Some of the imagery in the Song of Songs is quite sensual. Is the wedding selection appropriate for a church?

The lectionary excerpt is carefully curated: the imagery is romantic but never explicit. The Church has read this book aloud in liturgy for centuries; it belongs in the wedding Mass.

Will guests understand the poetry?

The imagery is universal: spring, longing, the seal pressed on the heart, love stronger than death. Even guests unfamiliar with Scripture tend to find it the most accessible of the Old Testament options.

Can the reader be a man, given the female "voice" in much of the passage?

Yes. The book itself contains both voices in dialogue, and at a Catholic wedding the reader is proclaiming Scripture, not personifying one of the speakers. Choose the lector based on confidence and clarity, not gender.

How does this fit with a Theology of the Body emphasis?

Beautifully. John Paul II treated the Song of Songs at length in his Wednesday catecheses, drawing out its vision of human love as both deeply embodied and an icon of divine love. Couples drawn to that framework find this reading especially fitting.

First Reading (Old Testament)

Song of Songs 2:8-10, 14, 16a; 8:6-7a

"Stern as death is love"

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Scripture text (World English Bible)

The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young deer. Behold, he stands behind our wall! He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice. My beloved spoke, and said to me, “Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies. Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh. Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned.

Themes

nuptial love
beloved and lover
love stronger than death
desire and longing
mystical union

Reflection

The Song of Songs is the only book of the Bible devoted entirely to love poetry between a man and a woman, and the Catholic tradition has read it on two levels at once. On the surface, it is exactly what it appears to be: the unembarrassed lyric of lovers delighting in one another. Beneath the surface, the Church Fathers heard the voice of Christ and the soul, of Christ and the Church, of God and his people.

This selection brings together two of the Song's most famous passages. The first is the springtime arrival of the beloved, "leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills," calling the beloved to come away with him. The second is the closing climax of the book: "Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death." The juxtaposition is intentional: the giddy arrival at the beginning and the unyielding fidelity at the end together describe what marriage actually is.

For Catholic couples, choosing the Song of Songs as a wedding reading is also a small, quiet act of theology. The passage insists that bodily love, longing, desire: these are not embarrassments to be tolerated by the holy; they are gifts woven into what God created good. Pope Benedict XVI returned again and again to the Song in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est: human eros, healed and elevated, is meant to be a window onto divine agape.

The closing verses are the ones most couples remember: "Love is strong as death; passion fierce as the grave. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it." This is what you are vowing to one another: a love that intends to outlast everything that comes against it.

Best for

·Couples drawn to the poetic, lyrical voice of Scripture
·Weddings with a strong romantic and aesthetic sensibility: the language is meant to be beautiful
·Couples who appreciate the contemplative, mystical dimension of Catholic spirituality
·Bilingual ceremonies (the imagery translates beautifully across languages)
·Couples who want a reading that honors physical love within the sacramental vision

In the liturgy

A growing favorite at Catholic weddings, particularly in liturgies with strong music and a contemplative atmosphere. The poetic structure rewards a lector who reads slowly and with feeling. The selection draws from two non-contiguous parts of the book; consider noting the citation in your program so guests don't try to find it as a continuous passage.

Pairs well with

Frequently asked questions

Some of the imagery in the Song of Songs is quite sensual. Is the wedding selection appropriate for a church?: The lectionary excerpt is carefully curated: the imagery is romantic but never explicit. The Church has read this book aloud in liturgy for centuries; it belongs in the wedding Mass.
Will guests understand the poetry?: The imagery is universal: spring, longing, the seal pressed on the heart, love stronger than death. Even guests unfamiliar with Scripture tend to find it the most accessible of the Old Testament options.
Can the reader be a man, given the female "voice" in much of the passage?: Yes. The book itself contains both voices in dialogue, and at a Catholic wedding the reader is proclaiming Scripture, not personifying one of the speakers. Choose the lector based on confidence and clarity, not gender.
How does this fit with a Theology of the Body emphasis?: Beautifully. John Paul II treated the Song of Songs at length in his Wednesday catecheses, drawing out its vision of human love as both deeply embodied and an icon of divine love. Couples drawn to that framework find this reading especially fitting.

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