St. Bernard's Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles, Volume 2

On the Mystical Oil and Wine.

‘A cluster of Cyprus is my Love to me in the vineyard of Engaddi,”

‘A CLUSTER of Cyprus is my Love to me.” If the Bride loves her Bridegroom in the bitterness of the [n3^rh, how much more in the sweetness of the cyprus- :luster? My Lord Jesus Christ, then, is as myrrh to ine in His death, and in His resurrection as a cluster Df delicious grapes. In this way He has made Himself for me a most salutary draught, and has given me for my drink “ tears in measure.” He died “ for our sins and rose again for our justification,” to the end “ that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice.” Hence, my brethren, if you have wept over your sins, you have thereby drunk the pungent draught of myrrh; but its bitterness has been changed for you into the wine which “ cheer eth the heart of man,” if you are now established in the hope of a more perfect life. And perhaps it was thus, as a symbol of penance, that the Saviour was offered myrrh upon the cross. He refused to drink it, however, to teach us that the cup He now thirsted for was the bliss of a glorious resurrection. You also, as I have said, whilst you enjoy the wine of gladness after the bitter potion of affliction, may confidently exclaim, “A cluster of Cyprus is my Love to me in the vineyards of Engaddi.” This word “Engaddi “ has a manifold signification. But the various senses complete each other, and can be combined in one adequate interpretation. It may mean *’ the Fountain of the Kid,” or “ the Baptism of the Gentiles,” and thus manifestly has reference to the tears of penitence; another meaning is “ the Eye for Temptation.” Now, the eye that sheds the tears, the same it is that discovers the temptations, which, in truth, are never wanting to the life of man upon earth. For the gentile peoples, who walked in darkness, were unable to detect the snares of the tempter, and consequently to avoid them, until, through the grace of Him Who giveth sight to the blind, they were endowed with the vision of faith, until they entered the Church which has “ the eye for temptation,” until they submitted themselves for instruction to persons of virtuous life, who. enlightened by the Spirit of wisdom and taught by their own experience, can truthfully say with St. Paul that they are not ignorant of Satan’s deceits and devices.