Song of Solomon 2:11

What the sequence of the drama contains we have already described above; but now let us consider what either the Word of God is to be understood as saying to the soul that is worthy of it and suited to it, or what Christ is to be understood as saying to the Church. But meanwhile let the Word of God first speak to this beautiful and comely soul, to whom, through the bodily senses -- that is, through the gaze of reading and through the hearing of teaching -- he appeared as if through windows, and showed the loftiness of his greatness, so that in the passages above he spoke to her while leaning over, and calling her forth, that she might come outside, and, being now made to be beyond the bodily senses, might cease to be in the flesh, so that she might deservedly hear: "But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit." For the Word of God would not call her his neighbor in such a way unless he joined himself to her and became one spirit with him; nor would he call her beautiful unless he saw his image being renewed in her from day to day; and unless he saw her capable of receiving the Holy Spirit, who descended in the form of a dove upon Jesus in the Jordan, he would not say to her: "My dove." For she had conceived a love of the Word of God, and desired to come to him in swift flight, saying: "Who will give me wings like a dove, and I shall fly, and be at rest?" I shall fly with the senses, I shall fly with the spiritual understandings, and I shall be at rest when I have laid hold of the treasures of his wisdom and knowledge. For I think that, just as those who receive the death of Christ, and mortify their members upon the earth, become sharers in the likeness of his death, so also those who receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and are sanctified by him, and filled with his gifts -- since he himself appeared in the form of a dove -- may themselves also become doves, that they may fly up from earthly and bodily places to the heavenly ones, lifted up on the wings of the Holy Spirit. But that this may be the fitting time in which these things can come to be, he consequently added: "For behold," he says, "the winter has passed, the rain has gone." For the soul is not joined and united to the Word of God before every winter of disturbances and every storm of vices has departed from her, so that she may no longer be tossed about, and carried around by every wind of doctrine.

When, therefore, all these things have departed from the soul, and the tempest of desires has fled from her, then the flowers of the virtues will begin to bloom in her; then the time of pruning also will come to her mind, and if anything superfluous and less useful has been in her senses or understandings, it will be cut away, and she will be recalled to the buds of spiritual understanding. Then also she will hear the voice of the turtledove -- that voice, without doubt, of the wisdom which the dispenser of the word speaks among the perfect, the higher wisdom of God which is hidden in a mystery. For this is what the naming of the turtledove indicates. For this bird passes its life in more secret places, remote from the multitude, either loving the deserts of the mountains or the hidden recesses of the woods, always set far from the multitude, and a stranger to the crowds. But what else is there that befits the opportuneness and the loveliness of this time? "The fig tree," he says, "has put forth its shoots." Not yet, indeed, the fruits themselves of the Spirit, which are joy, charity, peace, and the rest, but nevertheless the spirit of man -- which in him is singularly named the fig tree -- already begins to bring forth their shoots. For just as generally in the Church the various trees are understood to be each of the souls of believers, of which it is said: "Every tree which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up." And again Paul, who says that he is a fellow worker of God in God's husbandry, himself also says: "I planted, Apollos watered." But the Lord too in the Gospels: "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or the tree bad, and its fruit bad." Just as, therefore, generally in the Church the several believers are understood as various trees, so also in each soul the various virtues and its various efficacies are understood as various trees. There is, therefore, also in the soul a certain fig tree which puts forth its shoot; there is also a vine which may flower, and give forth its fragrance. The branches of this vine the heavenly Father, the husbandman, prunes, that they may bring forth much fruit. But this vine first, by the sweetness of the fragrance which is given forth from the flower, gladdens the sense of smell; according to him who said: "For we are the good fragrance of Christ to God in every place." Seeing, therefore, these beginnings of the virtues in the soul, the Word of God calls her to himself, that she may hasten and go forth; and, casting aside all bodily things, may come to him, that she may become a partaker of his perfection.

Therefore, then, to her who as it were still lies prostrate and is bent down upon bodily things, he first says: Rise up; and to her who, as it were, has straightway obeyed and complied with the one calling her, he gives praise and she hears: My neighbor, and my dove. And after this, lest she tremble at the whirlwinds of temptations, he announces to her that the winter has departed, and the rain has passed and gone away for itself. And he has finely signified the nature of vices and sins by uttering one wonderful saying, so that he calls "winter" and "rain" of this kind that which descends from the offense and storm of vices, indicating that it has gone away for itself, and by this that sins have no substance. For the vices that fall away from a man are not gathered together into some other substance of sins, but they go away for themselves, and dissolved into their own selves they vanish, and are reduced to nothing. And therefore he said, "it has gone away for itself." There comes about, then, a tranquility of the soul when the Word of God appears to it and sin ceases; and thus at last, when the vineyard is in flower, the virtues and the young trees of good works will begin to bring forth fruit.

But now again Christ speaks these things to the Church, and sets the whole span of the present age within the circuit of a year. And by "winter" he indicates that time in which either the hail and whirlwinds and the remaining blows of the ten plagues scourged the Egyptians; or when Israel was enduring diverse wars; or even when it resisted the Savior himself, and, seized by the whirlwind of unbelief, was sunk in the shipwreck of faith. Since, therefore, by their offense salvation has been made for the nations, he now calls the Church to himself, and says to her: Rise up, and come to me, for now the winter which drowned the unbelievers, and was holding you back in ignorance, has withdrawn. But the rain also has passed away, that is, now I will no longer command the clouds—namely the prophets—to rain the rain of the Word upon the lands; but the very voice of the turtledove, that is, the very wisdom of God itself, will speak in the lands, and will say: I who was speaking am myself present. The flowers, therefore, of the believing peoples and of the rising Churches have appeared in the land. But the time of pruning also has come, through faith in my passion and resurrection. For sins are cut off and excised from men, when in baptism the remission of sins is granted. The voice of the turtledove, as we have said, is now heard in the lands not through diverse prophets, but through the mouth of the wisdom of God itself. And the fig tree buds forth, which can be understood in the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which now for the first time are opened and shown to the Church; or even in the letter of the law, which before the coming of Christ was closed and constricted, and covered over with a certain garment of carnal understanding. But from his presence and coming there was brought forth from it the bud of spiritual understanding, and the green and living sense which was hidden in it appeared, so that the Church, which was hidden by Christ within the fig tree—that is, within the law—should not appear dry and following the letter that kills, but the flowering and life-giving spirit.

But the vines also are said to flower, and to have given their fragrance. Now the diverse Churches which are held throughout the world can indeed be called flowering vines, or vineyards. For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the house of Judah is his beloved young plant. These vineyards, therefore, when they first come to the faith, are said to flower; but when they are adorned through the religion of their works with sweetness, they are said to have given their fragrance; not without reason, I think, that he did not say, "they gave a fragrance," but "their own fragrance": so as to show that there is present in each soul the force of possibility and the freedom of will, by which it can do all that is good. But because this good of nature, plucked away by the occasion of transgression, had been bent either to ignominy or to wantonness, when it is repaired through grace, and restored through the teaching of the Word of God, it renders without doubt that fragrance which God the first Creator had implanted in it, but which the fault of sin had taken away. And by "vines" or "vineyards" there can also be understood the heavenly and angelic powers, which bestow upon men their fragrance, that is, the good of teaching and instruction, by which they instruct and imbue souls, until they come to perfection and begin to be made capable of God. Just as the Apostle also, writing to the Hebrews, says: Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth in ministry for the sake of those who receive the inheritance of salvation? And therefore men are said to receive from these, as it were, the first flower and fragrance of good works: but the very fruits of the vine they are to hope for from him who said: I will not drink of the offspring of this vine, until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father. Those perfect flowers and fruits, therefore, are to be hoped for from him: but the beginnings and, so to speak, the sweetness of making progress can be ministered by the heavenly powers, or certainly through those who were saying, as we said above, that we are the good fragrance of Christ to God in every place.

But we can also understand in yet another way these matters that are before us, so that we may say that there seems to be here, as it were, a certain prophecy made to the Church, by which she is called to the promises of things to come — so that, as it were, after the consummation of the age, when the time of the resurrection has arrived, it is said to her: Arise. And because this word at once designates the work of the resurrection — as though, made brighter and more splendid by the resurrection, she is invited to the kingdom — it is said to her: Come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove, for the winter has passed. By "winter" he undoubtedly names the storms and whirlwinds of this present life, by which human life is tossed about with the tempests of temptations. That winter, then, has passed with its rains, and has gone its way. Each one has done for himself in this life everything that he has done. But the flowers are the beginning of the promises to come. Understand as the time of pruning the axe laid to the root of the tree at the consummation of the age, that it may cut down every tree not bearing good fruit. But mark as the voice of the turtledove — which is heard in the writings of the promise, which the meek shall receive in their inheritance — the person of Christ teaching face to face, and no longer through a mirror and in a riddle. And let the fig tree that puts forth its shoot be reckoned the fruit of the whole congregation of the just. But those holy and blessed angelic powers, with whom each of the elect and the blessed shall be joined out of the resurrection — who shall be as the angels of God — these are themselves the vines and the flowering vineyards, which impart their fragrance to each soul, and the grace which it first received from its Creator, and now has recovered again after it had been lost; and by the sweetness of the heavenly fragrance they at last drive away from them the stench of mortality and corruption, once it has been cast off.

Each one of the blessed will first be obliged to travel the narrow and hard way in winter to show what knowledge he has acquired for guiding his life, so that afterwards there may take place what is said in the Song of Songs to the bride when she has safely passed through the winter. For she says, "My beloved answers and says to me, 'Arise and come away, my love, my fair one, my dove; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.' " And you must keep in mind that you cannot hear "the winter is past" any other way than by entering the contest of this present winter with all your strength and might and main. And after the winter is past and the rain is over and gone, the flowers will appear that are planted in the house of the Lord and flourish in the courts of our God.

Rise up, come, my love, my beautiful one, my dove. Why does he say, "Rise up"? Why "make haste"? I for your sake bore the raging of the tempests; I received the billows which were owed to you. My soul was made sorrowful for you, even unto death. I rose from the dead, the stings of death being broken and the bonds of hell dissolved; therefore I say to you: Rise up, come, my love, my beautiful one, my dove: for behold, the winter is past, the rain is gone away, the flowers have appeared in the earth. I, rising from the dead, the tempest being stilled, have restored calm. And because, according to the dispensation of the flesh from the Virgin, and by the will of the Father, I grew, and advanced in wisdom and in age, the flowers have appeared in the earth; the time of pruning is at hand. The pruning is the remission of sins. For every branch, he says, abiding in me and bearing fruit, my Father cleanses, that it may bear greater fruit. Have fruits, and the former things which are unfruitful in you shall be taken away. For the time of pruning is at hand.

But from the fig tree learn a parable: for when its branch has now become tender and puts forth leaves, know that summer is near; so also you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, at the door. Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass away, until all things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

How the comparison of the things that have been said can be understood from the fig tree, we shall expound according to our ability: lest perhaps this whole world and its consummation be likened to a fig tree, and each one of those setting out toward the blessed life, so as to see in himself the glorious and perfect coming of Christ's word, be held to be like a fig tree. For just as the fig tree in the time of winter indeed has in itself the life-giving power, but has it hidden and not sufficiently manifest, and afterward, when that very life-giving power begins to come forth into manifestation as the winter passes, out of its own vigor the branch is made tender, and it puts forth also leaves;

and just as the tree in that very power has leaves and fruits, and first indeed there is the bud, then little by little it advances, and last of all also by the actual effect: so also the world and each one of those who are saved, at the end before the coming of Christ (as it were in winter) has in himself the life-giving power hidden, but with Christ breathing upon them, those branches which are tender and not hard-hearted, and the things that were hidden in them, advance into leaves as the summer draws on and show forth manifest fruits, which he who beholds them in Christ already sees.

So too it is related in a certain parable of the Shepherd, if it please anyone to read that book also, that "the present age is winter for the just", who appear like their neighbors by nature, namely like the other dry trees, but in the opportune time appear in their fruits. But if in the first Psalm also there be some such thing, which is said concerning that blessed man, that "he shall be as the tree which is planted beside the running waters, which shall give its fruit in its time, and its leaf shall not fall off, and all things whatsoever he shall do shall prosper", do you also consider what is written. "The winter has passed, it has gone its way, the flowers have appeared in the land", as is written in the Song of Songs, from the time that Christ came, who introduced the mild season and made the wintry blasts to cease. And the fig tree, that is, the world, has now indeed made the tender branch, that is, the Church, to put forth leaves, while summer is at hand yet has not yet come; but when summer has come, it will more fully render fruits perfect and ripe for Christ, when according to Jeremiah the good figs are very good, gathered into baskets of good figs, from which Christ wishes to take and, as it were, to eat their sweetness. But far be it from us that, when Jesus comes to us and wishes to eat of the fig tree, no fruit should be found in it. For if no fruit be found in it, he will say to it at his coming, to the tree that has not shown fruits: "Never from you shall anyone eat fruit". And that fig tree can be understood as the people of the circumcision, to whom the Lord came hungering, and when he had not found "fruit in it" but only the appearance of life, he said: "Never from you shall anyone eat fruit". Wherefore at his coming "that fig tree was straightway withered", that is, that people; but that other fig tree, which (as regards the earlier times) was barren, which was already to be cut down because it had had no diligence applied to it by its own digger, when dung has begun to be put around it, will put forth fruits; the tree which had once drained the ground, but now will bring forth more abundant fruits even in return for the time gone by in which it was barren.

And each one of us, after the winters of temptations and after the sorrow of dangers past, hastens to summer, putting forth the tender branch — not that hard but the soft heart for believing God; and our advances put forth leaves meanwhile and the flowers of works, that afterward we may also exhibit the most perfect fruits "when that which is perfect has come", in Christ. Moreover, those very ones who are saved have in themselves the true vine (him who said: "I am the true vine") and, according to the reckoning of the vine, also the true fig tree the Holy Spirit offering salutary fruits, where "each one rests" according to the spiritual promise of God "under" his "vine" and "under his fig tree". And that vine indeed in those who make progress flowers and gives its fragrance, but the fig tree also puts forth its fruits, that after worthy progress their fruits may be made worthy of the heavenly winepresses, and of the baskets of very good figs of that fig tree, which brought forth tender and good fruits before the heat; whose fruits, even when languishing, provided they are not slothful to pray, are healed, as is written concerning King Hezekiah in Isaiah, who was saved through figs, that he might not die;

but also the sun upon him in the degrees showed his day made greater and brighter. Great therefore is the hope in the fig tree, which out of God's words first indeed made its tender branch, and afterward the leaves being born. For such as these summer is near, and near, at the door, is the glorious coming of Christ in the clouds, and the coming of the glory of the word of God, and "near" for men of this kind is "the kingdom of God".

There is thus no doubt that winter has a double meaning, either that harshness and severity belong to it, or that it is a time for sowing with the coming of the rain. When it says winter, therefore, it refers to the present world, where the Word of God is sowed in this age like a seed of righteousness by prophets and apostles, or priests, and is fertilized by assiduous preaching, as though by rains from heaven.…But with the passing of winter, that is, the tribulations of this world, and the cessation of the rains, that is, the preaching of the Word of God, and the subsequent arrival of the joy of Spring (which designates the coming of Christ's vernal kingdom in great peace), then the bodies of the saints everywhere will emerge from the graves of the earth like flowers—lilies or roses—pure white with holiness and red with passion.

He is a fine deer, whose mountain is the house of God, to which he runs with such speed that he surpasses the wishes and desires of his bride. Indeed, when he saw him coming from afar, he suddenly recognized that he was present beside him. Hence he says: Behold, he is here behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattice. My cousin answered and said to me: Arise, come, my nearest one, my beautiful one, my dove; for behold, winter has passed, the rain has gone, it has departed for itself, flowers have appeared on the earth. Winter is the Synagogue: the rain is the Jewish people, who could not see the sun: the apostles are the flowers. And he added: The harvest of the incision has come, the voice of the turtledove was heard in our land. That harvest is the faith of the Church: the voice of the turtledove is chastity.

"Arise, come to me, my love," that is, rise from worldly pleasures, rise from earthly things, and come to me, who are still laboring and burdened, because you are anxious for the things of the world. Come above the world, come to me, for I have conquered the world. Come near to me now, beautiful with the beauty of eternal life, now a dove, that is, gentle and meek, now completely full of spiritual grace. Now winter has passed, that is, Easter has come, indulgence has come, remission of sins has come, temptation has ceased, the rain has gone, the storm has gone, and the shaking. Before the coming of Christ, there is winter, after His coming there are flowers. Hence it says: Flowers are seen on the earth. Where there were thorns before, there are now flowers. It is said that the time for cutting has come. Where there was a desert before, there is now a harvest. The voice of the turtle-dove has been heard in our land.

Then the bridegroom makes answer to the bride and teaches her that the shadow of the old law has passed away and the truth of the gospel has come. "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away, for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone." … "The voice of the turtle [dove] is heard in our land." The turtle [dove], the most chaste of birds, always dwelling in lofty places, is a type of the Savior.

Also in the Song of Songs we find Christ calling to the bride there described, and who represents the person of the church, in these words: "Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful dove. For lo! the winter is past, and the rain is gone; it has passed away. The flowers appear on the ground. The time of the pruning is come." … A certain spring-like calm was about to arise for those who believe in him.

It makes sense, therefore, for the bridegroom to call the bride, mature in virtue as she is, "dove," that is, spiritual and filled with the Holy Spirit.…The bridegroom encourages and consoles his church in its struggle with trials, "peeps through the windows and looks in through the netting," and urges her to stand fast and to fly to him.…
He is saying, if you rest in the middle of the two Testaments and draw benefit from both, you will find there the manifold gifts of the Spirit. The bride, accordingly, by accepting the spiritual exhortation and lying between the lots, found the wings coated in silver through which she was bidden fly up to the bridegroom.

For now the winter is past, etc. This is what the Apostle says: The night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Rom. XIII). For as the darkness of night is correctly expressed by the harshness of winter and rains, so too is the storm of unbelief, which governed the whole world until the time of the Lord's incarnation. But when the Sun of righteousness shone upon the world, with the old perfidy of wintry unbelief soon departing and being driven away, flowers appeared on the earth, for the beginnings of the nascent Church shone in the faithful and pious devotion of the saints. The time of pruning has come. That is to say, as the Lord mentions in the Gospel, who, when He declared Himself the true vine and His Father the vinedresser, immediately added and said, Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit (John XV). The duty of pruning can also be properly understood according to what the Apostle says: Putting off the old man with his deeds, put on the new (II Cor. III). Explaining this himself elsewhere, he says: Therefore, putting away all falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor (Eph. IV). And again: Let the one who steals steal no longer, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands (Ibid.).

What is to be understood by winter, if not the austerity of the law? Which, while it held the ancient people in carnal sacrifices, did not help its observers to seek spiritual and heavenly things. We can also understand by winter the present life, which, while it assails us with constant temptations, compels us to grow sluggish in following Christ, as if by relentless rains. But let the bride now arise, because the winter has passed, since the more the last day presses near, the more the present life recedes, and the more time is drawn toward its end, the more quickly one must run, lest the chosen soul be deprived of the eternal gifts offered to it. For it is said to have "passed" because it is not doubted that it is about to pass away shortly.

Furthermore, the winter time, which he signifies has passed, seems to me to designate that period when the Lord Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, because they had conspired against him, wishing to kill him. Whence also he said to certain ones: "My time has not yet come; but your time is always ready"; and again: "Go up yourselves to this feast; I am not going up" (Jn 7:1-10). Yet he went up afterward himself also, not openly, but as it were in secret. From that time, then, and thenceforth until the coming of the Holy Spirit, by which the sluggish hearts of the faithful grew warm again, as by fire, which the Lord sent upon the earth for this very purpose (Lk 12:49), it was winter. Will you deny that it was winter then, when Peter sat at the coals, his heart no less frozen than his body? Finally: "It was cold," it says (Jn 18:18). A great cold indeed had gripped the heart of the one denying. Nor is it surprising, since the fire had been taken from him. For a little before he was burning with no small zeal, being as yet close to the fire, who, with sword drawn, lest he lose the fire, cut off the ear of the servant. But it was not the time of pruning: and therefore he hears: "Put your sword back in its place." For it was the hour and the power of darkness: and if any of the disciples then raised the sword either of iron or of the word, he was either to be cut down by iron and would gain no one, nor bring forth any fruit; or certainly he was to be compelled by the sword of fear to deny, and so rather he himself would perish, according to the word of the Lord which he added immediately, saying thus: "All who take the sword will perish by the sword" (Mt 26:51-52). For who among the rest would stand undaunted before the dreadful image of death, when the chief himself was trembling and yielding, he who had been fortified by the encouraging voice of his commander, and forewarned to strengthen the others? (Lk 22:32.)

But neither he nor they had yet clothed themselves with power from on high; and on this account it was not safe for them to go out into the vineyards, to wield the hoe of the tongue, and to prune the vines with the sword of the Spirit, to cleanse the branches, that they might bear more fruit. Finally, the Lord himself was silent in the Passion, and when questioned on many things did not answer (Mt 27:12), having become, according to the Prophet, "like a man not hearing, and not having reproofs in his mouth" (Ps 37:15). But he said: "If I shall tell you, you will not believe me; and if I shall also question you, you will not answer me" (Lk 22:67-68): knowing that the time of pruning had not yet arrived, and that his vineyard would in no way respond to the labors expended, that is, would bring back no fruit of faith or of good works. Why? Because it was winter in the hearts of the faithless, and certain wintry rains of malice had occupied the earth, readier to smother than to foster the seeds of the word that had been cast; but also to frustrate all the labor that should be equally expended on the cultivation of the vineyards.

What rains do you now think I mean? These which we see the turbulent clouds running through the air scattering upon the earth? It is not so. But those which men of turbulent spirit carry upward from the earth into the air, setting their mouth against heaven, and their tongue passing over the earth, as a most bitter rain, makes the earth itself marshy and barren, and useless both for plants and for sowings -- not indeed those visible and corporeal ones given for our bodily uses, of which plainly, as neither of oxen, God has no care. But which ones? Assuredly those which the hand of God, and not of man, sowed and planted; which could either sprout or take root in faith and charity, and bring forth fruits of salvation, if they were watered by good and timely rains. Souls, in short, they are, for which Christ died. Woe to the clouds raining such rains upon them, which make mud and bring forth no fruit! For just as there are both good and bad trees, each bearing fruits differing according to their unlikeness, good ones good and bad ones bad: so also I think there are both good clouds, which rain good rains, and bad ones, which rain bad. And see whether perhaps he who said this did not hint to us at this difference of clouds and rains: "I will command my clouds not to rain upon it" (beyond doubt upon the vineyard) "rain" (Is 5:6). Why do you think he pointedly added "my," unless because there are also bad clouds which are not his? "Away, away with him," they say, "crucify him" (Jn 19:15). O violent and turbulent clouds! O stormy rain! O torrent of iniquity, fit to overthrow rather than to make fruitful! Nor was that rain which followed any less bad or less bitter, though bursting forth with lesser force: "He saved others, he cannot save himself. Let Christ the King of Israel come down now from the cross, and we will believe him" (Mt 27:42). The windy loquacity of the philosophers is not a good rain, which brought barrenness to the lands rather than fertility. Much more are the perverse dogmas of the heretics bad rains, which produce thorns and thistles instead of fruits. Bad rains also are the traditions of the Pharisees, which the Savior rebuked, and they themselves are bad clouds. And unless you think I am doing an injustice to Moses -- for that cloud is a good one -- yet I will say that not everything which even it rained was good, lest I contradict him who says: "I gave them," that is, the Jews, "precepts that were not good" (without doubt through Moses) "and ordinances in which they would not live in them" (Ezek 20:25). That literal observance, for example, of the Sabbath, sounding of rest but not granting it; the prescribed rite of sacrifices; the prohibited eating of pork and of certain similar things which are judged unclean by Moses -- all this is rain descending from that cloud, but I do not want it ever to descend upon my field or my garden. It may well have been good in its own time; after its time, if it comes, I no longer judge it good. Even every gentle rain and gently descending, if it is untimely, is troublesome.

For us, brothers, it is always the time of pruning, just as it is always the work to be done. For I trust that for us the winter has now passed. You know what winter I mean? That fear which is not in charity, which although it initiates all to wisdom, perfects no one; because charity coming upon it drives it out, as summer does winter. For charity is summer: and if it has now come -- indeed, because it has come, as it is right for me to think of you -- it has necessarily dried up every wintry rain, every tear of anxiety, namely, which the bitter recollection of sin and the fear of judgment formerly wrung from us. And so -- which I say without doubt, even if not of all of you, certainly of very many -- this rain has now departed and receded: for flowers too appear, tokens of a sweeter rain. Summer has its own rains too, sweet and plentiful. What is sweeter than the tears of charity? For charity weeps, but from love, not from sorrow; it weeps from desire, it weeps with those who weep. With such rain I do not doubt that the acts of your obedience are more abundantly watered, which I look upon with gladness -- not gloomy with murmuring, not dimmed with sadness, but pleasant and blooming with a certain spiritual joy. They are as if you always bore flowers in your hands.