Blog by-the-Sea

Recollection and Prayer: The Will and the Dovecot

I am finally going to undertake the task of writing about St. Teresa of Avila's uses of doves as metaphors in her writing about prayer, as I said last week.  I do so with some fear, because it is not possible to write about her use of metaphors without also writing about her explanations of the experience of prayer.  I hope that this attention to one of her figures of speech may be helpful to a few people.

For anyone who wants to buy a copy of the writings of St. Teresa of Avila in English translation, I will recommend the translations published by ICS Publications.  In this series of posts, I am using a different translation that is in the public domain to avoid having to ask any of the friars to look at it or to figure out how much to charge me for the use of lengthy quotes.  The dovecot picture shows the dovecot from the Lost Gardens of Heligan, from Wikipedia.

St. Teresa's Dovecot Image:

One of St. Teresa's earliest uses of a dove as a metaphor is also one of her most unusual ones.  Here, she uses doves to explain the faculties of will, intellect, and memory and the prayer of quiet. 

Here is the dovecot story, from The Life, Chapter 14, shown in context with the dove reference in boldface:

This is a gathering together of the faculties of the soul within itself, in order that it may have the fruition of that contentment in greater sweetness; but the faculties are not lost, neither are they asleep: the will alone is occupied in such a way that, without knowing how it has become a captive, it gives a simple consent to become the prisoner of God; for it knows well what is to be the captive of Him it loves.   O my Jesus and my Lord, how pressing now is Thy love!  It binds our love in bonds so straitly, that it is not in its power at this moment to love anything else but Thee.

The other two faculties help the will, that it may render itself capable of the fruition of so great a good; nevertheless, it occasionally happens, even when the will is in union, that they hinder it very much: but then it should never heed them at all, simply abiding in its fruition and quiet.  For if it tried to make them recollected, it would miss its way together with them, because they are at this time like doves which are not satisfied with the food the master of the dovecot gives them without any labouring for it on their part, and which go forth in quest of it elsewhere, and so hardly find it that they come back.   And so the memory and the understanding come and go, seeking whether the will is going to give them that into the fruition of which it has entered itself.

If it be our Lord's pleasure to throw them any food, they stop; if not, they go again to seek it.   They must be thinking that they are of some service to the will; and now and then the memory or the imagination, seeking to represent to it that of which it has the fruition, does it harm.   The will, therefore, should be careful to deal with them as I shall explain.

Much of her explanation is in the following chapter, which is Chapter 15.

First of all, it may be useful to say something about what a "dovecot" is, and about what one would have meant when she was writing.  There is a page with some pictures in Wikipedia.  A "dovecot" is a building, or part of a building, or a birdhouse, for pigeons or doves, which historically were kept for food.  In medieval Europe, according to the Wikipedia page, it was a status symbol to have a dovecot.  Medieval manors had them.  Each pigeon hole ("boulin") is built for one pair of birds.  Some dovecots were built with 2000 or more boulins, while others were much smaller, like the one shown here from the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall.

St. Teresa's description of a dovecot appears in the course of her descriptions of a garden to illustrate different forms of prayer.  The dovecot that she had in mind might have been a small dovecot in a garden or a much larger one on a castle or manor house nearby.

Recollection:

Here, she is writing of the second stage of prayer in The Life, in which the pray-er begins to recollect the faculties, and only the will is active.  However, that is an easier thing to say than to do, as anyone who has tried to avoid distraction in prayer can well attest!  The memory is constantly stirring up thoughts of one thing or another that is going on in our lives, and the intellect is constantly finding something to analyze or an idea to further explore.  In St. Teresa's illustration, the memory and will are like two doves that go off in search of food (for thought), so that if we follow them, we will be constantly distracted in  our efforts at the prayer of quiet. 

Yet, she sees, the will cannot fully control them.  When the memory and intellect do not help the will in recollection, she wrote, "they hinder it very much: but then it should never heed them at all, simply abiding in its fruition and quiet."  But rather than trying to force the intellect and memory to be silent by force of will while we pray, St. Teresa says, "if it [the will] tried to make them [the memory and intellect] recollected, it would miss its way together with them."

Recollection, she explains, is not something the will can readily impose on our minds.  In its complete state, recollection is a gift from God.  However, in these chapters 14 and 15, St. Teresa is writing about a state of prayer that everyone can reach.  The level of recollection that she has in mind here is not an advanced state of prayer, but merely the level of silent prayer that anyone can learn. 

I might do well to provide a more contemporary definition of "recollection."  The Anglican expert in mysticism, Evelyn Underhill, wrote, in Practical Mysticism, "Recollection . . . is in essence no more and no less than the subjection of the attention to the control of the will.  It is not, therefore, a purely mystical activity.  In one form or another it is demanded of all who would get control of their own mental processes; and does or should represent the first great step in the education of the human consciousness." Yet, unless people are moved toward recollection by a passion for something they do, people "seldom learn the secret of a voluntary concentration of the mind."

Two Illustrations of Recollection:

I have thought I might add to what St. Teresa wrote a couple of additional illustrations that I think might help to explain recollection by will and recollection as a gift from God.  The two illustrations that I will offer are about a whitewater rafter and a commercial airline pilot.

When I was younger, I sometimes found whitewater rafting to be one of the most relaxing of week-ends because it took my mind completely off of whatever was occupying my mind at the office.  It did not depend on my will to do so.  Rather, there is nothing like a level IV rapid to completely engross one's attention!  When I returned to work the following Monday morning, I would feel as if I had been gone for a week, because my memory and intellect did not spend the week-end thinking about this or that problem to be solved at work.  No one in whitewater is analyzing the hydrology, except to the extent entailed in actually navigating around a rock or avoiding a hole.  No one's mind is wandering to the quart of milk they need to pick up on the way home.  Everyone's intellect and memory are cooperating with the will to get through the challenge of the rapids without falling out of the raft!

In the case of rafting, it is the river that draws our attention to one point and holds it there.  It comes from outside of ourselves, and not from the pure force of will.  In prayer, it is God Himself whose spark of love draws our attention to Himself and holds it there.  It is then a gift, and not an act of will. 

Yet there is a way of quieting our minds, and a way of at least ignoring the "doves" of intellect and memory when they continue to run here and there, that will allow us to pray better at any time.

We cannot wait for such perfect recollection to happen before we begin to pray.  So I offer, as another illustration, an airline pilot who may be completely engrossed in what he is doing -- recollected -- at times while flying the plane.  He has surely developed skills of concentration over the years that will enable him to pay attention to his instruments while preparing for take-off, despite the noise of the jet engines and whatever sounds from the passenger cabin that reach the flight deck.  However, if the captain did not want to take off until he was fully engrossed in his flying, he would never get the plane off the ground! 

We have to be able to pray despite the distractions posed by intellect and memory.  We cannot choose to do nothing until God draws us into perfect recollection, on the one hand; nor can we let memory and intellect draw us off into one tangential thought after another, on the other hand. 

Using bees as another metaphor for the mind when it is drawn toward one tangential thought after another, St. Teresa says, "if no bees entered the hive, and each of them wandered abroad in search of the rest, the honey would hardly be made." 

The Meaning of the Dovecot Example of Recollection:

We have to be able to pray despite the distractions offered by memory and intellect.  That is the lesson of the will that carries on in prayer while the two doves of intellect and memory fly off in search of food other than that given by the Master.

The "food" that the Master gives in the dovecot is what God may say to us in prayer.  To hear what God has to say, we have to listen, and we have to wait silently.  Eli told Samuel to answer, if he heard God call him, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." (I Samuel 3:9)  "Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." (Ps. 37:7).  We can make use of our will to be silent in prayer and to listen and wait for God.  When God has something to say to us, or some sense of his presence or other grace in prayer, that is the "food" that the Master gives the doves at the dovecot in prayer.

The Master's food is not there on our command; the master feeds the doves in a dovecot on the master's schedule and not on the doves' request.  The memory and the will then, in Teresa's example, will stop flying to and fro if the Master feeds them.  If not, they will go and seek again for some "food" outside of the dovecot.  That "food" is the thoughts that keep popping up in our minds unwanted in prayer.  They may be analytical thoughts, even theological thoughts, but if they are drawing our minds away from the personal encounter with God himself, we need to learn to ignore them and to go on with prayer.

That is where the will comes in.  Although the memory and intellect continue to function, the will brings them back to recollection a little at a time.  Although not totally absorbed in God at this early stage of the prayer of quiet, the will is occupied enough in prayer that it can choose to avoid being drawn off course by the thoughts suggested by the memory and intellect.

Steps toward Recollection by the Will:

Here are some basic concepts based on Chapter 15 of The Life:

1.  Once you go beyond vocal prayer and you want to begin contemplation, stop actively looking for words of confession and thanksgiving.  St. Teresa says, "What the soul has to do at those seasons wherein it is raised to the prayer of quiet is nothing more than to be gentle and without noise.  By noise, I mean going about with the understanding in search of words and reflections whereby to give God thanks for this grace, and heaping up its sins and imperfections together to show that it does not deserve it."  Our efforts to use words involve the memory and intellect, so we need to stop looking for words.

That does not mean that anyone should stop confession and thanksgiving as part of their prayer life.  Silent prayer, including the "prayer of quiet" discussed here, is never meant to become the entirety of anyone's prayer life.  It is always done in addition to the basics, and not instead of them.  There is time for morning and evening prayer, time for Mass, time for meditation on Scripture, time for pouring out my heart to God in petitions, and time for silent prayer.  The advice to stop looking for words of confession and thanksgiving only pertains to the time for silent prayer.  

2.  Don't try to force God's gift of complete recollection by an act of the will.  St. Teresa wrote, "Let the will quietly and wisely understand that it is not by dint of labour on our part that we can converse to any good purpose with God, and that our own efforts are only great logs of wood, laid on without discretion to quench this little spark; and let it confess this, and in humility say, O Lord, what can I do here?" 

In a similar vein, Abbot Joseph Chapman taught people to accept the prayer God gives them, and not to try to force themselves into feelings of any kind (letter XII); stop trying to do the impossible, and take the kind of prayer that is possible for you (letter XXII); "I must wish for exactly the state God wishes me to be in, whether it means distractions, or discouragements, or sleepiness, or merely emptiness" (letter LXXIII).  Abbot John Chapman, Spiritual Letters.

3.  Although the memory and intellect may offer thoughts, don't run after them.  Remember what St. Teresa said about the bees that would never get their honey made if they kept chasing after the other bees.  It is possible to remain quiet on one level while the intellect and memory wander on another.

From my own experience, I would add that we become conscious of a memory only when it is already in progress, and conscious of an idea when it has already begun to form.  The person who is trying to completely control these thoughts is really trying to control the past, retroactively, because the thoughts are already there when we first become conscious enough of them to begin to exercise the will.  But we can stop ourselves from running after them when we do become aware that they have led us off course.

There are no lockable barn doors on dovecots.  The doves will fly in and out, regardless of what is done to keep them there.  And once the dove is soaring over the Grand Canyon, it serves no purpose to wish it had remained in the dovecot.  But you don't have to follow it there.  Instead, go back to the Master and continue to wait in silence for the food He will bring.

4.  Occupy your mind with wordless thoughts such as caring for souls in purgatory, and with simple thoughts of love for God, to draw the mind away from analytical thoughts.  St. Teresa wrote, "Let the will stir up some of those reasons, which proceed from reason itself, to quicken its love, such as the fact of its being in a better state, and let it make certain acts of love, as what it will do for Him to whom it owes so much,—and that, as I said just now, without any noise of the understanding, in the search after profound reflections."

5.  Separate times for prayer and times for study.  St. Teresa wrote, "And though learning could not fail to be of great use to them, both before and after prayer, still, in the very time of prayer itself, there is little necessity for it . . . ."  And, "So, then, when the soul is in the prayer of quiet, let it repose in its rest—let learning be put on one side. The time will come when they may make use of it in the service of our Lord—when they that possess it will appreciate it so highly as to be glad that they had not neglected it even for all the treasures of the world, simply because it enables them to serve His Majesty; for it is a great help."

The analytical interest that occurs to us in prayer can be set aside for later analysis.  A contemplative can be an intellectual, as was the case for St. Edith Stein, but it is necessary to try to keep each in its place. That won't work entirely, as a contemplative will sometimes wonder into prayer when she is supposed to be doing her homework, or start thinking about her homework when she is trying to pray.  But when she becomes aware of it, it is the task of the will to set it aside for later and pay attention to the task at hand, keeping each in its own time.   And thoughts of work to be done later can pass without destroying the quiet awareness of God's presence if we don't chase after them.

A practical suggestion I learned long ago was to keep a notepad in the place where I usually pray.  If a thought comes to mind in prayer that really must be dealt with later, it can be quickly written down and set aside for later.  Once written down, the thought may go away.

Conclusion:

St. Teresa concludes her discussion of this level of prayer by saying that this prayer of quiet "is the beginning of all good; the flowers have so thriven, that they are on the point of budding."

This image of the doves and the dovecot is St. Teresa's key metaphoric use of doves in The Life. Elsewhere, she describes seeing doves in visions in The Life and The Relations.  I will probably write about those last, after writing about her other metaphoric uses of the dove image in Interior Castle.  It is Interior Castle's use -- the journey of the dove -- that I think may have been influence by John Cassian, as I mentioned last week.  In writing about that, there will be more  to say about the stages of prayer as seen in the writings of St. Teresa of Avila.

For more on dealing with distractions during silent prayer, see Silent Prayer in a Not-So-Silent Church.

The Dove in St. Teresa of Avila and St. John Cassian

About a year ago, I dropped a series of posts on the use of a dove as a metaphor in Scripture and in the writings of saints.  At that time, I posted some of the examples of St. Teresa of Avila's Dove Metaphor, also including the visions she had in which she actually reported seeing a dove.  I had intended to write more of an analysis of her use of the dove as a metaphor and the appearances of a dove in her visions, which differ somewhat from what was seen in St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and Bl. Hildegard of Bingen discussed earlier in that category of posts.  Then, I became interested in other things and never got back to the theme.

I would like to return to that theme from time to time over the next few weeks and do some posts specifically about the dove metaphor as used in the writings of St. Teresa of Avila, and about her visions of a dove.  In the visions, the dove appears to represent the presence of the Holy Spirit, which is a common symbol seen for the Holy Spirit in Scripture and discussed in the writings of other saints. 

However, in her use of the dove as a metaphor, it is often a symbol for a person in prayer seeking to advance toward perfection and toward unity with God in prayer.  In the latter, she draws from the dove in The Song of Songs, a common text for mystical application in her day and the subject of one of her later books.  The dove then is a symbol of an individual soul seeking Christ.  For other uses of that symbolism, see The Symplicity of the Dove (drawing from The Song of Songs, St. Bernard, Bl. Hildegard, and St. Augustine).

In connection with the latter metaphorical application, she may have drawn part of her thought from a use of the dove as a metaphor in the Preface to John Cassian's Conferences.  Her devotion to the Conferences was mentioned by Petronila Bautista in her beatification process, and it is possible that she read from his work each day as St. Thomas Aquinas is said to have done, following St. Benedict's recommendation of the work in The Rule.  Cassian uses the dove as symbolic of a Gallican monk from the early days of monasticism who would wish to leave Gaul (France) and journey to  Egypt -- to the lands of the desert fathers -- which, he says, "abound with the ripe fruits of virtues."

For related previous posts, see About St. Teresa of Avila, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Jerome (about her devotion to St. Jerome and the other desert fathers), John Cassian on Elijah and the Early Hermits, and John Cassian and the Carmelite Tradition.

Here is the reference from Cassian's Preface:

ALTHOUGH many of the saints who are taught by your example can scarcely emulate the greatness of your perfection, with which you shine like great luminaries with marvellous brightness in this world, yet still you, O holy brothers Honoratus and Eucherius are so stirred by the great glory of those splendid men from whom we received the first principles of monasticism, that one of you, presiding as he does over a large monastery of the brethren, is hoping that his congregation, which learns a lesson from the daily sight of your saintly life, may be instructed in the precepts of those fathers, while the other has been anxious to make his way to Egypt to be edified by the sight of these in the flesh, that he might leave this province that is frozen as it were with the cold of Gaul, and like some pure turtle dove fly to those lands on which the sun of righteousness looks and to which it approaches nearest, and which abound with the ripe fruits of virtues.

What's My Power Bird?

I'm not sure how many people who know me would agree with this description, but I did manage to get the answer I wanted on my second try.  (The first try result was a night owl, I think.)

Your Power Bird is a Dove

Deep and emotional, you can connect well with almost any living creature. You bring hope and optimism to any dire situation. You are both gentle and affectionate with everyone you love. Truly nurturing, most people consider you to be a mother figure.

What's Your Power Bird?

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama'ria and to the end of the earth."  [Acts 1:8]

The Pontificator Reads St. John of the Cross . . .

. . . and has posted two portions of the Carmelite saint's poetry from A Spiritual Canticle and the poem Verses of the Soul that Pines to See God.  Both are from Rhina P. Espaillat's translations previously published in First Things.

The entire Spiritual Canticle and a collection of poems including Verses of the Soul that Pines to See God can be found, together with other writings of St. John of the Cross and Carmelite commentary, in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross from ICS Publications, translated by Carmelite friars Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. (nearly 800 pages with commentary).

From A Spiritual Canticle (ICS):

Bride:
Reveal your presence,
and may the vision of your beauty be my death;
for the sickness of love
is not cured
except by your very presence and image.

O spring like crystal!
If only, on your silvered-over faces,
you would suddenly form
the eyes I have desired,
which I bear sketched deep within my heart.

Withdraw them, Beloved.
I am taking flight!

Bridegroom:
Return, dove,
the wounded stag
is in sight on the hill,
cooled by the breeze of your flight.

Hide Me In the Shadow of Thy Wings

 

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Video sent by TeresaPolk

Video: A swallow tailed rock dove adult hides a dove chick under her wings in a nest on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  The video is used by permission.

The footnotes in the New American Bible say that the reference to hiding in the shadow of God's wings, in Psalm 17:8, is an image of God's special care.  There are several such references in Scripture, especially in the Psalms, to God hiding people in the shadow of His wings.  Here is a collection of such Scriptures to go with the video:

Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of thy wings, from the wicked who despoil me, my deadly enemies who surround me. . . . As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with beholding thy form. (Psalm 17:8-9, 15 RSV)

How precious is thy steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of thy wings. (Psalm 36:7 RSV)

A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in thee my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of thy wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. (Psalm 57:1 RSV)

Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to thee, when my heart is faint. Lead thou me to the rock that is higher than I; for thou art my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in thy tent for ever! Oh to be safe under the shelter of thy wings! [Selah] (Psalm 61:1-4 RSV)

My soul is feasted as with marrow and fat, and my mouth praises thee with joyful lips, when I think of thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the watches of the night; for thou hast been my help, and in the shadow of thy wings I sing for joy. (Psalm 63:5-7 RSV)

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust." For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.  (Psalm 91:1-4 RSV)

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Matthew 23:37 RSV)

St. Teresa of Avila's Dove Metaphor

St. Teresa of Avila uses many metaphoric descriptions to explain spiritual concepts.  One of those metaphors is a dove.  Here is a collection of nine dove references from Relations, The Life, and Interior Castle:

"Once, when I was about to communicate,—it was shortly before I had this vision,—the Host being still in the ciborium, for It had not yet been given me, I saw something like a dove, which moved its wings with a sound. It disturbed me so much, and so carried me away out of myself, that it was with the utmost difficulty I received the Host. All this took place in St. Joseph of Avila.  It was Father Francis Salcedo who was giving me the most Holy Sacrament.  Hearing Mass another day, I saw our Lord glorious in the Host; He said to me that his sacrifice was acceptable unto Him."

- The Relations, Relation III.

"For if it [the will] tried to make them  recollected, it would miss its way together with them, because they  are at this time like doves which are not satisfied with the food the  master of the dovecot gives them without any labouring for it on their part, and which go forth in quest of it elsewhere, and so hardly find it that they come back. And so the memory and the understanding come and go, seeking whether the will is going to give them that into the fruition of which it has entered itself."

- The Life, Chapter XIV.

"For my part, I believe that a soul which has reached this state neither speaks nor acts of itself, but rather that the supreme King takes care of all it has to do. O my God, how clear is the meaning of those words, and what good reason the Psalmist had, and all the world will ever have, to pray for the wings of a dove!  [Psalm 55:7] It is plain that this is the flight of the spirit rising upwards above all created things, and chiefly above itself: but it is a sweet flight, a delicious flight—a flight without noise."

- The Life, Chapter XX.

"Then I saw over my head a dove, very different from those we usually see, for it had not the same plumage, but wings formed of small shells shining brightly. It was larger than an ordinary dove; I thought I heard the rustling of its wings.  It  hovered above me during the space of an Ave Maria.  But such was the state of my soul, that in losing itself it lost also the sight of the dove. My spirit grew calm with such a guest; and yet, as I think, a grace so wonderful might have disturbed and frightened it; and as it began to rejoice in the vision, it was delivered from all fear, and with the joy came peace, my soul continuing entranced. The joy of this rapture was exceedingly great; and for the rest of that festal time I was so amazed and bewildered that I did not know what I was doing, nor how I could have received so great a grace. I neither heard nor saw anything, so to speak, because of my great inward joy. From that day forth I perceived in myself a very great progress in the highest love of God, together with a great increase in the strength of my virtues. May He be blessed and praised for ever! Amen.

"On another occasion I saw that very dove above the head of one of the Dominican fathers; but it seemed to me that the rays and brightness of the wings were far greater. I understood by this that he was to draw souls unto God."

- The Life, Chapter XXXVIII.

"LET us now return to our little dove and see what graces God gives it in this state. This implies that the soul endeavours to advance in the service of our Lord and in self-knowledge. If it receives the grace of union and then does no more, thinking itself safe, and so leads a careless life, wandering off the road to heaven (that is, the keeping of the commandments) it will share the fate of the butterfly that comes from the silkworm, which lays some eggs that produce more of its kind and then dies for ever. I say it leaves some eggs, for I believe God will not allow so great a favour to be lost but that if the recipient does not profit by it, others will. For while it keeps to the right path, this soul, with its ardent desires and great virtues, helps others and kindles their fervour with its own. Yet even after having lost this it may still long to benefit others and delight to make known the mercies shown by God to those who love and serve Him."

- Interior Castle, Fifth Mansion, Chapter III.

"You appear anxious to know what has become of the little dove and where she obtains rest, since obviously she can find it neither in spiritual consolations nor in earthly pleasures but takes a higher flight. I cannot tell you until we come to the last mansion: God grant I may remember or have leisure to write it."

- Interior Castle, Fifth Mansion, Chapter IV.

"IT seems as if we had deserted the little dove for a long time, but this is not the case, for these past trials cause her to take a far higher flight. I will now describe the way in which the Spouse treats her before uniting her entirely to Himself. He increases her longing for Him by devices so delicate that the soul itself cannot discern them; nor do I think I could explain them except to people who have personally experienced them. These desires are delicate and subtle impulses springing from the inmost depths of the soul; I know of nothing to which they can be compared."

- Interior Castle, Sixth Mansion, Chapter II.

"Will all these graces bestowed by the Spouse upon the soul suffice to content this little dove or butterfly (you see I have not forgotten her after all!) so that she may settle down and rest in the place where she is to die? No indeed: her state is far worse than ever; although she has been receiving these favours for many years past, she still sighs and weeps because each grace augments her pain. She sees herself still far away from God, yet with her increased knowledge of His attributes her longing and her love for Him grow ever stronger as she learns more fully how this great God and Sovereign deserves to be loved. As, year by year her yearning after Him gradually becomes keener, she experiences the bitter suffering I am about to describe. I speak of ‘years’ because relating what happened to the person I mentioned, though I know well that with God time has no limits and in a single moment He can raise a soul to the most sublime state I have described. His Majesty has the power to do all He wishes and He wishes to do much for us. These longings, tears, sighs, and violent and impetuous desires and strong feelings, which seem to proceed from our vehement love, are yet as nothing compared with what I am about to describe and seem but a smouldering fire, the heat of which, though painful, is yet tolerable."

- Interior Castle, Sixth Mansion, Chapter XI.

"These effects, with all the other good fruits I have mentioned of the different degrees of prayer, are given by God to the soul when it draws near Him to receive that ‘kiss of His mouth’ for which the bride asked, and I believe her petition is now granted. Here the overflowing waters are given to the wounded hart: here she delights in the tabernacles of God: here the dove sent out by Noe to see whether the flood had subsided, has plucked the olive branch, showing that she has found firm land amongst the floods and tempests of this world."

- Interior Castle, Seventh Mansion, Chapter III.

Through the Flight of Others

 

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Video sent by TeresaPolk

"Doing our own will is usually what harms us.  And they shouldn't seek another of their own making, as they say -- one who is so circumspect about everything; but seek out someone who is very free from illusion about the things of the world.  For in order to know ourselves, it helps a great deal to speak with someone who already knows the world for what it is.  And it helps also because when we see some things done by others that seem so impossible for us and the ease with which they are done, we become very encouraged.  And it seems that through the flight of these others we also will make bold to fly, as do the bird's fledglings when they are taught; for even though they do not begin to soar immediately, little by little they imitate the parent."

- St. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, III:2:12

Video: Swallow tailed rock dove adult and chick (used by permission).

Pope St. Gregory the Great: The Holy Spirit as Dove and Fire

"The meek must be admonished to aim at zeal for righteousness, the choleric must be admonished to add meekness to the zeal which they think they have.  It is obviously for this reason that the Holy Spirit is exhibited to us under the symbols of the dove and of fire, because all whom He fills He makes both meek with the simplicity of the dove, and glowing with the fire of zeal.  That one, then, certainly is not filled with the Holy Spirit who either in the calmness of his meekness abandons the fervour of his zeal, or in the fervour of his zeal loses the virtue of meekness."

- Pope/St. Gregory the Great, Pastoral Care.

Eucharistic Doves

Dan Mitsui, who works with Granda Liturgical Arts in Chicago and blogs as The Lion & The Cardinal, has a post about Eucharistic Doves, with a series of large, beautiful photographs of medieval doves that were suspended above the altar to hold the reserved Blessed Sacrament.  His post tells a little of the history of the doves too.  The picture shown here is a smaller version of one of his photos.  Other photos on his page show a Eucharistic dove that his company custom made for a Carmelite monastery.  He also linked to this article about the history of the tablernacle, titled "The Casing of the Eucharist" by Mauro Piacenza.  Amy Welborn picked up the post, as did Fr. Jim Tucker at Dappled Things.

How Someone Becomes Good Bread

"An apostle, a teacher, must be bread: living bread, always served to his students, and to everyone else.  The young, those with whom we work, our families, need to live the best life, God’s life, and for that reason to eat.  There are moments reserved for education in the faith: catechesis, retreats, celebrations.  All of that is the choice food.

"But the daily bread -- not gourmet, but home-made bread and family bread, the kind that is partly wasted because no one ever misses it -- that is you.  Isn’t that easy?  Yes and no.  Because for that role, you have to be another Christ; you have to be assimilated into him, configured into him, to be ready to serve him, good for all service. . . . That is how someone becomes good bread."

- Father Léonce de Grandmaison

French original from the website of the Community of St. Francis Xavier. 

Ego sum panis vivus

"I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

(John 6:48-51 NAB)

The Holy Spirit Descending as a Dove

Painting: St. Thomas Aquinas by Francesco Solimena, from The Basilica of San Dominico Maggiore in Naples, Italy.

Occasionally, over the past few months, I have done postings from the writings of the saints and blesseds on the symbolism of the dove as related to the Church as the bride of Christ.  The dove, in the Song of Songs, is seen as symbolic of the Church in the writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. John of the Cross and a chant by Bl. Hildegard of Bingen.  In St. Augustine, the dove in Matthew 10:16 is seen as an object for us to imitate: "the dove may you imitate securely. Mark how the doves rejoice in society; everywhere do they fly and feed together; they do not love to be alone, they delight in communion, they preserve affection; their cooings are the plaintive cries of love, with kissings they beget their young. . ." (see the Dove category link for discussions of these writings).

Now I have a couple of postings, yesterday and today, from the writings of the saints and blesseds on the symbolism of the dove as related to the Holy Spirit.  While the dove in Scripture sometimes appears as the Church, the dove elsewhere appears as the Holy Spirit.  in the Gospel accounts of the baptism of our Lord, the Holy Spirit appears as a dove, including the following account from Mark's Gospel, the Gospel reading from this past Monday's feast of the baptism of our Lord:

"This is what John the Baptist proclaimed:
  “One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
  he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
  and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open
  and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens,
  “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  

Mark 1:7-11 (NAB)

Here are two discussions of the dove at the baptism of Jesus, from St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas:

St. Thomas Aquinas on the Holy Spirit and the Dove:

The Holy Ghost appeared over Christ at His baptism, under the form of a dove, for four reasons. First, on account of the disposition required in the one baptized---namely, that he approach in good faith: since! as it is written (Wis. 1:5): "The holy spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful." For the dove is an animal of a simple character, void of cunning and deceit: whence it is said (Mt. 10:16): "Be ye simple as doves."

Secondly, in order to designate the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, which are signified by the properties of the dove. For the dove dwells beside the running stream, in order that, on perceiving the hawk, it may plunge in and escape. This refers to the gift of wisdom, whereby the saints dwell beside the running waters of Holy Scripture, in order to escape the assaults of the devil. Again, the dove prefers the more choice seeds. This refers to the gift of knowledge, whereby the saints make choice of sound doctrines, with which they nourish themselves. Further, the dove feeds the brood of other birds. This refers to the gift of counsel, with which the saints, by teaching and example, feed men who have been the brood, i.e. imitators, of the devil. Again, the dove tears not with its beak. This refers to the gift of understanding, wherewith the saints do not rend sound doctrines, as heretics do. Again, the dove has no gall. This refers to the gift of piety, by reason of which the saints are free from unreasonable anger. Again, the dove builds its nest in the cleft of a rock. This refers to the gift of fortitude, wherewith the saints build their nest, i.e. take refuge and hope, in the death wounds of Christ, who is the Rock of strength. Lastly, the dove has a plaintive song. This refers to the gift of fear, wherewith the saints delight in bewailing sins.

Thirdly, the Holy Ghost appeared under the form of a dove on account of the proper effect of baptism, which is the remission of sins and reconciliation with God: for the dove is a gentle creature. Wherefore, as Chrysostom says, (Hom. xii in Matth.), "at the Deluge this creature appeared bearing an olive branch, and publishing the tidings of the universal peace of the whole world: and now again the dove appears at the baptism, pointing to our Deliverer."

Fourthly, the Holy Ghost appeared over our Lord at His baptism in the form of a dove, in order to designate the common effect of baptism---namely, the building up of the unity of the Church. Hence it is written (Eph. 5:25-27): "Christ delivered Himself up . . . that He might present . . . to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing . . . cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life." Therefore it was fitting that the Holy Ghost should appear at the baptism under the form of a dove, which is a creature both loving and gregarious. Wherefore also it is said of the Church (Cant 6:8): "One is my dove." 

Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 39, Article 6, Reply to Objection 4, translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

St. Augustine on the Holy Spirit and the Dove:

“If, therefore, He is said to be sent, in so far as He appeared outwardly in the bodily creature, who inwardly in His spiritual nature is always hidden from the eyes of mortals, it is now easy to understand also of the Holy Spirit why He too is said to be sent. For in due time a certain outward appearance of the creature was wrought, wherein the Holy Spirit might be visibly shown; whether when He descended upon the Lord Himself in a bodily shape as a dove, or when, ten days having past since His ascension, on the day of Pentecost a sound came suddenly from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and cloven tongues like as of fire were seen upon them, and it sat upon each of them. This operation, visibly exhibited, and presented to mortal eyes, is called the sending of the Holy Spirit; not that His very substance appeared, in which He himself also is invisible and unchangeable, like the Father and the Son, but that the hearts of men, touched by things seen outwardly, might be turned from the manifestation in time of Him as coming to His hidden eternity as ever present.”
 

On the Trinity, Chapter V , Para. 10, translated by A.W. Haddan, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

One of the interesting things in the description given by St. Thomas is that he connects the appearance of the Holy Spirit as a dove with the description of the Church as a dove in the Song of Songs.  The last sentence of his fourth point is "Therefore it was fitting that the Holy Ghost should appear at the baptism under the form of a dove, which is a creature both loving and gregarious. Wherefore also it is said of the Church (Cant 6:8): "One is my dove." The loving and gregarious nature of the dove is what St. Augustine mentioned, in a different passage quoted above, with reference to Matthew 10:16 ("wise as serpents and innocent as doves").  The Holy Spirit thus appeared as an animal understood to be loving, as God is loving, and as God calls the Church to be loving.  It is a picture of God's love, and also a picture of communion, as St. Augustine said concerning Matthew 10:16, "they delight in communion, they preserve affection; their cooings are the plaintive cries of love, with kissings they beget their young." 

St. Augustine's view and St. Thomas Aquinas's view here both could here be described as, in some sense, nuptial.  The symbolism of a dove is seen, by both, as one of marriage.  St. Thomas references Song of Songs 6:8 "One is my dove," while St. Augustine wrote, "with kissings they beget their young."  While the nuptial symbolism of Scripture is more commonly seen between the Church as the bride of Christ, and Christ as the bridegroom, here something similar is seen with respect to the dove mentioned both in Matthew 10:16 and the appearance of the Holy Spirit as a dove at the baptism of Christ.  God's love is intimate.  God's working in our lives is intimate and loving.  God's longing for His people, and our longing for God, is an intimate, longing loving, like that of the dove for its mate.  God is not distant from us. 

As the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at His baptism, the Father also was present, as a voice was heard from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  Again, the words of the Father were words of love.  Christ, in His baptism, identified with humanity.  As God, He had no need for John's baptism for repentance because He was without sin.  The expressions of love from the Father and the Holy Spirit toward the Son reflect the love that existed within the Trinity before creation, described by St. Albert the Great and, more recently, by Hans Urs von Balthasar:

"God's love is so complete in itself -- he is lover, responding beloved, and union of the fruit of both -- that he has need of no extradivine world in order to have something to love.  If such a world is freely created by God, apart from any compelling need, then this occurs, from the viewpoint of the Father, in order to glorify the beloved Son; from the viewpoint of the loving Son, in order to lay everything as a gift at the Father's feet; and from the viewpoints of the Spirit in order to lend new expression to the reciprocal love between Father and Son.  Hence, the one triune God is Creator of the world.  If this creation is attributed specifically to the Father, then that is because, within God, he is the Origin behind which nothing more can be sought."

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Credo, Ignatius Press.

The nuptial view of love in Christ and the Church was also mentioned by Pope Benedict XVI in an essay "Wounded by the Arrow of Beauty", recently published in On the Way to Jesus Christ, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Ignatius Press, speaking of the beauty of Christ in a Lenten antiphon which says "You are the fairest of the children of men and graciousness is poured upon your lips"  (taken from Psalm 45):

"It is clear that the Church reads this psalm as a prophetic and poetic depiction of the spousal relationship of Christ and the Church.  She thus acknowledges Christ as the fairest of men; the graciousness poured upon his lips refers to the inner beauty of his words, to the glory of this message.  So it is not merely the external beauty of the Redeemer's appearance that is praised: rather, the beauty of truth appears in him, the beauty of God himself, who powerfully draws us and inflicts on us the wound of Love, as it were, a holy Eros that enables us to go forth, with and in the Church, his Bride, to meet the Love who calls us."

On the Way to Jesus Christ, pp. 32-33.  The rest of the Holy Father's essay, written when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, spoke of the beauty of truth, and of beauty as knowledge, as seen in icons and the beauty that the faith has generated, and in the saints.  While awaiting his first encyclical, which we are told is about God as love, referencing "Eros", his use of the concept of "Eros" in this earlier essay gives us a glimpse of how the Holy Father views Eros and God's love.  There is no mention of the dove symbolism in his essay from On the Way to Jesus Christ, nor was there any in the book mentioned above by Hans Urs von Balthasar.  But in their view of God's love as intimate, the love of the Bridegroom for the Bride, they parallel the views shown above from St. Augustine and from St. Thomas Aquinas.  The symbolism of the dove, in reference to God and to the Church, is one of love.

The Groaning of the Dove

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.  And he who searches the herts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

Romans 8:26-27 (RSV)

It is not often that one notices points of similarity among Peter Lombard, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Carmelite meditation.  Since I am now reading through the Classics of Western Spirituality series book Albert & Thomas: Selected Writings, which includes excerpts from the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas on prayer, and just started listening to the tapes from The Carmelite Forum in June 2004 (Prayer and Meditation in Carmelite Tradition), this comparison caught my attention:

From St. Thomas Aquinas - Commentary on Romans 8:26-27:

The Holy Spirit makes us plead inasmuch as he causes right desires in us.  Pleading is a certain unfolding of our desires, and right desires come from charitable love, and this is produced in us by the Holy Spirit.  "The charity of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to us" (Rom. 5:5).  With the Holy Spirit directing and prompting our hearts, even our desires cannot help but be useful to us.  "I am the Lord your God, who teach you useful things" (Isa. 48:17).  Therefore, the apostle adds "for us."

If something we greatly desire and pray for with desire is delayed, we endure such a delay with distress and groaning, so he goes on, "with groans," groans caused in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as he makes us desire the things of heaven, which are not given to the soul immediately.  This is the groaning of the dove produced by the Holy Spirit in us: "Her handmaids were driven out, groaning like doves" [Nahum 2:8].

Albert & Thomas: Selected Writings, pg. 522.

In footnote, editors Simon Tugwell, O.P. and Leonard E. Boyle, O.P., explain that St. Thomas is here following the gloss of Peter Lombard's commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul. 

Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.:

Father Kieran Kavanaugh's message on the understanding of meditation and contemplation up to the time of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross, discusses how there was both continuity and change from the Fathers of the Church to the Middle Ages and to the writings of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross.  In his explanation of the concept of meditation, originating in the Old Testament, he explains that the Hebrew word for meditation originates in a root that also expresses the groaning of a dove:

So from Biblical times, through the monastic literature and the Fathers of the Church to the spiritual writers of the Middle Ages, the concept of meditation saw both continuity and change.  The change came about through the increasing importance of the intellectual or reflective factor.  The continuity was present in the fact that the different writers obtained their inspiration in the Bible, where they found the ordinary object of their meditation.  But first I think it would be helpful if I say something  on the meaning of the word "mediation" in Scripture, the meaning that it has in Scripture.  In the Old Testament, the idea of meditation is expressed through terms having as their root "hagah".  This is usually rendered in Greek by meleton or melete and in Latin by meditare, meditatio.  This root, in its primitive sense meant, "to murmur in a low, indistinct voice."  It is also used to refer to the sounds of animals and birds, for example the growling of the lion, the twittering of the swallow, and the moaning of the dove, or the growling of the bear.  The seat or organ of meditation is the throat or larynx.  In reference to human meditation, this can take on a religious meaning or not.  There is even a kind of meditation at enmity of God.  "The people meditate in vain," the Psalmist says.  Anyway, the hearing and bodily element is habitually joined to the spiritual and mental element.  In the book of Joshua , where this root word is the first used, we read: "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.  This same sense is carried over into the Psalm: Blessed is the one who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night.

Prayer and Meditation in the Carmelite Tradition, "The Meaning of Meditation and Contemplation in the Carmelite Tradition", by Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.

St. Thomas, and Peter Abelard, connected the Holy Spirit's groaning within us, described by St. Paul as "sighs too deep for words" with the groaning of the dove in the Old Testament .  Father Kavanaugh explains that the Hebrew word for the groaning of a dove in fact is from the same root as the Hebrew word for meditation. 

I wish that Thomas, here, had said a great deal more about his own connection of the Holy Spirit within us and the dove as he understood Romans.  The Holy Spirit, of course, appeared as a dove at the baptism of Jesus, and both Peter Abelard and St. Thomas appear to have taken that reference to the Holy Spirit's appearing as a dove and applied it to their understanding of what St. Paul wrote in Romans 8:26-27, that the Holy Spirit prays within us in sighs too deep for words: the groaning of the dove.  Yet, here is a very Teresian concept of prayer as the Holy Spirit moving within us to pray, in prayers without words. 

The Greek word used in Romans 8:26-27 is not, however, the Greek word "meleton" mentioned by Father Kavanaugh as the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew "hagah".  Rather, it is a different Greek word for groanings, "stenagmos".  Nor is it rendered in Latin as "meditare", but rather "similiter autem et Spiritus adiuvat infirmitatem nostram nam quid oremus sicut oportet nescimus sed ipse Spiritus postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus."  Still, Peter Abelard and Thomas Aquinas seem to have read it in the sense intended by the Hebrew "hagah," in which the groaning of the Holy Spirit in our prayers is seen metaphorically as like the groaning of the dove.   

St. Teresa and St. Thomas are, of course, more readily contrasted than compared.  However, Father Kavanaugh also said, there is both continuity and change in the writings on meditation from the Church Fathers to sixteenth century Avila.  The continuity arises from the Scripture, "where they found the ordinary object of their meditation." 

Perhaps between now and the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, January 28, I can blog a little bit more about the contemplative and meditative side of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the points of contact between his thinking on prayer and that of St. Teresa of Avila.

Mary and the Simplicity of the Dove

"That the Lord then was manifestly coming to His own things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation which is supported by Himself, and was making a recapitulation of that disobedience which had occurred in connection with a tree, through the obedience which was [exhibited by Himself when He hung] upon a tree, [the effects] also of that deception being done away with, by which that virgin Eve, who was already espoused to a man, was unhappily misled,—was happily announced, through means of the truth [spoken] by the angel to the Virgin Mary, who was [also espoused] to a man.  For just as the former was led astray by the word of an angel, so that she fled from God when she had transgressed His word; so did the latter, by an angelic communication, receive the glad tidings that she should sustain (portaret) God, being obedient to His word. And if the former did disobey God, yet the latter was persuaded to be obedient to God, in order that the Virgin Mary might become the patroness (advocata) of the virgin Eve.  And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way the sin of the first created man (protoplasti) receives amendment by the correction of the First-begotten, and the coming of the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of the dove, those bonds being unloosed by which we had been fast bound to death."

- St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, V:19:1, The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus by Philip Schaff, first published in Edinburgh, 1867, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Thus, Irenaeus, writing in the late second century, connects the simplicity of the dove with Mary, seen as the new Eve ("as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, . . . in the same way the sin of the first created man (protoplasti) receives amendment by the correction of the First-begotten, and the coming of the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of the dove, those bonds being unloosed by which we had been fast bound to death.") 

Looking at the various "dove" passages in Scripture, in and of themselves, it is difficult to know whether Jesus really had the Old Testament passages in mind when he said to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves, so that it is not immediately possible to connect the "dove" symbolism in the Song of Songs -- in which St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. John of the Cross would both see the dove as symbolic of the Church -- with the "dove" symbolism in the Gospel -- in which Jesus said to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  St. Irenaeus ties it a little more together with Mary, comparing Mary as the New Eve with the simplicity of the dove.

St. Edith Stein, in her Essays on Woman, has a great deal to say about Mary as the New Eve and Mary as the heart of the Church.  Such an understanding of Mary helps to tie together the symbolic understanding of the  dove in St. Irenaeus, St. John of the Cross, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Bl. Hildegard of Bingen, and St. Augustine, discussed here, and there is much poetry and mysticism in their respective references to it.  St. Edith Stein probably said nothing original or unique in the passages quoted here, but she said it well, when she wrote of Mary as the new Eve and as the symbol of the Church, the heart of the Church:

"The creation of Eve from the rib of the first Adam becomes a prefigurement for the emergence of the new Eve -- by that is meant Mary, but, at the same time, also the whole Church -- from the opened side of the new Adam.  The woman who is bound  to her husband in true Christian matrimony, that is, in an indissoluble union of life and love, represents the Church as God's bride.  Even more impressively and perfectly, the Church is personally embodied in the woman who as Spouse of Christ has consecrated her life to the Lord and has entered into an indissoluble contract with Him.  She herself stands at His side like the Church, and assists in His work of redemption like its prototype, the Mother of God, in whom it has its origin.  The complete surrender of her life and being is to live and work with Christ; but that means also to suffer and die with Him -- that fruitful death from which springs the life of grace for all humanity.  And so the life of God's bride becomes supernatural maternity for all of redeemed humanity, whether she works directly with the soul herself or whether she only brings forth through her sacrifice the fruits of grace, of which she and perhaps no other has knowledge.

"Mary is the most perfect symbol of the Church because she is its prefigurement and origin.  She is also a unique organ of the Church, that organ from which the entire Mystical Body, even the Head itself, was formed.  She might be called, and happily so, the heart of the Church in order to indicate her central and vital position in it. . . . The title of Mary as our mother is not merely symbolic.  Mary is our mother in the most real and lofty sense, a sense which surpasses that of earthly maternity.  She begot our life of grace for us because she offered up her entire being, body and soul, as the Mother of God."

- St. Edith Stein, "Church, Woman, Youth", Essays on Woman.

The Turtledove Has Found Its Longed-For Mate

From today's readings:

  "I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
      in my God is the joy of my soul;
  for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation
      and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
  like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
      like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
  As the earth brings forth its plants,
      and a garden makes its growth spring up,
  so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise
      spring up before all the nations."

- Isaiah 61:10-11 (NAB)

From the Song of Songs:

"O my dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see you,
let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
and you are lovely."

- Song of Songs 2:14 (NAB) (Footnote 5 to the NAB  reads: "The bride is addressed as though she were a dove in a mountain fastness out of sight and reach.")

From St. John of the Cross:

"Bridegroom:

The small white dove
has returned to the ark with an olive branch;
and now the turtledove
has found its longed-for mate
by the green river banks.

She lived in solitude,
and now in solitude has built her nest;
and in solitude he guides her,
he alone, who also bears
in solitude the wound of love.

Bride

Let us rejoice, Beloved,
and let us go forth to behold ourselves in your beauty,
to the mountains and to the hill,
to where the pure water flows,
and further, deep into the thicket.

And then we will go on
to the high caverns in the rock
which are so well concealed;
there we shall enter
and taste the fresh juice of the pomegranates."

- St. John of the Cross, "The Spiritual Canticle: Songs between the soul and the Bridegroom", verses 34 to 37, translated and quoted by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., in John of the Cross: Doctor of Light and Love, Spiritual Legacy Series, the Crossroad Publishing Company, 1999.

Comments:

I liked these thoughts for today because they bring together several events in the Church calendar as we enter the last two weeks of Advent.  The reading from Isaiah is from today's Old Testament reading from mass.  It speaks of salvation, and of how God, in saving us, has "clothed us with a robe of salvation" like "a bride bedecked with her jewels."  The Church is seen as the Bride of Christ, and this passage from the prophet Isaiah fortells that role of the coming Messiah and the Church. 

In some writings of the Church Fathers and Saints, the Church, as the Bride of Christ, is seen as the dove in Song of Songs.  Elsewhere in the New Testament, Jesus told his disciples to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves."  Thus, the dove can sometimes represent the Church, based in part on the verse quoted above from the Song of Songs and also from the Gospels.  In an earlier posting here, I brought together quotes from St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Bl. Hildegard of Bingen, and St. Augustine of Hippo in which the dove is symbolic of the Church, as it is here for St. John of the Cross.

The feast day of St. John of the Cross is this coming week, December 14.  In his poem, quoted above, he draws from the Song of Songs, with the dove, as the Bride of Christ, saying " we will go on to the high caverns in the rock."  He also draws from the dove in Genesis 8:8, when Noah "sent out a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth." 

John of the Cross also speaks of the dove in a manner befitting Advent: "and now the turtledove has found its longed-for mate by the green river banks. . . he alone, who also bears in solitude the wound of love."  Doves are sometimes used symbolically at weddings partly because they mate for life, and because their white color can symbolize purity and peace.  They are not meanat to be alone.  The lone turtledove longs for her mate, as in this time of Advent, we prepare ourselves to celebrate the anniversary of the coming of the Lord, Christmas, and to prepare ourselves for the Bridegroom in his final coming, at death and the end of the world.  John describes Jesus, the one who "bears in solitude the wound of love" as our crucified Lord, as the Bridegroom and as the turtledove's longed for mate. 

So, as we enter the second half of Advent and near the feast day of St. John of the Cross, this poem seemed to me to bring together those thoughts in a very beautiful poem, significant of the purity and the unity that God intends as we are reconciled to Him through forgiveness, and of the eternal love that God gives to the Church as the Bride of Christ. 

The Symplicity of the Dove

From September 27, 2005 (re-edited):

From Flos Carmeli on September 20:

"I was writing a meditation on a gospel passage this morning when a sobering thought occurred to me. We serve the Lord more by who we are than by what we say. People who see us and know that we are Christians judge both us and the Christ we proclaim by what we do. The look at the concurrence of words and actions to see what it is we proclaim. . . .

“It is said that married couples through the years become more like one another. ( I suspect that is mostly in the bad things so that our annoying habits do not annoy so seriously. ) So, if we seek the Holy Spirit through the marriage of prayer and we keep the blessed trinity company through prayer, surely we will become more like them.  Or to take another metaphor, one is judged by the company one keeps.  The reason is that one becomes more like the company one keeps--it is a natural human inclination to blend in.  What then could be better than to blend into the company of the blessed trinity.”

http://floscarmeli.stblogs.org/archives/2005/09/a_sobering_pros.html

When I read this post, prompted by Steven Riddle’s meditation on a gospel passage, I thought about the disparate symbolism of a dove in Scripture.  Most frequently, the dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit or of peace.  When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, the Spirit descended on Him like a dove and alighted on Him (Matt. 3:16).  However, in his homilies on the Song of Songs, St. Bernard of Clairvaux interpreted the dove as symbolic of the Church in verse 2:14:  “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is comely.”  It was his homily on this passage that I quoted in the past.  It was the same passage that prompted the poem by Bl. Hildegard of Bingen, “The Dove Peered In,” also quoted here, and also symbolic of the Church peering into the eternal reality described by St. Bernard. And St. Augustine, quote here, drew from the Gospel in saying that Christians should imitate the dove ("[Jesus said] Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."  Matt. 10:16).

Is it thus that the dove can be symbol both of the Holy Spirit and of the Church in that, as we imitate Christ, the Bridegroom, we the Church become more like the Holy Spirit?  As the bride and the bridegroom, in many years of love, become more like each other, does the Church become more Christlike, more holy, as we spend time with Him?  As we, filled with the Holy Spirit, imitate the dove and become more like Him?

The earlier dove postings are here:

My Dove in the Clefts of the Rock (St. Bernard on Song of Songs 2:14):

"My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the wall" (Sg 2:14).  The dove finds safe refuge not only in the clefts of the rock, but also in the crannies of the wall.  If we take the "wall" to be not an assembly of stones but the communion of saints, perhaps the crannies of the wall can be seen as the gaps left empty by the angels when they fell, and which are to be filled by men, like ruins to be mended by living stones.  That is why the Apostle Peter says, "Come to him, to that living stone, and like living stones be yourselves built into spiritual houses" (I Pt 2:4-5).

* * * * *

It is clear, then, that there are two sorts of contemplation.  One is concerned with the life and happiness and glory of the heavenly city, where a great multitude of heavenly citizens is busy with activity, or at rest.  The other is directed toward the majesty, eternity, and divinity of the King himself.  The first is of the wall, the other of the rock.

The more difficult the hollowing out, the sweeter the taste of the reward. Do not be afraid of Scripture's warning about gazing upon majesty (Prv 25:27).  Just bring a pure and single eye (Lk 11:34).  You will not be dazzled by the glory, but allowed to look into it (Prv 25:27) -- unless it is not God's glory but your own that you are seeking.  Otherwise, each is overwhelmed not by God's glory but his own.  When you bend down toward your own glory, you cannot lift up your head to look at his, because you are weighed down by greed.

With that out of the way, let us tunnel confidently in the rock, in which the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Col 2:3).  If you are still not convinced, hear what the Rock himself says, "Those who do things in me shall not sin" (Sir 24:30).  Who will give me wings like a dove so that I may fly away and be at rest (Ps 54:7)?  The meek and simple find rest (Mt 11:29) where the deceitful man is oppressed, and the man who is puffed up and desirous of vainglory (Gal 5:26).  The Church is a dove, and so she rests. She is a dove because she meekly receives the Word which enters her (Jas 1:21).  And she rests in the Word, that is, in the Rock, for the Rock is the Word.

And so the Church is in the clefts of the Rock, and she gazes through them and sees the glory of her Bridegroom.  But she is not overwhelmed by glory because she does not claim it for herself.  She is not overwhelmed because she is not peering into the majesty of God but belongs to his majesty, yet in wonder, not curiosity.  But if ever she is carried away in rapture, it is because the finger of God deigns so to raise man up (Ex 8; Lk 11:20), not the rashness of man insolently pushing its way into the depths of God.  For when the Apostle recalls that rapture, he makes excuse for his daring (2 Cor 12:2).  What other mortal man would be so presumptuous as to attempt by himself to make a fearful scrutiny of the divine majesty?  What insolent contemplative would try to burst into those awesome mysteries?  I think that although those who scrutinize majesty are called "invaders," that applies not to those who are carried away but to those who push their way in.  And so it is they are overwhelmed by glory."

- St. Bernard of Clairvaux (12th century), Sermon 62, from Bernard of Clairvaux: Selected Works, translated by G.R. Evans, Classics of Western Spirituality, Paulist Press.

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The Dove Peered In (Bl. Hildegard of Bingen on Song of Songs 2:14):

The dove peered in
through the lattices of the window
white, before its face,
a balm exuded
from incandescent Maximin.

The heat of the sun burned
dazzling into the gloom:
whence a jewel sprang forth
in the building of the temple
of the purest loving heart.

He, the high tower,
constructed of Lebanon wood and cypress,
has been adorned with jacinth and diamonds,
a city excelling the crafts
of other builders.

This swift hart sped
to the fountain of clearest water
flowing from the most powerful stone
which courses with delightful spices.

O Perfume-Makers,
you who are in the sweetest greenness
of the gardens of the King,
ascending on high
when you have completed the holy sacrifice
with the rams.

This builder shines among you
the wall of the temple,
who longed for the wings of an eagle,
kissing his horse Wisdom
in the glorious fecundity of the Church.

O Maximin,
you are the mount and the valley
and in both you seem a high building,
where the goat went with the elephant
and Wisdom was in rapture.

You are strong and beautiful in rites
and in the shining of the altar,
mounting like the smoke of perfumes
to the column of praise.

Where you intercede for the people
who stretch towards the mirror of light
to whom there is praise on high.

- Blessed Hildegard of Bingen
"The Dove Peered In," mid-12th century
translated for the CD package insert for "A Feather on the Breath of God," recorded by Gothic Voices

Amazon Link for this Recording
 

The Simplicity of the Dove (St. Augustine on Matt. 10:16):

"[Jesus said] Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."  Matt. 10:16

St. Augustine of Hippo said this about this verse:

"Now what need is there to commend to you in many words the simplicity of the dove? For the serpent’s poison had need to be guarded against: there, there was a danger in imitation; there, there was something to be feared; but the dove may you imitate securely. Mark how the doves rejoice in society; everywhere do they fly and feed together; they do not love to be alone, they delight in communion, they preserve affection; their cooings are the plaintive cries of love, with kissings they beget their young. Yea even when doves, as we have often noticed, dispute about their holes, it is as it were but a peaceful strife.  Do they separate, because of their contentions?  Nay, still do they fly and feed together, and their very strife is peaceful.  See this strife of doves, in what the Apostle saith, “If any man obey not our word by this epistle, mark that man, and have no company with him.”  Behold the strife; but observe now how it is the strife of doves, not of wolves.  He subjoined immediately, “Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”  The dove loves even when she is in strife; and the wolf even when he caresses, hates.  Therefore having the simplicity of doves, and the wisdom of serpents, celebrate the solemnities of the Martyrs in sobriety of mind, not in bodily excess, sing lauds to God. For He who is the Martyrs’ God, is our Lord God also, He it is who will crown us. If we shall have wrestled well, we shall be crowned by Him, who hath crowned already those whom we desire to imitate." 

- St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon No. XIV, on Matthew 10:16, translated by Rev. R. G. MacMullen

 http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf106.vii.XIV.html#vii.XIV-Page_306