Our Meditations on the Book of the Song of Songs
“Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field”

Our subject tonight is in the saying of the Song: “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has budded, whether the blossoms have opened, whether the pomegranates are in bloom; there I will give you my love” (Song 7:10–12).

I am my beloved’s:

I am not for the world, nor for matter, nor for anything else. More than this, I am not even for myself; I am my beloved’s…

It is a kind of dedicating the soul to God, consecrating it to Him.

This expression has been repeated many times in the Song of Songs: “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” I have granted Him the whole life, because He is its Owner. He has purchased it with His Blood; therefore it is no longer mine, but His. And even before purchasing it with His Blood, He was its Owner, because He created it from nothing. So let it be consecrated to Him.

God is the One who gave you this existence, this entity, and this life; thus you have become His. Continually remember that you are for your Beloved who created you and redeemed you. He is the One who will remain with you forever; as for the world, it will pass away, and its lust with it.

And if you are not able to consecrate your whole life to the Lord, at least you can consecrate your love and your heart.

“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” He longs for you, for your soul. He looks at your heart and says with longing: “This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.” God’s delight is in the sons of men; His longing is to dwell in the midst of His people.

Love for God is of two kinds: one whose manifestation is sitting with God in love, in worship, in prayer, in meditation, in the communion of His Body and His Blood.

The second kind is to show your love for God through service: you love His Kingdom, His Church, and His children. You show your love by calling people to love Him.

We heard in today’s Gospel that the Lord said to Simon Peter: “Do you love Me? Feed My sheep, feed My lambs.” If you truly love Me, share with Me in building the Kingdom and in drawing people to it.

Is there any love greater than the love of the angels for God? These angels were said of them that they are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14), and that they encamp around those who fear Him and deliver them. You also are an angel whom God has sent for service, for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.

Believe me, the call to service is a sign of God’s humility.

God is able to build the Kingdom alone. He does not need the gifts of man or his effort, for man’s gifts and effort are also a gift from God. In His humility, God shares us with Him in the work and says, “Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field.”

He also lifts up our morale by sharing us with Him in the work.

My son, I can accomplish the whole work alone, but I want to make you feel that you can do something. I want to gladden you with the work of grace in you. I want you to rejoice with Me in the success of your brethren and their salvation, and to be a partner with Me in this spiritual work. Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field.

The field continually symbolizes the Church, the place of God’s work.

The Scripture says about the Lord: “The sower went out to sow.” He went out to the field, casting the seeds of grace. So come, let us go out together to the field.

It is a great consolation to go out with God and not go out alone.

If we worked alone, the work would seem difficult to us. But here we enter into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. I like to contemplate the scene of every servant, every preacher, and every priest, walking on the path of service beside God, his hand in His hand, working together. As Paul said about himself and Silas: “We are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor. 3:9). So come, my beloved, let us go forth to the fields and lodge in the villages.

It is beautiful to notice the Lord’s concern for the villages. The city is crowded with service and attracts people with its capabilities. But the village is in need of service.

Therefore it was said of the Lord Christ that He was “going about the cities and villages, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom.” And when I say villages, I do not mean only the countryside. In a great city like Cairo, there are districts that have the character of villages—poor areas, workers’ quarters, craftsmen’s neighborhoods, popular districts—in need.

In the story of creation, I like that after God created the garden, He placed Adam in it to work it and keep it (Gen. 2:15).

Adam was not working in order to eat, for provision was abundant, more than his need. But he was working because work is beneficial for him spiritually and physically.

He who works may be fought by one devil; but he who does not work is fought by many devils. Nothing is harder than idleness, nor more severe than its warfare. “The idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” as they say.

He who does not work is wearied by thoughts, and his mind is occupied with what is not fitting.

Since work is necessary, come work with Me, and let us go together to the field.

In this spiritual work, your mind will be filled with spiritual thoughts, and your heart will be filled with the love of God and of people. You will live in spiritual things, in a pure atmosphere.

Be sure that you will benefit from service more than you benefit others.

Therefore we consider service one of the spiritual means that develops a person’s life. Be certain that you will receive a blessing from service. It is a call for every person to work in the Kingdom.

There is no one who has no work in building the Kingdom.

The Church is the Body of Christ, and you are a member in it. You affect and are affected. Be sure that if you are filled with love, you will find yourself serving spontaneously.

The wondrous thing in the phrase of the Song is that it is a ready-made call to service.

“Let us get up early to the vineyards… let us see if the vine has budded, whether the pomegranates have bloomed.” So there is a field, and vineyards, and pomegranates. And you have been called to work in what you have not labored in.

At the beginning of training the disciples for service, the Lord said to them in the story of the Samaritan woman: “The fields are white for harvest. You have entered into that which you have not labored in.” Thus is the call in the Song.

Our early fathers labored; they planted and watered and worked in barren lands where there were no fields nor vineyards. They went to countries without faith, without churches, and with resistance to the faith.

But for us, the call is easy: come, let us go forth to the field. The believing souls are present; the trees are growing, but they need watering, fertilizing, care, and visitation. Let us see whether the vine has budded, whether the pomegranates have bloomed. Is even this little thing beyond us?

Every work you do, grace precedes you to it and prepares it for you.

It prepares the heart and the mind to hear the word that you will speak, and works in the will to be affected by it. Even this word that you speak, I will give to you. Then go out with Me to the field, and let us see whether the vine has budded.

Come with Me; do not waste your time in worldly things. Enough of fishing for fish; leave your nets and come, let us catch men.

What greater honor is there than this, to accompany God in His pastoral journeys and to be a partner of the Holy Spirit in His work?

Come, to work with Me. I will speak through your mouth; I will give you the thought; I will work in you and by you. You will merely be a spectator, watching how the vine blossoms and how the pomegranate blooms.

There are trees which, if we do not water and fertilize them, will die. So accept the call and serve. “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

It is a call to consecration, a call to service, a call to work for your brethren. Come, that we may lodge in the villages. We spend the day in work and the night in prayer. “Let us get up early to the vineyards.”

Let us go early to them, before the sun scorches them, before the little foxes that spoil the vines leap upon them. It is not enough to plant the vineyards; we must also care for them.

There I will give you my love:

There in service, in toil, in rising early, in your love for your brethren, in your building of the Kingdom—there I will give you My love. Do you want My love? Go out with Me. I will not give you My love on the Mount of Transfiguration, but in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Golgotha. I will not give you My love in the place of tax collection nor in the fishing boat, but there as you follow Me.

God determines the places of meeting where He gives us His love. We do not impose upon Him a place or a condition; rather, He determines.

He gave His love to John on the island of Patmos, and He gave it to the three young men in the fiery furnace, and to Daniel in the lions’ den.

There are people who think that they receive the love of God only in a life of solitude and meditation. Here God calls us to the fields, and there He gives us His love.

It is beautiful that God Himself gives this love and pours it into us through the Holy Spirit. Let us pray to be granted this love, and let us persist in this request:

“Give me, O Lord, to love You. Fill my heart with Your love.”

Solomon asked for wisdom, and it is among the greatest requests, and God gave it to him. Yet Solomon fell. But love never falls. Many waters cannot quench it. So grant us, O Lord, that we may love You.

Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Seventh Year (Issue Thirty-One) – 30-7-1976

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