02.03. What greater incentives Christians have to love God

3. What greater incentives Christians have to love God

The faithful know how much need they have of Jesus and Him crucified; but though they wonder and rejoice at the ineffable love made manifest in Him, they are not daunted at having no more than their own poor souls to give in return for such great and condescending charity. They love all the more, because they know themselves to be loved so exceedingly; but to whom little is given the same loveth little (Luke 7:47). Neither Jew nor pagan feels the pangs of love as doth the Church, which saith, “Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love” (Son 2:5).

She beholds King Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals; she sees the Sole-begotten of the Father bearing the heavy burden of His Cross; she sees the Lord of all power and might bruised and spat upon, the Author of life and glory transfixed with nails, smitten by the lance, overwhelmed with mockery, and at last laying down His precious life for His friends. Contemplating this the sword of love pierces through her own soul also and she cried aloud, “Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love.” The fruits which the Spouse gathers from the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden of her Beloved, are pomegranates (Son 4:13), borrowing their taste from the Bread of heaven. and their color from the Blood of Christ. She sees death dying and its author overthrown: she beholds captivity led captive from hell to earth, from earth to heaven, so “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth” (Php 2:10).

The earth under the ancient curse brought forth thorns and thistles; but now the Church beholds it laughing with flowers and restored by the grace of a new benediction. Mindful of the verse, “My heart danceth for joy, and in my song will I praise Him’, she refreshes herself with the fruits of His Passion which she gathers from the Tree of the Cross, and with the flowers of His Resurrection whose fragrance invites the frequent visits of her Spouse.

Then it is that He exclaims, “Behold thou art fair, Mybeloved, yea pleasant: also ourbedis green” (Son 1:16). She shows her desire for His coming and whence she hopes to obtain it; not because of her own merits but because of theflowersof thatfieldwhichGodhathblessed.Christwho willed to be conceived and brought up inNazareth, that is, thetownofbranches,delightsin such blossoms. Pleased by such heavenly fragrance the bridegroomrejoicesto revisit the heart’schamberwhen He finds itadornedwith fruits and decked withflowers--that is, meditating on themysteryof His Passion or on thegloryof His Resurrection. The tokens of the Passion we recognize as the fruitage of the ages of the past, appearing in the fullness of time during thereignofsinanddeath(Galatians 4:4). But it is thegloryof the Resurrection, in the new springtime of regeneratinggrace, that thefreshflowersof the later age come forth, whose fruit shall be given without measure at the general resurrection, when time shall be no more. And so it is written, “Thewinteris past the rain is over and gone, theflowersappear on the earth” (Son 2:11 f); signifying thatsummerhas come back with Him who dissolves icydeathinto the spring of a newlifeand says, “Behold, I make all things new (Revelation 21:5). His Body sown in thegravehas blossomed in the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:42); and in like manner ourvalleysandfieldswhich werebarrenor frozen, as if dead, glow with revivinglifeand warmth.

TheFatherofChristwho makes all things new, is well pleased with the freshness of thoseflowersand fruits, and thebeautyof thefieldwhich breathes forth such heavenly fragrance; and He says in benediction, “See the smell of My Son is as the smell of afieldwhich theLordhath blessed” (Genesis 27:27).Blessedto overflowing, indeed, since of His fullness have all we received (John 1:16). But theBridemay come when she pleases andgatherflowersand fruits therewith toadornthe inmost recesses of her conscience; that the Bridegroom when He cometh may find thechamberof herheartredolent with perfume. So it behoves us, if we would haveChristfor afrequentguest, to fill ourheartswithfaithfulmeditations on themercyHe showed in dying for us, and on His mightypowerin rising again from the dead. To thisDavidtestified when hesang, “God spake once, and twice I have also heard the same; thatpowerbelongeth untoGod; and that Thou,Lord, art merciful (Psalms 62:11 f). And surely there isproofenough and to spare in thatChristdiedfor oursinsand rose again for ourjustification, and ascended intoheaventhat He might protect us from on high, and sent theHoly Spiritfor ourcomfort. Hereafter He will come again for the consummation of our bliss. In HisDeathHe displayed Hismercy, in His Resurrection Hispower; both combine to manifest Hisglory.

The Bride desires to be stayed with flagons and comforted with apples, because she knows how easily the warmth of love can languish and grow cold; but such helps are only until she has entered into the bride chamber.

There she will receive His long-desired caresses even as she sighs, “His left hand is under my head and His right hand doth embrace me” (Son 2:6).

Then she will perceive how far the embrace of the right hand excels all sweetness, and that the left hand with which He at first caressed her cannot be compared to it. She will understand what she has heard: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63).

She will prove what she hath read: “My memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the honey-comb” (Sir 24:20). What is written elsewhere, “The memorial of Thine abundant kindness shall be showed” (Psalms 145:7), refers doubtless to those of whom the Psalmist had said just before: “One generation shall praise Thy works unto another and declare Thy power” (Psalms 145:4).

Among us on the earth there is His memory; but in the Kingdom of heaven His very Presence. That Presence is the joy of those who have already attained to beatitude; the memory is the comfort of us who are still wayfarers, journeying towards the Fatherland.