The Drama of Divine Love

The Bride of the Song of Songs, lifts the veil and allows us to observe the drama, the divine romance, playing out within the secret depths of her heart. This same drama is being played out in each of our hearts. Father Blaise Arminjon ends his book, The Cantata of Love: A Verse by Verse Reading of the Song of Songs, with this beautiful truth,

“The Five Poems of the Song can be seen as five acts of a drama, really the only drama which is being played out in this world: man’s adventure, filled with torments and joys, as he is ceaselessly sought by the passionate love of his God.”

If we use the prayer practice of Lectio Divina and place ourselves in the drama of the Song of Songs as the Bride, the veil is slowly, gradually, lifted over our own hearts. The drama of our personal adventure with Jesus the Bridegroom is revealed. We began to catch glimpses of how He has been passionately pursuing us throughout our lives and suddenly, we see our whole life as a love story. A story filled with joys and sorrows, seeking and finding, longing and thirsting, hungering and desiring. What a revelation it is when we hear the voice of the Bridegroom profess his lovesickness, his desire, his longing for us.

“You ravish my heart, my sister, my promised bride, you ravish my heart with a single one of your glances, with one single pearl of your necklace.

What spells lie in your love, my sister, my promised bride! How delicious is your love, more delicious than wine! How fragrant your perfumes, more fragrant than all other spices!

Your lips, my promised one, distil wild honey. Honey and milk are under your tongue; and the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.” (49-11)

Yes, this is truly how in love God is with you!

The language of eros, of marital love, may make us uncomfortable and, yet, this is the language God has chosen to express His passionate love for us. There are no words to fully express the ineffable love of God, of Jesus the Bridegroom, for each of us, His beloved soul-brides. The vocabulary of romance, of nuptial intimacy is the imagery our hearts understand best. And, perhaps, God is not just making use of this analogy so we will begin to comprehend the depths of his desire and love for us but also, to elevate marital love to the glory and sacredness for which He designed it. The Song of Songs is a profoundly beautiful and poetic image of the holiness marital love can achieve when it is an icon of the spiritual marriage of Christ the Bridegroom and the soul.

If you have never prayed with the Song of Songs, I invited you begin this Lent. In the Byzantine Rite, Holy Week is called “The Week of the Bridegroom” and it is by prayerfully reading the Song of Songs that not only our hearts are revealed, but the Bridegroom reveals His. What better way to prepare for Holy Week then to meditate on the mad, crazy love of the Bridegroom that drew Him to the marriage bed of the Cross?

“My Beloved lifts up his voice, he says to me, ‘Come then, my love, my lovely one, come.’” 2:10

Hope’s Garden offers a variety of resources for praying with the Song of Songs and getting to know Christ the Bridegroom, including our podcast, The Bridegroom Speaks, and our YouTube Channel.