Sermon 21 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
How the Bride, That Is the Church, Desires to Be Drawn After the Bridegroom, That Is Christ
1. "Draw me after you, in the odor of your ointments we will run" (Song 1:3). What? Does the bride then have need to be drawn, and that after the bridegroom? As if she were unwilling to follow him, and did not follow willingly. But not everyone who is drawn is drawn unwillingly. For it does not displease a weak or feeble person, namely one who cannot go by himself, to be drawn to the bath or to dinner, even though it displeases the guilty one to be drawn to judgment or to punishment. Indeed she who also asks for this wishes to be drawn; but she would not ask if she were able to follow the beloved by herself as she would wish. But why is she not able? Shall we confess that the bride too is weak? If any one of the young maidens called herself weak and asked to be drawn, we would by no means be surprised. But as for the bride, who seemed to be able, as one strong and perfect, to draw even others: to whom does it not sound harsh that she too should have need to be drawn, as though she were weak or feeble? Of what soul, then, shall we be confident that it is strong and sound, if we have consented that she is weak who, on account of her singular perfection and more excellent virtue, is called the bride of the Lord? Or perhaps the Church said this when she beheld her beloved ascending, longing to follow him and to be taken up with him in glory? Although even a soul of however great perfection, so long indeed as she groans under this body of death and is held enclosed in the prison of this evil age, bound by necessities, twisted by sins, must of necessity rise more slowly and sluggishly to the contemplation of sublime things, nor has she entirely free liberty to follow the bridegroom wherever he goes. Hence that tearful voice of the one groaning: "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:24). Hence that suppliant prayer: "Lead my soul out of prison" (Ps 141:8). Let her say, therefore, let even the bride say with groaning: "Draw me after you"; because the body that is corrupted weighs down the soul, and the earthly habitation presses down the mind that thinks upon many things (Wis 9:15). Or does she say this desiring to depart and be with Christ, especially when she sees those for whose sake it seemed necessary for her to remain in the flesh (Phil 1:23-24) making good progress, already loving the bridegroom and standing secure in charity? For she had said beforehand: "Therefore the young maidens have loved you." Now, therefore, as if she were to say, "Behold, the young maidens love you, and loving you they cling firmly to you, and they have no further need of me, and there is no reason for me to tarry any longer in this life"; therefore she says, "Draw me after you."
2. This I would accept, if she had said, "Draw me to you." But now, because she says "after you," she seems to me rather to be asking that she might be able to follow the footsteps of his way of life, that she might be able to emulate his virtue and hold fast the rule of his life and grasp the discipline of his conduct. For in these things especially there is need of help, by which she might be able to deny herself and take up her cross and so follow Christ. Here the bride absolutely needs to be drawn, and certainly to be drawn by none other than by him who says: "Without me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). I know, she says, that I can by no means reach you except by walking after you; but neither can I do even this unless helped by you: and therefore I pray that you draw me after you. Blessed indeed is the one whose help is from you; he has disposed ascents in his heart in the valley of tears (Ps 83:6), destined at some time to reach you in the mountains of joys. How few are willing to go after you, O Lord Jesus! And yet there is no one who does not wish to reach you, since all know that delights are at your right hand forevermore (Ps 15:11). And therefore all wish to enjoy you, but not likewise to imitate you; they desire to reign with you, but not to suffer with you. Of these was he who said: "Let my soul die the death of the just, and let my last end be like theirs" (Num 23:10). He wished for himself the last things of the just, but not likewise their first things. Even carnal men wish for themselves the death of spiritual men, whose life, however, they abhor, knowing that the death of the saints is precious: because "when he has given his beloved sleep, behold, the inheritance of the Lord" (Ps 126:2-3); and because "blessed are the dead who die in the Lord" (Rev 14:13): whereas on the contrary, according to the sentence of the prophet, "the death of sinners is the worst" (Ps 33:22). They do not care to seek him whom they nevertheless desire to find; they desire to attain, but not also to follow. Not so those to whom he said: "You are they who have continued with me in my trials" (Lk 22:28). Blessed are they who were deemed worthy of your testimony, gracious Jesus! They truly went after you, both with their feet and with their affections. You made known to them the ways of life, calling them after you, because you are the way and the life, and you say, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Mt 4:19); likewise: "He who serves me, let him follow me: and where I am, there also shall my servant be" (Jn 12:26). Therefore they said, glorying: "Behold, we have left all things and have followed you" (Mt 19:27).
3. So likewise your beloved, having left all things for your sake, longs always to go after you, always to cling to your footsteps and to follow you wherever you go: knowing that your ways are beautiful ways, and all your paths are peaceful; and that he who follows you does not walk in darkness. But she prays to be drawn, because your justice is like the mountains of God, and she does not suffice for it by her own strength. She prays to be drawn, as is fitting; because no one comes to you unless your Father draws him (Jn 6:44). Moreover, those whom the Father draws, you also draw. For the works that the Father does, the Son likewise does. But she asks more familiarly to be drawn by the Son, as by her own bridegroom, whom the Father sent to meet her as guide and teacher, who would go before her in the way of conduct and prepare the path of virtues and instruct her as he did himself and teach her the way of prudence and hand on to her the law of life and discipline; and so he himself would rightly desire her beauty.
4. "Draw me after you, in the odor of your ointments we will run." For this reason I have need to be drawn, because the fire of your love has grown somewhat cold in us; nor can we, before the face of this cold, run now as we did yesterday and the day before. But we will run afterward, when you have restored the joy of your salvation, when the better temperature of grace has returned, when the Sun of justice has again grown warm and the cloud of temptation, which is seen to cover him for a time, has passed away, and at the gentle breath of a breeze more pleasant than usual, the ointments begin to melt and the spices to flow and to give forth their odor. Then we will run, in that odor we will run. When the ointments breathe forth, I say, we will run, because the torpor that now is will depart, and devotion will return, and there will no longer be need for us to be drawn, since, aroused by the odor, we will run of our own accord. But for now, in the meantime, draw me after you. Do you see that the one who walks in the spirit by no means remains in one state, nor always advances with the same ease, and that a man's way is not in himself; but rather, as the Spirit who governs him dispenses as he wills, now more slowly, now more eagerly does he forget the things that are behind and stretch himself out toward what lies ahead? I think that, if you attend to this very thing, your own experience within responds to what I speak without.
5. Therefore when you feel yourself affected by torpor, weariness, or tedium, do not on that account lose confidence or cease from spiritual endeavor; but seek the hand of the one who helps, beseeching to be drawn, after the example of the bride, until, when grace has been roused again and you have been made more ready and eager, you run and say: "I ran the way of your commandments, when you enlarged my heart" (Ps 118:32). Yet while grace is present, delight in it in such a way that you do not reckon you possess the gift of God by hereditary right, being so secure about it as though you could never lose it: lest suddenly, when perhaps he has withdrawn his hand and taken back the gift, you collapse in spirit and become sadder than is fitting. Finally, do not say in your abundance, "I shall never be moved"; lest you be compelled to say even that which follows, though with groaning: "You turned your face away from me, and I was troubled" (Ps 29:7-8). You will rather take care, if you are wise, following the counsel of the Wise Man, in days of evil not to be unmindful of good things, and in days of good things not to be unmindful of evil things (Ecclus 11:27).
6. Therefore in the day of your strength do not be secure, but cry out to God with the Prophet and say: "When my strength fails, do not forsake me" (Ps 70:9). Moreover, in the time of temptation console yourself and say with the bride: "Draw me after you, in the odor of your ointments we will run." So shall hope not desert you in time of evil, nor shall foresight be lacking in time of good, and amid the adverse and prosperous changes of mutable times you will hold a certain image of eternity, namely this inviolable and unshaken equanimity of a constant soul, blessing the Lord at all times, and thereby claiming for yourself even amid the uncertain events and certain failings of this wavering age, a state of perpetual immutability, as it were, when you begin to be renewed and reformed into that ancient distinction of the likeness of the eternal God, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration (Jas 1:17). For as he is, so also will you be in this world, neither timid in adversity nor dissolute in prosperity. In this, I say, the noble creature made in the image and likeness of the one who made her shows that she is already receiving and about to recover the dignity of her ancient honor, when she considers it unworthy of herself to be conformed to this passing age, striving rather to be reformed, according to the teaching of Paul, in the newness of her mind (Rom 12:2), into that likeness in which she knows she was created; and through this also compelling, as is fitting, this age, which was made for her sake, to be marvelously conformed to her in turn, as all things begin to work together for her good, as though in their proper and natural form, having cast off their degenerate appearance and recognizing their Lord, for whose service they were created.
7. Whence I consider that saying which the Only-begotten spoke of himself, namely that if he were lifted up from the earth, he would draw all things to himself, can be common also to all his brethren, those indeed whom the Father foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And I therefore also, if I have been lifted up from the earth, boldly say, I will draw all things to myself (Jn 12:32). Nor do I rashly claim for myself, my brethren, the words of him whose likeness I put on. If this is so, let not the rich of this world think that the brethren of Christ possess only heavenly things, because they hear him saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:3). Let them not, I say, reckon that they possess only heavenly things, who hear only those things in the promise. They possess earthly things also, and indeed as having nothing, yet possessing all things: not begging as wretches, but possessing as lords, by so much the more lords as they are the less covetous. Indeed, for the faithful man the whole world of riches is his. The whole, plainly: because adverse things as well as prosperous things alike all serve him and work together for good.
8. Therefore the greedy man hungers for earthly things as a beggar, but the faithful man despises them as a lord. The one begs while possessing, the other preserves by despising. Ask of any of those who with insatiable heart gape after temporal gains what he thinks of those who sell their goods and give to the poor and purchase the kingdom of heaven with their earthly substance: do they act wisely or not? Without doubt he will answer: wisely. Ask in turn why he does not do himself what he approves? "I cannot," he will say. Why? Surely because his mistress avarice does not permit it; because he is not free; because the things he seems to possess are not his own; but neither is he his own master. If they are truly yours, spend them for profit and exchange earthly things for heavenly. If you cannot, confess that you are not the master of your money, but its servant; its keeper, not its possessor. Indeed you are even conformed to your purse, as a servant to his mistress, since, just as the servant necessarily both rejoices with her who rejoices and grieves with her who grieves, so you too grow in spirit together with your growing purse and shrink together with its shrinking. For you are contracted with sorrow when it is emptied, and you are loosened with joy, or certainly puffed up with pride, when it is filled. So much for that man. But let us take care to emulate the freedom and constancy of the bride, who, as one well instructed in all things and learned of heart in wisdom, knows both how to abound and how to suffer want. When she asks to be drawn, she shows what she lacks, not of money, but of virtue. Again, when she no less consoles herself with the hope of returning grace, she proves that she may fail, but not lose confidence.
9. She says therefore: "Draw me after you, in the odor of your ointments we will run." And what wonder if she has need to be drawn, who runs after a giant, who strives to apprehend him who leaps upon the mountains, who bounds over the hills? "His word runs swiftly" (Ps 147:15). She is not able to run on equal terms, she cannot contend with him in equal swiftness, who "rejoices as a giant to run his course" (Ps 18:6); she cannot do it by her own strength, and therefore she asks to be drawn. I am weary, she says, I faint; do not abandon me, but draw me after you, lest I begin to wander after other lovers, lest I run as though uncertainly. Draw me after you; because it is better for me that you draw me, that is, that you bring some kind of force upon me, whether by terrifying with threats or by disciplining with scourges, than that, sparing me, you abandon me in my torpor, wickedly secure. Draw me in a manner unwilling, that you may make me willing; draw me torpid, that you may render me running. There will come a time when I shall not need one who draws, because willingly and with all eagerness we will run. I shall not run alone, even though I have asked that I alone be drawn: the young maidens too will run with me. We will run together, we will run at once; I aroused by the odor of your ointments, they aroused by my example and exhortation: and through this all of us will run in the odor of your ointments. The bride has imitators of herself, just as she herself is of Christ. And therefore she does not say in the singular, "I will run," but "we will run."
10. But a question arises, why similarly, when she asked to be drawn, she did not also add the young maidens, so as to say, not "Draw me," but "Draw us." For what? Does the bride perhaps need to be drawn and the young maidens do not? O beautiful one, O happy one, O blessed one! Explain to us the reason for this distinction. "Draw me," you say. Why "me" and not "us"? Do you begrudge us this good? Far be it! For you would not forthwith have said that the young maidens would run with you, if you had wished to go after the bridegroom alone. Why then, when you were about to add in the plural "we will run," did you ask in the singular to be drawn? Charity, she says, so required. Learn through this word from me to hope for a twofold help from above in the spiritual exercise: correction and consolation. The one disciplines from without, the other visits within. The one checks insolence, the other raises up to confidence; the one works humility, the other consoles faintheartedness; the one makes us cautious, the other devout. The one teaches the fear of the Lord; the other tempers that very fear with the infused joy of salvation, as it is written: "Let my heart rejoice that it may fear your name" (Ps 85:11); likewise: "Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice in him with trembling" (Ps 2:11).
11. We are drawn when we are exercised by temptations and tribulations; we run when, visited by inward consolations and inspirations, we breathe as though amid sweet-smelling ointments. Therefore what seems harsh and hard I keep for myself, as for one strong, as for one sound, as for one perfect, and I say in the singular, "Draw me." What is sweet and gentle I share with you as with one weak, and I say, "We will run." I know that the young maidens are delicate and tender and less fit to endure temptations: and therefore I wish them to run with me, but not to be drawn with me; I wish to have companions in consolation, but not also in labor. Why? Because they are weak, and I fear lest they fail, lest they succumb. Me, she says, O bridegroom, correct, me discipline, me try, me draw after you; because I am ready for scourges and strong to endure. But together we will run: I alone will be drawn, but together we will run. We will run, we will run, but in the odor of your ointments, not in confidence of our own merits: nor do we trust ourselves to run in the greatness of our own strength, but in the multitude of your mercies. For even if we ever ran and were willing, it was not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy (Rom 9:16). Let mercy return, and we will run. You indeed, in your power, as a giant and as one mighty, run: but we, unless your ointments breathe forth, will not run. You, whom the Father anointed with the oil of gladness above your fellows (Ps 44:8), run in that very anointing; we will run in its odor: you in fullness, we in odor. It would be time to pay what I remember having promised long above concerning the ointments of the bridegroom, if the length of this sermon did not prevent it. I defer it therefore: for the dignity of the subject does not allow itself to be compressed into a troublesome brevity. Ask the Lord of anointing that he may deign to make the voluntary offerings of my mouth pleasing, for the purpose of instilling into your desires the memory of the abundance of his sweetness, which is in the bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.