Arise, O North Wind, and Come Thou South; Blow through My Garden, and Let Its Spices Flow Out.
The Bride invites the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life, to come and breathe through her, in order that this garden, thus filled with flowers and fruits, may put forth its spicy perfumes for the help of souls. The Bridegroom, too, requires that the resurrection of his Spouse may be hastened, and that she may receive new life by the in-breathing of that life-giving Spirit, who will reanimate this annihilated soul, to the end that the marriage may be perfectly consummated.

Footnotes:

[21] See this passage more fully explained, ch. vii., v. 3.

[22] I have already stated that these wounds are, within, the apparent desertion of the Bridegroom, which is the most agonizing of the soul's sufferings, and without, the persecuting malice of men and devils.--Justifications, ii. 282.

[23] During the whole time, of the Bridegroom's apparent absence, the Spouse is neither occupied with self nor with the creature; she is farther than ever from such unfaithfulness; she thinks she has lost the presence of her Well-beloved--and is not her continual grief for this seeming loss a perpetual presence?--Justifications, ii. 283.

[24] This fixedness of the interior eye upon God must be unfailingly preserved, though unconsciously; thus the Spouse never forgets her Bridegroom. Remark, too, that the inattention of the Spouse to self, has its sole origin and cause in her unremitting application of her heart to God, and she is thus free from the mistake of those who put Him out of mind that they may sin without restraint,--Justifications, ii. 283.

15 a fountain of gardens
Top of Page
Top of Page