St. Verena and the Three Holy Youth Bible Pleasure [Type here]

Transcription

1 Song of Solomon 8 Fr. Gregory 8 Oh, that you were like my brother, Who nursed at my mother s breasts! If I should find you outside, I would kiss you; I would not be despised. 2 I would lead you and bring you Into the house of my mother, She who used to instruct me. I would cause you to drink of spiced wine, Of the juice of my pomegranate. AMBROSE: The church answers unto [God the Word], "Who will give you to me, my brother, you who did suck the breasts of my mother? If I find you outside I will kiss you, and indeed they will not despise me. I will take you, and bring you into the house of my mother; and into the secret chamber of her who conceived me. You shall teach me." You see how, delighted with the gifts of grace, she longs to attain to the innermost mysteries and to consecrate all her affections to Christ. She still seeks, she still stirs up his love, and asks of the daughters of Jerusalem to stir it up for her, and desires that by their beauty, which is that of faithful souls, her spouse may be incited to ever richer love for her. AMBROSE: What are the breasts of the church except the sacrament of baptism?... "Finding you without," he says, "I shall kiss you," that is, finding you outside the body, I embrace you with the kiss of mystical peace. No one shall despise you; no one shall shut you out. I will introduce you into the inner sanctuary and hidden places of Mother Church, and into all the secrets of mystery, so that you may drink the cup of spiritual grace. EMMANUEL In our midst but unknown. AMBROSE: Therefore she interceded so that he would go forth from the bosom of the Father, go out of doors like the bridegroom coming out from his chamber, and run his course (Ps 19:5 (18:6, LXX)). She interceded, too, that he would win those who were weak, would not linger on the distant throne of the Father and in that light, for those without strength cannot follow there. Instead he would be taken up and led into the dwelling of the bride and her chamber, that he would be out of doors for her but within for us, would be in our midst, even though unseen by us (John 1:26). The Little ones love Christ, these are the children in their belief and actions AMBROSE: Neither hold back the maidens of whom it is written, "Thus have the maidens loved you, and they have brought you into the house of their mother." You may not, then, separate the little ones from the love of Christ whom they proclaimed with prophetic exaltation even from their mother's womb God appoints times and seasons, He appointed the time for His Incarnation ATHANASIUS: Thus the God of all, after the manner of wise Solomon, distributes everything in time and season (Eccles 3:7), to the end that, at the right time, the salvation of humankind should be 1

2 everywhere spread abroad. In this way, "the Wisdom of God," (1 Cor 1:24) our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ... "passed into holy souls, making them friends of God, and prophets. (Wisd 7:27) Although very many were praying for his coming and saying, "O that the salvation of God would come out of Sion," (Ps 14:7, 13:7 LXX) the spouse also, as it is written in the Song of Songs, was praying and saying, "O that you were like a brother to me, that nursed at my mother's breasts." And the meaning of chat prayer is, "O that you were like humanity and would take on human nature for our sake.'' After all, it was God who set up times and seasons, and he knows our needs better than we do. Because he loves us, he exhorts us co do right things at right times so that we may be healed. Thus, when the appropriate time had come, the Father sent the Son, just as he had promised. FESTAL LETTERS 1.1 This is also a foreshadowing of the Passions of Christ, per St Cyril of Alexandria: CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Again, referring to the wine mingled with myrrh, the Canticle says, "I will give you a cup of spiced wine." (To the Daughters of Jerusalem) 3 His left hand is under my head, And his right hand embraces me. 4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, Do not stir up nor awaken love Until it pleases. God is embracing us. This is the Lord Jesus Christ hugging his church, taking care of His Vineyard. This is the Union with God that is pinnacled in the Holy Eucharist. Coming from the Wilderness 5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree. There your mother brought you forth; There she who bore you brought you forth. Leaning on Christ is what a Christian does, for Christ puts embraces me His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me (Songs 8:3). So I lean on Christ, through the Holy Church that is the BODY of Christ. AMBROSE: She ascends leaning on the Word of God. For those who are more perfect recline upon Christ, just as John also was reclining at Jesus' bosom (Jn 13:23). So then she either rested in Christ or reclined upon him or even-since I am speaking of a marriage-as if already given into the power of Christ, she was led to the bridal couch by the bridegroom. The Love of God renews us, as St. Augustine teaches us: Therefore Christ has given a new commandment to us: chat we love one another as he also has loved us. This love renews us that we may be new, heirs of the New Testament, singers of a new song. This love 2

3 renewed even then those just persons of ancient times, then the patriarchs and the prophets, as it did the blessed apostles later. Even now it also renews the nations, and from the whole human race, which is scattered over the whole world, it makes and gathers a new people, the body of the new spouse, the bride of the Son of God, the Only Begotten about whom it is said in the Song of Songs, "Who is this who comes up in white?" (in the LXX (Septuagint)) In white, of course, because renewed. By what, except by the new commandment? Again same theme of Whiteness by St. Augustine Oh, bride of Christ, beautiful among women! Oh, you in white, coming up and leaning upon your beloved! For by his light you are illuminated that you may shine; by his help you are supported that you may not fall! Oh, how well it is sung to you in that Song of Songs, your wedding song, as it were, that "there is love in your delights!"26 TRACTATES ON THE Gospel OF John Added to this that we are baptized in Christ, so we have put on Christ (Gal 3:27) but we are inadequate on our own actions to stay in the path of Christ; so we have to lean on our beloved, quoting St. Jerome: O mortal, you have now been cleansed in baptism, and it is said of you, "Who is she that comes up, cleansed and leaning upon her beloved?'' so that she, indeed, is cleansed, but she is nor able to guard her purity, unless she is sustained by the Lord God. You, who but a moment ago were freed from your sins, how is it that you desire to be delivered by the mercy of God, if not in the way I stated, that, when we have done everything, we confess that we of ourselves are insufficient? AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 3.I5. 6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame. This could be taken as us talking to Christ, or also more fitting as Christ talking to us after our baptism, that we keep our actions as a reflection of our faith that is confessed before baptism and displayed by our baptism. AMBROSE: The Lord Jesus himself, invited by such eager love and by the beauty of comeliness and grace, since now no offences pollute the baptized, says to the church, "Place me as a seal upon your heart, as a signet upon your arm; that is, you are comely, my beloved, you are all fair, nothing is lacking in you. Place me as a seal upon your heart, so that your faith may shine forth in the fullness of the sacrament. Let your works also shine and set forth the image of God in whose image you were made. Let no persecution lessen your love, which cannot be quenched by many waters nor drowned by many rivers. ON THE MYSTERIES 7.41 Let us enjoy together this contemplation of St. Ambrose as he sets correctly our Identity in being in the Image of the Holy Trinity, and how each Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity deals with us. 3

4 We are heavenly beings due to our Image being that of the Holy Trinity: AMBROSE: And since you are worthy to be compared not now with humans but with heavenly beings, whose life you are living on earth, receive from the Lord the precepts you are to observe: "Set me as a signet upon your heart, and as a seal upon your arm." [Thus J clearer proofs of your prudence and actions may be set forth, in which Christ the figure of God may shine, who, equaling fully the nature of the Father, has expressed the whole which he took of the Father's Godhead. Whence also the apostle Paul says that we are sealed in the Spirir;30 since we have in the Son the image of the Father, and in the Spirit the seal of the Son. Let us then, sealed by this Trinity, take more diligent heed, lest either levity of character or the deceit of any unfaithfulness unseal the pledge which we have received in our hearts. Our Perfection is in Christ. Let your works be perfect as your faith in Christ is perfect. AMBROSE: That we may fully know that this is true you have in the Canticles to the soul, now fully perfect, what I wish the Lord Jesus may say to you, "Put me as a seal upon your arm." May peace glow in your heart, Christ in your works, and may there be formed in you wisdom and justice and redemption. Let Christ be All in All for us AMBROSE: Christ is the seal on the forehead, the seal in the heart-on the forehead that we may always confess him, in the heart that we may always love him, and a sign on the arm that we may always do his work. Therefore let his image shine forth in our profession of faith, let it shine forth in our love, let it shine forth in our works and deeds so that, if it is possible, all his beauty may be represented in us. Let him be our head, because "the head of man is Christ" (1 Cor 11:3) ; let him be our eye, that through him we may see the Father; let him be our voice, that through him we may speak to the Father; let him be our right hand, that through him we may bring our sacrifice to God the Father. He is also our seal, which is the mark of perfection and of love, because the Father, loving the Son, set his seal on him, just as we read, "Upon him the Father, God himself, has set his seal." (John 6:27) And so Christ is our love. Good is love, since it has offered itself to death for transgressions; good is love, which has forgiven sins. And so let our soul clothe itself with love (Gal 3:27), and love of a kind that is "strong as death." For just as death is the end of sins, so also is love, because one who loves the Lord ceases to commit sin. For "charity thinks no evil and does not rejoice over wickedness, bur endures all things." (1 Cor 13:5-7), For if one does not seek his own goods, how will he seek the goods of another? Strong, too, is that death through the bath (baptism, Tit 3:5), through which every sin is buried and every fault forgiven. ISAAC, OR THE SOUL Cor 11: But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. John 6:27 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Titus 3:4-7 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ 4

5 our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. LOVE FOR ETERNITY. GREGORY THE GREAT: Just as death destroys the body, so ardent desire for eternal life cuts off the love of material things. It renders one whom it has perfectly taken hold of insensible to earthly desires which come from without. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 9 JOHN OF APAMEA: If death releases you from the desire for everything, how much more appropriate is it that the love of God should release you from the desire for everything. LETTER 45 To Hesychus DEATH FOR ONE'S FRIENDS. AUGUSTINE: Rightly is love said to be "strong as death," either because no one overcomes it as no one overcomes death, or because in this life the measure of charity is unto death, as the Lord said: "Greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) Or, rather, because as death tears the soul away from the senses of the flesh, so charity tears it away from carnal passions. LETTER I67. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it. St. Ambrose shows us that Love which attach us to heaven and make us despise all the earthly is the secret to happiness AMBROSE: Love ought to exist in us in such a fashion that we are not called away from Christ by any dangers. For it is written, "Much water cannot shut out love, and floods will not confine it," because the soul of the lover passes through the torrent (46Ps 124:4-5 (123:4-5 I.XX. Vg)). No storm, no profound danger, no fear of death or of punishment diminishes the strength of love; in such happenings as we are tested, in them lies the happy life, even though it is deluged by many dangers. For the wise person is not broken by bodily ills nor is he disturbed by misfortunes, but he remains happy even amid troubles. Bodily adversities do not diminish the gift of the happy life or take away anything from its sweetness. For the happiness of life does not lie in bodily pleasure, but in a conscience pure of every stain of sin, and in the mind of the one who knows that the good is also the pleasurable, even though it is harsh, and that what is shameful does not give delight, even though it is sweet..jacob AND THE HAPPY LIFE If a man would give for love All the wealth of his house, It would be utterly despised. The Resurrection was shown to the weak women for their love for Christ was great, and it was more precious than all the treasures of the world CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Though weak in body the women (Mt 28:9) were courageous in spirit. "Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can floods drown it." He whom they sought was dead, but their hope of the resurrection was not quenched. CATECHETICAL LECTURES I4.IJ. The Shulamite s Brothers 5

6 8 We have a little sister, And she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister In the day when she is spoken for? The sister that is lacking the ability to nurse is the Jewish nation that does not believe in Christ. They have no ability to bring forth the milk of the fulfiller of the Law; the Messiah. APONIUS: This sister is undoubtedly understood to be the Jewish people (a people that we said was converted to the God of heaven in the final days), who are led out of the prophesied desert before the end of the world. [They are] "ascending from the desert" (Song 8:5) of unbelief, where God is not worshiped, "leaning upon" the Word of God, "flowing with delights," known by faith in the indivisible Trinity, without which not only are there no delights, but the soul incurs danger of starvation. She is a sister because she descended from the seed of Abraham, from whom came Christ according to the flesh and the church according to faith, inasmuch as Abraham would be established by God as a father to the nations (Gen 17:4). And from these nations comes the church, which is made one body through faith in Christ, just as the soul of Christ is proven to be made one person with the Word, to whom the Word of God the Father united himself. It is the soul of our Lord Jesus Christ which is now understood to say, with pious affection for this very people, "Our sister is little and has no breasts." EXPOSITION OF SONG OF SONGS Another contemplation by St. Bede BEDE: She is the sister of the Lord our Savior and of all his church gathered from both peoples and of every saint. [This is J not only due to the assumption of her nature, whereby he was made man, but also due to the bestowal of grace whereby he gives those who believe in him the power to become children of God, so that he who was the only Son of God by nature might become "the firstborn among many brethren" through grace.57 COMMENTARY ON THE SONGS OF SONGS If she is a wall, We will build upon her A battlement of silver; And if she is a door, We will enclose her With boards of cedar. I read this as: We shall do everything to protect our little sister. Personally, this is only fulfilled by applying what Christ said Search the Scriptures for they testify of Me The Shulamite 6

7 10 I am a wall, And my breasts like towers; Then I became in his eyes As one who found peace. THE WALL Is THE CHURCH. AMBROSE: The wall is the church and the towers are her priests, who have full power to teach both the natural and the moral sciences. Six DAYS OF CREATION Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon; He leased the vineyard to keepers; Everyone was to bring for its fruit A thousand silver coins. To me this flows as follows: The Vineyard that is leased to keepers is expected to be tended to by these keepers. The Vineyard is the church and the keepers and the fathers and the believers who protect the church from any attacker to the grapes, these are the heretics. In my opinion, this is supported by the fact that it brings 1000 silvers: where the number 1000 represents heaven ( thousands thousands and ten thousands times ten thousands ) whereas the silver represents the word of God the scripture. For the word of God is like silver that is purified 7 times (Psalms) CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The vineyard which, it says, was given to the spiritual Solomon is surely the church. Baal-hamon means "in believers." For who believed, apart from those who accepted his commandments? FRAGMENTS IN THE COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 8. (To Solomon) 12 My own vineyard is before me. You, O Solomon, may have a thousand, And those who tend its fruit two hundred. This verse shows: My own vineyard, and this is the church, His very own whom he acquired by His own Blood. Solomon having a thousand and those who tend to its fruit are 200. In an attempt to look at these numbers: Solomon being a symbol of Christ has the 1000, the Kingdom of heaven, which the believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament (2 Testaments, 200) are tending in this vineyard, working in and through the church to attain the Kingdom of Heaven. (Personal interpretation) The Beloved 7

8 13 You who dwell in the gardens, The companions listen for your voice Let me hear it! The Shulamite 14 Make haste, my beloved, And be like a gazelle Or a young stag On the mountains of spices. In other translations it says Flee, my beloved which St. Ambrose and St. Aponious look at it as follows: AMBROSE: It urges that the bridegroom flee, because already, although it is of earth, it can follow him in his flight. It says this so that it may be like the young deer that escapes the nets; for it desires also to flee and to fly away above the world. DEATH AS A GOOD 5.18 APONIUS: By saying "Flee, my beloved," Christ makes heard the voice that he desires to hear. Through this, it is confessed that he alone on the earth, alone among all humankind (true man, but born in an ineffable manner), alone found to be a foreigner and pilgrim (1 Pet 2:11) alone fleeing the sordid lifestyle of humanity, alone ascending upon the prophesied "mountains of spices," he alone in every way is made Lord of heaven and earth. It shows that he alone fled both interior and exterior sin. He alone, who would bind the devil, fugitive of heaven, is himself a fugitive of the earth in the midst of a perverse and depraved nation. EXPOSITION OF SONG OF SONGS The mountain of spices, is the mountain of the Cross, where the spices wrapped the Body of the Creator of the whole world, in preparation for a NEW BEGINNING, through the Resurrection. Christ flees from the barren planes to be among his beloved who believe in His Cross and His Resurrection and live accordingly: Carrying their Cross and Living the Resurrected Life. ST AMBROSE: Christ flees from the barren plain; he knows no dwelling except the heights of virtue; he knows no home except among those daughters of the church who can say, "We are a sweet fragrance of Christ to God." For some indeed, it is an odor of death, leading to death, for those who perish; but to others, it is an odor of life, leading to life-in those namely, who with living faith, breathe the fragrance of the Lord's resurrection. ON VIRGINITY 9.49 Let us Flee towards Heaven: BEDE: "Flee, my beloved, and be like a goat or a mule upon the mountains of spices." 8

9 This can be accepted as referring both to the triumph of the Lord's ascension and to those good deeds that are accomplished daily within his holy church. For, the beloved fled after he addressed his bride and sister, when he returned to heaven with the dispensation of our redemption complete. But he is likened to a goat or a mule upon the mountains of spice because he appears frequently through the grace of compunction to the hearts of his faithful, who are the mountains of spice. For they are preserved from the lowest, most contemptible desires by their love of heaven and, having been purged of the fetid stench of vices, they are filled with the fragrance of spiritual virtues, saying with the apostle, "Our citizenship is in heaven." (Philippians 3:20) COMMENTARY ON THE SONGS OF SONGS The Other meaning is that the Old Testament beloved is asking Christ (the Messiah) to come quickly as a fulfillment to the Law and satisfying the Longing of His Congregation to the Salvation. We now say: Revelation 22: The one who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 9