Song of Songs: Spiritual Memories with God
Main Idea
Pope Shenouda III reflects on the third chapter of the Song of Songs, explaining that it records the spiritual memories of the soul with God and its experiences of life with Him.
He emphasizes that every person has a story, or a collection of stories, with God, and therefore a person should recall the history of his life and fellowship with God and reflect on his spiritual experiences.
The soul in the Song of Songs is shown as having tasted both the sweet and the bitter, experiencing times of closeness and joy as well as times of deprivation, searching, and seeking after God.
This resembles the nature of life, which includes night and day, cold and heat, summer and winter, success and failure, trials and comfort.
Spiritual Message
The Pope emphasizes that a true relationship with God is not merely a relationship of formalities, rituals, duties, or fear, but first and foremost a deep relationship of love.
From this love come the commandments, virtues, and spiritual practices, for virtue is not something independent from love, but rather an expression of it and a natural result of it.
He explains that the person who loves God finds his delight in His commandments, not carrying them out as a burden, but because they have become something he loves.
He also explains that the soul that loves God sees Him as having no equal among all the loves of the world, and finds in Him beauty, delight, and joy, even on the path of the cross, trials, and afflictions.
Educational Lesson
The reflection on the Song of Songs teaches us that the love of God should be the primary desire of the heart, so that the love of the world is replaced by the love of God.
When the love of God possesses the heart, sin loses its attraction, and the person becomes able to find in life with God everything that satisfies his heart.
The Pope also explains that God is not merely a mighty ruler or a yoke imposed upon a person, but the Shepherd who cares for the soul, watches over it, and leads it to gardens and pleasant places.
He also emphasizes the strength of God as a strength that supports and protects the person, rather than a strength that frightens him, for the person who lives in God’s embrace feels surrounded by His strength and care.
Practical Application
The reflection calls a person to review the history of his life with God and remember his spiritual experiences with Him.
It also calls him to grow in the love of God until the commandment, prayer, fasting, afflictions, and the cross become things in which he finds spiritual delight because of his love for the Lord.
The goal is for a person to reach a true experience of life with God, seeing Him as beautiful, powerful, and beloved, and saying from his heart, “This is my beloved and this is my friend.”
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