“A Brief Dialogue of the Friend with the Beloved” Given in Washington, DC on May 30, 2009
\nby Fr. Carlos Buela, founder of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara<\/p>\n
In homage to the friendship with my friend Dr. Antonio Borrell and his distinguished family.<\/em><\/p>\n Ram\u00f3n Llull was born in Palma, Majorca around 1232 and died in 1315. He was a mystic, apologist, philosopher, theologian, poet and saint. The work that brought him renown was Blanquerna, composed as a fruit of Llull\u2019s hermitic life around the year 1285. Included in this work is a part entitled Book of the Friend and the Beloved<\/em> [Libro del amigo y del Amado<\/em>] of 366 brief and concise sentences. He cites several aphorisms surrounding the dialogue between the friend and the Beloved. He does it in such a way that the symbols, allegories and metaphors are combined with dialogues, more narrative phrases and proverbs. Scholars concur in emphasizing that the main sources of inspiration oscillate between the Bible, Franciscanism, Neo-Platonism, Sophism, and troubadour poetry. Sophism and Franciscanism influenced his vision on the nature as revelation of the divine presence, while the troubadour current provided him with the appropriate resources to let his mystical and philosophical thoughts intertwine in a dialogue of love.<\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Pem\u00e1n seeks to creatively imitate him in his poem \u201cHomage to Ramon Llull\u201d (1950), which we will follow in this sermon on the occasion of the Mass of Perpetual Vows of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara, here in the USA. On one hand, Pem\u00e1n emphasizes in \u201cMeeting in Majorca\u201d the qualities of Lull as \u201cthe most captivating giant\u201d, and as \u201cmad, mystic, rational.\u201dOn the other hand, Pem\u00e1n praises his implacable logic and his openness to all branches of knowledge, \u201che was the man of the total assimilations of all things in the unity of Truth.\u201d He also argues that Llull understood \u201call the unity of the world, later to leave it, to touch it and embrace it,\u201d like the saints in Heaven. (OS, I, pp. 150-151). In addition, he utilizes the Spansih mystics who came after Llull as sources. \u201cHomage to Ram\u00f3n Llull\u201d respects Llull\u2019s epigrammatic planning, but limits himself to 57 propositions of which we will see only a few. Like Llull, Pem\u00e1n introduces the Friend and the Beloved (both words capitalized by Pem\u00e1n) as the protagonists of this dialogue of love. The Friend is each baptized person\u2014particularly each person consecrated with vows because of their special consecration\u2014who should seek union with the Beloved, who is Jesus Christ. I will write the actual sentences of Pem\u00e1n\u2019s poem in red, as a sort of guide.<\/p>\n I Where is the Beloved?<\/span><\/strong> III In love signs are enough: gestures, winks, sighs, tears, smiles\u2026<\/span><\/strong> IV Fruit of contemplative love.<\/span><\/strong> V Missionary love.<\/span><\/strong> VII Very near is the sigh of the Beloved.<\/span><\/strong> VIII The nature of the Beloved.<\/strong><\/span> XIV Love and death.<\/strong><\/span> XV To love in order not to die.<\/strong><\/span> XVII The Reward of Love.<\/strong><\/span> XVIII We must ask Jesus to give us as much as He can of Himself.<\/span><\/strong> XX Pain is healed increasing the agony.<\/strong><\/span> XXII In the love of Jesus absence is presence.<\/strong><\/span> XXIII I cry for having cried so little.<\/strong><\/span> XXIV Name, end, beginning, middle, beyond Love, what?<\/strong><\/span> -If Love is your entire possession XXV To moan, to love, to cry, to laugh<\/strong><\/span>. XXX The gaze of Jesus.<\/strong><\/span> XXXI What\u2019s lacking? Lovers! Lovers!<\/strong><\/span> XXXIII He teaches how to love until dying of love.<\/strong><\/span> XXXVI He who loves knows all knowledge.<\/strong><\/span> XXXVII All creation is a reflection of God.<\/strong><\/span> XXXIX Dryness of Love.<\/strong><\/span> XL The true disciple of the Lord is always accused by the world.<\/strong><\/span> But my Friend pleaded \u201cDon\u2019t oblige me to live faithful XLI All creation is a reflection of God.<\/strong><\/span> XLIV In Jesus\u2019 Love there is no return of what has been given.<\/strong><\/span> XLVII What is Love? That is the response.<\/strong><\/span> XLIX He who feigns not to understand all, understands all.<\/strong><\/span> LVI It is always necessary to suffer.<\/strong><\/span> LVII To die of Love.<\/strong><\/span> – Give me the knowledge that gathers – Give me your burning flame I do not know, Beloved, what I want, XLII The Son and Our Lady.<\/strong><\/span> XLIII The Friend and the Beloved, Jesus Christ.<\/strong><\/span> “A Brief Dialogue of the Friend with the Beloved” Given in Washington, DC on May 30, 2009 by Fr. Carlos Buela, founder of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara In homage to the friendship with my friend Dr. Antonio Borrell and his distinguished family. Ram\u00f3n Llull was born in Palma, Majorca… <\/p>\n
\nThey asked the Friend
\nWhere was the Beloved\u2026
\n\u201cIn the sigh,\u201d he responded
\nwith which you have asked me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nFriend: why do you strive
\nto tell me your words
\nwhen for me your signs are enough?<\/p>\n
\nHis face, in that afternoon,
\nwas imprinted in me so heavily,
\nthat in order not to erase it
\nI forced myself not to sleep.<\/p>\n
\nI am digging the earth
\nto see if I find the affection
\nwith which I want them to love You!<\/p>\n
\nThe sigh that dares
\nMore close is that from the Beloved
\nthan is the candor of the snow.<\/p>\n
\nNot wise, He is Wisdom;
\nNot light, He is the Sun;
\nNot joyful, He is Joy;
\nNot loving, He is Love.<\/p>\n
\nThe friend thought of death:
\nand he was filled with joy
\nthinking that he would go to see You.<\/p>\n
\nIf your Love stopped loving you,
\nwhat would you do with your love?
\nKeep loving the Beloved
\nin order to not die myself.<\/p>\n
\nThe Friend asked the Beloved
\nthe reward of so much love.
\nThe Beloved added up the sum\u2026
\nAnd added his Heart.<\/p>\n
\n-What do you wish for from Me?
\n-I wish that you would give me
\nas much as you can of You.<\/p>\n
\nLove was in pain
\nfrom agony and sorrow.
\nThe greatest doctor came:
\nand increasing his pain
\nwholly healed the Love.<\/p>\n
\nThe Friend was complaining
\nof not finding Your presence.
\nYou said to him, \u00abMy absence,
\nwas I not, by chance, with you?\u00bb<\/p>\n
\nWhy are you crying so much,
\nFriend of my soul?
\nAnd the Friend responded:
\n\u201cI cry for having cried so little!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n-What is your name? \u2013Love.
\n-Where are you going? \u2013Towards Love.
\n-From where do you come? \u2013From Love.<\/p>\n
\nAnd to Love you are going and from Love you are coming,
\nBeyond Love, what have you?
\n-The remains of so much Love!<\/p>\n
\n-Why this sad groaning?
\n-Because they know not how to love\u2026
\nI felt like crying,
\nAnd He started to smile.<\/p>\n
\n-Tell me, my Beloved, what is love?
\nAnd he remained looking at me
\nFor the whole response!<\/p>\n
\nI looked at the clouds, the waters, the flowers,
\nI listened at the nightingales
\nfrom the highest peaks…
\n-Tell me, My Love, if you are lacking something.
\n– Lovers! Lovers!<\/p>\n
\n-Do you have many Lovers?
\n-I have few, because such an occupation
\nkeeps killing them from love\u2026<\/p>\n
\nLove came to my presence.
\n-Why have you come? \u2013To learn…
\n– For do you not know all knowledge,
\nLove, if you know how to love?<\/p>\n
\n-Roses, did the one I love pass by?
\n– Tell us the signs! \u2013Beautiful ones!
\nGraceful, White, Light …
\nThe roses looked at each other.
\nSignaling the way.<\/p>\n
\nTears were denied by the Beloved
\nto my dryness of love.
\nWhen I saw the damp field
\nI cried for not having cried
\nAs the flowers cried.<\/p>\n
\nThey accused the Friend
\nIn the tribunal of the World:
\nBecause he went around as a vagabond
\nIn beggar\u2019s clothing.<\/p>\n
\nHis entire reason clearly,
\n\u201cIf I live my way,
\nMy way is one of one in love.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nTo what I ignore and despise,
\nthat the Love finds foolish
\nwhatever is not Him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nI saw a lily and I believed
\nthat my Beloved was in her;
\nLater, I saw a beautiful rose
\nand thought he was there;
\nLater, in a simple wallflower
\nand in a river and a star…
\nand it was because he was in me!<\/p>\n
\n-Give me your knowledge and power!
\n– To the beloved I gave it …
\n-Tell him to give them back to you\u2026
\n– He doesn\u2019t want to return them to me.<\/p>\n
\nHe told me with a sigh:
\n\u201cExplain to me what is Love…\u201d
\n– Repeat yourself the question,
\nthat is the answer!<\/p>\n
\nGood understanding is to know
\nThat the one who feigns not to understand all
\nBegins to understand it all.<\/p>\n
\nIt is in vain to seek the flower
\nWithout hurting yourself on the thorn.
\nSuffer a little \u2026.that love
\nmakes his way by itself.<\/p>\n
\n– Teach me a song
\nTo pray it to the Friend\u2026
\n– Continue, Friend\u2026 – If I continue
\nI will be brokenhearted
\n– And do you want more prayer?<\/p>\n
\nthe desire and the presence\u2026
\n– Ask, friend, ask,
\n– What do you want more knowledge for?<\/p>\n
\nsince I die for love!
\n– And do you want greater life?<\/p>\n
\nNor do I know what this loving is,
\nNor do I know if it be war or peace\u2026
\n– If you know already what it is not to know,
\nwhy do you want to know more?<\/p>\n
\nJust as by the Sun, the dawn,
\nSo by the light of the Son judge
\nThe light of Our Lady!<\/p>\n
\n– What is his name? \u2013 Without name.
\n– Is he strong or weak? \u2013 Both.
\n– Is he not God? \u2013 But he is a man…
\n-Then is a man. \u2013 But he is God.
\n– Give him a name. \u2013 Call him All.
\n– Teach me somehow
\nhow to please him and pray to him.
\n– Cry in silence. \u2013 It seems
\na prayer very short and quite bad!
\n– Give yourself wholeheartedly. \u2013 Who presents
\nso poor an offering?
\n– Your Nothingness is so infinite
\nthat his All makes it equal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"