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GENERAL AUDIENCE OF 30 MAY [1984]
At the general audience in St Peter's Square, on Wednesday morning
30 May, Pope John Paul II continued his analysis of the Song of Songs as
part of his catechesis on human love in the divine plan. Following is a
translation of the Holy Father's address.
1. We resume our analysis of the Song of Songs with the purpose of
understanding in a more adequate and exhaustive way the sacramental sign
of marriage. This is manifested by the language of the body, a singular
language of love originating in the heart.
At a certain point, expressing a particular experience of values
that shines upon everything that relates to the person he loves, the
groom says:
"You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have ravished my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one bead of your necklace.
How sweet are your caresses, my sister, my bride..." (Sg 4:9-10).
From these words emerges what is of essential importance for the
theology of the bodyand
in this case for the theology of the sacramental sign of marriageto
know who the female "you" is for the male "I" and vice versa.
The groom in the Song of Songs exclaims: "You are all-beautiful, my
beloved" (Sg 4:7) and calls her "my sister, my bride" (Sg 4:9). He does
not call her by her name, but he uses expressions that say more.
Under a certain aspect, compared with the name "beloved," the name
"sister" that is used for the bride seems to be more eloquent and rooted
in the sum total of the Song, which illustrates how love reveals the
other person.
Openness toward others
2. The term "beloved" indicates what is always essential for
love, which puts the second "I" beside one's own "I." Friendshiplove
of friendship (amor amicitiae)signifies
in the Song a particular approach felt and experienced as an interiorly
unifying power. The fact that in this approach that female "I" is
revealed for her groom as "sister"and
that precisely as both sister and bridehas
a special eloquence. The expression "sister" speaks of the union in
mankind and at the same time of her difference and feminine originality.
This is not only with regard to sex, but to the very way of "being
person," which means both "being subject" and "being in relationship."
The term "sister" seems to express, in a more simple way, the
subjectivity of the female "I" in personal relationship with the man,
that is, in the openness of him toward others, who are understood
and perceived as brothers. The sister in a certain sense helps man to
identify himself and conceive of himself in this way, constituting for
him a kind of challenge in this direction.
3. The groom in the Song accepts the challenge and seeks the common
past, as though he and his woman were descended from the same family
circle, as though from infancy they were united by memories of a common
home. So they mutually feel as close as brother and sister who owe their
existence to the same mother. From this a specific sense of common
belonging follows. The fact that they feel like brother and sister
allows them to live their mutual closeness in security and to manifest
it, finding support in that, and not fearing the unfair judgment of
other men.
Through the name "sister," the groom's words tend to reproduce, I would
say, the history of the femininity of the person loved. They see her
still in the time of girlhood and they embrace her entire "I," soul and
body, with a disinterested tenderness. Hence there arises that
peace which the bride speaks of. This is the peace of the body,
which in appearance resembles sleep ("Do not arouse, do not stir up love
before its own time"). This is above all the peace of the encounter
in mankind as the image of Godand
the encounter by means of a reciprocal and disinterested gift.
("So am I in your eyes, like one who has found peace", Sg 8:10.)
Awareness of mutual belonging
4. In relation to the preceding plot, which could be called a
"fraternal" plot, another plot emerges in the loving duet of the Song of
Songs, another substratum of the content. We can examine it by starting
from certain sayings that seem to have a key significance in the poem.
This plot never emerges explicitly, but through the whole composition,
and is expressly manifested only in a few passages. So the groom says:
"You are an enclosed garden, my sister, my bride,
an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed" (Sg 4:12).
The metaphors just read, an "enclosed garden, a fountain sealed," reveal
the presence of another vision of the same female "I," master of her
own mystery. We can say that both metaphors express the personal
dignity of the woman who as a spiritual subject is in possession and can
decide not only on the metaphysical depth, but also on the essential
truth and authenticity of the gift of herself, inclined to that union
which Genesis speaks of.
The language of metaphorspoetic
languageseems
to be in this sphere especially appropriate and precise. The "sister
bride" is for the man the master of her own mystery as a "garden
enclosed" and a "fountain sealed." The language of the body reread in
truth keeps pace with the discovery of the interior inviolability of
the person. At the same time, this discovery expresses the authentic
depth of the mutual belonging of the spouses who are aware of belonging
to each other, of being destined for each other: "My lover belongs to me
and I to him" (Sg 2:16; cf. 6:3).
5. This awareness of mutual belonging resounds especially on the lips of
the bride. In a certain sense, with these words she responds to the
groom's words with which he acknowledged her as the master of her own
mystery. When the bride says, "My lover belongs to me," she means at the
same time, "It is he to whom I entrust myself." Therefore she says, "and
I to him" (Sg 2:16). The words "to me" and "to him" affirm here the
whole depth of that entrustment, which corresponds to the
interior truth of the person.
It likewise corresponds to the nuptial significance of femininity in
relation to the male "I," that is, to the language of the body reread in
the truth of personal dignity.
The groom states this truth with the metaphors of the "garden enclosed"
and the "fountain sealed." The bride answers him with the words of the
gift, that is, the entrustment of herself. As master of her own choice
she says, "I belong to my lover." The Song of Songs subtly reveals the
interior truth of this response. The freedom of the gift is the
response to the deep awareness of the gift expressed by the groom's
words. Through this truth and freedom that love is built up, which we
must affirm is authentic love.
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