Sermon IX. On the Breasts of the Bridegroom and of the Spouse

"Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth, for Thy Breasts are better than wine."

Let us now, my brethren, return to our text and explain the Words of the Spouse and What follows. These words, spoken abruptly without the least introduction, hang unsteadily so to speak, and loosely swing in air, for want of a beginning or context. It is, therefore, necessary that something be premised to which they may intelligibly cohere. Let us accordingly suppose that those, whom I have called the friends of the Bridegroom, as yesterday and the day before, so also to-day have come on a visit to salute the Spouse. Finding her discontented, and complaining, and out of humour, they wonder what the cause can be, and address her in this manner: "What has happened? How is it we see thee more sad than usual? Wherefore these unexpected complaints and murmurs? Certainly, after returning at length to thy lawful Husband, and only When compelled to do so by the ill-treatment of the other lovers after whom thou hadst gone so disloyally and unfaithfully, certainly, thou didst importune Him with prayers and tears to allow thee even to kiss His Feet. Is it not so?" "Yes," she answers. "What then? Having obtained thy request, and the pardon of thy infidelities at the same time in the kiss of His Foot, didst thou not again grow discontented? Not satisfied with so much condescension, but desiring greater familiarity, with the same insistence as before thou didst now implore and obtain the second grace, and with the kiss of the Hand Wast adorned With virtues neither few in number nor little in importance. Thou dost admit all this?" "I do," she replies. "Art not thou the one who used to protest and promise that, if ever she was admitted to the kiss of the Hand, this would be enough for her, and thereafter she would ask for nothing more?" "The same," she confesses. "What then? Perhaps thou wilt complain that some of the graces already bestowed have been taken back?" "No, indeed." "Or, it may be that thou art afraid thou shalt be called upon to answer for the sins of thy past life, which, it was thy hope, had been forgiven?" "Not even that." "Well then, tell us what is wrong and how we can help thee." "I cannot rest," she exclaims, "until He kisses me with the kiss of His Mouth. I am thankful for being allowed to kiss His Feet. I am grateful for the privilege of kissing His Hand. But if He has any care for me, ' let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth.' I am not, I repeat, ungrateful, but — I love. What I have already obtained is, I acknowledge, too much for my desert, yet altogether too little for my desire. I am governed more by desire than by reason. Do not, I beg of you, blame my presumption, since affection urges me on. Modesty remonstrates, but love is supreme. I am not ignorant that 'the honour of the King loveth judgment.' But headlong love will not wait for judgment, will not suffer the restraints of counsel, will not be held in check by modesty, will not follow the guidance of r "n. I beg, I entreat, I implore, 'let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth.' Lo! these many years, for His sake, I have been careful to lead a chaste and sober life; I have applied myself with diligence to spiritual reading; I have resisted my evil passions; I have watched against temptation; I have been constant in prayer; I have ' recounted my years in the bitterness of my soul! ' As far as was possible to me, I have, I think, lived without reproach amongst my brethren. I have been obedient to my superiors, going out and coming in according to the command of authority. So far from coveting my neighbour's goods, I have rather given him my own and myself with them. In the sweat of my brow have I eaten my bread. Yet in all these painful exercises I have felt nothing save the monotonous drudgery of routine, unseasoned with sweetness. What am I but, according to the Prophet, as ' the heifer of Ephraim taught to love to tread out the corn '? In the Gospel, he is reputed a useless servant who only does what he is obliged to do. I am, perhaps, in some way faithfully observing the commandments, yet, even in that observance ' my soul is as earth without water.' In order, therefore, that my whole burnt- offering may be made fat,' ' let Him, I implore, ' kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth.' "

Many of you, as I remember, in the manifestations of conscience which you make to me privately, are wont to complain of this aridity and languor of soul, this heaviness and dulness of mind, whereby you are rendered incapable of penetrating the profound and hidden things of God, and can experience little or none of the sweetness of the Spirit. What is that, my brethren, but a longing to be kissed? Plainly, such persons are sighing and yearning after the Spr:4ft3* wisdom and understanding. They want understanding to direct them to the goal. They want wisdom to relish what understanding¹ reveals. It was, I think, with such sentiments the Prophet prayed when he said, "Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips*" That is to say, he w'anted a kiss, and such a kiss as would by the contact, suffuse his lips With the oil of special grace, and thus bring about the fulfilment of the Wish he gives expression to elsewhere: "Let my mouth be filled With praise, that I may sing Thy glory, Thy greatness all the day long." Then, after tasting, he cries out, "How great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee!" But, perhaps, I have delayed long enough over this kiss, although, candidly, I doubt as to whether I have as yet spoken anything worthy of the subject. However, since, after all, it is better learned when impressed in act than when expressed in words, we may now pass on.

The text continues: "For Thy breasts are better than wine, smelling sweet of the best ointments." Whose words these are, we are not informed. Hence it is left for the commentator to determine the person to whom they most properly belong. As for me, I think I can see reasons for assigning them either to the Spouse, or to the Bridegroom, or to the friends of the Bridegroom. And, in the first place, I will point out how fitly they may be regarded as coming from the Spouse. Whilst she is conversing With the familiars of her Beloved, lo! He of Whom they speak approaches. For He willingly draws nigh to those Who are talking about Him. Such has ever been His custom. Thus, to the disciples journeying to Emmaus and conversing about Jesus, He joined Himself as a pleasant and sociable companion. This is what He promises in the Gospel: "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them"; and also by His Prophet: "Before they shall call, I will hear, and whilst yet they are speaking I Will hear." So now He comes uninvited to the Spouse and her companions, and, delighted With their Words, anticipates their prayers. T believe, indeed, that sometimes He does not even Wait for words, but is drawn to us by our very thoughts. Hence, he who was found "a man according to the heart" of God, tells us that "The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor, Thine Ear hath heard the preparation of their heart." Do you, therefore, my brethren, Watch over yourselves in every place, as knowing yourselves to be ever under the Eye of that God W'ho "searcheth the hearts and the reins," "Who hath made the hearts of everyone of" you, Who "understandeth all your works." The Spouse, accordingly, observing the presence of her Beloved, breaks off abruptly in her speech. She feels ashamed of her presumption in which, as she perceives, she has been discovered by Him. It had seemed to her that the way to compass her design least at variance with the rules of modesty, would be to engage the services of the friends of the Bridegroom and use them as intermediaries. She presently turns to the Bridegroom Himself, and she tries to excuse her presumption as well as she can, saying, "For Thy breasts are better than wine, smelling sweet of the best ointments." As if she should say, "If I appear to Thee ambitious, the fault lies with Thyself, O my Bridegroom, Who suckled me so condescendingly on the sweetness of Thy Breasts. Thus, all fear being banished rather by Thy love rather than by my temerity, I have been more daring, perhaps, than is expedient. So my imprudence results from mindfulness of Thy love to me and forgetfulness of Thy Majesty." Let these remarks be understood as merely supplying a context for the Words of the Canticle. We have now to see what means this strange commendation of the Bridegroom's Breasts.

These two Breasts of the Beloved are simply the two proofs He offers us of the benignity of His Nature, in patiently waiting for the sinner's return to Him, and affectionately receiving the penitent. A twofold sweetness of most delicious savour, I say, exudes from the Breast of the Lord Jesus, namely, long-suffering in expectation and readiness in forgiving. Lest you should consider this but a fancy of my own, I Will give you scriptural testimony of it. Concerning long-suffering We read, "Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and patience and long-suffering? "Again, "Knowest thou not that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance." Hence, if He delays long before pronouncing the sentence of punishment against the sinner, the reason is, because He desires rather to bestow the grace of pardon upon the penitent. "For He willeth not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live." Let me now give you testimonies regarding the second Breast which I have interpreted to mean facility in pardoning. Concerning it we read, "In whatever hour the sinner shall repent, his sin shall be forgiven him." Also, "Let the wicked forsake his Way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He is bountiful to forgive." David beautifully comprehends in a few words both these Divine Breasts, Where he says that the Lord is "long-suffering and plenteous in mercy." The Spouse, therefore, acknowledges that, by the experience of this twofold mercy, her confidence has increased to such an extent as to embolden her to ask for a kiss. "What wonder, O my Beloved! "we may fancy her saying, "if I make so bold with Thee after being allowed to draw from Thy Breasts such an abundance of sweetness? So it is no reliance on my own merits, but the sweetness of Thy Breasts that makes me so daring." Hence, the meaning of the expression, "Thy Breasts are better than wine," may be understood to be this: "The oil of divine grace that flows from Thy Breasts is more useful to me for my spiritual progress than are the reproofs, Wine-like in their pungency, of my human superiors. And not alone are ' Thy Breasts better than wine,' but they also ' smell sweet of the best ointments.' That is to say, not only dost Thou nourish those who are present with the milk of spiritual sweetness, but Thou dost also shed around them that are absent the sweet odour of a worthy esteem of Thyself, thus 'having good testimony both from those who are without and from those who are within.' Thou hast, I say, milk within and ointments without, because unless Thou didst first attract us by the odour of Thy ointments, there would be none to refresh with the sweetness of Thy milk." As to these ointments, and whether they suggest aught that is deserving of consideration, we shall see afterwards when we come to the verse, "We will run after Thee to the odour of Thy ointments." Now, according to my promise, let us examine if the same words, which I have just explained as spoken by the Spouse, may not also be ascribed to the Bridegroom.

As she is speaking of her Beloved, suddenly, as I have said, He Himself appears. He complies with her request, and bestows the kiss, thus fulfilling in her regard the word which is written, "Thou hast given" her her "heart's desire, and hast not with olden from" her "the will of her lips." The filling of her breasts bears witness to this. So great, my brethren, is the efficacy of this holy kiss, that, directly it is received, it causes the breasts to swell out with an abundance of spiritual milk. Those amongst you who are most given to prayer understand what I am saying from their own experience. How often do we not draw near to the altar with dry and tepid hearts! But whilst we persevere in prayer, suddenly there is an infusion of grace, our hearts swell, our whole interior is deluged with an inundation of piety, and, were there but someone to press, the milk of sweetness engendered would be neither slow nor scanty in coming. Thus, then, the Bridegroom may say to the espoused soul, "Now, My Spouse, thou hast received what thou didst ask for, and the proof of it is this, that thy breasts are become better than wine. From the fulness of thy breasts thou mayst infer that the kiss solicited has been bestowed upon thee. Behold, they are now distended and, in the abundance of milk, made better than the wine of worldly knowledge, which inebriates indeed, but with curiosity, not with charity, filling rather than nourishing, inflating rather than edifying, producing satiety rather than strength."

Let us next consider the same words as if spoken by the friends of the Bridegroom. "Unreasonably," they protest, "dost thou, O Spouse, complain of thy Beloved, because what He has already granted thee is of more value than that which thou now requirest. The object of thy present desire will no doubt give thee pleasure. Yet the breasts, from which thou feedest the children of thy womb, are better, that is, are more necessary, than the wine of contemplation for which thou prayest. The latter is the wine that rejoiceth the heart of (the individual) man,' but the former is the charity that edifies the multitude. If Rachel, that is, the exercises of the contemplative life, be the more fair, Lia, to wit, the active ministry, is the more fruitful. Do not, then, devote too much time to the kisses of contemplation, for better are the breasts of preaching."²

There is, besides, another possible interpretation, which indeed I had not intended to propose to you, but Which, as it seems to me now, ought not to be passed over. For why should we not suppose that these words of the Canticle belong most properly to the "little ones," of whom the Spouse, as mother or nurse, has solicitous charge? Such "little ones," that is to say, immature and tender souls, cannot endure with patience that she should give herself to repose, by whose doctrine and example they desire to be more fully instructed and edified. And in a subsequent verse we read of their being severely checked in their troublesome restiveness and forbidden to awaken the Spouse until she herself wishes. These children, therefore, when they notice her eager for kisses, seeking seclusion, avoiding publicity, keeping aloof from the multitude, and preferring her own ease to the care of themselves, raise their voices in protest against such conduct. "Act not so," they cry, "act not so. Better is the milk of thy breasts than the wine of such kisses. By means of that milk thou canst deliver us from * the carnal desires that war against the soul/ thou canst rescue us from the world and win us to God." Or perhaps, when they say, "Because thy breasts are better than wine," they intend to signify this: "Those spiritual delights distilled to us from thy breasts are far superior to the earthly pleasures wherewith, as With wine, We were formerly intoxicated and held captive."

This comparison of bodily pleasures with wine is very apt. Just as the grape, when drained by pressure has no longer any juice to yield, so the* body in the wine-press of death is sterilised completely as a source of delight, and can never again wax wanton under the impulse of passion. Hence, the Prophet declares, "All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field. The grass is withered and the flower is fallen." And the Apostle, "He that soweth in the flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption." Also, "Meat for the stomach and the stomach for the meat, but God shall destroy both it and them." But consider, if perhaps this comparison may be extended not only to the flesh, but to the world as well. It also "passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof," and all things therein shall come to an end of which there is no end. But not so the spiritual breasts. These, when exhausted, shall be again replenished, from the fountain in the maternal heart, with the milk that can satisfy the sucklings' thirst. Better, therefore, than the love of the flesh and the world are those breasts of the Spouse rightly said to be, which no number of little ones can ever drain, but which are always refilled to overflowing from the heart of charity. For rivers flow forth ceaselessly from that heart, and there is made within it a "fountain of living water springing up into eternal life." The crowning commendation of the Spouses' breasts is that which is said of the fragrance of their ointments. By this we are given to understand that they not only feed us with the sweetness of sound doctrine, but also exhale the pleasant odour of a good name. As to what these breasts are, what the milk that fills them, and what the ointments whereof they are redolent, all these questions I purpose to discuss more in detail in another sermon, with the help of Christ, Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Footnotes

1. This distinction between understanding and wisdom, so familiar with mystical writers, has its foundation in etymology, as St. Bernard elsewhere points out, sapientia (wisdom) being derived from the verb sapere (to relish). To the mystic, accordingly, wisdom is the savour or seasoning of science — knowledge with love. It includes the light of knowledge or understanding to which it adds the heat of devotion. This heat even strengthens the light it accompanies, and hence we shall find St. Bernard, later on, substituting for St. Anselm's Credo ut intelligam (I believe that I may understand) the mystical formula Amo ut intelligam (I love that I may understand). Thus, to the mind of our Saint, mere understanding or knowledge stands to wisdom in pretty much the same relation as the cold starlight to the warm sunshine. — (Translator.) ↩

2. The Saint is here manifestly comparing the active life with the contemplative merely from the point of view of our neighbour's necessity. But in many places elsewhere he considers the two states according to their intrinsic dignity and perfection, and gives a decided preference to the life of contemplation, as being the closest approximation to the life of heaven. Thus, in his treatise De Modo Vivendi, he says: "The active life is good indeed, but far better is the contemplative." And in his third sermon on the Assumption, he calls the contem- plative life the "better part" (optimam partem). It is worth noting that the reason he assigns for his preference, viz., that, whereas the service of our neighbour is destined to end with time, divine contemplation, just as charity, shall continue for eternity, avails equally to prove the superiority of the purely contemplative life over the mixed. Yet recognising that uninterrupted attention to God is impossible to us in our present condition, so that even the "eagles" must sometimes descend from the skies, he holds that our highest estate is the mixed, which he compares to Jacob's Ladder whereon we ascend to God by contemplation and descend to the exercises of the active life. For, after all, he says, Mary and Martha, that is, the contemplative and the active life, are sisters, and like good sisters should dwell together. But to ^-how us that the soul's attraction should be more and more towards contemplation, he adds the remark that it is well with the household where Martha is ever complaining of Mary, but things are not as they ought to be, when Mary has reason to complain of Martha, that is to say, when one allows his exterior occupations to encroach upon his spiritual exercises. From what has been said of the mixed and contemplative lives and their relative perfections, it will be seen that, however widely St. Bernard and St. Thomas may differ with regard to the speculative question of superiority, practically they are in accord — (Translator.) ↩