O You Whom My Soul Loves (Song 1:7)
O You Whom My Soul Loves (Song 1:7)
Meditations on the Song of Songs
Spiritual people read this book and increase in love for God… As for the carnal, they need a guide when reading it, lest they misunderstand it and depart from its lofty meaning to worldly meanings…
Today we meditate on the words of the Song: “By night on my bed I sought the one whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him. ‘I will rise now,’ I said, ‘and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek the one whom my soul loves.’ The watchmen who go about the city found me; I said, ‘Have you seen the one whom my soul loves?’” (Song 3:1–3).
What concerns me here is this phrase that is repeated several times:
O you whom my soul loves (Song 1:7)
It is God whom the soul loves, for the Scripture says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 6:5). Pitiful is the person who attaches his heart to someone other than God… No doubt he will suffer.
God is the only Being whom, if you love Him, you find with you at all times, in every place, and on every occasion. Thus you do not feel estranged from Him or separated from Him at any time…
As for any other person whom you love, it is possible to be separated from him by travel, by death, by events… Place or time may separate you…
Likewise, the Lord is distinguished from all lovers by complete and true faithfulness.
Many people’s love does not remain steadfast. They may change, betray, their love may grow cold, they may believe rumors, or external factors may influence them. Concerning them applies what the Lord said to the angel of the church of Ephesus: “I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Rev. 2:4). But God remains steadfast in His love, even if we change…
Another point that distinguishes God’s love from people’s love is:
That God’s love is a spiritual love, in which a person rises to God and is exalted.
It is a holy love that aims at the salvation of a person’s soul and its purity, and in it we always see God giving.
The Virgin says in the Song, “O you whom my soul loves” (Song 1:7)… and she means the love that fills the whole heart, mind, soul, affection, and feeling.
But this does not mean that we love only God and do not love people. No; rather, we love them with a love that does not conflict with our love for God, does not exceed our love for God, and does not distract us from the love of God.
The pure heart is the one that loves all people without its love for God diminishing. For its love for all people is part of its love for God. A love within it and not a love alongside it. We love them because He loves them, and because within us works the love which is God.
Blessed is the person who always calls upon God with the phrase, “O you whom my soul loves,” without his conscience reproaching him that he has betrayed this love in anything…
Ask yourself then: Is the love of God the prevailing love in your life? Is it the one that controls every other love? Is it the leader of all your actions, all your thoughts, all your feelings, and all your dealings?
If God is not the only one in your heart, then at least is He the first in your heart? Is He the foundation of every other love?
Do you love God as He loves you? Does your love for Him contain an element of self-giving?
“By night… I sought the one whom my soul loves.” What do you mean by night?
It may mean the night itself, as Mar Isaac said, “The night is set apart for the work of prayer.” The night, in its quietness, and its distance from occupations and noise. In stillness, where everyone is asleep and the soul is alone with God. As the Psalm says, “In the nights lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord” (Ps. 134:2, 3)…
And the night may have deeper meanings, which we shall postpone until the next issue, God willing.
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