Cornelius a Lapide

The Voice of the Bride. Verse 11. While the King was at his repose, my nard gave forth its odor.

WHILE THE KING WAS AT HIS REPOSE (Aquila: at his reclining; Symmachus: anabklisai, that is, in restings, or cessations) MY NARD GAVE FORTH ITS ODOR. — As if to say: While my bridegroom, who is the King Christ, was at his nuptial table, I the bride, entering to him, brought in ointment of nard, and anointed him with it, by whose odor he was wonderfully refreshed.

Dum, that is, until, as the Hebrew, the Septuagint, and St. Gregory have it — as if to say: As long as the king reclined at the banquet, my nard gave forth its odor.

By "repose" he understands not a bed, but the nuptial table, at which the bridegroom reclines together with the bride; in Hebrew it is מסב mesab, that is, circle or orb: for in former times tables were circular, so that they might hold more, and so that the guests might be nearer to one another, and might converse more conveniently each with the others. The dining-couches, then, on which in Solomon's time the banqueters, as it were lying down but supported on their elbows, reclined at table, were arranged around the table in a circle; whence the triclinium was so named, as it were a supper-room of three couches.

For the propriety and sequence of the drama, Origen rightly notes, in Homily 2 of the four, that the bride, after the address of the companions of the bridegroom already recounted, in which they wonderfully praised her, having entered the banquet-hall, there offered to the bridegroom a gift for the wall and the table, namely that she poured over him ointment of nard, and delighted the bridegroom with its odor, and she relates this to his companions after the bridegroom's departure; whence she speaks of him in the third person, saying: "While the king was...," etc.,

First Sense (Adequate): Concerning Christ and the Church.

First, some understand by "repose" the throne of the divinity, which is his majesty and eternity: for in this, as on his throne, God has from eternity sat and rested; hence in Hebrew it is called מסב mesab, that is, circle: for this, returning into itself in a circular manner, and therefore lacking beginning and end, is a hieroglyph of eternity, which has neither beginning nor end. Thus the sense will be, as if to say: The Son of God, resting from eternity in the bosom of the Father, and residing on the throne and in the banquet-hall of his majesty with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and there enjoying the most blessed and most full repose, has deigned from that lofty throne of his to look upon our lowliness and our profit, according to what is said in Psalm CI, 18: "He has had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he has not despised their petition, etc. For he has looked forth from his high sanctuary: the Lord has looked from heaven upon the earth: to hear the groans of them that are in fetters: to loose the children of the slain." For it is as if our nard gave forth its odor before the king existing at his repose, when the humility of prayers and supplications, and also of tears, groanings, and sighs, poured forth by pious men to God for the salvation of the human race, reached even to the ears of God, and bent him to pity, so that he might send his Son from the heavens to the earth; so Titelmann. So too St. Bernard, Sermon 42: "The repose of the king," he says, "is the bosom of the Father, because the Son is always in the Father. Do not doubt that this king is merciful, for whom the perpetual repose is the lodging-place of the Father's Kindness. Rightly does the cry of the humble ascend to him whose dwelling is the fountain of piety, to whom belongs a familiar sweetness, to whom belongs a substantial, or rather a consubstantial goodness: to whom, therefore, all that he is, is from the Father, so that in his royal majesty nothing at all but what is of the Father should be suspected by the trembling of the humble."

But more precisely, others generally understand by "repose" the incarnation of the Word, and his whole economy and manner of life in the flesh: for this was, as it were, a nuptial banquet in which Christ, feasting with the faithful, celebrated, as it were, nuptials with the Church, as is clear from the parable of the king's son inviting any and all to his nuptials, Matth. XXII, 3 and following. This likewise is rightly called repose, Hebrew מסב mesab, that is, circuit, both because Christ's

life was a circle of most holy actions, virtues, mysteries; and because Christ went out in a circuit and returned, when ascending into heaven he returned to the Father, from whom, sent into the earth, he had descended; and finally because Christ went about Judea preaching the kingdom of God, calling all to it as to his own nuptial banquet of eternal felicity. Whence Christ, preaching in the synagogue, Luke IV, 16, took as his theme that passage from Isaiah, chapter LXI, 1: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me: wherefore he has anointed me, to preach remission to captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of retribution. And when he had folded the book, he restored it to the minister, and sat down (behold, the repose), etc. But he began to say to them: This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Thence the nard of the Church, namely the faith of those who heard, gave forth its odor. For, as Luke adds, verse 22: "And all gave testimony to him: and they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth."

There is here, therefore, as also in the whole Song, a prophecy concerning the incarnation and economy of Christ; for the first and primary bride here is the humanity of Christ, whose bridegroom is the Word, or the Son of God, who, assuming her in the incarnation, betroths her to himself, and through her the Church, and each faithful and holy soul, as I said in the Proem, chapter II: wherefore the past tense here is to be taken for the future, as happens among the prophets, as if to say: While the king shall be at the repose of his flesh, my nard shall give forth its odor.

The sense, therefore, is, as Hortolanus says: Since in his humanity, as in his own half-circle, the divinity of our king has appeared to us, since he has taken his seat in the synagogue of the Nazarenes, and has deigned to invite me, the Church of the faithful, to the banquet drawn forth from the storehouse of Isaiah, I attentively hear him as the wisest teacher of truth, faith, and salvation; I believe, venerate, and proclaim him the son of David and the Son of God, the King of Israel and the most awaited Messiah. This I believe candidly, and publicly profess, that by a word alone he can heal the sick however desperate, and call back to life those given up for dead, and cast out and rout demons from those possessed. By these testimonies, I and my companions, out of our hearts, as out of garments scented with the nard-ointment of faith, drawn forth from ivory coffers, bring forward the King teaching in the synagogues of Judea and in the temple of Jerusalem, and doing marvelous things with great glory and the admiration of all, and we wonderfully delight in him; which office of ours the royal Psalmist once celebrated in these verses: "Myrrh, and stacte, and cassia from your garments, from the ivory houses: out of which the daughters of kings have delighted you in your honor," Psalm. XLIV, 9.

Now, that I may distribute this repose of the bridegroom part by part:

First, by it Cassiodorus, Bede, Aponius, and St. Ambrose (on Psalm CXVIII, Sermon 3) understand the incarnation of Christ. Hear Cassiodorus, and from him Bede: "The nard of the Church gave forth its odor, because, when the Son of God appeared in the flesh, the Church grew in the fervor of heavenly virtues: not because she did not have spiritual men devoted to God even before the incarnation, but because without any doubt she then bound herself to stricter pursuits of virtue, when she knew that the entrance of the heavenly kingdom lay open to all who lived rightly, as soon as the bonds of the flesh should be loosed."

The second repose of Christ was when he himself, in preaching, went about the villages and cities, and reclined with sinners and others, that he might make them safe. Again, the repose of Christ was on the wood of the cross, concerning which, Psalm. XCV, 10: "Say among the nations that the Lord has reigned" from the wood as it were from a royal throne; likewise, his rest in the tomb: so Justus and Anselm. Hear Anselm: "Rightly ought I to love Christ, because he himself gave me nard, namely the virtues; and this, while he was at his repose, that is, in his passion and resurrection, namely because he himself suffered and rose again, and therefore gave me virtues, which gave forth their odor, that is, an odor fitting to themselves, namely a good reputation."

The third repose of Christ was in death, for Christ, by dying, overthrew the kingdom of death, the devil, and sin, and conferred on us the kingdom of life, grace, and God. So Origen, Theodoret, and St. Jerome, Book I Against Jovinian, as if to say: After Christ's passion and death, the nard, that is, the virtue of the Church, gave a greater odor than before; for from it there flowed the fortitude of martyrs, the angelic purity of virgins, the sanctity of confessors, the perfection of anchorites: so Philo of Carpathus: "Thus," he says, "the grateful and mindful bride cries out to the bridegroom: My nard gave forth an odor of sweetness, that is, you gave me the sweetness of ointments, namely the efficacy, honor, and glory of martyrs and of illustrious deeds. For the nard gave forth its odor, that is, martyrdom, and your death, or passion, exhorted the martyrs to suffer for you; for you also suffered for us."

The fourth repose was that of the resurrection, in which, rising from the tomb, he reclined in glorious flesh, and triumphed over death and hell. So Justus, Anselm, and St. Gregory, XXXV Morals, XIII, who says: "For with the king placed at his repose, the nard gives forth its odor, while, the Lord resting in his own beatitude, the virtue of the saints in the Church ministers to us the great grace of sweetness."

The fifth repose of Christ is in heavenly glory, in which he sits at the right hand of God, as King of kings and Lord of lords; so St. Gregory, Rupert, Bernard, and St. Augustine, Book I On the Trinity, chapter VIII: for then the nard of the Church gave forth its odor through prayer, by which, the apostles and the faithful praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit, obtained the same, and, filled with him, preached the name and fame of Christ everywhere. Hear St. Gregory: "The king entered his repose, when

the humility of the faithful pours itself forth into the nostrils of the Lord of Sabaoth. For no odor is so pleasing to God, angels, and men, as this humility of the faithful. So Rupert, and St. Bernard, Sermon 42, hear him: "Good," he says, "is the odor of humility, which, ascending from this valley of weeping, and being poured out all around upon the neighboring regions, sprinkles with pleasing sweetness even the royal repose itself. Nard is a humble herb, which those who have more curiously explored the powers of herbs say to be also of a warm nature; and therefore through this I seem to myself not unfittingly to understand in this place the virtue of humility, but a humility which burns with the vapors of holy love. This I say for this reason, because there is a humility which truth brings forth in us, and it has no warmth: and there is a humility which charity forms and inflames: and the one indeed consists in affection, the other in knowledge;" and below: "But the humility of the bride, like nard, scatters its odor, glowing with love, thriving in devotion, fragrant with good repute." The same St. Bernard adds that the bride was here reproved and chastised by the bridegroom for her defects, and that then her nard gave forth the sweetness of its odor, when her humility bore this rebuke modestly and meekly, and received it as a fatherly gift.

Second, nard denotes faith: for this humbly takes captive the understanding in obedience to God who reveals mysteries which surpass every grasp of man. Whence St. Ambrose, on Psalm CXVIII, Sermon 1: "Now," he says, "faith is fragrant, and therefore the Church says: My nard gave forth its odor; and she says it, with confident expectation awaiting recompense; the ointment of grace is fragrant, from which the Virgin brought forth, and the Lord Jesus took up the sacrament of the incarnation." To this Justus of Urgell agrees, who by nard understands the profession and preaching of the faith, because everywhere the Church has scattered the odor, that is, the fame, of Christ having suffered and risen again.

Third, nard is bitter penitence, says Aponius: for this is the daughter of humility, and smells most sweetly in the nostrils of God. Whence St. Mary Magdalene expounded this passage, as it were, to the letter by her own deed, when, as a sign of penitence, she anointed the feet of Jesus reclining at the table of Simon; and again she brought an alabaster jar of precious ointment of spikenard, and poured it out upon the head of Jesus as he reclined in her house. Wherefore Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Bede, and Aponius apply this passage to Magdalene. From penitence, then, a most pleasing dish is prepared for God, such as Magdalene brought to Christ, not so much when she poured out the ointment of nard from the broken alabaster jar, as when she poured forth her melted soul through her eyes. Wherefore St. Bernard, Sermon 30 on the Canticle, calls the tears of penitents the wine of angels: "Because in them is the odor of life, the savor of grace, the taste of pardon, the sweetness of reconciliation."

Fourth, nard is humble prayer and supplication; whence the Arabic translates, in place of nard, incense, which is the symbol of prayer: "Until," it says, "the king comes returning, my incense poured forth an odor of sweet-

ness from a bundle of stacte, which I keep by me for the son of my brother." Hear St. Bernard, Sermon 42: "You can most fittingly apply this discourse to the primitive Church, if you recall those days in which, the Lord having been taken up to where he was before, and sitting at the right hand of the Father, in that ancient, noble, and glorious repose of his, the disciples were gathered together in one place, persevering in prayer with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren. Does it not seem to you that truly at that time the nard of the little and trembling bride gave forth its odor? Finally, when suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a vehement wind approaching, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, Act. IV, 2, it became certain and clear to all who remained in that place, how pleasing an odor of humility, and how well-pleasing, had ascended, to which soon so abundant and so glorious a recompense was given in answer."

Fifth, nard is any virtue whatsoever, and the combination of all virtues and good works; for, as St. Bernard says, Sermon 71: "Character has its own colors and odors." So Cassiodorus, Origen, St. Gregory, Bede, and others.

Moreover, in place of "its odor," the Septuagint has "odor abroo," that is, "of him," namely of the king the bridegroom, by which it is signified that all the virtue of the Church, all her honor, all her merit, flows from Christ. Hear Origen: "But if it is read, as other copies have it: My nard gave forth his odor, something still more divine is found, so that this ointment of nard, with which the bridegroom was anointed, appears not only to have brought back to the bride its own odor, which nard naturally tends to have, but his odor; so that in the very act by which she anointed him, she received the bridegroom's odor through the gift of that same ointment, and this seems to be what she means to say: My nard, with which I anointed the bridegroom, has returned to me, and has brought me the bridegroom's odor, and, its own natural odor as it were overcome before the fragrance of the bridegroom himself, it brought me his sweetness."

Whence Origen gathers that one who anoints Christ with the nard of devotion, of preaching, of holy actions, through this very anointing receives the odor of Christ and breathes it forth, namely the grace of the Holy Spirit, and a greater fragrance of spiritual doctrine, as well as of sanctity of life. But Gregory of Nyssa explains "to autou," that is, "of him," namely of Christ, thus, as if the bride said: Out of all the virtues which I behold in myself, which all, like the many kinds of spices, make one ointment of nard, I attain to the knowledge of the most perfect virtue of God, and I communicate and breathe that same knowledge to others. But Theodoret explains it thus: as if to say: From these virtues of mine I have attained a knowledge of God, but only by scent, that is, a thin and slight one. Finally, three Fathers, according to Theodoret, thus: as if to say: My virtues, which are as it were the nard of God, exhibit to me the likeness of God who by nature is inaccessible, whose likeness and mark I bear, as his image and likeness; wherefore, while by my character I reproduce a likeness of him, I represent him in myself as an exemplar in an image.

Second Sense (Partial): Concerning Christ and the Holy Soul.

Apply all that has now been said to the soul, the name of the Church being changed to the name of the soul. Add that the holy soul is the repose, that is, the seat and throne, indeed the heaven and temple, in which Christ reclines and rests: so Gregory of Nyssa and Anselm. Again, by nard Christ himself can be understood, just as he himself a little later is called a bundle of myrrh, and a cluster of cypress. Whence the Septuagint translates, my nard gave forth odor abroo, that is, of him, namely of the bridegroom (although some read abris, that is, he himself his own). And the Syriac, following them as is its custom, with the king at his repose my nard gave forth its odor. Thus the sense will be, as if to say: At the repose, that is, at the nuptial table, where ointments, flowers, nard, myrrh, and the cluster of cypress abound, nothing smells sweet to me except the bridegroom Christ; in comparison with him I despise all other delights. So Theodoret, who also gives the reason why Christ is called nard: "He names Christ nard," he says, "because he was anointed with that precious spikenard, whose odor filled the whole house, which signifies the whole world; for the homage shown to the Lord by pious men has filled the whole world with the sweetness of the faith." So too Origen, Psellus, Sanchez, and others.

Nard, therefore, an herb humble but fragrant, rough but warm and medicinal, represents the humility of Christ, but a fragrant humility; and his passion, but a passion blazing with charity, and healing all the diseases of the soul. Whence Honorius of Autun: "Christ," he says, "was nard in being born, myrrh in dying, a cluster of grapes in rising again."

Third Sense (Principal): Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The King of glory was at his repose, that is, he lay for nine months in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, when he took flesh from her; and then the nard, that is, the virtue and humility of the Blessed Virgin, gave forth its odor. "For what," says St. Bernard, Sermon 42, "else is my nard gave forth its odor, than my humility pleased? Not my wisdom," he says, "not my nobility, not my beauty, which were nothing in me, but the humility alone that was in me gave forth its odor, that is, its accustomed odor. Humility as is its wont pleases God; plainly as is its wont, and by custom, the Most High Lord regards humble things, and therefore, when the king was at his repose, that is, in his lofty dwelling, thither too the odor of humility ascended: He dwells on high, he says, and regards the humble things in heaven and on earth." Psalm. CXII, 5.

Again, "when the king was at his repose," that is, when the Son of God was in the bosom of the Father, he perceived the fragrance of the nard, that is, of the humility of the Blessed Virgin,

and, allured by it, he descended into her womb, made man. "Humility," says Rupert, "is the repose of the mind, and whoever finds this without doubt finds the repose of his own soul. I have sought this repose in all things, and the king, looking, saw where he perceived the odor of this nard from me; he saw, I say, that here he could rest in sweetness, in a quiet, that is, humble soul, and he descended from that repose of his, and rested in my tabernacle. Here he rested, here he dwelt the whole nine months; and he whose Lord he was became the son of his own handmaid."