Canción XXXVII
Longing to See God Face to Face
The chapter opens with the soul's deep desire to be freed from this life in order to see God face to face and understand the mysteries of the Incarnation.
Annotation of the following song One of the chief things for which the soul longs to be set free and to be with Christ is so that she may see him face to face and there understand at the root the deep ways and eternal mysteries of his Incarnation, which is no small part of her blessedness; for as Christ himself says through Saint John, speaking to the Father: Haec est autem vita aeterna: ut cognoscant te, solum Deum verum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum—that is: This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and your Son Jesus Christ, whom you sent. For this reason, just as when someone has come from far away the first thing they do is try to see the one they love, so the first thing the soul longs to do, on arriving at the sight of God, is to know and enjoy the deep secrets and mysteries of the Incarnation, and the ancient ways of God that depend on them. Therefore, after the soul has finished saying that she longs to find herself in the beauty of God, she sings this song: Then we'll go to the high, hidden caves in the rocks; we'll enter them and taste the juice of the pomegranate.✦✦ Explanation One of the things that most move the soul to desire to enter this thicket of God’s wisdom, and to know deep within the beauty of his divine wisdom, is, as we have said, so that it may come to unite its understanding in God according to the knowledge of the mysteries of the Incarnation, as the highest and most savory wisdom of all his works. And so the bride says in this song that after entering more deeply into divine wisdom—that is, 'more deeply into the spiritual marriage she now possesses, which will be in glory, seeing God face to face'—once a soul is united with this divine wisdom, which is the Son of God, the soul will know the lofty mysteries of God and Man, which stand very high in wisdom, hidden in God; and that in knowing them, they will enter in—the soul plunging into them and being infused into them—and she and the Bridegroom will taste the savor and delight that this knowledge brings, as well as the virtues and attributes of God that are known through those mysteries, such as justice, mercy, wisdom, power, and charity.12
The Lofty Caverns of Christ
The soul and the Bridegroom will go into the deep, hidden caverns of Christ, which contain all the treasures of divine wisdom, only reached through suffering and grace.
And then we'll go to the lofty caverns of the rock. The rock spoken of here, as Saint Paul said, is Christ: "And the rock was Christ."✦ The lofty caverns of this rock are the high, deep mysteries of God's wisdom that are in Christ—concerning the hypostatic union of human nature with the divine Word, and concerning the corresponding union of human beings in God that answers to that union; and concerning the fitting ways God's justice and mercy work for the salvation of the human race in the manifestation of his judgments. Because these mysteries are so high and deep, he quite properly calls them lofty caverns: lofty because of the height of the mysteries, and caverns because of the depth and profundity of God's wisdom in them. For just as caverns are deep and full of many recesses, so each mystery among those in Christ is most profound in wisdom and has many recesses of his hidden judgments—of predestination and foreknowledge concerning the children of men. That is why he goes on to say:34 For they are well hidden. So much so that, however many mysteries and wonders the holy doctors have uncovered and holy souls have understood in this state of life, the greater part was still left for them to say and even to understand; and so there is much to delve into in Christ, because he is a rich mine with many chambers of treasure, and no matter how deep they dig, they never find an end or limit to it; instead, in each chamber they keep finding new veins of new riches here and there. That is why Saint Paul said of Christ himself: In quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae, et scientiae absconditi—that is: In Christ dwell all the hidden treasures and wisdoms, which the soul cannot enter or reach unless, as we have said, it first passes through the thicket of interior and exterior suffering.5 Because even what can be attained of these mysteries of Christ in this life cannot be reached without having suffered a great deal and received many intellectual and sensory favors from God, and without much spiritual practice having come first; for all these favors are far lower than the wisdom of the mysteries of Christ, since they're all like preparations for coming to it. So when Moses asked God to show him his glory, God answered that he could not see it in this life; but that he would show him all the good that can be shown in this life.6 And what that meant was that, placing him in the cavern of the rock—which, as we've said, is Christ—he showed him his back, which was to give him knowledge of the mysteries of Christ's humanity. So the soul truly longs to fully enter these caverns of Christ—to be absorbed, transformed, and thoroughly intoxicated in the love of their wisdom, hiding herself in her Beloved's breast—because he invites her into these clefts in the Song of Songs, saying: Surge amica mea, speciosa mea, et veni: columba mea in foraminibus petrae, in caverna maceriae; which means: Rise and hurry, my friend, my beautiful one, and come into the clefts of the rock and into the cavern of the wall.7 These clefts are the caverns we've been speaking of here; and to them the soul then says:
The Shared Delight of Divine Wisdom
The soul enters together with the Bridegroom into the mysteries, experiencing transformation and then tasting the must of the pomegranates, symbolizing the delight of divine knowledge shared between them.
And there we will enter. We will enter there—into those divine insights and mysteries. She doesn't say, "I alone will enter," which might have seemed more fitting, since the Bridegroom has no need to enter again. Instead, she says "we will enter"—meaning the Beloved and I—to make it clear that she doesn't do this work by herself, but that the Bridegroom does it with her. Furthermore, since God and the soul are already united in this state of spiritual marriage we are discussing, the soul does no work at all alone without God.8 To say "there we will enter" is to say "there we will be transformed"—that is, I into you—through love of these same divine and delightful judgments. Because in the knowledge of the predestination of the just and the foreknowledge of the wicked—in which the Father went before the just with the blessings of his sweetness in his Son Jesus Christ—the soul is transformed most loftily and most intimately into the love of God according to these insights. She thanks and loves the Father anew with great savor and delight through his Son Jesus Christ, and she does this united with Christ, together with Christ. The savor of this praise is so delicate that it is wholly ineffable, but the soul speaks of it in the following verse, saying:✦9 And we will taste the must of pomegranates,10 Here, the pomegranates represent the mysteries of Christ and the judgments of God's wisdom, as well as the virtues and attributes of God that are known in God through the knowledge of these mysteries and judgments—and they are countless; for just as pomegranates have many little seeds, born and sustained in that circular interior, so each of God's attributes, judgments, and virtues holds within itself a great multitude of marvelous dispositions and wonderful effects of God, contained and sustained in the spherical bosom of virtue and mystery, and so on.11 These belong to those kinds of effects. And here we note the circular figure (O)—the spherical shape—of the pomegranate, because by each pomegranate we understand here any virtue and attribute of God; and that attribute or virtue of God is God himself, who is signified by the circular (O), spherical figure, because it has neither beginning nor end.12 And because there are such countless judgments and mysteries in God's wisdom, the Bride said to the Bridegroom in the Song of Songs: Venter ejus eburneus distinctus sapphiris; which means: Your belly is of ivory, set with sapphires.✦13 By these sapphires are meant the said mysteries and judgments of the divine Wisdom, which is there signified by the belly, because a sapphire is a precious stone the color of the sky when it is clear and serene.✦ The must, then, that the bride says here she and the Bridegroom will taste from these pomegranates is the enjoyment and delight of God's love that overflows into the soul through the awareness and knowledge of them; for just as from the many seeds of the pomegranates a single must comes when they are eaten, so from all these wonders and grandeurs of God infused into the soul there overflows in her an enjoyment and delight of love, which is a drink of the Holy Spirit, and she then offers it to her God, the Word, her Bridegroom, with great tenderness of love, because she had been promised this divine drink in the Song of Songs if he would bring her into these lofty kinds of knowledge, where it says: 'Ibi me docebis, et dabo tibi poculum ex vino condito, et mustum molarum granatorum meorum,' which means 'There you will teach me, and I will give you the drink of spiced wine and the must of my pomegranates'—calling them her own, that is, the divine kinds of knowledge, though they are God's, because he had given them to her, and she returns them to God himself as her own; and that's what 'We will taste the must of pomegranates' means. For when he tastes it, he gives it to her to taste, and when she tastes it, she gives it back to him to taste; and so it's a shared delight for both.
Read the original Spanish
Anotación de la canción siguiente
Una de las cosas más principales por que desea el alma ser desatada y verse con Cristo, es por verle ella cara a cara y entender allí de raíz las profundas vías y misterios eternos de su encarnación, que no es la menor parte de su bienaventuranza; porque, como dice el mismo Cristo por San Juan, hablando con el Padre: Haec est autem vita aeterna: ut cognoscant te, solum Deum verum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum; esto es: Esta es la vida eterna que te conozcan a ti, un solo Dios verdadero, y a tu Hijo Jesucristo, que enviaste. Por lo cual, así como cuando una persona ha llegado de lejos lo primero que hace es tratar de ver a quien bien quiere; así el alma lo primero que desea hacer, en llegando a la vista de Dios, es conocer y gozar los profundos secretos y misterios de la encarnación, y las vías antiguas de Dios que de ellos dependen. Por tanto, acabado de decir el alma que desea verse en la hermosura de Dios, dice luego esta canción:
Y luego a las subidas Cavernas de las piedras nos iremos Que están bien escondidas, Y allí nos entraremos Y el mosto de granada gustaremos.
DECLARACIÓN
Una de las cosas que más mueven al alma a desear entrar en esta espesura de sabiduría de Dios, y conocer muy adentro la hermosura de su sabiduría divina, es, como habemos dicho, por venir a unir su entendimiento en Dios, según la noticia de los misterios de la encarnación, como más alta y sabrosa sabiduría de todas sus obras.
Y así, dice la esposa en esta canción que, después de haber entrado más adentro en la sabiduría divina, esto es, «más adentro del matrimonio espiritual que ahora posee, que será en la gloria, viendo a Dios cara a cara»; unida una alma con esta sabiduría divina, que es el Hijo de Dios, conocerá el alma los subidos misterios de Dios y Hombre, que están muy subidos en sabiduría, escondidos en Dios, y que en la noticia de ellos se entrarán engolfándose e infundiéndose el alma en ellos, y gustarán ella y el Esposo el sabor y deleite que causa el conocimiento de ellos, y de las virtudes y atributos de Dios, que por los dichos misterios se conocen en Dios, como son: justicia, misericordia, sabiduría, potencia y caridad.
Y luego a las subidas Cavernas de la piedra nos iremos.
La piedra que aquí dice, según dijo San Pablo, es Cristo: Petra autem erat Christus. Las subidas cavernas de esta piedra son los subidos y altos y profundos misterios de sabiduría de Dios que hay en Cristo sobre la unión hipostática de la naturaleza humana con el Verbo divino, y en la correspondencia que hay a ésta de la unión de los hombres en Dios; y en las conveniencias de justicia y misericordia de Dios sobre la salud del género humano en manifestación de sus juicios, los cuales, por ser tan altos y profundos, bien propiamente los llama subidas cavernas; subidas, por la alteza de los misterios; y cavernas, por la hondura y profundidad de la sabiduría de Dios en ellos; porque, así como las cavernas son profundas y de muchos senos, así cada misterio de los que hay en Cristo es profundísimo en sabiduría y tiene muchos senos de juicios suyos ocultos, de predestinación y presciencia en los hijos de los hombres, por lo cual dice luego:
Que están bien escondidas.
Tanto, que, por más misterios y maravillas que han descubierto los santos doctores y entendido las santas almas en este estado de vida, les quedó todo lo más por decir y aun por entender; y así, hay mucho que ahondar en Cristo, porque es una abundante mina con muchos senos de tesoros, que, por más que ahonden, nunca le hallan fin ni término; antes van hallando en cada seno nuevas venas de nuevas riqueras acá y allá; que por eso dijo San Pablo del mismo Cristo: In quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae, et scientiae absconditi; esto es: En Cristo moran todos los tesoros y sabidurías escondidas, en las cuales el alma no puede entrar ni puede llegar a ellos si, como habemos dicho, no pasa primero por la espesura del padecer interior y exterior. Porque, aun a lo que en esta vida se puede alcanzar de estos misterios de Cristo, no se puede llegar sin haber padecido mucho y recibido muchas mercedes intelectuales y sensitivas de Dios, y habiendo precedido mucho ejercicio espiritual; porque todas estas mercedes son muy más bajas que la sabiduría de los misterios de Cristo; porque todas son como disposiciones para venir a ella. De donde, pidiendo Moisés a Dios que le mostrase su gloria, le respondió que no podía verla en esta vida; mas que él le mostraría todo el bien, es a saber, que en esta vida se puede. Y fue que, metiéndole en la caverna de la piedra, que, como habemos dicho, es Cristo, le mostró sus espaldas, que fue darle conocimiento de los misterios de la humanidad de Cristo.
En estas cavernas, pues, de Cristo desea entrarse bien de hecho el alma para absorberse y transformarse y embriagarse bien en el amor de la sabiduría de ellos, escondiéndose en el pecho de su Amado; porque a estos ahujeros la convida él en los Cantares diciendo: Surge amica mea, speciosa mea, et veni: columba mea in foraminibus petrae, in caverna maceriae; que quiere decir: Levántate y date prisa, amiga mía, hermosa mía, y ven en los ahujeros de la piedra y en la caverna de la cerca. Los cuales ahujeros son las cavernas que aquí vamos diciendo; a las cuales dice luego el alma:
Y allí nos entraremos.
Allí, conviene a saber, que en aquellas noticias y misterios divinos, nos entraremos; y no dice entraré yo sola, que parecía más conveniente, pues el Esposo no ha menester entrar de nuevo, sino entraremos, es a saber, yo y el Amado, para dar a entender que esta obra no la hace ella, sino el Esposo con ella; y demás de esto, por cuanto ya están Dios y el alma unidos en este estado de matrimonio espiritual en que vamos hablando, no hace el alma obra ninguna a solas sin Dios. Y decir, allí nos entraremos, es decir, allí nos transformaremos; es a saber, yo en ti, por el amor de estos dichos juicios divinos y sabrosos; porque en el conocimiento de la predestinación de los justos y presciencia de los malos, en que previno el Padre a los justos en las bendiciones de su dulzura en su Hijo Jesucristo, subidísima y estrechísimamente se transforma el alma en amor de Dios, según estas noticias, agradeciendo y amando al Padre de nuevo con grande sabor y deleite por su Hijo Jesucristo; y esto hace ella unida con Cristo, juntamente con Cristo; y el sabor de esta alabanza es tan delicado, que totalmente es inefable; pero dícelo el alma en el verso siguiente, diciendo:
Y el mosto de granadas gustaremos,
Las granadas significan aquí los misterios de Cristo y los juicios de la sabiduría de Dios, y las virtudes y atributos de Dios que del conocimiento de estos misterios y juicios se conocen en Dios, que son inumerables; porque, así como las granadas tienen muchos granicos, nacidos y sustentados en aquel seno circular, así cada uno de los atributos y juicios y virtudes de Dios contiene en sí gran multitud de ordenaciones maravillosas y admirables efectos de Dios, contenidos y sustentados en el seno esférico de virtud y misterio, etc. , que pertenecen a aquellos tales efectos. Y notamos aquí la figura circular (O), esférica, de la granada, porque cada granada entendemos aquí por cualquiera virtud y atributo de Dios, el cual atributo o virtud de Dios es el mismo Dios, el cual es significado por la figura circular (O), esférica, porque no tiene principio ni fin. Que, por haber en la sabiduría de Dios tan inumerables juicios y misterios, dijo la Esposa al Esposo en los Cantares: Venter ejus eburneus distinctus sapphiris; que quiere decir: Tu vientre es de marfil, distinto en zafiros. Por los cuales zafiros son significados los dichos misterios y juicios de la divina Sabiduría, que allí es significada por el vientre, porque zafiro es una piedra preciosa de color de cielo cuando está claro y sereno.
El mosto, pues, que dice aquí la esposa que gustarán ella y el Esposo, de estas granadas, es la fruición y deleite de amor de Dios que en la noticia y conocimiento de ellos redunda en el alma; porque, así como de muchos granos de las granadas sale un solo mosto cuando se comen, así de todas estas maravillas y grandezas de Dios en el alma infundidas redunda en ella una fruición y deleite de amor, que es bebida del Espíritu Santo, la cual ella luego ofrece a su Dios, el Verbo, esposo suyo, con grande ternura de amor, porque esta bebida divina la tenía ella prometida en los Cantares, si él la entrara en estas altas noticias, diciendo: Ibi me docebis, et dabo tibi poculum ex vino condito, et mustum molarum granatorum meorum; que quiere decir: Allí me enseñarás y darete yo a ti la bebida del vino adobado y el mosto de mis granadas; llamándolas suyas, esto es, las divinas noticias, aunque son de Dios, por habérselas él a ella dado, y ella, como propias, las vuelve al mismo Dios; y eso quiere decir «El mosto de granadas gustaremos». Porque, gustándolo él, lo da a gustar a ella, y gustándolo ella, lo vuelve a dar a gustar a él; y así, es gusto común de entrambos.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Song.2.14 — O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding place of the steep path, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
- ↩Song.8.2 — I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house— she who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.
- ↩1Cor.10.4 — and they all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
- ↩Ps.21.4 — For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
- ↩Song.5.14 — His hands are rods of gold set with beryl; his body is ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
- ↩Song.5.14 — His hands are rods of gold set with beryl; his body is ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
Notes
- 1 ↩«más adentro del matrimonio espiritual... cara a cara» is San Juan’s own explanatory gloss of entering more deeply into divine wisdom: the deeper entry into the spiritual marriage already possessed, to be fulfilled in glory in the face-to-face vision of God.
- 2 ↩«se entrarán engolfándose e infundiéndose el alma en ellos»: plural future with the soul as the agent of the gerunds. Rendered as entry into knowledge of the mysteries by the soul’s plunging into and being infused into them; the following clause then makes the dual tasting subject explicit (she and the Bridegroom).
- 3 ↩Scholastic convenientia: rendered as "fitting ways" (how justice and mercy suitably meet), not modern "conveniences."
- 4 ↩Here salud means salvation of the human race, not bodily health.
- 5 ↩Source reading 'riqueras' treated as 'riquezas' (riches); most plausible intended sense in mining imagery.
- 6 ↩Spanish ends elliptically ('todo el bien… que en esta vida se puede'); verb supplied from the governing 'mostraría' / show sense.
- 7 ↩Spanish ahujeros is an older spelling of agujeros (holes); rendered as clefts to match the Song of Songs rock imagery (foraminibus petrae).
- 8 ↩Spanish noticias in John of the Cross's mystical vocabulary means infused insights or knowledges of God, not news or reports; rendered here as "insights."
- 9 ↩previno ... en las bendiciones de su dulzura echoes the biblical cadence of God going before / anticipating the just with blessings of sweetness (cf. Psalm language of prevenient blessing); "went before" preserves that force without archaic "prevented."
- 10 ↩Spanish mosto is the freshly pressed juice/new wine (Latin mustum), not fully aged vino; kept as 'must' for fidelity to the Canticle image and its Song of Songs echo.
- 11 ↩ordenaciones rendered as dispositions (divine orderings/arrangements); seno as bosom for the fruit's round hollow and the mystical parallel.
- 12 ↩The parenthetical (O) is retained from the source as San Juan's diagram of the circle signifying God's eternity without beginning or end.
- 13 ↩Source quotes Vulgate ejus (his) but glosses as Tu (your) in address to the Bridegroom; both retained as in the Spanish.
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