Spouse of Christ

Yet the union is much closer, the quality of spouse shines with a much greater brilliance in the case of the souls consecrated to God by the vows of religion.  It is to these souls that in all verity can be applied the title of spouse of the Word; in them this sublime condition is realised in its plenitude.  That union which by its profound intimacy imitates, though in an absolutely spiritual manner, the marriage union, does it not constitute the summit of the religious life?  Ought not the soul to tend towards this union, by use of the many divine favours, by its generous and attentive efforts to remove all obstacles, and by using all means which lead to God?  Can it not be said that the virgin consecrated to Christ will not have fully attained His ideal, will not have completely realised the thought of God in her regard, if she does not tend with all her strength towards this blessed state?

...Without doubt we may say once again that we ought to dwell in a profound admiration for the thrice-holy God, yet at the same time we must never lose sight of the fact that Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Master of all things.  "You call me Master and Lord, and you say well for so I am. Vocatis me Magister et Domine et bene dicitis, sum etenim."  But this divine Master, this Lord before whom "the angelic powers, tremble," tremunt postestates:  a few moments before had so humbled Himself before these same disciples as to wash their feet.  It is love again which has led Him to descend to the consecrated souls, to raise them to the in effable dignity of spouse.  This love plunges reason in astonishment, but faith lifts them to these heights.  "We have known and have believed the charity which God hath to us": Et nos cognovimus et credidimus caritati quam habet Deus in nobis.  Every soul vowed to God by the religious consecration is called to this position of spouse to the Word; she carries the title; if she is faithful, she enjoys the rights which are attached to it; she is loaded with marks of tenderness by her divine Spouse, and her union with Him becomes the source of a wonderful fecundity.

...It was the habit of that great monk, St. Bernard, to talk to his cloistered brethren of the astonishing union which Jesus Christ deigned to contract with the souls dedicated to him, in terms which inspired them with his own piety; he himself had first entered into "the cellars of the King" 24 and to his monks who were eager for his teaching he gave of the abundant light which Incarnate Wisdom shed upon him.  You know that his commentary upon the "Canticle of Canticles," although unfinished, is a series of eighty-six conferences which he gave at the Abbey of Clairvaux.  In one of these the great Abbot traces with a master hand the portrait of the soul that is truly the spouse of Christ.  Here are his words: "When you shall see a soul leave all things to adhere to the Word with all her strength, live by Him, allow herself to be guided by Him, conceive what she should bring forth by Him; a soul, in short, who can say: for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain, then you can indubitably recognise her for a spouse of the Word." 

~ quotes taken from Sponsa Verbi

by Dom Columba Marmion, OSB