“We shall weave these garlands flowering in your love and bound with one hair of mine.”
This verse most appropriately refers to Christ and the Church, for in it, the Church, the Bride of Christ, addresses Him saying: let us weave garlands (understanding by garlands, all the holy souls engendered by Christ in the Church). Each holy soul is like a garland adorned with the flowers of virtues and gifts, and all of them together form a garland for the head of Christ, the Bridegroom.
The loving garlands can refer to what we call aureoles; these are also woven by Christ and the Church and are of three kinds:
The first kind is made from the beautiful flowers of all the virgins. Each virgin possesses her own aureole of virginity, and all these aureoles together will be joined into one and placed on the head of Christ, the Bridegroom.
The second aureole contains the resplendent flowers of the holy doctors. All these aureoles will be entwined into one and set upon the head of Christ over that of the virgins.
The third is fashioned from the crimson carnations of the martyrs. Every martyr has an aureole of martyrdom, and these red aureoles woven together will add the final touch to the aureole of Christ the Bridegroom.
So beautiful and fair will Christ the Bridegroom be with these three garlands when He is seen in heaven.
Therefore, we shall weave these garlands, the soul says, flowering in your love. St John of the Cross, taken form the Spiritual Canticle, after Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices.
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