 I want to highlight what others have said about the juiciest book in Bible, Song of Solomon. I highly recommend listening to Christopher West (Theology of the Body) on this topic. He states: "The Bible from beginning to end tells a story about marriage. It begins with the marriage of man & woman. It ends with the marriage of Christ & the Church. And the whole purpose of this marriage at the start of the story, is to point us to this marriage: the eternal union of God with humanity ... that is why we are sexual beings." Amen! :) He goes on to read these two paragraphs by Saint Gregory of Nyssa: "Let us come within the Holy of Holies, the Song of Songs. The exalted word promises to teach us the mystery of mysteries through the Song of Songs.... Human nature can neither discover nor entertain anything greater than the Song of Songs. This is why the most intense of pleasurable activities, I mean here, the passion of erotic love, is set as a figure at the very fore of this teaching so that we may learn that it is necessary for the soul to boil with love in the Holy Spirit because it is heated by that fire which the Lord came to cast upon the earth." God wants us to experience His "soul boiling love" that waters cannot quench & rivers cannot overflow (SoS 8:7) so that it pours out all around us & into others. Mr. West explains, here: youtu.be/PBlvgybm3L0 (starting at 4:50) using a crumpled piece of paper, what original sin did to sexuality - I love this analogy so much! Key phrases to listen for: "Eros expresses agape." "The Holy is still in there." "The devil doesn't have his own clay." "The gift of redemption is to untwist it ..." Father Mike Schmitz (Ascension Presents) shares a very similar view to Mr. West in pointing out how the Song of Solomon illustrates Saint Thomas Aquinas' statement: “As often as a husband and wife enter into the sexual embrace in a state of grace, they are growing in grace and in glory.” media.ascensionpress.com/video/the-secret-about-sex-and-holiness/ Furthermore, this next YouTube video showing a dance rendition of Song of Songs: The Bible Explained (Spoken Gospel) emphasizes: Not to "awaken love until its proper time". I interpret this to mean, do not awaken the fullest intensity of God's love with another without first & continuously being fully awake to God alone. youtu.be/FH4kaV5D5dM We are fortunate for the gift of love in our lives. How dull would life be without it? Yet we are bound to feel 'beaten up' at times with "love-sickness" in a variety of relationships, not just in the throes of romantic love. The price of human love is the unavoidable experiences of worry, jealousy, grief & heartbreak: "...For love is as strong as death, jealousy is as severe as Sheol; its flashes are the flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord." (SoS 8:6) We are attachment-oriented creatures but relationships & circumstances are impermanent. This conundrum isn't a design flaw! Rather, our longing for the safety, belonging & love of secure attachment is placed, by design as the "God shaped hole" inside each of us that cannot be completely filled by anything but God (try as we might). The good news is that IN JESUS, love is everlasting. Love is STRONGER than death! God raised Christ from death, canceling our sins & sorrows as we say "I do" to eternal life with Him, our glorious Bridegroom forever, amen! A short clip I made for the verse Song of Solomon 6:10 "Who is this that grows like the dawn..." May God bless you & all your loved ones, amen.
youtu.be/dd7iWhw6g8Y
0 Comments
|