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Stanza XXXI

Note

I BELIEVE I have now shown how the intertwining of the garlands and their lasting presence in the soul explain the divine union of love which, now exists be tween the soul and God. The Bridegroom, as He saith Himself, is ' the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys/1 and the soul's love is the hair that unites to itself this flower of flowers. Love is the most precious of all things, because it is the ' bond of perfection/ as the Apostle saith,2 and perfection is union with God. The soul is, as it were, a sheaf of garlands, for it is the subject of this glory, no longer what it was before, but the very perfect flower of flowers in the perfection and beauty of all; for the thread of love binds so closely God and the soul, and so unites them, that it transforms them and makes them one by love; so that, though in essence different, yet in glory and appearance the soul seems God and God the soul. Such is this marvellous union, baffling all description.

  1. We may form some conception of it from the love of David and Jonathan, whose ' soul was knit with the soul of David/3 If the love of one man for another can be thus strong, so as to knit two souls together, what must that love of God be which can knit the soul of man to God the Bridegroom? God Himself is here the suitor Who in the omnipotence of His unfathomable love absorbs the soul with greater violence and efficacy than a torrent of fire a single drop of the morning dew which resolves itself into air. The hair, therefore, which accomplishes such a union must, of necessity, be most strong and subtile, seeing that it penetrates and binds together so effectually the soul and God. In the present stanza the soul declares the qualities of this hair.

By that^one hair
Thou hast observed fluttering on my neck,
And on my neck regarded,
Thou wert captivated;
And wounded by one of my eyes.

THERE are three things mentioned here. The first is, that the love by which the virtues are bound together is nothing less than a strong love; for in truth it need be so in order to preserve them. The second is, that God is greatly taken by this hair of love, seeing it to be alone and strong. The third is, that God is deeply enamoured of the soul, beholding the purity and integrity of its faith.

' By that one hair Thou hast observed fluttering on my neck/ ;

  1. The neck signifies that strength in which, it is said, fluttered the hair of love, strong love, which bound the virtues together. It is not sufficient for the preservation of virtues that love be alone, it must be also strong so that no contrary vice may anywhere destroy the perfection of the garland; for the virtues so are bound up together in the soul by the hair, that if the thread be once broken, all the virtues are lost; for where one virtue is, all are, and where one fails, all fail also. The hair is said to flutter on the neck, because its love of God, without any hindrance whatever, flutters strongly and lightly in the strength of the soul.

  2. As the air causes hair to wave and flutter on the neck, so the breath of the Holy Ghost stirs the strong love that it may fly upwards to God; for without this divine wind, which excites the powers of the soul to the practice of divine love, all the virtues the soul may possess become ineffectual and fruitless. The Beloved observed the hair fluttering on the neck — that is, He considered it with particular attention and regard; be cause strong love is a great attraction for the eyes of God.

' And on my neck regarded/

  1. This shows us that God not only esteems this love, seeing it alone, but also loves it, seeing it strong; for to say that God regards is to say that He loves, and to say that He observes is to say that He esteems what He observes. The word ' neck' is repeated in this line, because it, being strong, is the cause why God loves it so much.

It is as if the soul said, ' Thou hast loved it, seeing it strong without weakness or fear, and without any other love, and flying upwards swiftly and fervently/

  1. Until now God had not looked upon this hair so as to be captivated by it, because He had not seen it alone, separate from the others, withdrawn from other loves, feelings, and affections, which hindered it from fluttering alone on the neck of strength. After wards, however, when mortifications and trials temptations and penance had detached it, and made it strong, so that nothing whatever could break it, then God beholds it, and is taken by it, and binds the flowers of the garlands with it; for it is now so strong that it can keep the virtues united together in the soul.

  2. But what these temptations and trials are, how they come, and how far they reach, that the soul may attain to that strength of love in which God unites it to Himself, I have described in the ' Dark Night/4 and in the explanation of the four stanzas5 which begin with the words, ' O living flame of love! ' The soul having passed through these trials has reached a degree of love so high that it has merited the divine union.

' Thou wert captivated/

  1. O joyful wonder! God captive to a hair. The reason of this capture so precious is that God was pleased to observe the fluttering of the hair on the soul's neck; for where God regards He loves. If He in His grace and mercy had not first looked upon us and loved us,6 as St. John saith, and humbled Himself, He never could have been taken by the fluttering of the hair of our miserable love. His flight is not so low as that our love could lay hold of the divine bird, attract His attention, and fly so high with a strength worthy of His regard, if He had not first looked upon us. He, however, is taken by the fluttering of the hair; He makes it worthy and pleasing to Himself, and then is captivated by it. ' Thou hast seen it on my neck, Thou wert captivated by it/ This renders it credible that a bird which flies low may capture the royal eagle in its flight, if the eagle should fly so low and be taken by it willingly.

' And wounded by one of my eyes.'

  1. The eye is faith. The soul speaks of but one, and that this has wounded the Beloved. If the faith and trust of the soul in God were not one, without admixture of other considerations, God never could have been wounded by love. Thus the eye that wounds, and the hair that binds, must be one. So strong is the love of the Bridegroom for the bride, because of her simple faith, that, if the hair of her love binds Him, the eye of her faith imprisons Him so closely as to wound Him through that most tender affection He bears her, which is to the bride a further progress in His love.

  2. The Bridegroom Himself speaks in the Canticle of the hair and the eyes, saying to the bride, ' Thou hast wounded My heart, My sister, My bride; thou hast wounded My heart with one of thy eyes, and with one hair of thy neck/7 He says twice that His heart is wounded, that is, with the eye and the hair, and there fore the soul in this stanza speaks of them both, because they signify its union with God in the understanding and the will; for the understanding is subdued by faith, signified by the eye, and the will by love. Here the soul exults in this union, and gives thanks to the Bride groom for it, it being His gift; accounting it a great matter that He has been pleased to requite its love, and to become captive to it. We may also observe here the joy, happiness, and delight of the soul with its prisoner, having been for a long time His prisoner, enamoured of Him.

Footnotes

  1. Cant. ii. i. ↩

  2. Col. iii. 14. ↩

  3. i Kings xviii. i. ↩

  4. ' Dark Night,' Bk. i, ch. xiv. ↩

  5. Stanza ii. § 26 sqq. ↩

  6. i St. John iv. 10. ↩

  7. Cant. iv. 9. ↩

Chapter 32 of 41