Q: I have been reading and listening to much commentary on the Song of Songs and other stories in the Bible about God and Christ being the groom and Israel and the Church being the bride. This is confusing to me as a straight male. How can I reconcile these images with being a heterosexual male. There is also much in the writings of the saints about intimacy with God. Please help. I feel as if my faith could be shaken. — Scott

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC:

You raise a very interesting point.

The first thing worth noting is that this language about bride and groom comes from Scripture, which is inspired text. That means that these images are in the Bible because God wanted them there.

Now, there are four ways to read Scripture. Taken together, they help us to unpack the layers of truth that God transmits to us.

One of the ways of reading the Bible is the allegorical. Allegories are extended metaphors.

The case in point is God’s relation to his chosen people and Christ’s relationship to his Church.

This relationship is meant to be binding and permanent, similar to marriage. This is what leads to the “bride” metaphor in Scripture.

The idea here isn’t to focus on husbands and wives, per se, but to emphasize that the human soul is always “receptive” or “bridal” before the Lord, who seeks a marriage covenant with his people.

During the Middle Ages more commentaries were written about the Song of Songs than any other part of the Old Testament. Male religious, not just females, had no problem understanding that notion of receptiveness and the use of bridal imagery.

In modernity, by contrast, it might be harder for some people to accept this level of interpretation because they are used to a rationalistic view of communication; frankly, they might find it absurd to talk about the Church and the soul in bridal terms.

The key is to see these terms in an allegorical, not literalistic, way.

The upshot: There is no need to fret about the image of Israel and the Church as a bride.

For related reading, see this Aleteia post.

I hope that some of this helps.