He who was spoiled by the soldiers, who was wounded by the spear, that he might heal us by the blood of his sacred wounds, will assuredly answer you (for he is meek and lowly of heart, and gentle in aspect): Arise, O north wind, and come, O south, and blow upon my garden, that my spices may flow out.^[1] For from all parts of the world has the perfume of holy religion increased, and the limbs of the consecrated Virgin have glowed. You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem. So it is not the beauty of the perishable body, which will come to an end with sickness or old age, but the reputation for good deserts, subject to no accidents and never to perish, which is the beauty of virgins.

So he says to her, as if to one who is perfect, . . . Turn your eyes from me, because she cannot withstand the fullness of his divinity and the splendor of the true light.

Yet we can also take turn your eyes from me as follows: Although you have been perfected, I must still redeem other souls and strengthen them. For you exalt me by looking upon me, but I have descended so that I may exalt all humankind.^[1] Although I have risen up and possess the throne of the Father,^[2] still I will not leave you orphans^[3] bereft of a father’s help, but by my presence I will strengthen you. You find this written in the gospel: ‘I am with you even unto the consummation of the world.’^[4] Turn your eyes from me, therefore, because you exalt me. The more anyone strives toward the Lord, the more he exalts the Lord and is himself exalted. On this account also the psalmist says, I will extol you, O Lord, because you have upheld me.^[5] For the holy person extols the Lord; the sinner brings him low. Therefore he wishes that she turn her eyes away. Otherwise, by contemplating her he may be exalted—for now he can attain to the higher regions—and may leave the other souls behind. Likewise in the gospel he showed his glory, not to all the disciples but to those who were more nearly perfect.^[6]

Now imagine some teacher who desires to explain an obscure matter to his hearers. Although he is himself an accomplished speaker and well informed, nevertheless let him lower himself to the ignorance of those who do not understand, and let him use simple, rather plain, everyday speech so that he can be understood. Then whoever is more quick-witted among his hearers, and can follow easily, disparages and questions him. Looking on such a one, the teacher restrains him, so that the latter may permit him to spend time rather on those who are more humble and lowly, in order that the rest may also be able to follow.

Turn your eyes away from me because they set me all aflutter. What he means is something like this: the beauty of your eyes, the sharpness of your vision and the clarity of your thinking have drawn me to love of you; but do not gaze at me immoderately lest I take harm from it. After all, I am inaccessible and incomprehensible, surpassing all comprehension, not only human but also angelic. Even if you wish to surpass limits and pry into what is beyond your power, you would not only find nothing but would also impair your sight and render it dull. Such is the nature of light, after all: as it illumines the eye, so it penalizes intemperance with damage.

A goat is honored because its thick coat provides an image of beauty for the bride. Another reason for praise is that a goat can pass over rocks with a sure foot, agilely turn on mountain peaks, courageously pass through difficult, rough places, and can go safely on the road of virtue. Some would maintain that this animal is suitable for the comparison with the bride because Moses the lawgiver uses it for many of the sacred functions of the law.^[1]

He praises these sheep also in the Song of Solomon,^[1] speaking of some perfect ones as the teeth of his spouse the holy church.

Separated from the world, to which they were once conformed, they pass over into the members of the church. And rightly therefore are they, through whom such things are done, called teeth like to shorn sheep;^[1] for they have laid aside the burdens of earthly cares, and coming up from the bath, from the washing away of the filth of the world by the sacrament of baptism, every one bears twins. For they fulfill the two commandments, of which it is said, On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets:^[2] loving God with all their heart, and with all their soul and with all their mind, and their neighbor as themselves.

What are the cheeks of the church of which the Scripture elsewhere says, Your cheeks are as the bark of pomegranates? They are the cheeks on which modesty is accustomed to shine, beauty to sparkle, on which there is either the flower of youth or the distinguished mark of perfect age.

The word queens refers to the souls that rule in the realm of the intelligible and spiritual. The word concubines [refers] to the souls that receive an earthly reward, concerning whom it is said, They have received their reward.^[1]

Let us examine why on earth he mentioned sixty queens but eighty concubines. The number sixty contains six tens, and while the ten signifies perfection, the six represents the number of the world’s creation: in six days the God of all formed the whole creation. Accordingly, by sixty queens he referred to the souls in this world who were made perfect in virtue and who longed for the kingdom. The bride lives a way of life above this world, she is outside it, flies beyond it, is totally the bridegroom’s and has him constantly in mind, whereas these latter souls live in this world and practice the perfection of virtue to the extent possible while longing to attain the kingdom. But it is through fear that they obey the laws, and so they were called eighty. The divine Scripture, remember, speaks of the time of judgment as the eighth. In describing judgment in the Psalms, blessed David used the title On the eighth and began this way, Lord, do not censure me in your anger, nor chastise me in your wrath, and shortly after, Because in death there is no one to remember you, in hades who will confess you?^[1] Thus [he brings] out that at the time of judgment no place for repentance will be given to those who have sinned and have not had a change of heart.

Scripture recounts that some of the patriarchs had many wives at the same time; others took other wives when previous wives had died. The purpose of this is to indicate figuratively that some can exercise many virtues at the same time; others cannot begin those which follow before they have brought the former virtues to perfection. Accordingly, Solomon is reported to have had many wives at the same time.

In the present verse, therefore, three orders of merit are indicated to be in the church according to the following enigma. First, clearly, there are teachers, living an immaculate life. Second, there are the teachable, who imitate the lives of their teachers and burn with great desire to understand the content of the teaching and to distinguish sound doctrine from unsound doctrine. But the third order is that of maidens,^[1] for whom only belief in the one God helps toward salvation, who are not yet worthy to be joined to the sacred number. Although all of them may have the Word of the Father as King, he who was with the Father in the beginning and always remains God in the Father, the dignity of merit nevertheless escapes them.

Of this church which keeps the faith of Christ entire, hear what the Holy Spirit says in the Canticles, My dove is one; the perfect one of her mother is one. He then who receives this faith in the church let him not turn aside in the council of vanity, and let him not enter in with those who practice iniquity.

This one church is also intended in the Song of Songs, when the Holy Spirit says, in the person of the Lord: My dove, my perfect one, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, the choice one of her that bare her. Can one who does not keep this unity of the church believe that he keeps the faith? Can one who resists and struggles against the church be sure that he is in the church? For the blessed apostle Paul gives the same teaching and declares the same mystery of unity when he says, There is one body and one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God.^[1]

My dove, my perfect one, is one. The Lord’s words in the gospel explain this more clearly . . . that in the diversity of their lives’ activities, they should not be divided in their choices of the good. Rather, they should all be one,^[1]united into a single good through the unity of the Holy Spirit. . . . All will look to the same goal, and every evil will be destroyed. God will be all in all, and all persons will be united together in fellowship of the Good, Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power forever and ever.

For as regards the fact that to preserve the figure of unity the Lord gave the power to Peter that whatsoever he should loose on earth should be loosed,^[1] it is clear that that unity is also described as one dove without fault. Can it be said, then, that to this same dove belong all those greedy ones, whose existence in the same Catholic church Cyprian himself so grievously bewailed? For birds of prey, I believe, cannot be called doves, but rather hawks. How then did they baptize those who used to plunder estates by treacherous deceit and increase their profits by compound usury, if baptism is only given by that indivisible and chaste and perfect dove, that unity which can only be understood as existing among the good? Is it possible that, by the prayers of the saints who are spiritual within the church, as though by the frequent lamentations of the dove, a great sacrament is dispensed, with a secret administration of the mercy of God? [Thus] their sins also are loosed who are baptized, not by the dove but by the hawk, if they come to that sacrament in the peace of Catholic unity.

My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. Now the mother of whom this is said is the heavenly Jerusalem.^[1]

My dove, my perfect one, is one. [The church] is one because it does not accept a schismatic division. It is one because it is not a collection of various parties, some before the law, some under the law, some under grace, some of the circumcision, and others of the uncircumcised. But just as there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of everyone,^[1] so also is there one Catholic multitude of all the elect throughout every place and every era of the world, subjected to one God and Father. This is why Luke teaches that [the church] should be called Catholic.

The church is the sun and the moon and the stars, to which it was said, Fair as the moon, bright as the sun. By it our Joseph is adored in this world as in Egypt, when he is raised from humble to high estate.

As beautiful as the special moon. The experts in these matters say the moon gets its light from the sun’s rays and gets partial light when a small part of it faces the sun. When it is directly opposite and is in full view of the sun, it is completely lit up as though reflecting its face like a kind of mirror and leaving no part of its bulk unlit. The church of Christ likewise, therefore, the congregation of the souls made perfect in virtue, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, in the words of blessed Paul, is being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, as a work of the Lord, the Spirit.^[1] And it becomes so completely luminous as to resemble a moon, and a special moon, that is, full moon.

The bride, however, is not only like a special moon, but also she will shine in the future life like a sun, astounding all with its brightness. They will marvel not only at her light but also at her orderliness. There is nothing disordered about the Lord’s bride, nothing undetermined; she gives practical directions like a kind of plumb line, and regulates her own life by use of norm and rule.

By clinging continually to God the Word, she is made wholly on fire, like a burning coal.^[1] Also like a burning coal among a number of dead coals, when joined to the others, she ignites them all. Thus, in the midst of the souls of the dead [destined] for eternal life, she alone, the singular chosen one, vivifies all souls who believe in her, makes them like herself, and draws them to her beauty. Nevertheless, uniquely splendid like the moon, perfect in heaven among the stars, she in their midst is proven to glow with everlasting beauty more than all others. Chosen like the sun in paternal majesty among all the powers of the heavenly hosts, she is proclaimed as one to be admired by all, as the following verse teaches: The maidens saw her and called her most blessed; queens and concubines also praised her.

You are properly compared to this figure since you raise up your precious head from all the nations, and you conduct the souls of the just, like exceptional lights to the kingdom above. You are a pyramid filled with heavenly corn, the blessed gathering of saints from many nations, a bright assembly of clear minds, an indestructible building made of living stones, the eternal happiness of all the blessed, brighter than the sun, whiter than snow, without stain, without wrinkle. It is written about you in Song of Songs: Who is she who comes forth, rising like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, as exceptional as the sun, terrible as an army arrayed for battle?

By nut plantation they refer to the present life, which is harsh, troublesome and laborious but contains hidden in itself the fruit of virtue. The fruit of the nut has a bitter skin on the outside, the second one is tough and resistant, and the edible part is hidden as though deposited in a kind of inner chamber and is not extracted without effort. Such also is the present life, containing as it does harsh pain and grief, containing hardship and effort which, however, are not fruitless, not useless, holding the fruit hidden within them. Hence blessed Paul also says, Our life is hidden with Christ in God; but when Christ our life is revealed, then we too shall live in him.^[1]

Solomon bears witness that a nut is customarily employed as a figure of the present church when in the Song of Songs he speaks in the character of the faithful teachers. . . . For just as a nut has sweet fruit on the inside but does not show it on the outside unless its hard shell can be broken, so in the same way do the righteous maintain the sweetness of spiritual grace in their inmost heart while they are in this present life. Its magnitude cannot be perceived by their neighbors until the time when the bodily dwelling is dissolved and the souls freed from it can gaze upon one another in heavenly light, and they individually shine so much with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and they are loved so much by one another, that absolutely nothing remains hidden.

You wish to know the place? He says in the Canticles, I came down to the nut garden; for it was a garden where he was crucified.

Just as the work calls Solomon—our Lord, in other words—peaceable, so too it calls his bride peacemaker for attaining peace from him and being freed from the former conflict. The bridegroom’s attendants, then, on seeing her driven from the chariot and under attack, comfort her in the words, Return, peacemaker, return, return, and we shall look upon you. That is to say, Do not be afraid of your pursuers but hold fast the doctrine, proclaim the message of the doctrine, have no fear of the chariot, do not be afraid of war, called peacemaker as you are. In fact, if you persist in your preaching, we shall see your kingdom.

Turn to us, O peaceful soul, that you may show your glory to your sisters and that they may begin to console themselves with the security of your repose and happiness. Turn to us once only, that we may see you, and turn again and hasten with all speed to that great Jerusalem, the city of the saints. Or indeed, since Christ says this to the pious soul, he commands it to turn for a little while, that its glory and its future repose with the saints may be manifest to us, and then he commands it to hasten to the company of the saints on high.