On Loving God III: 7 9
On Loving God III: 7 are ashamed at failing to give what little they have in return for so great a love and honor. Easily they love more who realize they are loved more: "He loves less to whom less is given."47 Indeed, the Jew and Pagan are not spurred on by such a wound of love as the Church experiences, who says:
"I am wounded by love,"48 and again: "Cushion me about with flowers, pile up apples around me, for I languish with love."49 The Church sees King Solomon with the diadem his mother had placed on his head.50 She sees the Father's only
Son carrying his cross,51 the Lord of majesty,52 slapped and covered with spittle; she sees the Author of life53 and glory pierced by nails, wounded by a lance,54 saturated with abuse,55 and finally laying down his precious life for his friends.56 As she beholds this, the sword of love transfixes all the more her soul,57 making her repeat: "Cushion me about with flowers, pile up apples around me, for I languish with love."58
WHENCE THE POMEGRANATES
These fruits are certainly the pomegranates59 the bride in troduced into her Beloved's garden. Picked from the tree of life,60 they had changed their natural taste for that of the heavenly bread, their color for that of Christ's blood. At last she sees death dead61 and the defeat of death's author.62 She beholds captivity led captive63 from hell to earth and from 47. Lk 7:43, 47; cf. 12:48.
48. Song 2: 5 (Old Latin); cf. Song 4: 9.
49. Song 2: 5.
50. Song 3: 11. Cf. Div 50:1; OB 6-1:270-271; CF 46.
51. Jn 19:17.
52. 1 Cor 2:8 (Old Latin).
53. Acts 3:15.
54. Jn 19:34.
55. Lam 3: 30.
56. Jer 12:7;Jn 15:13.
57. Cf. Lk 2:35.
58. Song 2:5.
59. Song 6: 1 0.
60. Gen 2: 9.
61. Hos 13:14; cf. 1 Cor 15:54.
62. Heb2:14.
63. Eph 4: 8.
On Loving God III: 8 earth to heaven so that in the name ot Jesus every knee must bend in heaven, on earth and in hell.64 She beholds the earth which produced thorns and thistles under the ancient curse65 blooming again by the grace of a new blessing. And in all this she thinks of the psalm which says: "And my flesh flour ished again; with all my will I shall praise him."66 She wishes to add to the fruits of the Passion which she had picked from the tree of the Cross some of the fruits of the Resurrection whose fragrance will induce the Bridegroom to visit her more often.
8. Then she says: "You are fair my Beloved, and handsome; our couch is strewn with flowers."67 By the couch she reveals clearly enough what she desires and by declaring that it is strewn with flowers, she indicates clearly whence she hopes to obtain what she wants; not by her own merits,68 but with flowers picked in the field the Lord has blessed.69 Christ loved flowers; he willed to be conceived and raised in Nazareth.70
The heavenly Bridegroom enjoys so much those perfumes that he enters willingly and often the chamber of the heart he finds decked with these flowers and fruits. Where he secs a mind occupied with the grace of his Passion and the glory of his Resurrection, he is willingly and zealously present there.
Understand that the tokens of the Passion are like last year's fruit, that is, of all the past ages spent under the domination of sin and death,71 until they appear in the fullness of time.72
But notice that the signs of the Resurrection are like this year's flowers, blossoming in a new summer under the power of grace. Their fruit will come forth in the end at the future general resurrection and it will last forever.73 As it is said:
64. Phil 2:10.
65. Gen 3:18; Heb 6:8.
66. Ps 27: 7.
67. Song 1:15.
68. For Bernard's doctrine on merits, see SC 68:6; OB 2:200; CF 31 69. Gen 27:27.
70. Bernard is alluding to the mystical or allegorical interpretation given to the name, Nazareth. See Miss 1:3; OB 4: 16; CF 43;Tpl 13: OB 3:225' CF 19
71. Cf. Rom 5:21.
72. Gal 4:4.
73. In regard to the fruits of the Passion and Resurrection, see Ann 1:4; OB
5:15; CF 22.
On Loving God 111:9-10 "Winter is over, the rain is past and gone. Flowers appear in our land,"74 showing summer has come back with him who changed death's coldness into the spring of a new life, saying:
"Behold I make all things new."75 His flesh was sown in death and rose again in the resurrection.76 By his fragrance the dry grass turns green again in the fields of the valley; what was cold grows warm again and what was dead comes back to life.
9. By the freshness of these flowers and fruits and the beauty of the field giving off the sweetest of scents the Father himself is indeed delighted in the Son who is renewing all things, so that he might say: "Behold the odor of my son is as that of a rich field which the Lord has blessed."77 Yes, a full field, of whose fullness we have all received.78 But the spouse enjoys greater familiarity by the fact that when she feels inclined, she may gather flowers and fruit in this field and strew them over the depths of her conscience so that the couch of her heart will give off a sweet odor for the Spouse as he enters. If we wish to have Christ for a guest often, we must keep our hearts for tified by the testimony of our faith79 in the mercy of him who died for us and in the power of him who rose from the dead, as David said: "These two things I have heard: power belongs to God and mercy to you, O Lord."80 The testimonies of both these are ever so believable.81 Christ died for our sins and rose again from the dead for our justification.82 He as cended to heaven for our protection,83 sent the Spirit for our consolation,84 and will some day return for our fulfillment.85
He certainly showed his mercy in dying, his power in rising again, and both of these in the rest.
10. These are the apples, these the flowers, with which the bride, feeling how easily the strength of her love can dwindle and weaken if it is not fortified by those stimulants, asks to be nourished and strengthened until she is introduced into 74. Song 2:11-12.
75. Rev 21:5.
80. Ps 61:12-13.
81. Ps 92:5.
76. 1 Cor 15:42.
82. Rom 4:25.
77. Gen 27:27.
83. Cf. Mk 16:19.
78. Jn 1:16.
79. Eph 3:17.
84. Cf. Jn 16:7; Acts 9:31.
85. Cf. Acts 1:11.
12 On Loving God IV: 11 the Bridegroom's chamber.86 There she will receive the long desired caresses87 and say: "His left hand is under my head and his right hand has embraced me."88 Then she will feel and esteem all the signs of love she had received during her lover's first visit,84 as coming from his left hand, altogether inferior and of little value in comparison with the infinite delights of his right hand's embrace.90 She will experience what she had heard: "The flesh is of no use; it is the spirit that gives life,"91 realizing what she had read: "My spirit is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance than honey and the comb."92 What indeed follows: "My remembrance will last for ages to come,"93 means as long as the present era lasts, in which a generation arrives as the previous one passes away,94 the elect will not be deprived of memory's consolation until they can indulge in the feast of God's presence. Thus it is written: "They will publish the memory of your sweetness,"95 no doubt meaning those of whom it is said just before: "Generation after gen eration will praise your works."96 Therefore, memory is for the continuing ages, presence is for the kingdom of heaven, where the elect are already glorified while remembrance con soles the present generation during its pilgrimage.
IV. 11. It is important to point out which generation finds consolation in remembering God. Surely it is not the stubborn and defiant generation97 to whom it is said: "Woe to you who are rich, you have your consolation,"98 rather it is to the gen eration which is able to say: "My soul refused to be consoled."99
86. Song 2:5; 3:4. For Bernard's interpretation of the Bridegroom's chamber see SC 23:3, 8-9; OB 1:140, 143-145; CF 7.
87. Prov 7:18.
88. Song 2:6. See below, no. 12, p. 40.
89. Cf. Adv 4:9; OB 4:182; CF 10.
90. Ps 30:20.
91. Jn 6:64.
92. Sir 24:27.
93. Sir 24:28.
94. Eccles 1 : 4.
95. Ps 144:7.
96. Ps 144:4.
97. Ps 7 7:8.
98. Lk 6: 24.
99. Ps 76:3.