I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon

 

I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Song 1:4 Vulgate (Song 1:5 RNAB)

From Sermon 27.2

“What does she mean then by saying: ‘I am beautiful like the curtains of Solomon’?” I feel here we have a great and wonderful mystery, provided we apply the words, not to the Solomon of this Song, but to him who said of himself: ‘What is here is greater than Solomon.’ Mt 12:42 This Solomon to whom I refer is so great a Solomon that he is called not only Peaceful … but Peace itself: for Paul proclaims that ‘He is our Peace.’ Eph 2:14 … It was he, and not the former Solomon, who spoke these words of God his Father: ‘When he set the heavens in their place, I was there.’ Prov 8:27 His power and his wisdom were undoubtedly present at the establishing of the heavens. 1 Cor 1:24”

Sermon 27.3

3. The bride's form must be understood in a spiritual sense, her beauty as something that is grasped by the intellect; it is eternal because it is an image of eternity. Her gracefulness consists of love, and you have read that "love never ends."1 Cor 13:8 It consists of justice, for "her justice endures forever.” Ps 112:3 It consists of patience, and Scripture tells you ' 'the patience of the poor shall not perish forever." Ps10:19 … Therefore the Church, possessing the promise of happiness to come 1 Tim 4:8, now prepares for it by adorning herself with a variety of graces and virtues Ps 45:10, in order to be found worthy and capable of the fulness of grace.

 Sermon 27.7

7. These two then have their origin in heaven – Jesus the Bridegroom and Jerusalem the Bride. He, in order to be seen by men, “emptied himself taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”⁴⁴ But the bride—in what form or exterior loveliness, in what guise did St John see her coming down? ⁴⁵ Was it perhaps in the company of the angels whom he saw ascending and descending upon the Son of Man? ⁴⁶ It is more accurate to say that he saw the bride when he looked on the Word made flesh, and acknowledged two natures in the one flesh. ⁴⁷ For when that holy Emmanuel introduced to earth the curriculum of heavenly teaching, when we came to know the visible image and radiant comeliness of that supernal Jerusalem,⁴⁸ our mother, revealed to us in Christ and by his means, what did we behold if not the bride in the Bridegroom? What did we admire but that same person who is the Lord of glory,⁴⁹ the Bridegroom decked with a garland, the bride adorned with her jewels? ^so "He who descended is he also who ascended,' '⁵¹ since "no one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven,” ⁵² the one and same Lord who as head of the Church is the Bridegroom, as body is the bride. This heaven-formed man did not appear on earth in vain, ⁵³ since he endowed a multitude of earthly followers with his own heavenly image.⁵⁴ As Scripture says: "the heavenly Man is the pattern of all the heavenly."⁵⁵ From that time the lives of many on earth have been like the lives of heaven's citizens, as when, after the example of that exalted and blessed bride, she who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,⁵⁶ embraced the heavenly Bridegroom with a chaste love. Though, unlike the blessed bride, not yet united to him by vision, she is still espoused to him by faith, as God promised through the Prophet's words: "I will betroth you to me in steadfast love and mercy, I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. "⁵⁷ Hence she strives more and more to resemble her who came from heaven, learning from her to be modest and prudent, learning to be chaste and holy, to be patient and compassionate, and ultimately to be meek and humble of heart. By these virtues she endeavors, even while absent,⁵⁹ to be pleasing to him on whom the angels long to look. ⁶⁰ With a love angelic in its fervor she shows herself to be a fellow-citizen with the saints and a domestic of God, ⁶¹ she shows that she is beloved, that she is a bride.

 44. Phil 2:7    45. Rev 21:2    46. Jn 1:51    47. Gen 2:24    48. Gal 4:26; Ps 49:2    49. 1 Cor     50. Is 61:10   51. Eph 4:10    52. Jn 3.13   53. Bar 3:38   54. 1 Cor 15:47   55. 1 Cor 15:48   56. 1 Kings 10:1-10   57. Hos 2:19-20   58. Mt 11:29   59. 2 Cor 5:9

60. 1 Pet 1:12   61. Eph 2:19

Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you shepherd, where you give rest at midday. Song 1:7

 Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you shepherd, where you give rest at midday. Song 1:7 (RNAB)

Shew me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou liest in the midday …. Song 1:6 (Vulgate)

 I will say to God: Do not put me in the wrong! Let me know why you oppose me. Job 10:2 (RNAB)

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths. Ps 25:4

He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Ps 23:3

Lord, I love the refuge of your house, the site of the dwelling-place of your glory. Ps 26:8

Citing these scriptural passages St. Bernard begins to weave a homily on verse seven (vs. 6 in the Vulgate), chapter one, of the Song of Songs.

“Therefore the man who longs for God does not cease to seek these three things, righteousness, judgement, and the place where the Bridegroom dwells in glory.” Ser.33.1

 “But take note in the first place how exquisitely she [the bride] distinguishes spiritual love from carnal desire, when, in her wish to draw her Beloved’s attention by her affection rather than by his name, she does not say simply, ‘whom I love,’ but ‘O you whom my soul loves.’ Thereby indicating that her love is spiritual.” Ser 33.2

On display is St. Bernard’s gift for exegetical nuance. The phrase he interprets could easily be read as ‘whom I love’ in a casual reading.

“Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you shepherd, where you give rest at midday.”

Bernard now with the same exegetical skills hones in on, “where you shepherd, where you give rest at midday.” 

“II. Consider carefully then, what it is that gives her so much pleasure in the place of pasture. Nor must you ignore the reference to the hour of noon, nor above all that she looks for a place where he who feeds the flock, also lies down, a sign of great security. … in this place there is no need to stand and keep watch for the safety of the flock, since the flock freely wanders in the meadows while the shepherd lies down and rests in the shade. Happy the place in which the sheep move to and fro at will, [Jn 10:9] and no one to frighten them! … What can the bride do but yearn for that place of rest, of security, of exultation, of wonder, of overwhelming joy. But alas! Unhappy me, far from it as I am, saluting it from afar, the very memory of it causes me to weep with the affection expressed by those exiles: ‘By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion! (Ps 137:1) Let me cry out both with the bride and with the prophet: ‘Praise your God. O Zion! For he strengthened the bars of your gates; he blesses your sons within you.’ (Ps 148:1-2) Who would not be filled with vehement longing to be fed in that place, on account of its peace, on account of its richness, on account of its super-abundance? There one experiences neither fear not distaste, nor any want. Paradise is a safe dwelling-place, the Word is sweet nourishment, eternity is wealth beyond calculation.” Ser 33:2

St. Bernard was preaching to 12^th century monks. His rhetoric, encompassing the sweeping history of the people of God, from the melancholy Israel in exile to paradise where “the Word is sweet nourishment”, from the God of Abraham to the Son of God, evokes a passion in St. Bernard that we modern Catholics may find difficult to evoke in ourselves.

He continues to entreat his fellow monks:

“Let us make sure then my sons, let us make haste to a place that is safer, to a pasture that is sweeter, to a land that is richer and more fertile. Let us make haste to a place where we may dwell without fear, where we may abound and never want, where we may feast and never weary. For while passing judgement tranquilly on all things, (Wis 12:18) O Lord of hosts, you feed in security and with fairness all who dwell in that place, you who are at the same time the Lord of armies and the shepherd of sheep.” Ser 33.4

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II

SEEING THROUGH THE EYES OF FAITH

 

St. Bernard by El Greco  

from Sermon 28

IV. Faith cannot be deceived. With the power to understand invisible truths, faith does not know the poverty of the senses; it transcends even the limits of human reason, the capacity of nature, the bounds of experience. Why do you ask the eye to do what it is not equipped to do? And why does the hand endeavor to examine things beyond its reach? What you may learn from these senses is of limited value. But faith will tell you of me without detracting from my greatness. Learn to receive with greater confidence, to follow with greater security, whatever faith commends to you. "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.”⁷⁴ As if after he had ascended he wished to be or could be touched by her! And yet he could be touched, but by the heart, not by the hand; by desire, not by the eye; by faith, not by the senses. "Why do you want to touch me now," he says, "would you measure the glory of the resurrection by a physical touch? Do you not remember that, while was still mortal, the eyes of the disciples could not endure for a short space the glory of my transfigured body that was destined to die?⁷⁵ I still accommodate myself to your senses by bearing this form of a servant which you are accustomed to seeing. But this glory of mine is too wonderful for you, so high that you cannot reach it.⁷⁶  Defer your judgment therefore, refrain from expressing an opinion, do not entrust the defining of so great a matter to the senses, it is for faith to pronounce on it. With its fuller comprehension, faith will define it more worthily and more surely. In its deep and mystical breast it can grasp what is the length and breath and height and depth.⁷⁷ 'What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived '⁷⁸ is borne within itself by faith, as if wrapped in a covering and kept under seal.

74. Jn 20:17    75. Mt 17:6    76. Ps 139:6    77. Eph 3:18    78. 1 Cor 2:9

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II

THE RIGHTEOUS WHO LOVE YOU

 

The first thought that came to mind when I began to read St. Bernard's sermons on the Song of Songs is how eighty-six sermons could be created for a text that is only eight chapters long. Here I am in Sermon 24 and St. Bernard is still expounding on verse 1:3.

The king hath brought me into his storerooms: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, remembering thy breasts more than wine: the righteous love thee. Song 1:3 (Vulgate)

The fact is that St. Bernard digresses often. Sermon 24 consists of two themes. Entitled “DETRACTION AND MAN’S RIGHTEOUSNESS”, the sermon speaks of those who are critical of the bride.

… for in almost any group of young maidens I find some who watch the bride’s actions, not to imitate but to disparage them. Ser 24.3

After four paragraphs of describing the disparagement he cites, he begins to describe what the righteous are like. 

ll. 5. … let me return to the theme I set out to explain, and show who are to be understood here as the "righteous." I am sure that nobody here with a right understanding would hold that those who love the bride [the Church?] are being spoken of in regard to physical perfection. It is spiritual righteousness, that of the soul, that must be explained. It is the Spirit who teaches, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.²⁷ Therefore God made man righteous in his soul,²⁸ not in the body made of earthly slime. He created him according to his own image and likeness.²⁹ He is the one of whom you sing: "The Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him."³⁰ God in his righteousness made man righteous like himself, without iniquity, since there is no iniquity in him. Iniquity is a fault in the heart, not in the flesh, and so you should realize that the likeness of God is to be preserved or restored in your spirit, not in the body of gross clay. For "God is a spirit,”³¹ and those who wish to persevere in or attain to his likeness must enter into their hearts, and apply themselves spiritually to that work, until "with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord," they "become transfigured into the same likeness, borrowing glory from that glory, as the Spirit of the Lord enables them.”³²

 27.1 Cor  2:13    28.Ecles 7:29    29. Gen 1:26    30. Ps 91:16    31. Jn 4:24 32. 32 Cor 3:18

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II