Bede

Eat, my friends, and drink, etc. That is, you too who are my friends by doing what I have commanded you, are also most dear, embracing me with undivided love: therefore I beseech you to fill your hearts with the acts of the saints, as with the choicest feasts. And not only take care to recall these things to memory, but also turn the very memory of them to the fruit of imitation. For this is indeed to eat honeycomb and honey after the repast, after drinking wine and milk to become inebriated, not only to rejoice in the wondrous virtues of the good, but also to follow these, and through their retracing, to shake off the torpor of our mind, and to kindle with greater zeal the love of eternal things. On the contrary, the prophet says to some, You have eaten, but you were not satisfied; you have drunk, but you were not inebriated (Hagg. I). For indeed, one eats the banquets of the vital table, but is not satisfied; one drinks the cup of salvation, but is not inebriated, who has indeed learned the words of the Scriptures, has known the examples of the just, but has not changed his own life, nor corrected his manners; he drinks, but is not inebriated, who joyfully hears the precepts of life, but remains sluggish and lazy in fulfilling them. However, if in the Lord's statement above, who said: I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey, and I have drunk my wine with my milk, we should wish to accept this signified that He has translated His saints from this world to the heavens, and introduced them into the society of the heavenly citizens, who are indeed His body, it will follow that this admonition of which we now speak should be understood as given to the same citizens of heaven: for when He said He had eaten His honeycomb with His honey, and drunk His wine with His milk, that is, gathered the saints into the growth of His heavenly body, He immediately turned His face and words to the inhabitants of heaven, saying: Eat, my friends, and drink, and be inebriated, most dear. Which is in other words to say: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep which was lost (Luke XV). Indeed, by a most fitting comparison, they are likened to honeycomb and honey, those whom, pleasing to Himself from the foundation of the world, the Lord, rising from the dead, has taken with Him from the underworld to the heavenly kingdoms: so that the sweetness of the holy souls which He has lifted to eternal joys in heaven is indeed compared to honey. In the honeycomb, however, there is no less happiness for those who have merited to ascend to the courts of the heavenly city through Him, both in body and in immortal soul. About whom the evangelist clearly testifies, because as the Lord was dying on the cross, the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and after His resurrection came into the holy city, and appeared to many (Matthew XXVII). For those who rose from the dead at the rising of the Lord are also believed to have ascended together with Him when He ascended to the heavens. Nor should faith be given by any means to their rashness, who think that afterward they returned to dust, and again were enclosed in the graves, which had been opened long before by them, to whom they had appeared alive a little before, in the manner of the dead. Thus, the bridegroom ate the honeycomb with his honey, when the Lord led all those who had faithfully served Him from the beginning of this life, some rejoicing in the immortality of the flesh, others still awaiting the rewards of the resurrection, to eternal life, and together elevated them all with unspeakable glory among the company of angels in happiness. Thus far, the Lord had praised abundantly the beauty and virtues of the holy Church, beginning with the saying: How beautiful you are, my friend! how beautiful you are! your eyes are like doves. This praise was carried so far that it was even to be tested by adversities; that where this began to be done, she invoked the unique help of the same Redeemer; and He, delaying nothing of the prayers, under the name of myrrh and spices, gathered those who had either been tested by oppressions or adorned with other virtues, to the heavenly homeland. And He declared that the whole life of the holy Church, which is distinguished by teachers, and by its hearers, was accepted by Him under the name of honeycomb, honey, and milk. When these things are fulfilled, follows the voice of the Church desirous to cling to the Lord rather in the hiddenness and silence of contemplation than through the labor of preaching, to incite the weapons and fury of the wicked against her.

Because my head is filled with dew, etc. The head of Christ is God, as the Apostle says (I Cor. 11); but His curls are the collected thoughts in the minds of His faithful, which do not flow dispersed, but remain held together by discipline. The dew and drops of the night, which fall from above amid the darkness and cold, are the minds of the wicked, surely obscure and blind, and always desiring earthly things. Of such it is said: Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold (Matt. 24). The Lord has commanded that we love Him, and also love our neighbor. But when we venerate Him with lesser love than we should, and when many, which is worse, hold no affection of charity toward Him at all, what else but the head of Christ is filled with dew? And when the wicked spend their hatred instead of love towards the servants of Christ, who gather into the guardianship of their minds and adhere more closely to the love of their Creator, do not His curls become wet with the drops of the night, and do they not gravely endure the oppressive chills of blind persecution? Therefore, when such a time arises, the Lord justly stirs the Church from the slumber of sweet studies in which it delights, and commands it to insist upon the word of preaching, and by frequent exhortation to warm, enlighten, and open up to Him the hearts of the wicked, which were closed against Him, so that entering in, He may dwell there by faith, preferring that the Church reach salvation for many through labor, rather than having rest in the few who were saved, although praiseworthy by frequent meditation on heavenly goods. Provoked to the labor of preaching, the Church responds to the Lord:

The voice of my beloved knocking: Open to me, my sister, etc. For the beloved knocks at our door when the Lord stirs us to the progress of virtues, when He admonishes us of the joys of the promised kingdom to be obtained, just as we also knock at His door when we seek from Him the progress of virtues and the entrance to the kingdom, mindful indeed of His promise, who said: Knock, and it shall be opened to you (Luke 11). And He also declares that He knocks at our door, when He says: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me (Rev. 3). We open to the Lord knocking in two ways: when we open the sanctuary of our hearts to receive His fervent love, which we already have to some extent; or certainly when we open the hearts of our neighbors to receive His fear or love, which they have not yet had, by preaching. There is also a third knocking of the Lord at our door, when He admonishes us through prior infirmities that we are to be taken from this life. Concerning this, He Himself says in the Gospel, And you, he says, be like men waiting for their master when he will return from the marriage feast, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately (Luke 12). We open immediately to the Lord knocking thus if we gladly receive death, and do not fear to be led to His judgment, remembering that we have pleased Him with good works and always honored Him; according to the Psalmist, And the honor of the king loves judgment (Psalm 96). But in this place, if carefully considered, the Lord seems rather to seek that opening of a faithful soul which happens in the instruction of neighbors. For it is certain that she had opened her own heart to Him because desiring to depart to Him, freed from the bonds of the flesh, she could say: I sleep, and my heart watches. It is certain that the beloved had already entered her because she had honored Him with the marks of so many and such great names, that she could say: My sister, my friend, my dove, my undefiled: my sister, because made co-heir of my kingdom; my friend, because having left the yoke of servitude, you have become conscious of my secrets; my dove, because enlightened by the gift of my spirit; my undefiled, because set apart from busy actions, you are exalted to divine visions. But when He says, Open to me, He undoubtedly requires the minds of those who were not yet worthy of all these to be opened to Him by preaching, as the following words declare, which say:

I sleep, and my heart watches. As if to say, With the cessation of persecutions for a time, I have begun to have some rest in the Lord even in this life, enjoying His leisure gladly, and now with all the desire of my heart, I keep watch for that rest which knows no end. I sleep, because, by His grace, I enjoy a little tranquility in this life in worshipping Him. Nor am I bound by so much labor of preaching as the early Church endured, nor struck by so many conflicts of the faithless as the numerous congregations of the nascent Church endured at first. And my heart watches, because the more freely I am free from external attacks, the deeper within me I see that He is the Lord. This indeed the holy Church says concerning those who, in the calm of temporal life, desire to serve the Lord with psalms, fasts, and other prayers and alms of temporal life, by quieter actions. But because this life is one of labor, not rest, soon she feels the voice of the Lord awakening her, and urging her to the toil of preaching, so that she may remember that in the time of this exile, the desired rest is neither wholly denied its taste nor eternally granted its full enjoyment. For it follows:

I have washed my feet, etc. Now I have cleansed my thoughts, which once were accustomed to touch the earth, with frequent tears of secret compunction, and, as much as was possible by manners, I have made them worthy of heavenly entry, so that I can say that our feet were standing in your courts, Jerusalem (Psalm 121); that is, although I have not yet deserved to enter the very walls of the heavenly city, nevertheless, I have so purified my thoughts to such an extent that I remember that frequently, by the steadfast gaze of my heart, I have tasted some not insignificant beginnings of those joys, and how can it be that descending from the height of contemplation, I would again be defiled by the filth of the world? For aside from the concern of temporal support that we have spoken of, it is very difficult, even for an excellent teacher, not to be occasionally moved by some fault of vainglory or indeed of anger if, when speaking of divine and heavenly matters, he is heard humbly; vainglory, if by humbly obeying, he gains many flocks of believers for the Lord, anger if he is rebuked; vainglory if his speech is praised. Hence James says: Do not be many teachers, my brothers, because you take up greater judgment; for in many things we all offend (James 3). Hence the Lord himself, upon the return of the disciples from preaching, washed their feet, signifying that even the greatest preachers cannot avoid all sins at least in the thoughts by which they touch the earth; but whatever these sins may be, he himself, being merciful, will wash them away. Therefore, the holy Church delights in the sweet and wholesome studies of a quiet life, in those who have deserved to experience such things; and excuses the duty of preaching, saying in a way with Moses: I pray, Lord, send whom you will send (Exodus 4). But because the Lord especially wants our love for Him to be known in the love for our neighbors, hence He replied to Peter, who professed to love Him three times, three times: Feed my sheep (John 21), it aptly follows:

My beloved put his hand through the opening. My beloved puts his hand through the opening when the Lord secretly and invisibly kindles us with the hidden spur of divine love toward virtuous acts. He puts his hand to us when, seeing us longing to rest, he recalls to our memory his work in us—not only that we are men but also that we belong to him. He extends his hand to remind us of his work on our behalf: He left the bosom of the Father to become human like us, not only to be incarnate and dwell on earth, making us spiritual and heavenly, but also to die so that we might live forever. Therefore, rightly, our heart trembles at his touch, for when our conscience recalls his merciful deeds, it is filled with awe, inspired by prophetic insight: "I have considered your works and was afraid" and hurries to aid in the salvation of others for whom God was incarnate and died. For by the name "womb" is often meant the heart because just as food is digested in the womb, so thoughts mature in the heart through diligent reflection. Thus, Jeremiah says, "My womb, my womb, I am in pain" (Jer. IV). What would it profit listeners if a teacher complained of pain in his stomach? But his intention was to greatly benefit them by testifying that his own conscience was troubled and filled with deep pain due to their rebellious acts. The term "womb" can also denote the softness and fragility of those who, either because they consider themselves less capable, tremble to undertake the duty of teaching, or because they delight in the ease of their rest, shy away. And the bride's womb trembled at the beloved’s touch when, moved by divine compunction, the weak in the Church shook off their sluggishness and aroused themselves to practice good works, rising up to advise others through preaching. This is precisely shown in the following phrase:

My hands dripped with myrrh, etc. For in the hands are the works that are done by them; in the fingers is taken the discretion by which the works are directed: for certainly no parts of our body are distinguished by numerous joints, none are more apt for bending than the fingers. Hence it is that the Lord, about to give a sentence concerning the adulteress, first wrote with his finger on the ground, thus mystically advising us that whenever we intend to chastise or judge others, we should first humbly carve out our own conscience with diligent discretion, carefully considering lest we also be tempted. It has often been said that myrrh signifies the continence of the flesh and martyrdom: hence the sense is clear that the hands of the spouse drip with myrrh, when the holy soul dedicates itself to works of continence; and her fingers are full of the most proven myrrh, when, examining herself with careful discretion, she finds that she lives continent only with a view to heavenly recompense. For those who seek the favor of human praise, who, according to the judge himself, have received their reward, these indeed seem to drip with myrrh from their hands, but in no way have their fingers filled with the most proven myrrh, because if they do not only give their wealth to the poor, but also deliver their bodies to the flames, if they do not have charity, it profits them nothing. Therefore, because the one who wants to teach others must himself abstain from carnal enticements and be ready to suffer for the confession of faith, it was fitting that when she said: I arose to open to my beloved, she immediately added: My hands dripped with myrrh. And because the same continence or passion ought to be performed only with the intention of eternal reward, she rightly added: My fingers are full of myrrh. Again, the hands of the spouse drip with myrrh when her workers, that is, the holy teachers, subject their bodies to salutary mortification, and her fingers are full of the most proven myrrh when they progress so much in tribulations that their invincible patience is also declared, according to the Apostle: But we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope does not disappoint (Rom. V).

I sought him, and did not find him, etc. This is the voice of those in the holy Church who are accustomed, having transcended the care of fleeting things, to walk only in the highest goods and to always love the entrance to the heavenly homeland: about whom there is no doubt that they cannot always be affected by the same power of sweetness with the desire for heavenly things as they will, because certainly this virtue is not in the will of the mind elevated to heavenly things, but only in the gift of the God who elevates and illuminates. Therefore, as often as the chaste soul either desires to depart to the Lord, or, while placed in the flesh, to be raised by the taste of future beatitude, and yet immediately does not obtain what it seeks, it must then say with a groan: Because I sought him, and did not find him; I called, and he did not answer me. For he is always found by those who seek well, to have mercy; he always responds to those who call well, to care for them for perpetual salvation: but he does not always respond to this end, or offer himself to be found, that what he promises to those arriving in the homeland, he extends to those still journeying on the road of this exile. Finally, let us say more often daily with bowed knee to the Father: Thy kingdom come; nor do we distrust that we are heard, nor do we immediately receive what we ask for, but we patiently and joyfully endure the effect of our prayer, until we obtain it at the end.

But he turned aside, etc. For this is what the Psalmist says: "Man approaches a deep heart, and God will be exalted" (Psalm 63). For the more the human heart, purified by faith and prayer, is lifted up to contemplate the glory of the divine vision, the more it finds what it seeks to be higher, and to which it should ascend at the time of the promised reward. Ecclesiastes is similar: "I have said, I will become wise; and it moved further away from me, and much more than it was" (Ecclesiastes 7). It should not be overlooked that he does not simply say, "I opened my door," but he says, "I opened the lock of the door for my beloved." For he had closed the chamber of his heart with a lock lowered deeply, so that no profane or insidious person might enter it, according to Solomon: "With all keeping, keep your heart; for from it flows life" (Proverbs 4). He opened it again for his beloved, so that, with all the impure throngs repelled, he might provide a free space for the Creator. Nor should it be considered contradictory that we said before, that the bride opens to her beloved in the droplets of night and the dewy cold, when the Church or the faithful soul ignites the heart of neighbors to the praise of the Creator, whom they did not know or did not care for, and now we interpret that she unlocks the lock of her door for the same beloved, in that she, through the progress of compunction, more widely opened her mind to his entrance: for the same moment achieves both, because the internal aspiration that sets anyone to gather souls for God equally kindles him to love the same Creator more ardently. And no other cause rightly motivates anyone to teach than the love of God. And while anyone delights in opening the soul of a neighbor to receive the gifts of divine mercy through teaching, he necessarily renews his own mind by these actions and opens it more widely to the entrance of heavenly grace. Finally, it is clearly revealed by the following words to the bridegroom how much she progressed, as she cared to open the hearts of neighbors, which she saw darkened, to the Lord, grievously enduring that he whom she was burning for was weighed down, as if by dewy cold and drops of night, by the infidel torpor of others. For it follows:

The keepers of the walls took my cloak from me. The keepers of the walls are also the highest teachers, as they strive to also instruct those capable of governing and fortifying the Church. I believe Timothy, Titus, and others like them, the laborers of truth, were the walls of God's city; and Paul, when he gives them exhortatory commands, what else is he to be understood as but a keeper of the walls? For he showed himself to be a keeper of the city, which he diligently went around, when he enumerated his virtues saying: Besides those things which are external, the daily pressure that is on me—my concern for all the churches (2 Cor. 11). He also taught that he was a keeper of the walls when he said to Timothy: But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (2 Tim. 4), and similar instructions. And to Titus: For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you (Tit. 1). The keepers of the walls take the cloak of the bride who is struck and wounded, when apostles or apostolic men, touched by divine love, take away the ties of passing things from any soul, so that, freed from lower cares, it may seek its Creator’s face with freer course. For the cloak is the same, which is over the tunic; where he says: I have taken off my tunic, signifying the entanglements of earthly matters.

The watchmen found me, etc. The watchmen who go about the city are the holy teachers to whom the care of the Church has been entrusted so that they may protect it from the attack of depraved doctrines, both by word and example, and may kindle ever more the fear and love of their Creator. These indeed go about the city because in all the places of the holy Church, spread out everywhere throughout the whole world, their bodily presence and living voice, or the doctrine inserted in writings or work, is found. They find the bride weary from seeking her beloved, and they strike and wound her because they inflame more with the word of their teaching the soul found anxious with heavenly love; and whenever they discover anything earthly remaining in it, they extinguish it and render it insensible to all lower things, as if wounding by striking: for when the Apostle, describing the armor of God, says: And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. VI); is it any wonder if one touched by this sword is said to be struck and wounded? For with this stroke of the sword, a wound is received, of which it is said elsewhere, I am wounded with love.

I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find, etc. Worthily, the bride languishes with love, having been struck and wounded by the sword of the Spirit, she casts off the garment of carnal desire, for as much as the holy soul gains strength in God, so much is she made weak and infirm towards the affection of this world, as if debilitated. Nor is it surprising if a perfect soul is said to languish for those things that are of the world, since the Apostle does not hesitate to call those who have perfectly left the world dead: For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Galatians VI); and concerning himself: The world is crucified to me, and I to the world (ibid.). The daughters of Jerusalem are citizens of the heavenly homeland, who partly still wander on earth, partly already reign there. But in this place, when it is said: I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love, it seems to address that part of them which, having been on earth, has not yet deserved to see the Lord perfectly, whom nevertheless they often find when they receive Him in their heart through love. Therefore the bride adjures these daughters of Jerusalem that if they find her beloved, they announce to him that she languishes: for we are indeed this bride, and the girlfriend of our God and Lord, inasmuch as by adhering to Him we become one spirit with Him, and being inflamed with desires for eternal things, and sighing for the face of our Creator whom we do not yet see, we come to His servants, whom we believe to lead an angelic life on earth, and we humbly ask them to commend us also to the Lord during their devoted prayer time, and to intercede for us so that we may deserve to see His face. This is indeed what we do, adjuring the daughters of Jerusalem to refer the magnitude of our love to God, and for us to equally petition for heavenly help so that we may see His glory. Whence also, such a response is universally given by these daughters of Jerusalem, which clearly corresponds to the devoted exchange of the faithful. For it follows:

How is your beloved better than another beloved, etc. It is open for a faithful brother to say to another faithful brother: I beseech you, because I find that you are fervent in the love of the Redeemer, also speak to me of Him, confirm me with a salutary exhortation, so that the same love in my heart may grow by His benefits and gifts. Indeed, for a long time, conscious of my sins, I began to have fear of Him, but now, with the strength of the mind increasing, having become more secure about the forgiveness of sins, I am delighted to hear something about His love. Therefore, tell me, go ahead, what is your beloved like from your beloved? That is, from the part where he should rather be loved than feared. You have also such a word in the Song of Isaiah: A vineyard was made for my beloved in a horn, in a fertile place, and so forth, until it says: The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah, his pleasant plant (Isaiah V). However, the beloved from the beloved can be understood as the Son from the Father, just as light from light, God from God, which is rightly believed and confessed. For just as there is one love and one divinity of the Father and the Son, so there is one affection, with John bearing witness, who says: And everyone who loves Him who generated, loves him who is born of Him (1 John III). A worthy response follows from the part of the bride.

My beloved is white and ruddy, etc. White, because appearing in the flesh, he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth (1 Peter II); ruddy, because he washed us from our sins in his blood (Revelation I). And white well first, then ruddy, because first he came into the world holy, and afterwards, through his passion, he left the world bloodstained. Chosen out of thousands, because from all humanity there is one Mediator between God and men, through whom the world was reconciled, alone among mortals was he worthy to hear from God in heaven: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew III), that is, in whom nothing offensive to me is found, and all the weight of virtue in which I rejoice. Hence Ecclesiastes rightly says of him: One man among a thousand I found; a woman among them all I have not found (Ecclesiastes VI): understand one shining with perfect justice. This needs to be understood in these words, the subsequent sentence declares, which says: Only this I have found, that God made man upright, but he has sought out many schemes. His head is the best gold. The Apostle says, because the head of the woman is the man; the head of the man is Christ; and the head of Christ is God (1 Corinthians II); which indeed head is the best gold, because just as gold is considered nothing more precious among metals, so the unique and eternal goodness of God justly surpasses all the good things which He Himself made.

His hair lifted like palm trees, etc. The hair of the beloved's head is the throng of saints, who adhere to God with faithful service; and deservedly are they compared to raised palm trees, because they expect the sweetness of perpetual reward. Hence it is that the Psalmist says: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree" (Psalm 92). Deservedly they are said to be black as a raven, because they acknowledge that they cannot have this sweetness from themselves, but hope to receive it from him who said: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me" (John 15). Indeed, they realize they have nothing but darkness from themselves, as the Apostle reminds: "For ye were once darkness, but now are light in the Lord" (Ephesians 5). Nor is it surprising that we are compared to the blackness of ravens before the washing of regeneration, since the Master of truth said to the apostles themselves who were already following him: "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children" (Matthew 7). But let us also see if the lawgiver found any raven-blackness amidst the raised palm trees in the hair of the spouse? For seeing the light of divine glory, he immediately recognized the darkness of human depravity, and rebuked it, saying: "Lord, Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, who keeps steadfast love for thousands, who forgives iniquity and transgression and sin, and none is innocent before you by themselves" (Matthew 7). Therefore, the hair of the spouse, that is, the cohorts of the righteous, are raised like palm trees, black as a raven, because they tend toward the joys of victory indeed through the mercy of the Lord, but recognize themselves. This verse can also be understood in regard to those spirits who eternally adhere to their Creator in the heavenly homeland. The higher they contemplate the glory of the unchangeable and everlasting majesty, the more truly they perceive how weak and vile everything created is. Apponius interprets the hair of the bridegroom as the virtues of the angels, adding: "By 'the raised palm branches,' he indicated that the aforementioned ministries never waver in their strength and duty but always remain lofty; just as the leaves of the palms, always holding the force of greenness, are elevated high." Julian speaks of this thus: "The hair can also be signified by another comparison, where the form of the curls seems to imitate the brilliance of gold. His hair, like the raised palm branches, that they may appear surely curly and glowing." And a little later: "As if he were to say: To the divinity of the saints of his, both men and angels minister in attendance, and celebrate the honor of the king with continuous praise; and so they are conspicuous in the dignity of their ministry, that they excel like palm leaves, shine like gold. But yet they understand Him whom they serve so well that not only do they assume no airs of pride, but in great humility appear dusky and dark." Moreover, another translation, instead of "raised palm branches," used a single word, "his hair like a fir tree." We indeed know that in Greek, the fir tree is called “elates,” and it never changes with the infirmity of withering; hence it seems “elates” in this place is a Greek word, not Latin, meaning the name of the tree specifically. Pliny the Elder also seems to confirm this when writing about perfumes, he says: "Moreover, there is a tree pertaining to these perfumes, which some call 'elates,' which we call fir, others palm, and others spathe." From these words, it can be inferred that "elates" are trees having some similarity to the palm or fir, apt for making perfumes. Thus, our interpreter called "elates" palm branches, which means fir trees related to palms, so that we might understand not the common type of fir used for buildings and ships, but the special type suited for perfumes; which also aptly fits the symbols, for the hair of the bridegroom is compared to trees of perfumes, implying that the crowds of saints, who familiarly adhere to their Creator like hair to the head, are filled with the grace of virtues. When they diligently serve the divine majesty, they ornament the head like perfumed hair embellishes the bridegroom. Finally, Mary Magdalene poured nard on the Lord's head, making his hair similar to the raised palm branches, which means aromatic trees, in the mystery of her great devotion.