Song of Solomon 4:1

[The church] mourns in its eyes, that is in its faithful, because it is written, “Your eyes are as doves apart from your reticence,” because they see spiritually and know how to keep silent about the mysteries which they have seen.

But Christ, beholding his church, for whom he himself, as you find in the book of the prophet Zechariah, had put on filthy garments, now clothed in white raiment, seeing, that is, a soul pure and washed in the laver of regeneration, says, “Behold, you are fair, my love, behold you are fair, your eyes are like a dove’s,” in the likeness of which the Holy Spirit descended from heaven. The eyes are beautiful like those of a dove, because in the likeness of a dove the Holy Spirit descended from heaven.

We are not to administer rebukes until we have removed from our eye the beam of envy or malice or pretense, so that we may have clear vision to cast out the speck from a brother’s eye. For we shall then see that speck with the eyes of the dove, the kind of eyes that are commended [as belonging to] the spouse of Christ, the glorious church which God has chosen for himself, the church which has neither spot nor wrinkle, that is, the church which is pure without guile.

Having been cleansed from every habit of the vices of the flesh and converted to the one true God from the worship of a multitude of shameful gods, Christ the Lord praises the twin beauty of the church of the Gentiles, both body and soul. For the first beauty of the soul is that it would know its Creator, second that it would know itself, the kind of thing it is or the reason for which it was created.

So they say that these eyes have fainted after the Lord’s salvation, because of the holy coming of the incarnation, which they bore with such longing that it could allow them no rest. So they were right to faint, because they had no period of leisure.

Your eyes are those of doves, etc. Your senses are lofty and venerable in the contemplation of spiritual matters, by which you also deserved to see and recognize my gifts, which you recently expounded; my diadem, which you preached. For, as we mentioned above, the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove, and thus the name of that spiritual grace is fittingly signified.

For if goats and the hair or skins of goats always signified the foulness of sinners and never the humility of penitents, that animal would by no means have been reckoned among the clean [animals], nor would it have been said in praise of the bride: “Your hair is like a flock of goats.”

Without that which lies hidden within. Without the invisible reward in the heavens, which in your pilgrimage on earth you are not yet able to see. For this is the greater beauty of glory, which cannot be worthily evaluated at present. And beautifully, where he praises the simplicity of her eyes, that is, the knowledge of what is hidden in her, he also calls her a friend, according to the Lord's words: "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (John XV).

Your hair is like a flock of goats, etc. If the sharpness of the spiritual senses is rightly understood in the eyes of the bride, the purity of countless general thoughts can not inappropriately be recognized in the hair, which in the saints, even though sometimes undertaken for the administration of temporal things, are never separated from the intention of heavenly matters. For it is written that Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in Asia. He was hurrying, if possible, to be in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost (Acts 20). Here, he was indeed occupied with such thoughts regarding the earthly journey; but he was undertaking the earthly journey with the intention of a heavenly reward. This must also be understood about the trade of tent-making, which he practiced with Aquila and Priscilla, for the thoughts with which they fulfilled it were indeed temporal, but the gaze was fixed on the eternal, so that by this earthly work they might support the ministry of the Gospel, which was heavenly. Thus, the hair of the bride is aptly compared to the flocks of goats that ascended from Mount Gilead. These are clean animals and are accustomed to climbing the heights of cliffs or trees for the sake of seeking food, because evidently, the thoughts of the elect, as we said, even though they engage in earthly matters, nonetheless aim at heavenly things, and even when they care for the needs of the flesh, they direct the sharpness of the mind rather towards the well-being of the soul and the heavenly nourishment. Moreover, in the eyes of the bride, the preachers of the Holy Church can also be understood, through whom the hidden secrets of heavenly mysteries, which the general multitude of believers does not see, are revealed. In the hair, the faithful people can also be understood, who, although they are less skilled in overseeing and governing the steps of the Church, nonetheless provide it with great honor through their numerous acts of obedience. Of these things, the Lord Himself, when preaching to the disciples sent to preach, said, "You will be hated by all because of my name;" he immediately added by consolation, "Not a hair from your head will perish" (Luke 12). This is to say plainly: although the hate of persecutors rages, they cannot even seize your slightest, namely your head, from among those who belong to me. Hair, in this context, is aptly compared to herds of goats; for sinners are customarily designated by goats; and since the entire Church truly acknowledges that it cannot be free from sin, how much more must those who are in a common life do this, because we all offend in many ways (James 3)! Therefore, the faithful have sin, but they nonetheless strive through daily advances of good works toward that life where they may be free from all sin. For this reason, it is aptly added about those same goats: "Which ascended from Mount Gilead:" for they dwell indeed on the mystical mount, all who are united to the body of their Redeemer. But the goats ascended the same mount, seeking the upper parts of the mount to graze, as they who are humble and conscious of their sins and frailty, fired by the very fear of their weakness, always strive to lift themselves up to the pastures of heavenly life in Christ. Indeed, we read in the Book of Numbers and Chronicles that Mount Gilead had very good and abundant pastures. This aptly fits that very high and very fruitful mountain from which the city itself, which is built on it, that is, the holy Church, is wont to say: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want; in a place of pasture, there he has placed me" (Psalm 22). The name of the mountain itself is also pertinent, being called "a heap of testimony." For the Lord is the heap of testimony, because in Him is gathered and united all the multitude of the saints, namely the living stones, who have been proved by the testimony of faith, as the Apostle says. Thus, the hair of the bride is compared to flocks of goats, which, grazing on this mount, always strive to ascend to higher places, because whether the temporal thoughts of the elect or the more fragile people of the Church, the less they find themselves to be free from fault, the higher they seek the help of Him from whom they understand themselves to be liberated.

How beautiful art thou: Christ again praises the beauties of his church, which through the whole of this chapter are exemplified by a variety of metaphors, setting forth her purity, her simplicity, and her stability.