Sunday Vigil

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Song of Songs 2,8-14

BELOVED: I hear my love. See how he comes leaping on the mountains, bounding over the hills. My love is like a gazelle, like a young stag. See where he stands behind our wall. He looks in at the window, he peers through the opening. My love lifts up his voice, he says to me, 'Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come. For see, winter is past, the rains are over and gone. 'Flowers are appearing on the earth. The season of glad songs has come, the cooing of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree is forming its first figs and the blossoming vines give out their fragrance. Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come. 'My dove, hiding in the clefts of the rock, in the coverts of the cliff, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Liturgy has us meditate on this passage of the Song of Songs while Christmas is at the door. The scene that it describes shows us the beloved imagining that her lover has come to the house where she lives and is looking through the lattice to see her. He is the one who asks her to come out and enjoy the beauty of spring: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." It is an exhortation to welcome the Lord, who is coming to visit us. These images are a good description of God's desire to encounter men and women and save them. This is the meaning of the Christmas we are getting ready to celebrate. The Lord who takes the initiative and runs to Israel. He is near the door; he is about to be born; just a few days ahead. The liturgy imagines him as a young man in love who begs us to come out ourselves to welcome him. The Targum gives this paraphrase of this passage of the Song: "While the people of the House of Israel were living in Egypt, their complaint arose to heaven above... And [the Lord] skipped to the appointed end by virtue of the merit of their patriarchs (who are compared to mountains) ... And he stood behind our wall and looked through the window and peered through the lattice. And He saw the blood of the Passover sacrifice... and He had mercy on us... And at morning time my Beloved answered and said to me, "Arise, O Assembly of Israel, my beloved from of old...Depart, go forth from the slavery of the Egyptians." Origen instead relates the scene to the risen Jesus, who says to the Church, "Arise, my dove, because look, the winter is over...rising from the dead I have tamed the storm and restored peace." God is amazing in his love: he is about come among men and women, and he asks us to welcome him, to let him see our face, to abandon the hiding crags of the rocks of our slavery to go to greet him. It is the request of a God who is in love with us; a beggar for our love who comes down to the lowest in order to save us. This is the mystery of Christmas. How can we not be amazed?