The Bride Comes Up from the Desert

One might also say that the holy soul of the Church, once a child bereft of God, comes up from the gathering of the nations, 'from the desert' (Song of Songs 3:6): she leaves behind teachings, words and deeds that are empty of God, and rises to the things of God. Let the spiritual union, precious and divine, be understood as the gold (Song of Songs 3:10). For gold coated the ark in the desert too, inside and out (Exodus 25:11), to make the divine union plain. The purple (Song of Songs 3:10) rests upon the multitude of those called to the kingdom. And whenever anyone believes, he receives into his heart Christ, who is the precious pearl (Matthew 13:46).

And the litter, he says, was made from the daughters of Jerusalem out of love alone (Song of Songs 3:9–10): 'For God so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16).

It is the Church from the nations that says, 'Go forth and see' (Song of Songs 3:11). He calls the day of the Passion 'the day of His wedding', the day on which He took the Church as His bride through His blood (Acts 20:28). Her silence (Song of Songs 4:1) signifies obedience in everything, as in the words, 'Be silent and listen, Israel' (Deuteronomy 27:9). Or else the two fawns, the moral and the doctrinal teaching, are the bride's two breasts (Song of Songs 4:5); those nourished from them look toward God with keen sight. By the lilies he means the fragrance of the apostolic and Gospel words, on which we feed until the end.

'Come from Lebanon, bride' (Song of Songs 4:8). He teaches us where the bride comes from, and that she comes out of idolatry. For Lebanon is a mountain full of idols. From there, he says, you will come; and you will pass through the law, for without knowing the law you were instructed in the mystery of Christ.

'You have given us heart, my sister, bride' (Song of Songs 4:9). That is, you have drawn us to long for you by a single word of confession, which you held rightly, seeing with your inner eyes. For it was by submitting to the ornament on your neck that you made the confession. These words are spoken to her by the friends of the bridegroom, the angelic powers, I mean. For the activity of sight is twofold: one kind sees the truth, while the other wanders among vain things. Since the bride's pure eye is open to the nature of the good alone, while the other lies idle, the friends therefore offer their praise to one of her eyes. They call her sister because of the kinship that comes through freedom from passion, and bride because of her union with the Word.