What is designated by the watchmen, if not the teachers of the Church? For while they keep watch through writings and words for the sake of winning souls, whenever they perceive even a little desire, they never cease to increase it toward something better. These find the bride seeking, because they receive the devout soul striving to find Christ, and so…

The preachers of the Church are rightly said to be the lips of the bride, because through them she speaks to the peoples, and through them the little ones are instructed in the faith, since through them the hidden things of divine Scripture, as if secrets of the heart, are made manifest. Now in a honeycomb, the honey lies hidden and the wax is seen.…

To whom it is well said: "And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of frankincense." What is designated by these garments, if not holy works, by which the shame of preceding evils is covered, lest it be seen? For hence it is written: "Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame" (Rev. 16:15).…

The eyes of the bridegroom are like doves, because the preachers of Christ who show us the way live in simplicity. Moreover, they are said to be beside streams of water, because they always dwell in the refreshment of the divine Scriptures. Indeed, they are washed with milk, because by the grace of creative wisdom, as by a mother's milk, they have been…

Having been touched, she rises to open: because when she receives the spirit of love more abundantly than usual, she immediately thinks about the edification of her neighbor; and by preaching she acts so that, with hearts opened, the Bridegroom, coming to dwell in her neighbors, may find an entrance for entering. She also demonstrates examples of works to…

For what is designated by the North wind, which constricts with cold and makes things numb, if not the unclean spirit, who, while he possesses all the reprobate, makes them numb to good work? By the South wind, truly, that is, the warm wind, the Holy Spirit is figured: who, when He touches the minds of the elect, releases them from all numbness and makes…

For what do we more fittingly understand by the wine cellar than the hidden contemplation of eternity itself? In this eternity the holy angels are inebriated with the wine of wisdom, while seeing God himself face to face, they are satisfied with every spiritual delight. The holy mind, if it is led in by the bridegroom (all temporal things having been set…

Resting delightfully among them, free from their disturbance, the Bridegroom forbids the wicked, saying: "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and the deer of the fields, do not stir up nor awaken the beloved until she herself wills it." In this, certainly, he shows that after her conversion he will find some from the Synagogue of the…

While the bride, having experienced the sweetness of the Bridegroom, refreshes herself, she also thinks of her neighbor, whom she loves as herself by the Bridegroom's own command; and because she understands the Bridegroom's precepts, she desires that others may understand them as well. For the field, as Truth itself attests, is this world (Matt. 13). The…

The turtledove, after it has once lost its mate, never joins itself to another, but always dwelling in solitude perseveres in mourning; because not finding the one it loved, it searches. So every holy soul, while it is absent from its Bridegroom, does not withdraw from love of him, but always pants and groans in desire for him; and while it does not find…

As if she were saying: Seeing so many miracles taking place in the holy Church, why did I not perceive them in so great a time? Why did I remain unbelieving? Why did I persist so long through my unbelief in the darkness of ignorance? But she is disturbed on account of the chariots of Aminadab, because at a certain point she is stirred up through the…

Because we have explained these things above (Chapter 2, n. 35), as best we could, we now avoid repeating the same things for the sake of preserving brevity. But because there is added 'Apart from what lies hidden within', we must briefly consider how it is connected with what precedes. The bride is therefore beautiful, and her eyes are those of doves,…