Song of Solomon 4:3

Like a fragment of a pomegranate, etc. We have also previously taught that shame is designated by the cheeks, because surely a sudden blush usually spreads over these when we are embarrassed. However, the pomegranate, because it is of a rosy color, quite fittingly hints at the mystery of the Lord's Passion, just as does the scarlet. For it was fitting that the manner of our redemption is indicated frequently in sacred song by the repetition of figures, as also intimated in other prophetic Scriptures. Therefore, because the holy Church is not ashamed of the cross of Christ, but even rejoices in the reproaches and sufferings for Christ, and usually carries the banner of his cross on her face, it is fittingly remembered that her cheeks are like a pomegranate fragment. Nor is it inconsequential that they are compared not to an entire pomegranate but to a fragment; for in a broken pomegranate, both the part of the redness that was exposed is seen, and the part that lay hidden inside, whiteness, is revealed. Thus, the bride has the redness of a pomegranate on her cheeks when the Church confesses the sacrament of the Lord's cross in words. She also shows the whiteness of the broken pomegranate when she proves the chastity of a pure heart through being struck by pressures and deeds, just as the cross itself of her Redeemer reveals what it holds within of saving grace. Again, she shows the red color on her cheeks when the foremost and most eminent of her members, that is, the holy martyrs, shed their blood for Christ. She also adds the white when these same martyrs, during their suffering or after completing their passion, shine forth even with miracles. Nor should we overlook that the pomegranate encloses a great abundance of seeds within one outer peel, whence it is also called the apple of seeds, which indeed cannot be seen when the pomegranate is whole, but become clear how numerous they are when it is broken. So indeed the holy Church, the more she is broken by adversities, the more clearly she reveals how many grains of virtues she embraces under the covering of one faith. And rightly it is added: Besides that which lies hidden within, because indeed the confession of the life-giving cross in the Church can be heard by all, the pressures on the Church can be seen by all; also the brilliance of charisms, which heals the sick, raises the dead, cleanses lepers,…

Like a scarlet ribbon, your lips, etc. The lips of the bride are compared to scarlet because the Church ceaselessly proclaims the price of the Lord's blood by which it was redeemed; but it continually sings: But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians XIV). And it should be noted that her lips are compared not simply to scarlet, but to a scarlet ribbon: for a ribbon is typically used to bind the hair. If by the hair of the bride the faithful people are understood, the ribbon that binds them and fits them more properly to the head, what else is it understood to be but the doctrine of truth? With which it is necessary to confirm the immature minds of believers and diligently apply them to the love and worship of their Creator, lest the wicked roam freely through idle acts and flee from the embrace or adornment of the true head, lest they impede even the eyes, that is, those who ought to show them the light of justice, by undue relaxation. Just as the good deeds of disciples sometimes become an example of virtue for teachers, so more often their neglect causes harm to the teachers' good actions. Therefore, he says, like a scarlet ribbon, your lips, and your speech is sweet, because the Church customarily fortifies and as it were dyes its doctrine, which restrains the minds of the weak from licentiousness, with the memory of the Lord's passion. For nothing more effectively restrains the voluptuous from carnal desires than when they hear or recall that the Lord of glory was pleased to be incarnate and suffer for them. Hence rightly the Lord considers such speech sweet because he very gladly accepts it when he sees us recount and meditate on this to one another, for the sake of which he himself came down to us from heaven. If we say that thoughts are represented by hair and spiritual senses of the faithful by eyes, the end of the exposition is the same: because we restrain the unrestrained wandering of superfluous thoughts by no other order more easily than by the memory and frequent recollection of the Lord's blood. But also, often when we entertain harmful thoughts with an incautious mind, and are suddenly checked by God, we imprint the sign of the holy cross on our breast and discard what we were contemplating wickedly, as if binding our hair with a scarlet ribbon, because we suppress the loose thoughts with the…