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Chapter 41CanticoEsp.1.41

Canción XL

The Final Song: Introduction and Summary

The soul presents her final song to the Bridegroom, summarizing the complete detachment, defeat of the devil, and mortification of passions that prepare her for the spiritual marriage.

Since no one was looking at him, Aminadab didn't appear either, and the siege grew calm. And the cavalry was descending at the sight of the waters. Explanation and annotation Knowing, then, that the appetite of her will is now detached from all things and drawn close to her God with the deepest love, and that the sensory part of the soul, with all its forces, faculties, and appetites, is brought into conformity with the spirit, its rebellions finished and subdued; and that the devil, through long and varied spiritual exercise and struggle, is defeated and driven far away; and that her soul is united and transformed with an abundance of riches and celestial gifts; and that, accordingly, she is well disposed, prepared, and strong, leaning on her Bridegroom, ready to climb through the desert of death—abounding in delights—to the glorious seats and thrones of his brides, longing for the Bridegroom to finish this work at last: she sets all these things before him in this final song to move him more strongly to it. In that song she says five things: first, that her soul is already detached and estranged from all things; second, that the devil is already defeated and put to flight; third, that the passions are already subdued and the natural appetites mortified; fourth and fifth, that the sensory and interior part is already reformed and purified, and that it is brought into conformity with the spiritual part—so that it will not only not hinder the reception of those spiritual goods, but rather will adapt itself to them; because even of the goods she now has, it shares according to its capacity.12 And she says this:

No One Gazes on My Soul's Delight

The soul declares that her delight in God is hidden from all created things because she is so deeply recollected in interior solitude.

That no one was looking at it. It's as if she were saying: My soul is already so stripped, detached, alone, and estranged from all created things above and below, and so deeply entered into interior recollection with you, that none of them can any longer catch sight of the intimate delight I possess in you—that is, move my soul to pleasure with their sweetness, or to displeasure or annoyance with their misery and baseness; because, my soul being so far from them and in deep delight with you, none of them can catch sight of it; and not only that, but34

Aminadab, the Devil, Is Defeated

The soul confirms that the devil, represented by Aminadab, has been thoroughly defeated and driven away, no longer daring to approach her fortress of interior recollection.

And Aminadab didn't appear. This Aminadab, in Holy Scripture, means the devil—in a spiritual sense, the adversary of the soul—who was always attacking and troubling her with the countless ammunition of his artillery, so that she would not enter this fortress and hiding place of interior recollection with the Bridegroom, where she, already settled there, is already so favored, so strong, and so victorious through the virtues she has there and through the favor of God's arm that the devil not only does not dare to come near, but flees far away in great terror and does not dare to show himself; for also through the exercise of the virtues and by reason of the perfect state she already has, the soul has already driven him off and defeated him so thoroughly that he no longer appears before her. And so, Aminadab didn't appear either, having no right to keep me from this good I seek.5

The Siege of Passions Is Calmed

The soul declares that her passions and appetites, which formerly besieged her, are now ordered by reason and mortified, making her capable of seeing God.

The siege was quiet. By this siege, the soul refers to her passions and appetites. When these aren't conquered and subdued, they surround her on every side, attacking from all directions—which is why she calls them a siege. She says this siege is now calmed, meaning her passions are ordered by reason and her appetites are mortified. Since that is the case, she trusts He won't fail to grant the favors she has asked, as the siege can no longer hinder them. She says this because, until the soul has directed her four passions toward God and has mortified and purged her appetites, she isn't capable of seeing God.678 And it continues:

The Cavalry Descends to the Spiritual Waters

The soul's sensory and lower powers, now purified and spiritualized, are drawn into interior recollection to share in the spiritual delights descending from God.

And the cavalry was coming down at the sight of the waters. By “the waters” he means here the spiritual goods and delights that the soul enjoys in this state, in this interior with God. By “the cavalry” he means here the bodily senses of the sensory part, both interior and exterior, because they carry within themselves the phantasms and figures of their objects; and these, in this state, the Bride says, descend within sight of the spiritual waters, because in this state of spiritual marriage the sensory and lower part of the soul is already so purified, and in some way spiritualized, that it, with its sensory powers and natural forces, gathers itself inward to share in and enjoy in its own way the spiritual grandeurs that God is communicating to the soul in the interior of the spirit, as David made known when he said: Cor meum, et caro mea, exultaverunt in Deum vivum—that is: My heart and my flesh rejoiced in the living God.✦9 And it's worth noting that the Bride doesn't say here that the cavalry was coming down to taste the waters, but only into view of them, because this sensory part with its powers has no capacity to taste spiritual goods essentially and properly—not only in this life, but not even in the next; rather, by a certain overflow from the spirit they receive, in a sensory way, refreshment and delight from those goods, and by that delight these bodily senses and powers are drawn into interior recollection, where the soul is drinking the waters of the spiritual goods—which is more a descending into the sight of them than seeing and tasting them as they really are.10 And here the soul says that they were coming down, and doesn't say that they were going, or use any other word, to make clear that in this communication of the sensory part with the spiritual, when that drink of the spiritual waters is tasted, they are brought down from their natural operations—ceasing from them—into spiritual recollection. The Bride sets all these perfections and dispositions before her Beloved, the Son of God, with the desire to be carried by him from the spiritual marriage to which God has brought her in this Church Militant into the glorious marriage of the Church Triumphant—which may he be pleased to grant to all who invoke his most sweet name of Jesus, Spouse of faithful souls, who is honor and glory together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.

Read the original Spanish

Que nadie lo miraba, Aminadab tampoco parecía, Y el cerco sosegaba. Y la caballería A vista de las aguas descendía.

Declaración y anotación

Conociendo, pues, aquí la esposa que ya el apetito de su voluntad está desasido de todas las cosas y arrimado a su Dios con estrechísimo amor, y que la parte sensitiva del alma, con todas sus fuerzas, potencias y apetitos está conformada con el espíritu, acabadas ya y sujetadas sus rebeldías; y que el demonio, por el vario y largo ejercicio y lucha espiritual, está ya vencido y apartado muy lejos; y que su alma está unida y transformada con abundancia de riquezas y dones eclestiales; y que, según esto, ya está bien dispuesta, aparejada y fuerte, arrimada a su Esposo, para subir por el desierto de la muerte, abundando en deleites, a los asientos y sillas gloriosas de sus esposas, con deseo que el Esposo concluya ya este negocio, pónele delante, para más moverlo a ello, todas estas cosas en esta última canción, en la cual dice cinco cosas: la primera, que ya su alma está desasida y ajena de todas las cosas; la segunda, que ya está vencido y ahuyentando el demonio; la tercera, que ya están sujetas las pasiones y mortificados los apetitos naturales; la cuarta y la quinta, que ya está la parte sensitiva e interior reformada y purificada, y que ya está conformada con la parte espiritual; de manera que, no solo no estorbará para recibir aquellos bienes espirituales, antes se acomodará a ellos; porque aun de los que ahora tiene participa según su capacidad. Y dice así:

Que nadie lo miraba.

Lo cual es como si dijera: Mi alma está ya tan desnuda, desasida, sola y ajenada de todas las cosas criadas de arriba y de abajo, y tan adentro entrada en el interior recogimiento contigo, que ninguna de ellas alcanza ya de vista el íntimo deleite que en ti poseo; es a saber, a mover mi alma a gusto con su suavidad, ni a disgusto ni molestia con su miseria y bajeza; porque, estando mi alma tan lejos de ella y en profundo deleite contigo, ninguna de ellas lo alcanza de vista; y no sólo eso, pero

Aminadab tampoco parecía.

El cual Aminadab, en la Escritura divina, significa el demonio, hablando espiritualmente, adversario del alma; el cual la combatía y turbaba siempre con la inumerable munición de su artillería, porque ella no se entrase en esta fortaleza y escondrijo del interior recogimiento con el Esposo, donde ella, estando ya puesta, está ya tan favorecida, tan fuerte y tan victoriosa con las virtudes que allí tiene y con el favor del brazo de Dios, que el demonio, no solamente no osa llegar, pero con grande pavor huye muy lejos y no osa parecer; porque también por el ejercicio de las virtudes y por razón del estado perfecto que ya tiene, de tal manera le tiene ya ahuyentado y vencido el alma, que no parece más delante de ella. Y así, Aminadab tampoco parecía, con algún derecho para impedirme este bien que pretendo.

El cerco sosegaba.

Por el cual cerco entiende aquí el alma sus pasiones y apetitos; los cuales, cuando no están vencidos y amortiguados, la cercan en rededor, combatiéndola de una parte y de otra, por lo cual los llama cerco; el cual dice que también está ya sosegado, esto es, las pasiones ordenadas en razón, y los apetitos mortificados; que, pues así es, no deje de comunicarle las mercedes que le ha pedido, pues el dicho cerco ya no es parte para impedirlo, esto dice, porque hasta que el alma tiene ordenadas sus cuatro pasiones a Dios, y tiene mortificadas y purgados los apetitos, no está capaz de ver a Dios. Y síguese:

Y la caballería A vista de las aguas descendía.

Por las aguas entiende aquí los bienes y deleites espirituales que en este estado goza el alma en este interior con Dios. Por la caballería entiende aquí los sentidos corporales de la parte sensitiva, así interiores como exteriores, porque ellos traen en sí las fantasías y figura de sus objetos; los cuales, en este estado, dice aquí la Esposa que descienden a vista de las aguas espirituales; porque de tal manera está ya en este estado de matrimonio espiritual purificada, y en alguna manera espiritualizada la parte sensitiva e inferior del alma, que ella con sus potencias sensitivas y fuerzas naturales se recogen a participar y gozar en su manera de las grandezas espirituales que Dios está comunicando al alma en el interior del espíritu, según lo dio a entender David cuando dijo: Cor meum, et caro mea, exultaverunt in Deum vivum, esto es: Mi corazón y mi carne se gozaron en Dios vivo.

Y es de notar que no dice aquí la Esposa que la caballería descendía a gustar las aguas, sino a vista de ellas, porque esta parte sensitiva con sus potencias no tiene capacidad para gustar esencial y propiamente los bienes espirituales, no sólo en esta vida, pero ni aun en la otra, sino por cierta redundancia del espíritu reciben sensitivamente recreación y deleite de ellos, por el cual deleite estos sentidos y potencias corporales son atraídos a recogimiento interior, donde está bebiendo el alma las aguas de los bienes espirituales; lo cual más es descender a la vista de ellas que a verlas y gustarlas como ellas son. Y dice aquí el alma que descendían, y no dice que iban, ni otro vocablo, para dar a entender que en esta comunicación de la parte sensitiva a la espiritual, cuando se gusta la dicha bebida de las aguas espirituales, las bajan de sus operaciones naturales, cesando de ellas, al recogimiento espiritual.

Todas estas perfecciones y disposiciones antepone la esposa a su Amado, Hijo de Dios, con deseo de ser por él trasladada del matrimonio espiritual a que Dios la ha querido llegar en esta iglesia militante, al glorioso matrimonio de la triunfante, la cual sea servido llevar a todos los que invocan su nombre dulcísimo de Jesús, esposo de las fieles almas, la cual es honra y gloria, juntamente con el Padre y Espíritu Santo, in saecula saeculorum.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.84.3;Ps.84.2 — My soul yearns and even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Ps.84.2 — How lovely are your dwelling places, LORD of hosts!

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Source reading "eclestiales" taken as a corruption of "celestiales" (celestial); translated accordingly.
  2. 2 ↩Source has "ahuyentando" (present participle) where parallel structure with "vencido" and the earlier "apartado" strongly suggests "ahuyentado" (driven away / put to flight); rendered in the completed sense.
  3. 3 ↩Spanish ella in estando mi alma tan lejos de ella is singular while ninguna de ellas is plural; both point to created things as a class. Rendered as them for natural English continuity.
  4. 4 ↩The section ends mid-clause on adversative pero (archaic after negation, modern sino), which continues into the next section.
  5. 5 ↩Spanish 'con algún derecho' is elliptical after 'parecía'; rendered as the devil's having no standing or claim to block the soul's intended good.
  6. 6 ↩cerco: military 'siege,' the soul's figure for passions and appetites that hem her in when unconquered.
  7. 7 ↩mercedes: rendered as 'favors' (divine gifts imparted to the soul), not generic kindness; related to but distinct from protected 'grace'.
  8. 8 ↩no es parte para impedirlo: archaic Spanish for 'is not capable / has no power to hinder it.'
  9. 9 ↩Spanish mixes singular ella (the sensory part) with plural se recogen (its powers gather); rendered as the sensory part gathering itself with its powers.
  10. 10 ↩Spanish redundancia is the technical mystical term for the spillover of spiritual delight from the spirit into the sensory powers; rendered here as "overflow," not as mere repetition.

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