Sermon LXX. On the Mystical Lilies among which the Bridegroom Loves to Feed

"My Beloved to me and I to Him, Who feedeth among the lilies."

"My Beloved to me, and I to Him Who feedeth among the lilies." Surely now, my brethren, none can accuse the Spouse of pride or presumption for that she claims to have formed a love-alliance with One "Who feedeth among the lilies." Even were He represented as feeding among the stars, the very fact of His feeding at all brings Him down so low that I cannot understand how friendship or familiarity with such a One should be esteemed anything great. For in truth the word "feeding" suggests to our minds nothing but what is mean and ignoble. But now, when He is described as feeding "among the lilies," this additional humiliation removes and excludes from the words of the Spouse every suspicion of arrogance. What, I ask, are lilies? According to Christ they are but the "grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven." Can this Bridegroom, then. Who thus feeds on grass as if He belonged to the flocks or to the herds— can He be so very great and exalted? He does indeed belong to the flocks, for He is a Lamb; and to the herds also, because He is a "Fatted Calf." But perhaps you have been observant enough to notice that what is mentioned here is not the food itself, but rather the place of feeding. For the Bridegroom is said to feed, not on, but "among the lilies." Be it so. Therefore He does not eat grass like an ox. Nevertheless, He walks through the grass and reclines upon the grass, just as one of the common throng, and what mark of greatness can there be in that? And what glory is it to the Spouse to have for her Beloved One Who has nothing to distinguish Him from the multitude of men? Even in this, the literal sense, we can see with how much modesty, prudence and circumspection, the Spouse speaks, "ordering her words with judgment," and concealing the glory of divine things under the humble veil of common language.

Notwithstanding what her words seem to imply, she is very far from ignorant that He WTiom she represents as feeding amongst the lilies is the Same Who, as Shepherd, provides food for the flock, and that He Who abides amid the fields, is one with Him Who reigns beyond the stars. But she finds greater pleasure in speaking of what appears lowly in her Bridegroom, no doubt, as I have observed before, on account of her love for humility; but also, and more especially, because it was then He became her Beloved when He began to feed as one of the flock. And His beginning to feed was not only the time, but it was also the cause of His becoming her Beloved. For in His glory and sublimity He is her Lord, but her Beloved in His humility; He rules as King beyond the sky, but loves as a Bridegroom amongst the lilies. Even whilst throned above the firmament, He loved her still, for, being Love Itself, He can never and nowhere cease from loving. Yet until He came down to the lilies, until He was found feeding amongst the lilies, His affection was not reciprocated. He was not a Beloved. What? Was He not loved by the patriarchs and prophets? Certainly He was. But not before they also had found Him in their prescience feeding among the liUes. For evidently they must have seen Him of Whom they had foresight in the spirit, unless we be so stupid as to suppose that they who see in the Spirit see nothing at all. But if they see nothing why are they called seers, a name given to the prophets in Holy Scripture? It was in consequence of this spiritual foresight that they desired to see Him also in the way in which they have not seen Him. For surely they could not have even entertained the desire to see Him in the flesh if they had not already foreseen Him in the Spirit. But I ask with St. Paul, "Were all prophets?" As if forsooth all had the desire to see Christ in the flesh or as if all had the faith. They indeed who foresaw Him in the Spirit were either prophets themselves, or believers in the words of the prophets, and their faith was their foresight. For I do not consider it an error to suppose that they who see by faith see in the Spirit as well as those who see by the prophetic faculty.

In this way, then, it was His coming down to the lilies and the humility which He showed in deigning to feed among the lilies as if He were but one of the flock, whereas He was the Shepherd of all,— it was these acts of condescension, I say, which caused Him to be beloved. For how could He have been loved until He had made Himself known? Very properly, therefore, does the Spouse, in making mention of her Beloved, refer also to that condescension to which she owes both her knowledge and her love of Him. As regards the feeding among the lilies, it is to be "spiritually examined." To conceive of it in a material sense would be altogether absurd. It is also incumbent on me to explain, as well as I can, what are these spiritual lilies. And furthermore I shall have to show you what it is which the Beloved feeds on among the lilies, whether it be the lilies themselves, or some other herbs or flowers concealed amongst the lilies. The difficulty I find in grappling with these questions is to understand why He is represented rather as feeding like one of the flocks than as pasturing the flock like the Shepherd. For that He pastures His flock is evident enough, and quite in keeping with His dignity. But to feed like a sheep is a thing so unworthy, so suggestive of weakness, that it seems hardly possible, without irreverence, to ascribe such an action to the Majesty of God, even in a spiritual sense. Nor do I remember to have noticed any other verse of this Canticle, so far as we have gone, where the Beloved is described as feeding with the sheep; although I have a recollection, as doubtless you have also, of a passage wherein He appears as the Shepherd pasturing His flock. I allude to the place in which the Spouse desires to be shown where He feeds His flock and reposes in the noonday. But here, for the first time, she speaks of Him as feeding Himself, and does not ask, as on the former occasion, to have pointed out to her His place of pasturage. Rather she herself gives us this information, telling us that He "feedeth among the lilies." She knows therefore where He reveals Himself as one of the flock, but not where He appears as the Shepherd. For it is not so easy to attain to objects high in themselves and placed on high, as to such as are low and lying on the earth. The knowledge of where the Shepherd abides is something sublime and sublimely situated, to which not even the Spouse has been yet given free access.

Therefore, my brethren. He Who is the Shepherd of the whole flock, emptied Himself even to the extent of feeding like one of His own sheep; He was found among the lilies; He was seen by the Church; by appearing needy Himself, He won the heart of His needy Spouse; and He became her Beloved because He resembled her in poverty. Yet not for this alone, but also on account of His "truth and meekness, and justice." His truth in fulfilling His promises, His meekness in pardoning her sins, His justice in condemning the proud demons together with their chief. Such, therefore, has He revealed Himself in order to win the love of the Spouse, truthful by His nature, meek towards men, and just in behalf of men. O Divine Bridegroom, truly deserving of love, and worthy to be embraced with our whole heart's affection! What reason has the Church now for hesitating to entrust herself entirely and with all devotion to One so faithful to fulfil His engagements, so merciful to forgive, so righteous to defend? Before mentioning His truth. His meekness, and His justice, the Psalmist said to Him, "With Thy comeliness and Thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously^ Whence has He this comeliness and beauty? From the lilies, I have no doubt. What is more beautiful than a lily? Nothing surely. Neither can there be anything more comely than the Bridegroom. What, then, are these lilies to which He is indebted for the" loveliness of His beauty "?" Proceed prosperously and reign, continues the Psalmist, "because of truth, and meekness, and justice." Here you behold the spiritual lilies, lilies, I say, which have sprung up out of the earth, which glitter above the earth, which in their fragrance surpass the sweetness of aromatic spices. It is, therefore, among these lilies that the Bridegroom loves to feed, and it is certainly to them is due all His beauty and comeliness. Without the lilies, there was "neither beauty in Him nor comeliness," as the Prophet speaks, that is to say, considered according to the weakness of the flesh.

Truth, my brethren, is a beautiful lily, resplendent in its brightness, excelling in its odour. For it is the "brightness of eternal life," the splendour and the image of the Substance of God. Yes, it is indeed a lily, one which the earth produced after receiving the new benediction, and which it "prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to the revelation of the gentiles". So long as the earth lay under the primeval curse, it yielded only thorns and thistles. But now, at the blessing of the Lord, "truth is sprung out of the earth," as a most beautiful "flower of the field" and a "lily of the valleys." You can know this lily from its brightness, which, immediately after the first appearance of the flower, dazzled in the night the eyes of the shepherds, as we read in the Gospel, "And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them." And justly does the Evangelist say "the brightness of God," because it was not the glory of the angel that shone through the darkness, but the glory of the lily. The angel was present to the shepherds, whereas the light of the lily was visible from Bethlehem. You may recognise the lily also from its fragrance, whereby it made itself known even to those who lived far remote. The Magi indeed beheld the star, but men of their gravity would never have followed such a guide, had they not been also attracted by the sweet odour of the new-born lily. Oh, truly a lily is truth, thus vivifying faith, with its perfume and with its splendour illuminating the mind! Turn your gaze now, my brethren, to the Person of Christ, Who says in the Gospel," I am the truth."And consider how close is the analogy between the truth of God and the lily of the valleys. Perhaps you have not observed it before, but let me now call your attention to the fact that from the centre of this flower there springs a number of little golden rods or filaments, which are surrounded by the petals of dazzling white, beautifully and fittingly arranged in the form of a crown. You have here symbolised the gold of Christ's Divinity, crowned with the purity of His Human Nature, that is to say, you have Christ Himself" in the diadem wherewith His mother hath crowned Him." For in the diadem wherewith His Father hath crowned Him, He inhabiteth Hght inaccessible, and in that we cannot behold Him so long as we abide in the flesh. But of this later.

Meantime, His truth is for us a hly. But so too is His meekness. Yea, His meekness is an excellent lily, possessing the whiteness of innocence and the good odour of hope, "for there are remains for the peaceable man," as the Psalmist says. The man of meekness is a man of strong hope, and not less is he, even here below, a luminous model of social life. Why should I not give the name of lily to a virtue which is redolent of hope and shining with charity? Moreover, if "truth is sprung out of the earth," the same

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ON THE MYSTICAL LILIES 323 must be said of meekness. Whoso would call this in question must also doubt the earthly origin of "the Lamb, the Ruler of the earth," the Lamb That was "led to the slaughter" and That "opened not His mouth." But it is not alone truth and meekness that are sprung out of the earth, for justice has proceeded from the same source, according to the Prophet Isaias, who says, "Dropdown dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just; let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Saviour, and let justice spring up together." Nor can you doubt that justice is a lily when you recall the words of Holy Scripture, "The just shall spring forth like the lily and shall flourish for ever before the Lord." Therefore this is not the lily "which to-day is and to-morrow shall be cast into the oven," since the lily of justice is to flourish for ever. And it "shall flourish before the Lord," with Whom "the just shall be in everlasting remembrance, he shall not fear the evil hearing," that evil hearing, namely, whereby the reprobate shall be commanded to go into the oven of eternal fire. Moreover, is there any soul on which the brightness of this lily does not shine, excepting indeed such as dislike it? For it is a sun, yet not that sun which is made "to rise upon the good and the bad." Its light is certainly never seen by those who shall say, "The light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us." They, however, have seen it, all to whom it has been said, "But unto you that fear My name, the sun of justice shall rise." Therefore, the brightness of this lily only shines for the just; its perfume is diffused even to the wicked, but not for their advantage. Thus, we have heard one of the just L declaring, "We are the good odour of Christ unto God in every place in them that are saved and in them that perish, to the one indeed an odour of death unto death, but to' the others an odour of Ufe unto hfe." Who, even though he be the most abandoned of criminals, does not approve the just man's judgment, however little he may love his way of life? But happy he who condemns not himself in that which he approves. For he is condemned by his own judgment whosoever does •not love the justice which he approves. Hence such a one evidently is miserable rather than happy, as being self-condemned. For can there be anyone more miserable than the man to whom the odour of life is a herald not of life but of death? Nay, not the herald but the bearer of death.

The Beloved, no doubt, has many more lilies besides the three which we have happened upon in the Psalmist, namely, truth, meekness, and justice. But each of you can now, without difficulty, find out others like these for himself in the garden of so luxurious a Bridegroom. He abounds and superabounds with such lilies. Who is capable of enumerating them all? For, in truth, there are as many lilies as there are virtues. But what limit or measure can the virtues have in Him Who is "Lord of virtues"? Now if the plenitude of virtues is in Christ, so too must be the plenitude of mies. And perhaps this is the very reason why He has called Himself a lily, because, namely. He is entirely surrounded and covered all over with liHes, and everything that belongs to Him is a lily; such as His conception, His birth. His life. His speech, His miracles, His sacraments, His passion. His death. His resurrection, and His ascension. Which of these is not lily-white and redolent of the lily's sweet odour? As regards His conception, so great was the brilliancy of the heavenly light which shone forth in this mystery from the abundance of the descending Spirit, that not even the holy virgin herself would have been able to endure it, had she not been overshadowed by the power of the Most High. His birth also borrowed lustre from His mother's unspotted virginity, His life from the whitenes^; of His innocence, His speech from the truth of His utterances, His miracles from the purity of His Heart, His sacraments from the mystery of piety which they embodied, His passion from the voluntariness of His sufferings, His death from His liberty to die or not to die. His resurrection from the fortitude of the martyrs, His ascension from the fulfilment of His promises. And how good an odour of faith from each of these lilies, perfuming even our own times and hearts, who have not witnessed their brightness! "Blessed are they that have not seen and have beUeved." My portion in the lilies is the odour of life which proceeds from them. Using faith as a suitable instrument, I inhale that sweet perfume through my spiritual nostrils, and the more abundantly the more numerous the lilies; and thus I temper the bitterness of my banishment and at the same time am constantly renewing in my heart the love and the longing for the heavenly home-land.

Some of the companions of the Bridegroom have also their lilies, yet not in abundance. For all of them have received the Spirit in measure, and in measure His virtues and gifts. He alone has unlimited possession to Whom the Spirit entirely belongs. It is one thing to have Lilies, but quite another to have nothing except lilies. Show me, if you can, a single one amongst the sons of captivity who is so holy and innocent that he is able to cover all his land with flowers, and with such flowers. It is certain that "even the infant of one day is not without stain upon the earth."¹ He is reputed a great man who can grow in his garden even three or four lilies amid the prolific crop of thorns and thistles which has long occupied the ground, as the fruit of the ancient malediction. But as for me, who am so poor, I shall count myself fortunate if ever I succeed in clearing of this most vile growth of sins and passions, and rendering fit for cultivation, even so much of my little plot as may suffice for the production of a single lily. Perhaps then He who feeds among the lilies, will not disdain to feed occasionally even with me.

But I have erred, my brethren, in speaking as if one lily would suffice. Out of the poverty of my heart my mouth has spoken. One is certainly not enough. Two at the very least are required. I mean the lily of continence and the lily of innocence, of which the one without the other shall not avail to save us. It will be useless for me to invite the Bridegroom to either of them alone, because He is said to feed not on the lily but among the lilies. I will therefore strive my best to produce several lilies, lest He should take offence at the poverty of one, since He will feed only among the lilies, and so should "depart in anger from His servant." Accordingly, I will first of all apply myself to the cultivation of the lily of innocence. If to this I shall be able to add continence of life, I shall regard m3'Self as quite rich in the possession of lilies. But I am a very king, if only to these two I can manage to unite the third lily of patience. Absolutely speaking, innocence and continence would be sufficient. Nevertheless, since they may fail in temptation, for the "life of man upon earth is a warfare," patience also is clearly necessary, for this is the protector of the other two. I have no doubt that if the Divine Lover of lilies comes and finds us adorned with all three. He will not now refuse to feed amongst us and to eat vith us the pasch. For in the two first, namely, continence and innocence, He shall discover an abundance of sweetness, and in the third a great security. But in what sense He, WTio is the Feeder of all, may be said to feed among the lilies, I shall endeavour to explain on another occasion. WTiat I have said in the present discourse has made it clear, I hope, not only that the Bridegroom is found among the lilies, but also that He is never found away from the Ulies; since everything that appertains to Him is a lily, and He is Himself the "Lily of the Valleys," the Spouse of the Church, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Footnotes

1. "Nec infans certe unius diei sine sorde est super terram." This seems to be a compendious translation of Job xiv. 4, 5, as read in the Greek, "τίς γὰρ καθαρὸς ἔσται ἀπὸ ῥύπου; ἀλλ' οὐθείς, ἐὰν καὶ μία ἡμέρα ὁ βίος αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς." The Vulgate Version is entirely different, "quis potest mundum facere de immundo conceptum semine? Nonne Tu qui solus es? Breves dies hominis sunt." St. Augustine has a reading (Confess., l. i. c. 7) identical in sense with that of St. Bernard.—(Translator.) ↩