Song of Songs — Chapter 3

In lectulo meo per noctes quaesivi quem diligit anima mea quaesivi illum et non inveni

In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him and found him not. The night-scene of the Bride seeking the Bridegroom. The night = the darkness of the present life before the full coming of Christ's kingdom; or the night of sin and spiritual desolation; or the sufferings of persecution. Three interpretations: (1) The Church (or soul) in spiritual desolation, when God seems absent, seeks Him by prayer and desire; (2) The Synagogue seeking the Messiah throughout the long night of the Old Testament; (3) The contemplative soul in the dark night of the spirit (John of the Cross), seeking Christ when His consolations are withdrawn. \"I found him not\" = God tests the soul by concealing Himself, to intensify desire and deepen love. Gregory: God withdraws sometimes to make the soul seek Him more fervently. Bernard: the absence felt in seeking Christ is itself a gift — for only those who love can feel His absence.

Surgam et circuibo civitatem per vicos et plateas quaeram quem diligit anima mea

I will rise and will go about the city; in the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth. The city = Jerusalem (historically); the Church (allegorically); or the soul's own interior (tropologically). Going about the city seeking = the Church's active apostolic mission, seeking Christ by serving Him in the poor, the sick, the sinners. The \"vicos et plateas\" (streets and broad ways) = the various conditions and states of life in which Christ is found: among the poor, in the Sacraments, in the Word of God, in prayer. Tropologically: the soul must leave the bed of tepidity and sloth, arise from spiritual lethargy, and seek Christ actively through all the activities of a fervent spiritual life. Origen: seeking in the streets = searching Scripture and preaching; seeking in the broad ways = public works of charity. The soul seeks but does not yet find — God prolonging the search to intensify charity.

Invenerunt me vigiles qui custodiunt civitatem, videtis ne quem dilexit anima mea

The watchmen who guard the city found me: Have you seen him whom my soul loveth? The watchmen = the Bishops and Pastors of the Church, whose office it is to guard the city of God against enemies (heretics, pagans, vices). They find the Church Bride as she goes about seeking Christ — she questions them about Christ, desiring their guidance. Cassiodorus: the watchmen = priests and Bishops who watch over souls through preaching, correction, and example. Origen: the watchmen = the Apostles and their successors who keep watch over the Church. The Bride's question = the Church's perpetual consultation with her pastors about Christ. Augustine: the watchmen = Scripture and the Fathers, whose writings are our guides in seeking God. Tropologically: the soul asks its spiritual directors and confessors to help it find Christ.

Paululum cum pertransissem eos inveni quem diligit anima mea tenui eum nec dimittam donec introducam illum in domum matris meae

A little while after I had passed them, I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him and I will not let him go, till I bring him into my mother's house and into the chamber of her that bore me. The Church finds Christ shortly after passing the watchmen = the soul that accepts the guidance of pastors and passes through it arrives at the living Christ. \"Tenui eum nec dimittam\" = the Church holds Christ by faith, hope, and charity, and does not let go; or the soul holds Christ by contemplative union. The \"mother's house\" = (1) The Roman Church, the mother of all Churches, into which the Church of the Gentiles introduces Christ through the apostolic succession from Peter; (2) the Synagogue/Jerusalem into which the Gentile Church will bring Christ in the last days (Gregory, Cassiodorus, Bede, Alcuin). Anagogically: the soul introduces Christ into heaven, the house of the heavenly mother Jerusalem (Gal 4:26).

Adiuro vos filiae Hierusalem per capreas cervosque camporum ne suscitetis neque evigilare faciatis dilectam donec ipsa velit

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the harts of the fields, that you stir not up nor make the beloved to awake, till she herself will. Repetition of Sg 2:7. The purpose is to emphasize the sacredness of the mystical sleep — the Church in contemplative union with Christ must not be disturbed. Those who have attained union with God are not to be drawn away by lesser things, even good ones, while in that state. The daughters of Jerusalem = holy souls of lesser perfection who might disturb (through zeal or impatience) those more advanced. The adjuration by roes and harts = by all that is most swift and spiritual in divine love. Bernard: the repetition indicates how jealously Christ guards the repose of the contemplative soul. Rupert: God Himself protects the mystical sleep of the Church against all who would disturb it prematurely.

Quae est ista quae ascendit per desertum sicut virgula fumi ex aromatibus myrrhae et thuris et universi pulveris pigmentarii

Who is this that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer? The questioners are the angels marvelling at the Church's ascent. Four interpretations of \"who is this\": (1) The Church ascending through the desert of the world by penance, prayer, and virtue; (2) The Blessed Virgin ascending in her Assumption (Rupert, Jerome); (3) The penitent soul ascending through contrition and confession (Bernard); (4) The contemplative soul ascending toward God by desire (Gregory, Philo). The desert = the present world, stripped of true goods. The pillar of smoke = the continuous upward ascent of prayer and desire toward God (smoke rises while seeming to have no substance, thus signifying pure spiritual desire). Myrrh = mortification and penance; frankincense = prayer and praise; all the perfumer's powders = the full variety of virtues.

En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt ex fortissimis Israel

Behold threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel surround the bed of Solomon. The bed/litter of Solomon = (1) The Roman Church and the Papacy, in which Christ the true Solomon reposes (Cassiodorus, Gregory, Philo, Thomas); (2) The primitive Church of Jerusalem and Antioch; (3) The humanity of Christ itself, in which the Godhead rests (Aponius). The sixty valiant men = the Bishops, Doctors, Prelates, and Popes who guard the Church of Christ in every age with the sword of doctrine (the Word of God, Eph 6:17). \"Most valiant of Israel\" = those who have overcome the spiritual enemies by orthodox faith and holy life. Specifically, the Roman Pontiffs who have guarded the faith against all heresies for sixteen centuries are compared to these sixty guards. The number sixty = a number of perfection (Honorius).

Omnes tenentes gladios et ad bella doctissimi unusquisque ensis super femur suum propter timores nocturnos

All holding swords and most expert in war, each man's sword upon his thigh because of fears in the night. The swords = the Word of God (Heb 4:12), which the Bishops and Doctors carry to defend the Church against heresy, vice, and demonic attack. \"Doctissimi ad bella\" = the Church's defenders must be thoroughly trained in theology, Scripture, and moral wisdom — not novices but experts. The sword upon the thigh = (1) the bishop's authority and jurisdiction; (2) mortification of carnal desires (the sword of continence, cutting off carnal passion); (3) prayer, which repels nocturnal fears (i.e., hidden temptations); (4) the love of God (Richard of St. Victor), which arms the soul against all the nocturnal fears of spiritual attack. \"Timores nocturnos\" = the hidden attacks of demons, heresies, and moral temptations that come under cover of spiritual darkness.

Ferculum fecit sibi rex Salomon de lignis Libani

King Solomon hath made himself a litter of the wood of Lebanon. The litter (ferculum) = (1) The Roman Church and the Papacy, which is the portable seat of Christ's kingship, capable of being moved to another city if necessary (Cassiodorus, Gregory, Philo); (2) The Sacred Eucharist, in which Christ is carried in procession for the veneration of the faithful (Philo Carpathius); (3) The Cross of Christ, on which He triumphed over sin, death, and the devil (Aponius); (4) The humanity of Christ, the throne and vehicle of His divinity (Philo Carpathius). The wood of Lebanon = incorruptible wood = the immortal and pure nature of Christ's humanity received from the Blessed Virgin (Lebanon = white, candid purity). Cedar = incorruptibility. The Church rests securely as on a litter, borne by Christ and the Apostles.

Columnas eius fecit argenteas reclinatorium aureum ascensum purpureum media caritate constravit propter filias Hierusalem

The pillars thereof of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple: the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem. The silver pillars = the Doctors and Preachers of the Church, who by the silver of their eloquence and wisdom support the faith (Cassiodorus); or the charisms of sacred Scripture, the silver of divine eloquence. The golden seat = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, on which Christ reclines in the Church; or the contemplation of divine truth which is the highest faculty of the soul. The purple going up = the Passion and blood of Christ by which access to God is gained; or the martyrs whose blood purples the Church's ascent to heaven. \"Covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem\" = the whole structure is held together by love — the charity of Christ for souls is the foundation of the entire Church.

Egredimini et videte filiae Sion regem Salomonem in diademate quo coronavit eum mater sua in die desponsationis illius et in die laetitiae cordis eius

Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals and in the day of the joy of his heart. The Bride invites the daughters of Sion (= souls of all the faithful) to contemplate Christ the true Solomon crowned with the diadem of His human nature — the quintuple crown, signifying five aspects of His glory: (1) Crown of the Incarnation; (2) Crown of His divine wisdom; (3) Crown of His passion and death; (4) Crown of His Resurrection; (5) Crown of His eternal Kingship. The mother who crowns Him = (1) The Synagogue/Humanity, which gave Him His human nature; (2) The Blessed Virgin Mary, whose virginal womb was His royal chamber; (3) The human nature itself, which He received from the Blessed Virgin (Gregory, Jerome, Philo). The \"day of espousals\" = the day of the Incarnation, when Christ took the Church as His Bride. \"The day of the joy of his heart\" = the day of the Nativity, or the day of the Resurrection.