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Stanza XXXIII

Note

FOR the better- understanding of this and of what follows, we must keep in mind that the regard of God benefits the soul in four ways: it cleanses, adorns, enriches, and enlightens it, as the sun, when it shines, dries, warms, beautifies, and brightens the earth. When God has visited the soul in the three latter ways, whereby He renders it pleasing to Himself, He remembers its former uncleanness and sin no more: as it is written, ' All the iniquities that he hath wrought, I will not remember/1

God having once done away with our sin and uncleanness, He will look upon them no more; nor will He withhold His mercy because of them, for He never punishes twice for the same sin, according to the words of the prophet: ' There shall not rise a double afflic tion/2

Still, though God forgets the sin He has once forgiven, we are not for that reason to forget it ourselves; for the Wise Man saith, ' Be not without fear about sin for given/3 There are three reasons for this. We should always remember our sin, that we may not presume, that we may have a subject of perpetual thanksgiving, and because it serves to give us more confidence that we shall receive greater favours; for if, when we were in sin, God showed Himself unto us so merciful and forgiving, how much greater mercies may we not hope for when we are clean from sin, and in His love?

The soul, therefore, calling to mind all the mercies it has received, and seeing itself united to the Bridegroom in such dignity, rejoices greatly with joy, thanksgiving, and love. In this it is helped exceedingly by the recol lection of its former condition, which was so mean and filthy that it not only did not deserve that God should look upon it, but was unworthy that He should even utter its name, as He saith by the mouth of the prophet David: ' Nor will I be mindful of their names by My lips/4 Thus the soul, seeing that there was, and that there can be, nothing in itself to attract the eyes of God, but that all comes from Him of pure grace and good will, attributes its misery to itself, and all the blessings it enjoys to the Beloved; and seeing further that be cause of these blessings it can merit now what it could not merit before, it becomes bold with God, and prays for the divine spiritual union, wherein its mercies are multiplied. This is the subject ^'of the following stanza:

Despise me not,
For if I was swarthy once,
Thou canst regard me now;
Since Thou hast regarded me,
Grace and beauty hast Thou given me.

THE soul now is becoming bold, and respects itself, because of the gifts and endowments which the Beloved has bestowed upon it. It recognises that these things, while itself is worthless and undeserving, are at least means of merit, and consequently it ventures to say to the Beloved, ' Do not disregard me now, or despise me '; for if before it deserved contempt because of the filthiness of its sin, and the meanness of its nature, now that He has once looked upon it, and thereby adorned it with grace and beauty, He may well look upon it a second time and increase its grace and beauty. That He has once done so, when the soul deserved it not, and had no attractions for Him, is reason enough why He should do so again and again.

' Despise me not/

  1. The soul does not say this because it desires in any way to be esteemed — for contempt and insult are of great price, and occasions of joy to the soul that truly loves God — but because it acknowledges that in itself it merits nothing else, were it not for the gifts and graces it has received from God, as it appears from the words that follow.

' For if I was swarthy once/

  1. If, before Thou didst graciously look upon me Thou didst find me in my filthiness, black with imper fections and sins, and naturally mean and vile/

' Thou canst regard me now; since Thou hast regarded me/

  1. After once looking upon me, and taking away my swarthy complexion, denied by sin and disagreeable to look upon, when Thou didst render me lovely for the first time, Thou mayest well look upon me now — that is, now I may be looked on and deserve to be regarded, and thereby to receive further favours at Thy hands. For Thine eyes, when they first looked upon me, did not only take away my swarthy complexion, but ren dered me also worthy of Thy regard; for in Thy look of love, —

' Grace and beauty hast Thou given me/

  1. The two preceding lines are a commentary on the words of St. John, ' grace for grace/5 for when God beholds a soul that is lovely in His eyes He is moved to bestow more grace upon it because He dwells well-pleased within it. Moses knew this, and prayed for further grace: he would, as it were, constrain God to grant it because he had already received so much. ' Thou hast said: I know thee by name, and thou hast found favour in , My sight: if therefore I have found favour in Thy sight, show me Thy face, that I may know Thee, and may find grace before Thine eyes/6

  2. Now a soul which in the eyes of God is thus exalted in grace, honourable and lovely, is for that reason an object of His unutterable love. If He loved that soul before it was in a state of grace, for His own sake, He loves it now, when in a state of grace, not only for His own sake, but also for itself. Thus enamoured of its beauty, through its affections and good works, now that it is never without them, He bestows upon it continually further grace and love, and the more honourable and exalted He renders that soul, the more is He captivated by it, and the greater His love for it.

  3. God Himself sets this truth before us, saying to His people, by the mouth of the prophet, ' since thou becamest honourable in My eyes, and glorious, I have loved thee.'7 That is, ' Since I have cast Mine eyes upon thee, and thereby showed thee favour, and made thee glorious and honourable in My sight, thou hast merited other and further favours '; for to say that God loves, is to say that He multiplies His grace. The bride in the Canticle speaks to the same effect, saying, ' I am black, but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.'8 and the Church adds,9 saying, ' Therefore hath the King loved me, and brought me into His secret chamber/ This is as much as saying: ' O ye souls who have no know ledge nor understanding of these favours, marvel not that the heavenly King has shown such mercy unto me as to plunge me in the depths of His love, for, though I am swarthy, He has so regarded me, after once looking upon me, that He could not be satisfied without be trothing me to Himself, and calling me into the inner chamber of His love.'

  4. Who can measure the greatness of the soul's exaltation when God is pleased with it? No language, no imagination is sufficient for this; for in truth God doeth this as God, to show that it is He who does it. The dealings of God with such a soul may in some degree be understood; but only in this way, namely, that He gives more to him who has more, and that His gifts are multiplied in proportion to the previous endowments of the soul. This is what He teaches us Himself in the Gospel, saying; ' He that hath to him shall be given, and he shall abound: but he that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath.'10

  5. Thus the talent of that servant, not then in favour with his lord, was taken from him and given to another who had gained others, so that the latter might have all, together with the favour of his lord.11 God heaps the noblest and the greatest favours of His house, which is the Church militant as well as the Church triumphant, upon him who is most His friend, ordaining it thus for His greater honour and glory, as a great light absorbs many little lights. This is the spiritual sense of those words, already cited,12 the prophet Isaias addressed to the people of Israel: ' I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I have given Egypt for thy atonement and Saba for thee. I will give men for thee, and people for thy life/13

  6. Well mayest Thou then, O God, gaze upon and prize that soul which Thou regardest, for Thou hast made it precious by looking upon it, and given it graces which in Thy sight are precious, and by which Thou art captivated. That soul, therefore, deserves that Thou shouldest regard it not only once, but often, seeing that Thou hast once looked upon it; for so is it written in the book of Esther by the Holy Ghost: ' This honour is he worthy of, whom the king hath a mind to honour/14

Footnotes

  1. Ezech. xviii. 22. ↩

  2. Nahum i. 9. ↩

  3. Ecclus/v. 5. ↩

  4. Ps. xv. 4. ↩

  5. St. John i. 16. ↩

  6. Exod. xxxiii. 12, 13. ↩

  7. Isa. xliii. 4. ↩

  8. Cant. i. 4. ↩

  9. Antiphon in Vesper B.M.V. ↩

  10. Matt. xiii. 12. ↩

  11. Ib. xxv. 28. ↩

  12. § 7. ↩

  13. Isa. xliii. 3. ↩

  14. Esth. vi. 11. ↩

Chapter 34 of 41