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January 25, 2009
the proverbs, the ecclesiastes, the song
It is not inconsistent with the greatness of this mystery that the Song of Solomon is placed third among his writings. The ancients asserted that there are three stages of life, the moral, the natural, and the contemplative, which the Greeks called ethical, physical, and theoretical. In proverbs, then, the moral life is set forth, where is says, “Hear my wisdom, son, and bend your ear to my knowledge.” On the other hand, it is the natural life that is set forth in Ecclesiastes – since there the tendency of all things to come to an end is made a subject of reflection, when it says, “Vanity of vanities; all things are vanity.” In the Song of Songs, however, the contemplative life is set forth, even as in it the Lord’s coming and his appearance are sought after, when the voice of the bridegroom says, “Come away from Libanus, come.” The life of the patriarchs – Abraham, that is, and Isaac, and Jacob – provides a sign of these three stages. Abraham surely by his obedience displayed the moral life. Isaac for his part figures the natural life by his well-digging, for to dig deep wells is to look closely into all things here bellow by natural reflection. Jacob, however, who saw the angels ascending and descending, held to the contemplative life. But since natural reflection does not lead to perfection unless morality is first maintained, Ecclesiastes is rightly placed after the Proverbs. Moreover, since the contemplation of the higher things is not attained unless these things here bellow, passing away as they are, are despised, the Song of Songs is rightly placed after Ecclesiastes. The first task is surely to get one’s morals right, and after that to consider all things present as though they were absent, and in the third place to look upon things exalted and interior with the pure apex of the heart. Therefore by this sequence of books Solomon constructs a sort of ladder that leads to contemplation of God.
Gregory the Great
Posted by amin at January 25, 2009 11:16 PM