The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage

PREFACE.

...and may we eternally enjoy his glorious embraces. We, however, while we yet wander in the body original: "peregrinamur in corpore," a reference to 2 Corinthians 5:6., let us listen to the gospel cry, which is spoken in the word of God: "Behold, the bridegroom comes; go out to meet him." original: "ecce sponsus venit exite obviam ei." This verse from Matthew 25:6 serves as the foundation for the entire book. In the words of this cry, the heavenly proclaimer sets forth four things for us to note. First, in this word of pointing, "behold," he excites our vision as if with a finger original: "digitaliter." In medieval Latin, this refers to pointing with the finger (digitus) to focus attention. and, in a way, gives a command to see. Whoever, therefore, persisting in their blindness, does not even care to raise an eyelid at the sound of this voice, is deservedly already sentenced to eternal darkness. Secondly, he shows us the saving and visible coming of the bridegroom, saying: "the bridegroom comes." Thirdly, he teaches and commands what we ought to do once the bridegroom is seen to be coming, saying: "go out." Fourthly, he suggests to us the benefit of our "going out" and the glorious fruit of our good labors, adding: "to meet him"—that is, meeting CHRIST the highest King with the affections of love, clinging to him in the embraces of enjoyment, and penetrating into him by the grace of union, so that two may become one in spirit. original: "duo in spiritu uno," a reference to the mystical state where the soul is united to God while maintaining its distinct essence. And because the wise virgins did not presume to meet the bridegroom except with adorned lamps, lest they suffer rejection along with the foolish virgins The OCR reads "tuís" (yours), but the context of the parable of the Ten Virgins indicates "fatuís" (foolish)., we too shall learn to adorn our lamps (that is, our lives). We shall explain the aforementioned words concerning the threefold adornment of life, seeking the help of the Holy Trinity, so that we may finally be able to say with that proverb of Solomon: "Behold, I have described it to you in a threefold way." Proverbs 22:20. In the first book, therefore, we shall deal with the adornment of the moral active life, which is necessary for all who are to be saved. In the second, we shall discourse more extensively on the adornment of the spiritual and affective life, which many of the faithful attain with the cooperation of God's grace. In the third, we shall touch upon the adornment of the super-intellectual and contemplative life, which is utterly God-like deiform: from "deiformis," describing a soul that has been transformed by grace to reflect God's own nature; to which, because of its excellence, few attain.