Michael of St. Augustine (1622–1684)
The Heavenly Bridegroom is very shy and seems to hesitate to appear directly; therefore, if He wants to unite with the faithful soul in a kiss of love and embrace, He seeks separation and solitude.
This was noticed by the bride of the Song of Songs: “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.” (Song 2:8-9) This means that her Beloved is shy like a gazelle or a young deer, who flee from people and retreat into the deepest solitude, far from all noise; here they are safe and free from worries. Therefore, if you wish to find the one your soul loves most, you must seek Him in solitude, for there He hides, there He invites you, there He waits for you, there He yearns for you.
If the soul is very close to the One who loves her with constant love, she can embrace Him through creatures, can kiss Him and in love hold Him in her arms, as often as she desires, indeed with every movement of her being. For she meets Him everywhere and in everything and knows that her Dearest can never be taken from her for even a moment.
The transformation of the loving soul sometimes occurs in such a way that the soul and all creation seem to be lost in God, immerse in Him, are consumed by Him. This loss of self or immersion in God is nothing other than a complete forgetting of all things, caused by the action of the divine Spirit within a person, or it is a kind of loving "melting" of the soul in God, by which the soul is for a time absorbed and occupied by God and does not think of herself or any creature.
To attain this state the soul cannot contribute anything; the Beloved will come when He pleases, and usually wants to do everything Himself. In the soul there then arises an immensely great silence and calm, without movement, without hustle and bustle created by creatures, without thinking, without clinging to anything created. This is the great silence of mystics who have reached perfection. A silence that cannot tolerate a single word, indeed, that does not allow speaking even through signs.
During this silence, the beloved soul rests with her beloved God on the bed of a pure loving heart adorned with flowers and is mystically united with Him. To ensure that no one disturbs this peace and interrupts this union, all creatures, all powers of the soul, and especially the senses are strictly commanded to be silent and to take care not to awaken the soul from the mystical sleep of the beloved with the Beloved: “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.” (Song 8:4)
Excerpted from the book: Dance of Divine Love
Published by: Elisabeth Hense, T.OCarm.
Published by: Herder, 1991
Translated and edited by: Norbert Žuška, OCarm.
