Return, Return, O Shulamite! Return, Return, that we May Look Upon Thee.

The return [45] of the Spouse is as ready and sincere as her fault had been slight and unintentional, wherefore, her companions did not perceive that she had wandered. The only thing that they observed, and at which they were much astonished was, that scarcely had she finished declaring to them the loveliness and beauty of the Bridegroom before she disappeared from their eyes, because she was then at once admitted to the marriage supper of the Lamb. She thus became so elevated above herself and every other creature, that other souls having entirely lost sight of her, beg her to return to them, that they may behold her in her glory and joy as they have seen her in her grief. Return, they cry, O Shulamite! temple of peace, return to instruct us both by thy example and by thy precept, the way we must take to attain the blessedness that thou possessest; return, that thou mayest be our guide, our support, our consolation; return, that thou mayest take us with thee.

Footnotes:

[39] As the Bridegroom had spread abroad His love and His soul in the heart of the Bride, so she in turn pours her soul into the heart of her Beloved. As a snow bank upon a hill side exposed to the sun comes forth from itself, quits its form and melts and runs away on the side on which the warmth-giving rays fall upon it, so the soul of the Spouse melted and ran toward the voice of her Well-beloved, coming forth from self and the confinement of nature to follow Him who has called her. But how is this holy melting of the soul into its Beloved accomplished? The extreme delight of the Bridegroom in the thing loved, produces in it a spiritual impotence, so that it has no longer the power to dwell in self, and thus, like melted balsam, deprived of consistency and solidity, it runs and flows into that which it loves. It does not dart itself by a sudden effort, nor does it cling and clasp as though it would by force become united, but it only flows gently along like a limpid and liquid thing, into the Divinity it adores. And as we see the clouds, thickened and driven by the south wind, melt and turn into rain, and no longer able to contain themselves, fall and run upon the ground, mingling with and tempering the earth so that they become but one with it; so the soul, which, though loving, was yet dwelling in self, issues forth in this holy and blessed stream, quitting itself forever, not only to be united to its Beloved, but to be wholly mingled and made one with Him.--St. Francis of Sales, on the Love of God. Book vi., ch. 12.

[40] As the little children of our Heavenly Father, we can walk with Him in two different ways; we may walk in the steps of our own will, conforming it to His, and keeping the hand of our obedience always in that of the Divine Intention, and following wherever that leads. God wills that I should keep holy the day of rest; this binds me to will it too, which I do by an operation of my own will, conforming to the expression of His. But we may also go with our Lord having no will of our own, simply suffering ourselves to be carried along at His good pleasure, like an infant in the arms of its mother, by a sort of admirable consent which may be called the union, or rather the oneness of our will with that of God. Such should be our deportment in the manifestation of His good pleasure, as it is developed purely in His Providence and without any interference on our part. It is true we may will that all things should happen according to the will of God, and such a will is very good, but we may also receive the manifestations of His good pleasure by perfectly simple tranquillity in the will, which, willing nothing, quietly acquiesces in all things that God wills in us, by us and through us. Had any one asked the holy child Jesus, as He was held in the arms of His mother, whither He went, would He not have been right in answering, I do not go, my mother goes for me. But Thou art going surely with Thy mother? No; I do not go at all, or if I do go whither my mother carries me, I do not go with her nor do I go by my own steps, but by hers. And had any one replied, But still, O Child beloved! Thy will is to suffer Thyself to be carried by the dear mother? might He not have answered, Ah no! I have no will about it; as my loving mother walks for me so she wills for me also, I have committed to her the care both of going and of willing to go, wherever she shall think best and as I walk only by her steps, so I will only by her willing. And as the first suffices for us both, so also does the last, without any willing on My part, I pay no attention as to whether she walks fast or slow, this way or that, nor do I concern myself in the least as to whither she goes. Thus should we be, supple and manageable under the Divine good pleasure, plastic as wax, without amusing ourselves with wishing and willing this or that, but committing all things to God that He may will for us as He pleases, casting all our care upon Him, for He careth for us (I Peter v. 7). Note that the Apostle says all our care, that is, the care of receiving the events of His Providence as well as that of willing or not willing them; for He will see to the well ordering of our affairs, and will will for us that which is for the best.--St. Francis of Sales, on the Love of God. Book ix. ch. 14.

[41] We see what is distinct from us, but not what is within us.--Justifications ii. 133.

[42] But little can be said of your truly abandoned ones who are wholly lost and dead to self. No one sees or knows them; their dwelling is hidden, and none can tell what are their pleasures or the delights in which they rest at noon. Being thus unknown, they are often, yea, almost always, persecuted by men, even by the best and most holy, in which they rejoice and are exceeding glad, as it manifests in them the life of their beloved Saviour. For, since for thy love of them Thou wert persecuted by Thine own children, as bitterly as though Thou hadst been the enemy of the whole human race, is it not a great honor to the disciple that he should be as his Master?--John of St. Sampson, Contemplations, 16.Holy men even search after persons of this degree of abandonment and cannot discern them, in consequence of the difference of their states. And thus it comes to pass, that they very frequently persecute and outrageously slander them as idle, unknown fellows, whose lives are profitless, according to their judgment. The fingers of these unknown friends of God, in this way often distil the choicest myrrh.--The same, Contemplations, 38.

[43] Verily, O Lord, Thou art a jealous God! Thus Thou callest Thyself (Exodus 34:14). One reason of the jealousy of God is the small number of souls who consecrate themselves to Him without reserve. He cannot bear a rival; hence he takes but little delight in divided souls. But those who are entirely devoted to Him, He loves and regards as His own peculiar property; He exercises all His right over them without being interfered with by their freedom of will, since their abandonment is frank, hearty and perfectly voluntary; but He is also seized with a jealousy proportioned to His love; He cannot abide a spot in them; they are his choice specimens, locked up in His own secret drawers, and not exposed to the curious gaze of an unappreciating world.--Justifications, iii. 57.

[44] I refer to those more striking and extraordinary features that sometimes illustrate their lives; as to their holiness, that consists simply in the life of Christ in them.--Justifications iii. 64.

[45] No matter how advanced may be the state of the soul, if it has departed from God, conviction and conversion are as necessary as at the very first.--Justifications, i. 138.