She
1 ① On my bed at night
I looked for the one I love,
I sought him without finding him;
I called him and he did not answer. 2I will rise and go about the city,
through the streets and the squares;
I will seek the love of my heart… 3I sought him without finding him;
the watchmen came upon me,
those who patrol the city.
“Have you seen the love of my heart?” 4As soon as I left them,
I found the love of my heart.
I held him and would not let him go
till I had brought him to my mother’s house
to the room of her who conceived me.
He
5I beg you, daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles and hinds of the field,
not to arouse or stir up love
before her time has come.
Chorus
6 ② Who is this coming from the wilderness?
There seems to be a pillar of smoke,
with fumes of myrrh and frankincense. 7Look, it is Solomon’s carriage!
sixty warriors escort him,
the strongest of Israel, 8all girded with swords,
all seasoned in battle;
each is ready with sword at his side,
each prepared for the terrors of the night. 9King Solomon has made for himself
a carriage of wood from Lebanon, 10its columns of silver,
its back of gold,
its seat of purple cloth,
its framework inlaid with ivory. 11Come, daughters of Zion,
see King Solomon wearing the diadem
with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day his heart rejoiced.
- Song 3,1 On my bed at night I looked for the one I love. Love keeps us awake. Mary Magdalen goes through the entire city looking for Jesus and, for the first time, passersby laugh at her. She comes into the house without seeing the porter and he does not dare stop her; she knew that she would reach Jesus. I held him and would not let him go, but one day Jesus will say to her: Do not hold on to me (Jn 20:17). Song 3,6 Who is this coming from the wilderness? We probably have here an evocation of God coming up from the desert to his Temple - Solomon's Temple. Through Solomon, it is God himself with his Messiah whose coming is awaited. At the time of Moses Yahweh accompanied his people, hidden in a cloud of smoke. Again the lover sings the praises of his beloved. Most probably this passage uses traditional couplets that the newly-weds sang during the wedding feast, each praising the other. You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. How can we speak well of God, and of a God-Lover? Perhaps it is this aspect of God that is the most difficult for us to discover. Yet how do we understand that the whole Bible speaks of election, of the chosen people, and the elect? Would it be because some are not chosen and are condemned, or rather because God's love is always at the same time the love of a father and of a lover? Because of that he came in the person of his Son, the Spouse, as he calls himself. Notice the last verse of 3:11 which like 6:8 is similar to psalm 45. Today throughout the world, men and women seek to attain, beyond the polluted and materialist world, something or someone transcendent. The ways are not lacking and the oriental doctrines, more often their imitations, have droves of readers. We shall not believe that God has not revealed himself beyond Christian revelation; however confusion should be avoided. Even if the same words are used: mystic, contemplation, spirituality, the meaning is often different, and the Song shows us, just as do the Letters of John, what is proper to Christian mysticism: - the Christian search for God is not first of all to experiment, but to love another; - this search is not for something to be attained at the end of a long period of ascetic discipline, but for someone who gives and will give himself when he wishes; - if we speak of spirituality it is a question of the Spirit of God at work in us. He leads us, perhaps, by very diverse ways, but always leads to union with Christ on the cross; - our ultimate experience of God will always be that of an authentic marriage where the two become one, where the human person is transformed, becoming all that God is, without ceasing to be oneself. This experience has had innumerable witnesses, and these knew, or know, that no other way of wisdom can give them what they have become.
- Song 3,1 On my bed at night I looked for the one I love. Love keeps us awake. Mary Magdalen goes through the entire city looking for Jesus and, for the first time, passersby laugh at her. She comes into the house without seeing the porter and he does not dare stop her; she knew that she would reach Jesus. I held him and would not let him go, but one day Jesus will say to her: Do not hold on to me (Jn 20:17). Song 3,6 Who is this coming from the wilderness? We probably have here an evocation of God coming up from the desert to his Temple - Solomon's Temple. Through Solomon, it is God himself with his Messiah whose coming is awaited. At the time of Moses Yahweh accompanied his people, hidden in a cloud of smoke. Again the lover sings the praises of his beloved. Most probably this passage uses traditional couplets that the newly-weds sang during the wedding feast, each praising the other. You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. How can we speak well of God, and of a God-Lover? Perhaps it is this aspect of God that is the most difficult for us to discover. Yet how do we understand that the whole Bible speaks of election, of the chosen people, and the elect? Would it be because some are not chosen and are condemned, or rather because God's love is always at the same time the love of a father and of a lover? Because of that he came in the person of his Son, the Spouse, as he calls himself. Notice the last verse of 3:11 which like 6:8 is similar to psalm 45. Today throughout the world, men and women seek to attain, beyond the polluted and materialist world, something or someone transcendent. The ways are not lacking and the oriental doctrines, more often their imitations, have droves of readers. We shall not believe that God has not revealed himself beyond Christian revelation; however confusion should be avoided. Even if the same words are used: mystic, contemplation, spirituality, the meaning is often different, and the Song shows us, just as do the Letters of John, what is proper to Christian mysticism: - the Christian search for God is not first of all to experiment, but to love another; - this search is not for something to be attained at the end of a long period of ascetic discipline, but for someone who gives and will give himself when he wishes; - if we speak of spirituality it is a question of the Spirit of God at work in us. He leads us, perhaps, by very diverse ways, but always leads to union with Christ on the cross; - our ultimate experience of God will always be that of an authentic marriage where the two become one, where the human person is transformed, becoming all that God is, without ceasing to be oneself. This experience has had innumerable witnesses, and these knew, or know, that no other way of wisdom can give them what they have become.
