Song of Solomon 2:17

For thus he says: "I to my brother, and his desire is towards me." He repeats this meaning in a different way three times in the Song of Songs. In the beginning, he says: "My brother to me, and I to him, who grazes among the lilies, until the day breathes and the shadows flee away." Then he says: "I to my brother, and my brother to me, who grazes among the lilies." In the end, he says: "I to my brother, and his desire is towards me." First, as a foundational instruction for the soul, he said: "My brother to me." For with him as my teacher, my soul also took on an attachment to God: which follows, according to progress: thirdly, according to perfection. In the first, the soul still sees shadows as in an instruction, not yet moved by the revelation of the approaching Word, but for this reason the days of the Gospel did not yet shine on it: in the second, it gathers the sweet scents without the confusion of shadows: in the third, it now provides perfect rest in itself with the Word; that it may turn over on it, bend its head, and rest, holding the merit which it could not previously find in its search.

Since, then, there are in the Old Testament precepts that we who belong to the New Testament are not compelled to observe, why do not the Jews realize that they have remained stationary in useless antiquity rather than hurl charges against us who hold fast to the new promises, because we do not observe the old? Just as it is written in the Canticle of Canticles: “The day has broken, let the shadows retire,” the spiritual meaning has already dawned, the natural action has already ceased. “The God of Gods, the Lord has spoken: and he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.”

With the barren synagogue abandoned, she asks the bridegroom to come to those downtrodden and humiliated and formerly idolatrous souls who will be raised with him to heavenly heights.

He pastures his flocks among the lilies, therefore, although he does so only until the coming day emerges and the shadows begin to move on. Since the majority of people think that the events which are passing and not stable are fixed and will remain, because their faculty of discernment is obscured by the darkness of ignorance, they have need of the daylight in order to see that the shadows of the things of this world dissipate and have no permanence. For all present realities are shadows, drawing their origin from the good things of the heavens yet subsisting like shadows, only resembling the truth of the things there above. But once the night has passed and the dawn has arisen, the nature of things from on high is clearly seen, as if in sunlight. Then people realize: “Our life on the earth is a shadow.” Then they say, “My days, as the shadow, are in decline,” indicating how feeble and quick to vanish is temporal success. The one who says, “If there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is only one God the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom all things come and through whom we exist,” can also say, “My beloved is mine, and I am his,” for the meaning is identical in each text. For anyone who renounces both gods and lords lays claim to the one God and Lord, from whom he exists and to whom he returns. “For,” it says, “for us there is one God from whom all things come and for whom we exist,” thus declaring clearly that “he is mine, and I am his.” …Regarding the expression “the shadows move on,” it is necessary to consider … that it refers to the abrogation of the works of the law. That is the shadow frequently cited by Paul as “the law having the shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the realities,” and again “These are only a shadow of the things to come, but the substance is of Christ,” and again, “They provide a copy and a shadow of the heavenly realities,” meaning the priests that functioned according to the law. Thus it is indicated for certain that, the shadow of the law having moved on, the truth of grace now governs, established upon the rock against which “the gates of hell shall never prevail.” …
It should also be remarked that it is everywhere necessary for the Word to rest upon the mountains, or at least upon the hills. And if the Word is ever found in the valleys or chasms, he is found there by reason of his great condescension and with the intention to restore those who are down there to the higher realities, on account of his love for humankind.

In this verse, the Lord’s resurrection is taught and foretold. Just as the apostles were afraid without him, terrorized by the treachery of the Jews, so also is the soul, which, in a certain sense, is naked and unarmed without the assistance of the Holy Spirit, terrorized by the treachery of demons.

Return, be like, my beloved, a roe or a young deer, etc. Because, he says, you have stirred and provoked me to cultivate the vineyards, that is, to instruct and multiply the faithful people, who have been ordered to drive away the cunning plots of attackers, like little foxes, from these same vineyards, because you wanted me to show my face to you, although you have not yet promised to reveal your face clearly to me, but making your acquaintance partly known to me, as if you speak to me through windows and lattice work. I beseech you to return more often from general instruction, to illuminate more sublimely the hearts of the more advanced, and just as the gaze, though rare, is with delight seen on the mountains from the roe or the young deer, so may your presence be any kind of traces of your greatness in the exalted minds. I pray that you reveal the sweetness of immortal life, which you promise to all my members in recompense, to be speculated upon even by some along the way, albeit from a distance. Furthermore, the name of the mountains suits the minds of those who have learned to open the eyes of the heart to the contemplation of heavenly things; when it is said, Over the mountains of Bether. For Bether is interpreted as a rising house, or a house of watches; and those who ascend more diligently in mind to the desires of the higher things, who more zealously watch to receive these, deservedly see the heavenly mysteries more excellently than others. But if it is read, as some manuscripts have, Over the mountains of Bethel, that is, the house of God, it has no question at all; for it is clear that the hearts of the righteous are rightly called mountains of the house of God, as opposed to the mountains of Samaria and Esau, and the like, that is, of heretics and all the proud. In another edition, we have seen written instead of this name, Over the mountains of spices and perfumes, which equally fits the minds of the saints, who are not dried up by vain thoughts, but, as with the healthful juices of the aromatic tree, are always refreshed with the internal sweetness and charity: about which juices and perfumes it has been signified often in this volume under the name of incense, myrrh, and aloes, and the like. But because lovers of truth come not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles, and from both peoples one Church of the faithful is gathered, it remains in the song of love, after the vocation of Judea and the most sweet dialogue with its Redeemer, also to relate specifically how the Gentiles, in what order, have come to the recognition of salvation, and with what love they have held this found. Thus follows the voice of the beloved Church from the Gentiles.

Until the day breaks, etc. That is, until the eternal light of the future age arises, and the shadows of this present life, that is, of ignorance or error, under which even we faithful now walk, who use the lamp of the word of God, until they pass away. For when that day desired by all nations begins to break forth, the Lord will no longer feed among the lilies, that is, among the assemblies of the saints, whom He will rather refresh with the eternal vision of His glory. "I will be satisfied," he says, "when your glory is revealed" (Psalm 16); and, "Blessed are those who hunger now, for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5). Nor is this, which compares present life to the shadows of night, and future life to the day, contrary to the apostolic saying; which testifies of this life we now live, saying, "The night is far gone; the day is at hand" (Romans 15); for, to speak briefly, the present life of the faithful, who, casting off the works of darkness, put on the armor of light, is indeed day in comparison to the unbelievers, who know or love nothing of true light; but in comparison to the future blessedness, where true light is seen eternally, it is still a very dark night. However, because the holy Church in this world recognizes two spiritual lives, one active and the other contemplative, Divine Scripture customarily speaks now of this, now of that, and now of both together. Above, making mention of the contemplative life, it says of the Lord, "Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag." And then beginning with the active life, it says, "Behold, he stands behind our wall," and so on, until it says, "Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes." All these things, well considered, urge us to the duty of good action. Then he adds of both together, "My beloved is mine, and I am his; he feeds among the lilies until the day breaks and the shadows flee away": for in both lives the beloved feeds among the lilies, because the Lord delights in the pure outward works and the sweet inner contemplation of the eternal ones of his chosen ones, and he is refreshed in his members. And this until the true light of day breaks, for then neither are we troubled by any labor of good work, nor do even the most perfect behold heavenly things through a glass darkly and momentarily, but the whole Church will see the King of Heaven in His beauty forever: of which vision, since any taste, however slight, greatly delights the spouse of Christ, it is aptly added: