what is below are seen and possessed. The Bride longed to come to this mountain and this hill when she said: Vadam ad montem myrrhae, et ad collem thuris—that is, 'I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense'—understanding by the mountain of myrrh the clear vision of God, and by the hill of incense the knowledge found in creatures, because the myrrh on the mountain is of a higher kind than the incense on the hill.16

The Pure Water of Knowledge

The soul desires the pure water of divine wisdom, which cleanses and clarifies the understanding.

Where the pure water springs.17 In other words, where the knowledge and wisdom of God are given—which he calls pure water here because it cleanses and strips the understanding of accidents and fantasies, clarifying it without any fog of ignorance.18 The soul always has this appetite to understand divine truths purely and clearly; the more it loves, the more deeply it longs to enter into them, and so it asks for the third thing, saying:

Into the Thicket of the Cross

The soul desires to enter the thicket of God's incomprehensible judgments through the narrow door of suffering and the cross.

Let's go deeper into the thicket. In the thicket of your wonderful works and deep judgments—whose multitude is so great and of so many kinds that it can be called a thicket—because in them there is abundant wisdom, and so full of mysteries that we can call it not only a thicket, but even curdled, as David says: Mons Dei, mons pinguis.19 Mons coagulatus, mons pinguis; which means: The mountain of God is a thick mountain and a curdled mountain.✦20 And this thicket of the wisdom and knowledge of God is so deep and immense that, however much more the soul may know of it, she can always go farther in, since it is immense and its riches incomprehensible, as Saint Paul exclaims, saying: O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae, et scientiae Dei: quam incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viae ejus!✦ O the height of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God—how incomprehensible are his judgments, and how incomprehensible his ways!✦21 But the soul longs to enter this thicket and incomprehensibility of judgments, because she is moved by the desire to go deep into the knowledge of them; for knowing in them is an inestimable delight that surpasses every sense. And so, speaking of their savor, David said✦ The judgments of the Lord are true and justified in themselves.22 More desirable than gold and many a precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. For your servant keeps them; which means: The judgments of the Lord are true, and in themselves they have justice.23 They are more pleasing and more to be longed for than gold and than the precious stone of great worth, and they are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb—so much so that your servant loved them and kept them. For this reason the soul longs intensely to plunge into these judgments and to know more deeply into them; and in exchange for this, it would be great consolation and joy to pass through every strait and hardship of the world, and through everything that could serve as a means to this—however difficult and painful it might be—and through the anguish and crises of death, in order to find itself more deeply within its God. Hence also, by this thicket that the soul here longs to enter into, one quite properly understands the thicket and multitude of trials and tribulations this soul longs to enter, inasmuch as suffering is most delightful and most profitable to it, because that is the means of going deeper into the thicket of God's delightful wisdom; because the purest suffering brings the purest and most intimate understanding, and consequently a purer and higher enjoyment, because the knowing is from further within. Therefore, not content with just any manner of suffering, it says: "Let us go deeper into the thicket"; that is, even to the straits of death, in order to see God. Hence, desiring this suffering in order to see God, the prophet Job said: Who will grant that my petition may come, and that God may give me what I hope for? And may the one who began it crush me himself: let him release his hand and cut me down? And let this be my consolation: that the one who afflicts me with pain does not spare me; which means: Who will grant that my petition is fulfilled and that God gives me what I hope for, and that the one who began with me crushes me to pieces, releases his hand and finishes me, and that I may have this consolation: that, while afflicting me with pain, he does not spare me?✦24 Oh, if only it were finally understood how you can't reach the thicket and wisdom of the riches of God, which are of many kinds, except by entering the thicket of suffering in many ways, placing the soul's consolation and desire in this, and how the soul that truly desires divine wisdom first desires to suffer in the thicket of the cross in order to enter into it! That is why Saint Paul urged the Ephesians not to faint in their tribulations, but to stand strong and rooted in charity, so that they might comprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are, and also know the surpassing charity of the knowledge of Christ: rooted and grounded in charity, so that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know also the charity of Christ that surpasses knowledge; and to be filled with all the fullness of God: that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.25 Because to enter these riches of wisdom, the door is the cross, which is narrow.26 And to desire to enter by it is something few do, but to desire the delights that come through it is something many do.

Read the original Spanish

Anotación de la canción siguiente

Es extraña esta propiedad que tienen los amados en gustar mucho más de gozarse a solas de toda criatura que con alguna compañía; porque, aunque están juntos, si tienen alguna extraña compañía que haga allí presencia, aunque no hayan de tratar ni de hablar más a excusas de ella que delante de ella, y la misma compañía extraña no hable ni trate nada, basta estar allí para que no se gocen a su sabor. La razón es, porque el amor, como es unidad de dos solos, a solas se quiere comunicar ellas. Puesta, pues, el alma en esta cumbre de perfección y libertad de espíritu en Dios, acabadas todas las repugnancias y contrariedades de la sensualidad, ya no tiene otra cosa en qué entender ni otro ejercicio en qué se emplear, sino en darse a deleite y gozos de íntimo amor con el Esposo; como se escribe del santo Tobías, que, después que había pasado por los trabajos de su pobreza y tentaciones, le alumbró Dios, y que todo lo restante de su vida pasó en gozo; como ya lo pasa esta alma de que vamos hablando, por ser los bienes que en sí ve de tanto gozo y deleite, como lo da a entender Isaías del alma que, habiéndose ejercitado en las obras de perfección, ha llegado al punto de perfección que vamos tratando. Dice, pues, así, hablando con el alma perfecta: Orietur in tenebris lux tua, et tenebrae tuae erunt sicut meridies. Et requiem tibi dabit Dominus semper, et implebit splendoribus animam tuam, et osa liberabit, et eris quasi hortus irriguus, et sicut fons aquarum, cujus non deficient aquae. Et aedificabuntur in te deserta saeculorum: fundamenta generationis, et generationis suscitabis: et vocaberis aedificator sepium, avertens semitas in quietem. Si averteris a Sabbato pedem tuum, faccere voluntatem tuam, in die Sancto meo, et vocaberis Sabbatum delicatum, et Sanctum Domini gloriosum, et glorificaveris eum dum non facis vias tuas, et non invenitur voluntas tua, ut loquaris sermonem: tunc delectaberis super Domino et sustollam te super altitudines terrae, et cibabo te haereditate Jacob; esto es: «Entonces nacerá en la tiniebla tu luz, y tus tinieblas serán como el mediodía. Y darte ha tu Señor Dios descanso siempre, y llenará de resplandores tu alma, y librará tus huesos, y serás como un puerto de regadío y como una fuente de aguas, cuyas aguas no faltarán.

Edificarse han en ti las soledades de los siglos y los principios y fundamentos de una y otra generación; resucitarás y serás llamado edificador de los setos, apartando tus sendas y veredas a la quietud. Si apartares el trabajo tuyo de holganza y de hacer tu voluntad en mi santo día, y te llamares holganza delicada y santa gloriosa del Señor, y le glorificares, no haciendo tus vías y no cumpliendo tu voluntad, entonces te deleitarás sobre el Señor, y ensalzarte he sobre las alturas de la tierra, y apacentarte he en la heredad de Jacob, que es el mismo Dios». Y por eso, como habemos dicho, esta alma ya no entiende sino en andar gozando de los deleites de este pasto, y sólo le queda una cosa que desear, que es gozarle perfectamente en la vida eterna. Y así, en la siguiente canción y en las demás que se siguen se emplea en pedir al Amado este beatífico pasto, en manifiesta visión de Dios. Y así, dice:

Gocémonos, Amado, Y vámonos a ver en tu hermosura Al monte y al collado, Do mana el agua pura; Entremos más adentro en la espesura.

DECLARACIÓN

Como está ya hecha la perfecta unión de amor entre el alma y Dios, quiérese emplear y ejercitar el alma en las propiedades que tiene el amor; y así, ella es la que habla en esta canción con el Esposo, pidiendo las tres cosas que son propias del amor: la primera quiere recibir el gozo y sabor del amor, y esa es la que pide cuando dice: «Gocémonos, Amado»; la segunda es desear hacerse semejante al Amado, y esa es la que pide cuando dice: «Vámonos a ver en tu hermosura»; y la tercera es escudriñar y saber las cosas y secretos del mismo Amado, y esta le pide cuando dice: «Entremos más adentro en la espesura».

Gocémonos, Amado.

Es a saber, en la comunicación de dulzura de amor, no sólo en la que ya tenemos en la ordinaria junta y unión de los dos, mas en la que redunda en ejercicio de amor efectiva y actualmente, ahora con la voluntad en acto de afición, ahora exteriormente, haciendo obras pertenecientes al servicio del Amado; porque, como habemos dicho, esto tiene el amor donde hace asiento, que siempre se quiere andar saboreando en sus gozos y dulzuras, que son el ejercicio de amor interior y exteriormente, como habemos dicho; todo lo cual hace por hacerse más semejante al Amado; y así, dice luego

Y vámonos a ver en tu hermosura.

Que quiere decir: Hagamos de manera que por medio de este ejercicio de amor ya dicho lleguemos hasta vernos en tu hermosura en la vida eterna; esto es, que de tal manera yo esté transformada en tu hermosura, que, siendo semejante en hermosura, nos veamos entrambos en tu hermosura, teniendo ya tu misma hermosura; de manera que, mirando el uno al otro, vea cada uno en el otro su hermosura, siendo la del uno y la del otro tu hermosura sola, absorta en ella; y así veré yo a ti en tu hermosura, y a mí en tu hermosura, y yo me veré en ti en tu hermosura, y tú en mí en tu hermosura; y así parezca yo tú en tu hermosura, y tú parezcas yo en tu hermosura, y mi hermosura sea la tuya, y la tuya la mía; y así seré yo tú en ella, y tú yo en la misma tu hermosura, porque tu misma hermosura será mi hermosura; y así nos veremos el uno al otro en tu hermosura. Esta es la adopción de los hijos de Dios, que de veras dirán a Dios lo que su Hijo mismo dijo por San Juan a su eterno Padre; diciendo: Mea omnia tua sunt, et tua mea sunt; que quiere decir: Padre, todas mis cosas son tuyas, y tus cosas son mías; él por esencia, por ser hijo natural, y nosotros por participación, por ser hijos adoptivos. Y así lo dijo él, no sólo por sí, que es la cabeza, sino por todo el cuerpo místico, que es la Iglesia. La cual participará la misma hermosura del Esposo en el día de su triunfo, y será cuando vea a Dios cara a cara; que por eso pide aquí el alma que ella y el Esposo se vayan a ver en su hermosura.

Al monte y al collado.

Esto es, a la noticia matutina y esencial de Dios, que es conocimiento en el Verbo divino; el cual por su alteza es aquí significado por el monte, como dice Isaías, provocando a que conozcan al hijo de Dios, diciendo: Venite, et ascendamus ad montem Domini; esto es: Venid, subamos al monte del Señor. Y otra vez: Et erit in novissimis diebus praeparatus mons domus Domini, esto es: Estará aparejada el monte de la casa del Señor. Y al collado; esto es: A la noticia vespertina de Dios, que es sabiduría de él en sus criaturas y obras y ordenaciones admirables; la cual es aquí significada por el collado; por cuanto es más baja sabiduría que la matutina; pero la una y la otra pide aquí el alma cuando dice: «Al monte y al collado».

En decir, pues, el alma al Esposo: Vámonos a ver en tu hermosura al monte, es decir: Transfórmame y aseméjame en la hermosura de la sabiduría divina, que, como decíamos, es el Verbo Hijo de Dios. Y en decir al collado es decirle también que le informe en la hermosura de esta otra sabiduría menor, que es en sus criaturas y misteriosas obras; la cual también es hermosura del Hijo de Dios, en que desea el alma ser ilustrada.

No puede verse en la hermosura de Dios el alma si no es transformándose en la sabiduría de Dios, en que se ve y posee lo de arriba y lo de abajo. A este monte y collado deseaba venir la Esposa, cuando dijo: Vadam ad montem myrrhae, et ad collem thuris; esto es: Iré al monte de la mirra y al collado del incienso; entendiendo por el monte de la mirra la visión clara de Dios, y por el collado del incienso la noticia en las criaturas; porque la mirra en el monte es de más alta especie que el incienso en el collado.

Do mana el agua pura.

Quiere decir, donde se da la noticia y sabiduría de Dios, que aquí llama agua pura porque limpia y desnuda el entendimiento de accidentes y fantasías, y lo aclara sin nieblas de ignorancia. Este apetito tiene siempre el alma de entender pura y claramente las verdades divinas; y cuanto más ama, más adentro de ellas apetece entrar; y por eso pide lo tercero, diciendo:

Entremos más adentro en la espesura.

En la espesura de tus maravillosas obras y profundos juicios, cuya multitud es tanta y de tantas diferencias, que se puede llamar espesura; porque en ellas hay sabiduría abundante y tan llena de misterios, que no sólo la podemos llamar espesura, más aun cuajada; según lo dice David, diciendo: Mons Dei, mons pinguis. Mons coagulatus, mons pinguis; que quiere decir: El monte de Dios es monte grueso y monte cuajado. Y esta espesura de sabiduría y ciencia de Dios es tan profunda e inmensa, que, aunque más el alma sepa de ella, siempre puede entrar más adentro, por cuanto es inmensa, y sus riquezas incomprehensibles, según lo exclama San Pablo, diciendo: O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae, et scientiae Dei: quam incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viae ejus! ¡Oh alteza de riquezas de sabiduría y ciencia de Dios, cuán incomprehensibles son sus juicios e incomprehensibles sus vías! Pero el alma en esta espesura e incomprehensibilidad de juicios desea entrar, porque le mueve el deseo de entrar muy adentro del conocimiento de ellos; porque el conocer en ellos es deleite inestimable, que excede todo sentido. De donde, hablando David del sabor de ellos, dijo

: Judicia Domini vera, justificata tu semetipsa. Desiderabilia super aurum, et lapidem praetiosum multum: et dulciora super mel, et favum. Etenim servus tuus custodit ea; que quiere decir: Los juicios del Señor son verdaderos, y en sí mismos tienen justicia. Son más agradables y codiciados que el oro y que la preciosa piedra de gran estima, y son dulces sobre la miel y el panal; tanto, que tu siervo los amó y guardó. Por lo cual desea el alma en gran manera engolfarse en estos juicios y conocer más adentro en ellos; y a trueque de esto le sería gran consuelo y alegría entrar por todos los aprietos y trabajos del mundo y por todo aquello que le pudiese ser medio para esto, por dificultoso y penoso que fuese, y por las angustias y trances de la muerte, por verse más dentro en su Dios. De donde también por esta espesura en que aquí el alma desea entrarse, se entiende harto propiamente la espesura y multitud de los trabajos y tribulaciones en que desea esta alma entrar, por cuanto le es sabrosísimo y provechosísimo el padecer, porque ello es medio para entrar más adentro en la espesura de la deleitable sabiduría de Dios; porque el más puro padecer trae más puro e íntimo entender, y por consiguiente más puro y subido gozar, porque es de más adentro saber. Por tanto, no se contentando con cualquier manera de padecer, dice: «Entremos más adentro en la espesura»; es a saber, hasta los aprietos de la muerte por ver a Dios. De donde, deseando el profeta Job este padecer por ver a Dios, dijo: Quis detur veniat petitio mea: et quod expecto, tribuat mihi Deus?

Et qui coepit, ipse me conterat: solvat manum suam, et succidat me? Et haec mihi sit consolatio, ut afligens me dolore, nan parcat; que quiere decir: ¿Quién me dará que mi petición se cumpla y que Dios me dé lo que espero, y que el que me comenzó ese me desmenuce, y desate su mano y me acabe, y tenga yo esta consolación, que, afligiéndome con dolor, no me perdone? ¡Oh si se acabase ya de entender cómo no se puede llegar a la espesura y sabiduría de las riquezas de Dios, que son de muchas maneras, sino es entrando en la espesura del padecer de muchas maneras, poniendo en esto el alma su consolación y deseo, y cómo el alma que de veras desea sabiduría divina, desea primero el padecer en la espesura de la cruz para entrar en ella! Que por eso San Pablo amonestaba a los de Éfeso que no desfalleciesen en las tribulaciones, que estuviesen fuertes y arraigados en la caridad, para que pudiesen comprehender con todos los santos qué cosa sea la anchura y la longura y la altura y la profundidad, y para saber también la supereminente caridad de la ciencia de Cristo: In charitate radicati, et fundati, ut possitis comprehendere cum omnibus Sanctis, quae sit latitudo, et longitudo, et sublimitas, et profundum: scire etiam supereminentem scientiae charitatem Christi; y para ser llenos de todo henchimiento de Dios; Ut impleamini in omnem plenitudinem Dei. Porque para entrar en esta riquezas de sabiduría la puerta es la cruz, que es angosta. Y desear entrar por ella es de pocos, mas desear los deleites a que se viene por ella es de muchos.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Isa.58.10 — and if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
  2. ↩Isa.58.12 — Your people shall build up the ancient ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
  3. ↩Isa.58.10 — and if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
  4. ↩Isa.58.11 — And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in scorching places, and your bones he will strengthen; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
  5. ↩Isa.2.3;Isa.2.2 — Many peoples will go and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Isa.2.2 — And it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established at the top of the mountains, and lifted up above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.
  6. ↩Ps.68.16 — Why do you look with envy, O many-peaked mountain, at the mountain where God has chosen to dwell? Yes, the LORD will dwell there forever.
  7. ↩Rom.11.33 — Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways!
  8. ↩Rom.11.33 — Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways!
  9. ↩Ps.18.10-Ps.18.11 — He spread out the heavens and came down, with thick darkness under his feet. Ps.18.11 — He rode on a cherub and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
  10. ↩Job.6.8-Job.6.9 — Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant what I hope for! Job.6.9 — And would that God would crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Archaic Spanish for privately / out of her presence / apart from her, contrasted with delante de ella.
  2. 2 ↩Ellas refers to the two lovers united in love; rendered as 'to them alone' for the mutual communication love seeks in solitude.
  3. 3 ↩Source reading osa is corrupt for Vulgate ossa (bones); confirmed by the Spanish rendering librará tus huesos in s8. Translated as 'your bones'.
  4. 4 ↩faccere is a misspelling of facere; rendered as 'from doing your own will,' matching the Vulgate sense of Isaiah 58:13.
  5. 5 ↩Spanish gloss of the preceding Latin begins here and continues through s8 and the next section; the opening quotation mark is left open because the source sentence ends mid-citation.
  6. 6 ↩puerto is almost certainly a corruption of huerto ('garden'), matching Latin hortus irriguus in s5 and the usual Isaiah 58:11 Spanish. Translated as 'watered garden'.
  7. 7 ↩Spanish 'soledades de los siglos' renders Vulgate 'deserta saeculorum' (ancient wastes/desolations), not solitude as withdrawal; 'setos' follows 'sepium' (hedges/fences).
  8. 8 ↩'apartares el trabajo tuyo de holganza' is San Juan's Spanish for turning from self-willed leisure on the holy day (cf. Vulgate averteris a Sabbato pedem tuum... facere voluntatem tuam). 'Holganza delicada' maps 'Sabbatum delicatum'; 'te llamares' is reflexive where the Vulgate has passive vocaberis. Closing «...» closes the Isaiah citation begun earlier; 'que es el mismo Dios' is San Juan's gloss on Jacob's inheritance.
  9. 9 ↩'no entiende sino en' is Juanist Spanish for 'occupies herself only with / applies her mind only to,' not mere intellectual understanding. 'Pasto' continues the Isaiah feeding/pasture image.
  10. 10 ↩"ver en tu hermosura / Al monte y al collado" is rendered as going to see the mountain and the hill in/through the Beloved's beauty (not merely "see your beauty"). "Do" is archaic Spanish for "donde" (where).
  11. 11 ↩Spanish 'efectiva y actualmente' is scholastic: effectively and in act (in actu), not the modern sense 'currently'.
  12. 12 ↩noticia matutina: San Juan de la Cruz's technical term for the soul's morning/essential knowledge of God in the Word, contrasted with noticia vespertina (evening knowledge through creatures).
  13. 13 ↩Source has gender disagreement Estará aparejada el monte (feminine participle with masculine monte); sense rendered as The mountain ... will be prepared.
  14. 14 ↩noticia vespertina: evening knowledge of God mediated through creatures, works, and divine ordinances, ranked lower than the morning/essential knowledge in the Word.
  15. 15 ↩Spanish 'informe' here means to shape/form the soul (informar), not merely to tell or notify; rendered as 'form her' to preserve the mystical sense of conformation to divine wisdom.
  16. 16 ↩noticia here is San Juan's technical term for spiritual knowledge or acquaintance; rendered as "knowledge" rather than "news/notice."
  17. 17 ↩Archaic Spanish do = donde ('where'); manar = to spring/flow from a source. Rendered as 'springs' to keep the fountain sense that the next section glosses as pure knowledge of God.
  18. 18 ↩Spanish accidentes keeps the scholastic sense: incidental sensory forms or images, not mishaps; paired with fantasías (imaginary figures/phantasms).
  19. 19 ↩cuajada echoes the Vulgate coagulatus (curdled/coagulated) of Ps 67; kept as 'curdled' to preserve the denseness of the mountain-image Juan develops in the next sentence.
  20. 20 ↩grueso renders pinguis (fat/rich/thick); 'thick' follows Juan's Spanish gloss while keeping the Psalm image of a rich, solid mountain.
  21. 21 ↩Juan renders both Latin incomprehensibilia (judgments) and investigabiles (ways) as incomprehensibles; the English follows his Spanish paraphrase rather than restoring 'unsearchable' for the second term.
  22. 22 ↩Source Latin reads "justificata tu semetipsa"; translated as the standard Vulgate sense "justificata in semetipsa" ("justified in themselves"), matching the Spanish paraphrase in s3.
  23. 23 ↩"que quiere decir" introduces the Spanish gloss of the preceding Latin block; the gloss here covers "Judicia Domini..." (s1), while "Etenim servus tuus custodit ea" is itself still part of the Latin citation continued in sense by s4.
  24. 24 ↩Latin reading has 'nan parcat' and 'afligens'; treated as intended Vulgate 'non parcat' and 'affligens' (Job 6:10).
  25. 25 ↩Spanish 'supereminente caridad de la ciencia de Cristo' calques the Latin genitive; rendered to preserve John's wording while keeping the Pauline sense of charity surpassing knowledge.
  26. 26 ↩Source has 'esta riquezas' (singular demonstrative with plural noun); translated as intended 'estas riquezas' / 'these riches'.

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