Sermons on the Song of Songs75 Sermon LXXV
Sermon LXXV
Google about her Beloved, not to be turned by any reason from following His footsteps, nor daunted by any difficulty; not to be held back by the love of ease and repose, by the sensitive modesty of a bride, nor by the terrors of the night! And, notwithstanding all this, the object of her wishes has not as yet been attained. Why is this? What can be the cause of a withdrawal so obstinate and so prolonged, which nourishes weariness, causes suspicions, is as a torch to enkindle impatience, as a stepmother to love, but a mother to desperation? If it is still a concealment of love on the part of the Bridegroom, that concealment is but too painful.
2. Granted that such concealment was useful and even kind in the meantime, until the Bride had set herself seriously to call upon Him, or to recall. But now, when she is thus seeking Him and calling for Him, what can be the object of any longer concealment? If the question here were of carnal spouses and of dishonourable loves, as the literal sense of the text seems at first to suggest, and such incidents should occur in them, I leave such matters to those whom they concern, for they do not concern me. But if it is my duty to respond to, and to satisfy, as far as my poor powers extend, the wishes and the needs of souls that seek the Lord, I ought to draw from the Holy Scripture, in which they trust that they have the word of life, something spiritual and life-giving, that they who are the poor of Christ may eat and may be satisfied, and that their hearts may find life. And what is the life of human hearts but my Lord Jesus Christ, of whom one who lived in Him said: When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory (Col. iii. 4)? Let Him come, then, into the midst of us, so that it may be possible to say truly to us also: There standeth One among you whom ye know not (John i. 26). Though I do not know how the Bridegroom, who is Spirit, can fail to be recognised by spiritual men, who have made such progress in the life of the spirit, as to be able to say with the Prophet, The Anointed of the Lord is a Spirit before our face (Lam. iv. 20); and with the Apostle, Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more (2 Cor. v. 16). Is it not He whom the Bride was seeking? He is, in truth, the Bridegroom, both loving and lovable. He is, I say, the Bridegroom, as His Flesh is meat indeed, and His Blood drink indeed (John vi. 56); and all that He is He is in truth, for He is Himself no other than the Truth.
3. But why is it that this Bridegroom is not found when He is sought, especially when sought with so great and unwearied care, now on the couch, now in the city, or even in the streets and open places? Does not He Himself say, Seek, and ye shall find; and, He who secketh findeth (Matt. vii. 7, 8)? To Him also speaks a Prophet: The Lord is good... to the soul that seeketh Him (Lam. iii. 25); and also holy Isaiah saith, Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found (Is. lv. 6). How, then, shall the Scriptures be accomplished? For she who here seeks the Lord is not of those to whom He says: Ye shall seek Afe, and 4. But now is the acceptable (acceptabile) time, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. vi. 2); it is the time of seeking, and of calling upon, the Lord; for oftentimes, even before He is called, He is felt to be near. Hear, in fact, what He promises. Before they call, He says, will answer (Is. lxv. 24). Nor does the Psalmist speak less decisively as to the acceptableness of the time present, for he says: Lord, Thou hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt prepare their heart, Thou wilt cause Thine ear to hear (Ps. x. 17). If God is being sought by good works, then, while we have time, let us do good unto all men (Gal. vi. 10), especially since the Lord plainly warns us that the night cometh, when no man can work (John ix. 4). Do you expect to find in the ages to come some other time to seek God, some other opportunity to do that which is right, besides that which God has appointed for you, and in which He will be mindful of you? And, therefore, this is the day of salvation, because it is in it that God, who is our King before all the ages, has worked salvation in the midst of the earth (Ps. lxxxiv. 12).
5. Go, then, and await in the midst of hell the salvation which is already worked in the midst of the earth. What profit will be to you those dreams of pardon, among the everlasting fires, when the season for pity shall have passed? There is no victim left to atone for your sins, when you shall be dead in sins. The Son of God is not crucified a second time: once He died, and now He dieth no more (Rom. vi. 9). His Blood, which was poured out upon the earth, does not descend into hell. All the sinners of the earth have drunk of it; there is none left for the demons to claim, that the flames which prey upon them may be quenched; nor for men who are the companions of demons. The Soul of the Saviour once descended into that place, but not His Blood; and this was the portion of 1 Origen seems to be referred to, or at least the error ascribed to him, in this passage; just as St. Bernard notes other errors of the same writer in Sermon XXXIV., De Diversis, and Sermon LIV., n. 3, in Cantica.
6. There remains, then, the third obstacle, namely, that He is sought for in an unsuitable place. On my little bed (lectulo) I sought Him whom my soul loveth. But perhaps He for whom the whole world is too narrow should not be sought upon a ' little' bed, but upon a bed? Nevertheless, the little bed does not displease me, for I know that the Saviour was made a little Child. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee (Is. xii. 6). But the same Lord, who is great in Zion, is found among us little, and weak; He has need to lie down, and even upon a bed that is little. Is not His tomb a little bed? or His cradle? or the womb of His Virgin-Mother? For the Bosom of His Father, who is so great, is not little, but great; and of it He speaks to the Son: From the womb, before the Daystar, I begot Thee (Ps. ex. 3, Douay). Though perhaps it may be thought more worthily that this womb is not a bed, and for rest, but a throne, and for rule. For abiding in the Father, He rules all things with the Father. Finally, faith undoubted teaches us that He does not recline, but sits, at the Right Hand of the Father; that Heaven is His throne, not His couch (Is. lxvi. 1), so that you may learn that among his own, that is, among the dwellers in heaven, He has the ensigns of power, not the solaces of weakness.
7. Rightly, then, does the Bride, when speaking of a little bed, call it hers; for it is manifest that whatever of weakness may appear in God [our Saviour is not proper and natural to Him, but comes from us. He has taken from us all that He has suffered on our behalf: to be born, to be nourished with milk, to die, to be buried. The mortality of His Birth comes from me, the weakness of His Childhood comes from me, the pains of His Crucifixion, and His 1 Thus the MSS. and earliest editions, except that some MSS. have pittatis for charitalis* 8. For whom, then, I pray you, O holy women, do ye keep vigil? For whom do ye buy perfumes and make provision of fragrant oils? If ye knew how great He is, how free among the dead is that dead Man whom ye are going to anoint, you would perhaps petition that He should rather drop perfumes upon you. Is it not He whom His God hath anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows? (Ps. xlv. 7). Blessed shall ye be if, when returning, you are able to make your boast, and say: Of His fulness have all we received (John i. 16). For it was in fact thus; and those holy women who had gone to anoint Him returned anointed themselves. How could they be otherwise than, as it were, anointed by the joyful and fragrant news of His Resurrection? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things I (Rom. x. 15). When sent by the Angel, they do the work of an Evangelist; they are made apostles to the Apostles themselves, and while hastening in the early morning to announce the mercy of the Lord, they say: 4 We run in the fragrance of Thy perfumes.' From that time and thenceforth it was in vain that the Bridegroom was sought in that little bed, because, although the Church had known Him according to the flesh, that is, according to the weakness of the flesh, yet henceforth it knows Him [thus no more. It is true that He was sought in this manner by Peter and John at the sepulchre, but they found Him not. Do you see with what singular fitness and suitableness each of them would be able to say: In my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth: I sought Him, but I found Him not. For the Flesh of the Son of God, which was not of the Father, before going to the Father, put off, through the glory of the Resurrection, every trace of weakness; it was girded about with power, it was clad with light as it were with a garment, and adorned with all the glory and beauty which was befitting it, to present itself before the Father.
9. With great beauty also does the Bride say, not * Him whom I love,' but 4 Him whom my soul loveth/ because that affection belongs 10. It seems to me, however, if you have no better cause to suggest, that the reason may be something of this kind. That world has its nights, and they are many. What do I say? Not only has it nights, but it is itself almost an entire night, and is enveloped wholly in shadows. The unbelief of the Jews is a night; the ignorance of the Heathen, the obstinate error of heretics, even the carnal and animal mode of living of Catholics, each of these is a night. Is it not a darkness as of night when the things which are of the Spirit of God are not even perceived? So, also, as many sects as there are of heretics and schismatics, so many nights are there. To no purpose do you seek the Sun of Righteousness and the light of Truth, that is, the Bridegroom, through the gloom of these nights, for light hath no fellowship with darkness. But someone objects that the Bride is not so blind, nor so foolish, as to seek light in the darkness, or to expect to find her Beloved among those who know Him not nor love Him. What she says is, not that she is seeking Him now, but that she has sought Him; not 41 am seeking/ but By night I sought Him whom my soul loveth. And the meaning of these words is that when she was young she had but the thoughts and sentiments proportioned to the weakness of her age; that she sought the truth where it was not, wandering and not finding it, according as it is said in a Psalm: I have gam astray like a lost sheep (Ps. cxix. 176). In fact, she states that she was still, as it were, in a little bed, because she was of immature age and undeveloped intelligence.
11. But if that sense of the words be accepted, then the phrase on my bed' must be understood as if it were said ‘being or reclining/ not, that is to say, ' I have sought on my bed,' but * being on my bed I have sought'; that is, 'While I was still weak and incompetent, altogether unfitted to follow the Lamb whithersoever He should go, or to pursue the steep and arduous paths by which He ascended to the height of glory, I fell among many persons who, knowing my earnest desire, said to me: Lo, here is Christy or Zo, He is there (Mark xiii. 21), and He was neither in the one place nor the other. Nevertheless, I do not regret to have fallen among them. For the more nearly I approached them and the more diligently I examined them, the more assured I became that the truth was not in them. For I sought it and did not find it, and what they falsely called day proved to be in truth but night.
12. Then I said in myself: I will rise now and go about the city: in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek Him whom my soul loveth. Now, you will observe that she must be reclining who says, will rise. And this is said with much fitness, for how can she do otherwise than rise when she has heard of the Resurrection of her Beloved? But if thou, O blessed one, art risen with Christ, it behoves thee to seek those things which are above, and not to seek Christ here below, but to seek Him on high, where He sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father (Col. iii. 1). But she says: will go about the city. To what purpose? For it is the wicked who do that. Leave that to the Jews, of whom their own Psalmist predicted: They shall suffer hunger like dogst and shall go round about the city (Ps. lix. 7, Douay). If you shall enter into the city, then, according to another prophet, behold them that are sick with famine (Jer. xiv. 18), which doubtless would not have been the case if there had been in them the bread of life. He has arisen from the heart of the earth, but He has not remained upon the earth, for He has ascended up where He was before. For He who descended is the same who also ascended, the Living Bread who came down from heaven, the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
1. In lectulo meo quaesivi per noctes quem diligit, anima mea. Non est reversus sponsus ad vocem et votum revocantis. Quare? Ut desiderium crescat, ut probetur affectus, ut exerceatur amoris negotium. Sane ergo dissimulatio est, non indignatio. Sed superest, ut quaeratur, si forte reperiatur quaesitus, qui vocatus non venit, dicente Domino: Omnis qui quaerit, invenit. Porro verbum revocationis tale est: Revertere; assimilare, dilecte mi, capreae hinnuloque cervorum. Ad quam vocem dum non est reversus, utique ob illas causas quae dictae sunt: hinc ista quae amat facta cupidior, mox sese ad requirendum tota aviditate dedit. Et primo quidem quaerit illum in lectulo, sed minime invenit. Surgit inde, circuit civitatem, it et redit per plateas et vicos, et non occurrit, neque apparet. Interrogantur quique forte occurrerint, nihilque certi reportatur. Neque vicis unius, aut unius noctis quaesitio haec, et haec frustratio, cum dicat ista, quia quaesivi per noctes. Quid hoc desiderii est et ardoris, ut surgens de nocte publicum non erubescat, percurrat civitatem, percunctetur palam et passim de dilecto, atque a vestigandis semitis ejus nulla valeat ratione averti, nulla praepediri difficultate, non tempestivae retineri amore quietis, non sponsae verecundia, non vel timore nocturno? Et tamen in his omnibus frustrata est usque adhuc a desiderio suo. Quaere, quid sibi vult pertinax haec et diuturna fraudatio, taediorum nutrix, suspicionum fomes, impatientiae fax, noverca amoris, mater desperationis? Si adhuc dissimulatio est, nimis est molesta.
2. Esto quod pie utiliterque interim fuerit dissimulatum, donec in sola adhuc vocatione seu revocatione res erat. Nunc vero cum requiritur, et ita requiritur, quid jam conferre poterit dissimulatio? Si de carnalibus sponsis et pudendis amoribus quaestio est, sicut litteralis superficies praelusisse videtur; et si inter illos talia contingere queant, mea non interest, ipsi viderint. Quod si animarum quaerentium Dominum mentibus et affectibus pro quantulocunque posse meo respondere et satisfacere me oportet, eruendum sane est de Scriptura sancta, in qua se vitam habere confidunt, eo vitale aliquid, quo spirituale; ut edant pauperes et saturentur, et vivant corda eorum. Et quid tam cordium vita, quam Dominus meus Jesus Christus, de quo aiebat qui eo vivebat, quia cum Christus apparuerit vita vestra, tunc et vos apparebitis cum ipso in gloria? Ipse ergo ad medium veniat, quo et nobis veraciter dici possit: Medius autem vestrum stat, quem vos nescitis. Quanquam nescio quomodo non sciatur a spiritualibus sponsus Spiritus, qui tamen ita in spiritu profecerunt, ut possint dicere cum propheta: Spiritus ante faciem nostram Christus Dominus; et cum Apostolo: Et si cognovimus Christum secundum carnem, sed nunc jam non novimus. Nonne is est, quem sponsa quaerebat? Is vere est sponsus, et amans, et amabilis. Is, inquam, vere sponsus; sicut caro ejus vere est cibus, et sanguis ejus vere est potus (Joan. VI, 56): et totum quod de ipso est, vere est, quando ipse est non aliud sane, quam ipsa Veritas.
3. Verum is sponsus quid est quod non invenitur quaesitus, cum requiratur tam studiose et impigre, nunc quidem in lectulo, nunc vero in civitate, aut etiam in plateis vel vicis; ipse autem dicat: Quaerite, et invenietis; et: Qui quaerit, invenit? Propheta quoque loquatur ad eum: Bonus es, Domine, animae quaerenti te; et item sanctus Isaias: Quaerite Dominum, dum inveniri potest? Quomodo ergo implebuntur Scripturae? Neque enim quae hic inducitur quaerens, una est ex his quibus ipse ait: Quaeretis me, et non invenietis. Sed attendite tres esse causas, quae interim occurrunt, et quaerentes frustrari solent: cum aut videlicet non in tempore quaerunt, aut non sicut oportet, aut non ubi oportet. Si enim omne tempus aptum est ad quaerendum, cur ergo dicit propheta, quod jam memoravi: Quaerite Dominum, dum inveniri potest? Erit absque dubio cum inveniri non poterit; et ideo addit, ut invocetur dum prope est; quia futurum est jam non prope futurum. A quo enim tunc non requiretur? Mihi, inquit, curvabitur omne genu, etc. Nec tamen invenietur ab impiis, quos ultores angeli arcebunt profecto, et tollent ne videant gloriam Dei. Frustra inclamabunt et fatuae virgines; minime prorsus jam ad eas exit, clausa janua. Sibi proinde dictum putent illae: Quaeretis me, et non invenietis.
4. Caeterum nunc tempus acceptabile, nunc dies salutis sunt; tempus plane et quaerendi, et invocandi, quando plerumque, et antequam invocetur, adesse sentitur. Audi denique quid polliceatur. Antequam me invocetis, inquit, dicam: Ecce adsum. Nec latuit benignitas haec et facilitas temporis quod nunc est, illum qui in psalmo loquitur: Desiderium pauperum exaudivit Dominus, praeparationem cordis eorum audivit auris tua. Quod si per bona opera quaeritur Deus, ergo dum tempus habemus operemur bonum ad omnes: praesertim quia Dominus aperte praenuntiat venire noctem, quando nemo potest operari. Tune aliud ad quaerendum Deum, ad operandum quod bonum est, reperturus es tibi tempus in saeculis venturis, praeter hoc, quod constituit tibi Deus, in quo recordetur tui? Et ideo dies salutis, quia in his ipse Deus, rex noster ante saecula, operatus est salutem in medio terrae.
5. I ergo tu, et in medio gehennae exspectato salutem, quae jam facta est in medio terrae. Quam tibi somnias proventuram inter ardores sempiternos facultatem veniam promerendi, cum jam transiit tempus miserendi? Non relinquitur tibi hostia pro peccatis, mortuo in peccatis. Non crucifigitur iterum Filius Dei; mortuus est semel, jam non moritur. Non descendit ad inferos sanguis, qui effusus est super terram. Biberunt omnes peccatores terrae: non est quod sibi ex eo vindicent daemones ad restinguendos focos suos; sed neque homines socii daemoniorum. Semel illo descendit, non sanguis, sed anima; et haec portio eorum qui in carcere erant: Una illa visitatio, quae tunc facta est per praesentiam animae, cum corpus penderet exanime super terram. Sanguis aridam rigavit, sanguis infudit terram, et inebriavit eam; sanguis quae in terra, et quae in coelis sunt pacificavit, non autem et quae apud inferos: nisi quod semel illo, ut dixi, anima ejus excurrit, et fecit ex parte redemptionem, ne vel eo momenti vacaret opera charitatis; sed ultra non adjiciet. Ergo nunc tempus acceptabile et aptum ad quaerendum in quo plane qui quaerit invenit: si tamen ubi, et uti oportet, quaerit. Et haec una causa, quae impedire potest, ne inveniatur sponsus a quaerentibus se, cum non quaerunt in tempore opportuno. At non ea impedit sponsam, nempe invocantem et quaerentem in tempore opportuno. Sed ne illa quidem eum tepide aut negligenter seu perfunctorie quaerit: nam corde ardenti et omnino infatigabiliter quaerit, plane ut decet.
6. Restat ut de tertia videamus, ne videlicet ubi non decet quaerat. In lectulo meo quaesivi quem diligit anima mea. An forte non in lectulo quaerendus erat, sed in lecto; quippe cui orbis angustus est? Sed non horreo lectulum, qui novi parvulum. Parvulus denique nobis natus est. Exsulta tu et lauda, habitatio Sion, quia magnus in medio tui sanctus Israel. At idem Dominus in Sion magnus, apud nos parvulus, apud nos infirmus repertus est; ex uno jacere, ex altero et in lectulo jacere habens. An non lectulus tumulus? an non lectulus praesepium? an non lectulus uterus Virginis? Neque enim magni Patris uterus lectulus est, sed lectus magnus, de quo ad Filium: Ex utero, inquit, ante luciferum genui te. Quanquam ne lectus quidem forsitan digne censendus sit uterus ille, qui regentis potius, quam jacentis est locus. Manens enim in Patre regit cum Patre universa. Denique non jacere, sed sedere ad dexteram Patris Filium fides indubitata habet; et ipse coelum sibi sedem esse, non lectum perhibet: ut scias illum in suis, id est in superis, nequaquam solatia hahere infirmitatis, sed potestatis insignia.
7. Merito proinde sponsa ponens lectulum, dicit suum, quia omne quod infirmum est Dei, non de proprio inesse illi manifestum est, sed de nostro. Ex nobis assumpsit quae pro nobis sustinuit, nasci, lactari, mori, sepeliri. Mea est mortalitas nati, mea infirmitas parvuli, mea exspiratio crucifixi, mea sepulti dormitio. Quae priora transierunt, et ecce nova sunt omnia. In lectulo meo quaesivi per noctes quem diligit anima mea. Quid? in tuo quaerebas, qui se jam in sua receperat? Non videras Filium hominis ascendentem ubi erat prius? Jam coelum tumulo commutavit et stabulo, et tu illum in tuo adhuc lectulo quaeris? Surrexit, non est hic. Quid quaeris in lectulo fortem, in lectulo magnum, clarificatum in stabulo? Introivit in potentias Domini, decorem induit et fortitudinem: et ecce sedet super cherubim, qui sub lapide jacuit. Ex hoc jam non jacet, sed sedet: et tu tanquam jacenti subsidia paras? Sive, ut absolutior veritas sit, aut sedet judicans, aut stat adjuvans.
8. Sic vos, o bonae mulieres, cuinam, quaeso, excubias exhibetis? cui aromata comparatis, paratis unguenta? Si sciretis quantus is sit, quamque sit inter mortuos liber mortuus iste quem ungere pergitis, vos forsitan petissetis ab eo potius ungi. Nonne iste est, quem unxit Deus suus oleo laetitiae prae consortibus suis? Beati eritis vos, si gloriari potueritis revertentes, et dicere, quia de plenitudine ejus et nos accepimus. Enimvero factum est ita. Nam revera unctae remeant, quae uncturae venerant. Quidni unctae tam laeto nuntio novae odoriferaeque resurrectionis? Quam speciosi pedes evangelizantium pacem, evangelizantium bona! Missae ab angelo opus faciunt evangelistae; factaeque apostolae apostolorum, dum festinant ad annuntiandum mane misericordiam Domini, dicunt: In odore unguentorum tuorum currimus. Extunc ergo et deinceps frustra in lectulo quaesitus est sponsus; quia etsi cognoverat eum Ecclesia secundum carnem, id est secundum carnis infirmitatem, sed nunc jam non novit. Denique quaesitus est postmodum a Petro et Joanne identidem in sepulcro, sed minime inventus. Vide tu, utrumne apte et competenter quisque horum tunc dicere quiverit: In lectulo meo quaesivi quem diligit anima mea; quaesivi, et non inveni. Nempe itura ad Patrem caro quae non erat ex Patre, prius per gloriam resurrectionis omne infirmum se exuit, accinxit potentia, induit lumine sicut vestimento: in quali nimirum gloria et ornatu decuit eam paternis aspectibus praesentari.
9. Pulchre vero sponsa: Non quem diligo ego, sed quem diligit anima mea, inquit: quod vere et proprie ad solam pertineat animam illa dilectio, qua aliquid spiritualiter diligit, verbi gratia, Deum, angelum, animam. Sed et diligere justitiam, veritatem, pietatem, sapientiam, virtutesque alias, ejusmodi est. Nam cum secundum carnem quidpiam diligit, vel potius appetit anima, verbi gratia cibum, vestimentum, dominium, et quae istiusmodi sunt corporalia sive terrena, carnis potius, quam animae amor dicendus est. Et hoc pro eo quod sponsa minus usitate, sed non minus proprie, animam suam sponsum diligere dicit, monstrans proinde spiritum esse sponsum, at a se non carnali, sed spirituali amore diligi. Et bene per noctes se quaesisse eum ait. Nam si juxta Paulum, qui dormiunt, nocte dormiunt, et qui ebrii sunt, nocte ebrii sunt: ita non absurde, ut opinor, dici potest, quod qui ignorant, nocte ignorant; ac per hoc qui quaerunt, nocte quaerunt. Quis enim quaerat, quod palam habet? Porro dies palam facit, quod nox abscondit, ut reperias in die, quod in nocte quaesieras. Nox est itaque donec quaeritur sponsus; quoniam si dies esset, de medio fieret, et minime quaereretur. Et de hoc satis: nisi forte numerositas haec noctium aliquid adhuc quaerendum signet, quia non noctem, sed noctes posuit.
10. Et mihi videtur, si tu melius non habes, talis posse ratio reddi. Habet mundus iste noctes suas, et non paucas. Quid dico, quia noctes habet mundus, cum pene totus ipse sit nox, et totus semper versetur in tenebris? Nox est Judaica perfidia, nox ignorantia paganorum, nox haeretica pravitas, nox etiam Catholicorum carnalis, animalisve conversatio. An non nox, ubi non percipiuntur ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei? Sed et apud haereticos vel schismaticos quot sectae, tot noctes. Frustra per has noctes justitiae solem et lumen quaeritis veritatis, id est sponsum; quia nulla societas luci ad tenebras. Sed dicit aliquis, quod non sit tam stulta, tamve caeca sponsa, ut quaerat lumen in tenebris, quaerat dilectum apud ignorantes, et qui non diligunt eum. Quasi vero se per noctes nunc quaerere dicat, et non potius quaesisse, non ait: Quaero; sed, quaesivi per noctes, quem diligit anima mea. Et est sensus, quia cum esset parvula, sapiebat ut parvula, cogitabat et parvula, et quaerebat veritatem ubi non erat, errans, et non inveniens, juxta illud in psalmo: Erravi sicut ovis quae periit. Denique in lectulo se memorat tunc adhuc esse, tanquam aetate imbecillem ac parvulam sensu.
11. Si tamen ita construas: In lectulo meo, subaudis, existens vel jacens, quaesivi quem diligit anima mea; non quaesivi in lectulo, sed ens in lectulo quaesivi, hoc est: Cum adhuc infirma et invalida forem, et omnino minus idonea sequi sponsum quocunque iret, sequi ad ardua et excelsa sublimitatis illius, incidi in multos, qui cognoscentes desiderium meum, dicebant mihi: Ecce hic est Christus, ecce illic est: et neque hic, neque illic erat. Incidi autem, et non ad insipientiam mihi. Nam quo propius accessi, et exploravi diligentius, eo citius certiusque cognovi, veritatem apud eos minime esse. Quaesivi enim, et non inveni; et deprehendi noctes, qui se dies mentiebantur.
12. Ex dixi: Surgam, et circuibo civitatem; per vicos et plateas quaeram quem diligit anima mea. Intuere vel nunc, quia jacet quae dicit: Surgam. Pulchre omnino. Quidni surgeret, cognito de resurrectione dilecti? Caeterum, o beata, si consurrexisti cum Christo, quae sursum sunt sapias oportet; neque deorsum, sed sursum quaeras Christum necesse est, ubi sedet in dextera Patris. Sed circuibo, ais, civitatem. Ad quid? In circuitu impii ambulant. Judaeis istud relinquito, quibus proprius eorum propheta hoc vaticinatus est, quia famem patientur ut canes, et circuibunt civitatem. Et si introieris in civitatem, secundum prophetam alium, ecce attenuati fame: quod utique non esset, si in ea fuisset panis vitae. Surrexit de corde terrae, sed super terram non remansit. Ascendit autem ubi erat prius. Nam qui descendit, ipse est et qui ascendit, panis vivus qui de coelo descendit, idem ipse sponsus Ecclesiae, Jesus Christus Dominus noster, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen.