Beloved Lover: Part 4

Chapters 15-21

Fr. Jonas Verdeflor, OMV

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024

Agenda

Spiritual Exercises: Phase 3 & 4

Healing strength: Chapters 15-16

By his stripes, we are healed.

Search for the Groom: Song 5:2-6:3

2. I slept, but my heart was awake.�Hark! my beloved is knocking.�“Open to me, my sister, my love,� my dove, my perfect one;�for my head is wet with dew,� my locks with the drops of the night.”
3. I had put off my garment,� how could I put it on?�I had bathed my feet,� how could I soil them?
4. My beloved put his hand to the latch,� and my heart was thrilled within me.
5. I arose to open to my beloved,� and my hands dripped with myrrh,�my fingers with liquid myrrh,� upon the handles of the bolt.
6. I opened to my beloved,� but my beloved had turned and gone.�My soul failed me when he spoke.�I sought him, but found him not;� I called him, but he gave no answer.
7. The watchmen found me,� as they went about in the city;�they beat me, they wounded me,� they took away my mantle,� those watchmen of the walls.
8. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,� if you find my beloved,�that you tell him� I am sick with love.
9. What is your beloved more than another beloved,� O fairest among women?�What is your beloved more than another beloved,� that you thus adjure us?

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• My beloved is all radiant and ruddy,� distinguished among ten thousand.
• His head is the finest gold;� his locks are wavy,� black as a raven.
• His eyes are like doves� beside springs of water,�bathed in milk,� fitly set.
• His cheeks are like beds of spices,� yielding fragrance.�His lips are lilies,� distilling liquid myrrh.
• His arms are rounded gold,� set with jewels.�His body is ivory work,� encrusted with sapphires.
• His legs are alabaster columns,� set upon bases of gold.�His appearance is like Lebanon,� choice as the cedars.
• His speech is most sweet,� and he is altogether desirable.�This is my beloved and this is my friend,� O daughters of Jerusalem.

Chapter 6

1. Whither has your beloved gone,�O fairest among women?�Whither has your beloved turned,� that we may seek him with you?
2. My beloved has gone down to his garden,� to the beds of spices,�to pasture his flock in the gardens,� and to gather lilies.
3. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;� he pastures his flock among the lilies.

Chapter 15: �Soul Doctor

• One priest, a mountain of expectations �(p. 298).
• “Through it all, prayer was my inspiration and stabilizing force” (p. 300).
• God disappears so we may seek Him �(p. 302).
• Jesus’ wounds heal ours (p. 302).
• “A hurting person should be addressed at all levels, but it is the soul doctor addresses the very deepest level” (p. 313).
• Anointing of the Sick (p. 313-314).

Chapter 16: Columns �of Strength

• “We no longer offer external animal holocausts, but our own bodies in sacrifice” (p. 324).
• “Our bodies are not just part of us, we are our bodies, just as we are also soul and spirit (p. 324).
• “Jesus remained celibate so that he could take the Church as his bride” (p. 327).

Accompany: �Chapters 17-18

We journey with each other.

Beauty of the Bride: Song 6:4-7:10

4. You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,� comely as Jerusalem,� terrible as an army with banners.
5. Turn away your eyes from me,� for they disturb me—Your hair is like a flock of goats,� moving down the slopes of Gilead.
6. Your teeth are like a flock of ewes,� that have come up from the washing,�all of them bear twins,� not one among them is bereaved.
7. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate� behind your veil.
8. There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,� and maidens without number.
9. My dove, my perfect one, is only one,� the darling of her mother,� flawless to her that bore her.�The maidens saw her and called her happy;� the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.
10. “Who is this that looks forth like the dawn,� fair as the moon, bright as the sun,� terrible as an army with banners?”
11. I went down to the nut orchard,� to look at the blossoms of the valley,�to see whether the vines had budded,� whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12. Before I was aware, my fancy set me� in a chariot beside my prince.
13. Return, return, O Shu′lammite,� return, return, that we may look upon you.�Why should you look upon the Shu′lammite,� as upon a dance before two armies?

Chapter 7

1. How graceful are your feet in sandals,� O queenly maiden!�Your rounded thighs are like jewels,� the work of a master hand.
2. Your navel is a rounded bowl� that never lacks mixed wine.�Your belly is a heap of wheat,� encircled with lilies.
3. Your two breasts are like two fawns,� twins of a gazelle.
4. Your neck is like an ivory tower.�Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,� by the gate of Bath-rab′bim.�Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,� overlooking Damascus.
5. Your head crowns you like Carmel,� and your flowing locks are like purple;� a king is held captive in the tresses.
6. How fair and pleasant you are,� O loved one, delectable maiden!
7. You are stately as a palm tree,� and your breasts are like its clusters.
8. I say I will climb the palm tree� and lay hold of its branches.�Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,� and the scent of your breath like apples,
9. and your kisses like the best wine� that goes down smoothly,� gliding over lips and teeth.
10. I am my beloved’s,� and his desire is for me.

Chapter 17: Spiritual Accompaniment

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Chapter 18: Communion �of Saints �— & Sinners

• “Our destiny and dignity are drawn into the magnificent dance of the Trinity’s love one day” (p. 365).
• Church 🡪 liturgy (p. 366).
• “Horizontal communion in the body of Christ only happens through vertical communion with the Lord” (p. 368).
• Group harmony ≠ group think (p. 374).

The Way, the Truth and the Life: Chapters 19-21

Together forever with Jesus

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Back to the beginning: Song 7:11-8:14

11. Come, my beloved,� let us go forth into the fields,� and lodge in the villages;
12. let us go out early to the vineyards,� and see whether the vines have budded,�whether the grape blossoms have opened� and the pomegranates are in bloom.�There I will give you my love.
13. The mandrakes give forth fragrance,� and over our doors are all choice fruits,�new as well as old,� which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

Chapter 8

1. O that you were like a brother to me,� that nursed at my mother’s breast!�If I met you outside, I would kiss you,� and none would despise me.
2. I would lead you and bring you� into the house of my mother,� and into the chamber of her that conceived me.�I would give you spiced wine to drink,� the juice of my pomegranates.
3. O that his left hand were under my head,� and that his right hand embraced me!
4. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,� that you stir not up nor awaken love� until it please.
5. Who is that coming up from the wilderness,� leaning upon her beloved?�Under the apple tree I awakened you.�There your mother was in travail with you,� there she who bore you was in travail.
6. Set me as a seal upon your heart,� as a seal upon your arm;�for love is strong as death,� jealousy is cruel as the grave.�Its flashes are flashes of fire,� a most vehement flame.
7. Many waters cannot quench love,� neither can floods drown it.�If a man offered for love� all the wealth of his house,� it would be utterly scorned.
8. We have a little sister,� and she has no breasts.�What shall we do for our sister,� on the day when she is spoken for?
9. If she is a wall,� we will build upon her a battlement of silver;�but if she is a door,� we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
10. I was a wall,� and my breasts were like towers;�then I was in his eyes� as one who brings peace.
11. Solomon had a vineyard at Ba′al-ha′mon;� he let out the vineyard to keepers;� each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
12. My vineyard, my very own, is for myself;� you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,� and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
13. O you who dwell in the gardens,� my companions are listening for your voice;� let me hear it.
14. Make haste, my beloved,� and be like a gazelle�or a young stag� upon the mountains of spices.

Chapter 19: Jesus, the Way

• Doctrine = a living reality ≠ museum piece (p. 388).
• Admirers ≠ true disciples of Jesus (p. 389).
• “All Jesus needs is our contribution, which might not seem like much, but by his power it becomes much” (p. 392).
• Success: Transformation > numbers (p. 393-396)
• Discernment: We need “only the next step to take” (p. 400).

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Chapter 20: �Disciple & Teacher

• “The most important thing people need to know when they are taught is that they are loved” (p. 409).
• “To make disciples we must invest in people and be available to them in companionship” (p. 415).
• “In order to be a witness to the truth, a teacher must embody what he teaches” (p. 417).
• Supervision for spiritual directors (p. 417).
• “Our study should lead to conversion of our minds” �(p. 427).

Chapter 21: �The Heart of Christ

• Heart transplant (p. 431,433)
• “A priest receives a kind of heart transplant, a character transformation” (p. 432).
• “By giving us his heart, Jesus takes ownership of our entire being” (p. 434).
• Depend on the Son and the Spirit for evangelization (p. 437).
• Pope Francis’ encyclical Dilexit nos.

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A primer into mental prayer

Ignatian prayer unlocks potential fruits from the book.

Ignatian Prayer

• “I will consider how God our Lord looks upon me”
• I review the Scripture for this prayer.
• I imaginatively enter the place of this Scripture (composition).
• I ask of God what I wish and desire in this prayer.
• Body of Prayer (Images or Text)
• I speak to God as my heart is moved (colloquy).
• I conclude with an Our Father.

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Seek His Face

A primer to mental prayer

Ignatian Prayer

Key Insight

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Prayer Exercise�No. 4 �(p. 452)

5. Who is that coming up from the wilderness,� leaning upon her beloved?�Under the apple tree I awakened you.�There your mother was in travail with you,� there she who bore you was in travail.
6. Set me as a seal upon your heart,� as a seal upon your arm;�for love is strong as death,� jealousy is cruel as the grave.�Its flashes are flashes of fire,� a most vehement flame.
7. Many waters cannot quench love,� neither can floods drown it.�If a man offered for love� all the wealth of his house,� it would be utterly scorned.

Song 8:5-7, Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

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• Ask during prayer: Jesus, give me the grace to conquer evil through love.

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• Bonus: �How have you used love to conquer evil?

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Heart of Christ

A primer into mental prayer

Ignatian Prayer

Prayer exercise

Key lessons

God loves us passionately.

• “Christ the Bridegroom kisses his bride with the Holy Spirit and his Word. He looks upon her with mercy, forgives her, and redeems her” (p. 4).

Let Him transform us into His kingdom of priests.

• Priests: Be the Bridegroom to the Bride, the Church.
• Laity: Pray and bring spiritual sacrifices to the altar.

Thus, in communion, pray for one another.

• “Jesus taught us to love not only our friends, but our enemies as well, and to pray for those who persecute us (cf. Mt 5:44).” (p. 308)

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Q&A

Any questions?