Reflections on the Song of Songs
The sermon revolves around the phrase from the Song of Songs: “Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?” and Pope Shenouda III explains that this phrase can apply to the human soul and to the Church in several ways.
The central message is that the soul cannot achieve spiritual victory or success by relying on its intelligence, talents, strength, wealth, or position, but must rely on God, her beloved.
The Pope explains this through examples such as the Three Youths in the fiery furnace and David facing Goliath, whose true dependence was on God rather than on human strength.
He also explains that the Church herself has always lived relying on the Lord, referring to the journey of God’s people through the wilderness, where the Lord provided for them, guided them, and preserved them despite their lack of ordinary necessities.
Spiritual Message
The sermon emphasizes that the wilderness spiritually symbolizes a life of detachment, asceticism, and distance from worldly desires and excessive enjoyment of worldly pleasures.
David is presented as an example of a soul that does not make wealth, glory, or possessions its primary goal, but desires to dwell in the house of the Lord and rejoice in Him.
The Pope also explains that a person can possess money without allowing money to possess his heart.
The image of “the one coming up from the wilderness” can also refer to the Church militant on earth, monastic life, and the victorious Church ascending to heaven while relying on the Lord.
Educational Lesson
The reflection then moves to the image of incense in the phrase, “like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense and all the spices of the merchant.”
In the sermon, myrrh symbolizes the suffering and struggle that a person endures for God, while frankincense symbolizes the work of the priesthood and the Holy Sacraments.
The phrase “all the spices of the merchant” points to the fullness of the fragrance, meaning that the soul’s life should contain everything that makes it pleasing before God.
The Pope also connects this image to the life of the Church, which includes prayers, praises, hymns, psalms, petitions, thanksgiving, and worship, and therefore appears as a complete Church adorned for her Bridegroom.
Practical Application
The sermon calls each person to examine his life and ask: “Upon whom do I depend? Am I leaning on God, or am I relying on myself and the things of the world?”
It also calls us to make our prayers, works, and entire lives like incense rising before God as a pleasing fragrance.
The Pope encourages each person to examine what is missing from his spiritual life—the “spices of the merchant”—and to work toward making his soul prepared to meet God.
The goal is not merely to withdraw from the world, but for the soul to become beautiful before God, filled with faith, prayer, spiritual struggle, the Sacraments, and life with Him.
Thus, in his spiritual journey, a person becomes “one coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved,” until he reaches heaven and meets the Lord.
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