The Song of Songs has been commented on by more saints and mystics than any other book in the Bible. Volumes and volumes have been written about this divinely inspired erotic poetry. Over the past several columns we’ve looked at only a few of its treasures. Much more could – and should – be said. While I’m sure to return to this inspired book of the Bible in future columns, with this column I draw this particular series of reflections to a close.

In the previous installment, we looked at the lover’s expression, “A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden closed, a fountain sealed” (4:12). In his Theology of the Body (TOB), John Paul II observed that in the course of their loving duet, the bride “opens” her garden “before the eyes of the bridegroom’s soul and body” (TOB 111:4). He reverently enters, and their love is finally consummated.

In this way “the man and the woman together ... constitute the sign of the reciprocal gift of self, which sets the seal on their whole life” (TOB 111:5). Consummation of the marriage is the specific moment in which the marriage bond becomes absolutely indissoluble by anything but death. This is the power and meaning of sexual intercourse as God designed it. Sexual intercourse has a “language” that proclaims: “I am totally yours unto death. I belong to you and you to me until death do us part.”

It’s not just that sex belongs “in” marriage. Rather, it’s that sex – as God designed it – has an inherently marital meaning. That’s why sexual intercourse is called the marital embrace. Sex is only what it’s meant to be when it expresses a love that is “strong as death.” The bride confirms her knowledge of this when she says, “Set me as a seal upon your heart...for love is strong as death....Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it” (8:6-7).

John Paul says that these words bring us to “the peak” of the Song’s declaration of love. They seem to present the final chords of the Song, the “final chords in the ‘language of the body’.” When we read that “love is strong as death” we discover “the closure and crowning of everything in the Song of Songs that begins with the metaphor ‘garden closed’ and ‘fountain sealed’” (TOB 111:6).

With these words, the lover had presented himself to his beloved not as one superficially attracted to her body. Rather, he presented himself as one who was captivated and fascinated by her entire mystery as a woman, as one ready to uphold the whole personal dignity of her sex, as one desirous of honoring her as a feminine person, as a sister and a bride – unto death.

Here we see that a woman can only open her “garden” to her lover and remain inviolate if she is assured that he is ready and willing to commit his entire life to her, if she is assured that he has set her as a seal upon his heart, if she is assured that his love will be strong as death. The love that is strong as death is called “marriage.”

Do you remember that 1960's song by the Shirelles, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”? Listen to these poignant lyrics: “Is this a lasting treasure, or just a moment’s pleasure? Tonight the look of love is in your eyes. But will you love me tomorrow?” – Oh the ache in the feminine heart!! If any woman reading this column ever finds herself wondering the same thing when a man is putting the moves on her, here’s the song you should be singing: “Stop, in the name of love, before you break my heart!” And every man out there should “think it o-o-ver....”

The Church does not impose on us the idea that love should be permanent. Permanence is what the heart longs for. In her teaching that sex is meant to express permanent love (that is, marital love), the Church is simply inviting us to be true to the “song” that wells up from the deepest recesses of our souls. Listen to it! It is the Song of Songs....