Chapter LI
SAINT BERNARD OF
CLAIRVAUX
Chapter LI
WHAT GREATER INCENTIVES CHRISTIANS
HAVE, MORE THAN THE HEATHEN,
TO LOVE GOD
The faithful know how much need they have of Jesus and Him crucified; but though they wonder and rejoice at the ineffable love made manifest in Him, they are not daunted at having no more than their own poor souls to give in return for such great and condescending charity. They love all the more, because they know themselves to be loved so exceedingly; but to whom little is given the same loves little." Neither Jew nor pagan feels the pangs of love as doth the Church, which says, "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love." She beholds King Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals; she sees the Sole-begotten of the Father bearing the heavy burden of His Cross; she sees the Lord of all power and might bruised and spat upon, the Author of life and glory transfixed with nails, smitten by the lance, overwhelmed with mockery, and at last laying down His precious life for His friends. Contemplating this, the sword of love pierces through her own soul also and she cries aloud,
"Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love." The fruits, which the Spouse gathers from the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden of her Beloved, are pomegranates," borrowing their taste from the Bread of heaven, and their color from the Blood of Christ. She sees death dying and its author overthrown: she beholds captivity led captive from hell to earth, from earth to heaven, so "that at "Lk 7:47
Se 4:13.
3 Sg 2:5.
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ON LOVING GOD the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth."*" The earth under the ancient curse brought forth thorns and thistles; but now the Church beholds it laughing with flowers and restored by the grace of a new benediction. Mindful of the verse, "My heart dances for joy, and in my song will I praise
Him," she refreshes herself with the fruits of His Passion which she gathers from the Tree of the Cross, and with the flowers of His Resurrection whose fragrance invites the frequent visits of her Spouse.
Then it is that He exclaims, "Behold you are fair, My beloved, yes pleasant: also our bed is green."*' She shows her desire for His coming and whence she hopes to obtain it; not because of her own merits but because of the flowers of that field which God has blessed. Christ who willed to be conceived and brought up in Nazareth, that is, the town of branches, delights in such blossoms. Pleased by such heavenly fragrance the Bridegroom rejoices to revisit the heart's chamber when He finds it adorned with fruits and decked with flowers—that is, meditating on the mystery of His
Passion or on the glory of His Resurrection.
The tokens of the Passion we recognize as the fruitage of the ages of the past, appearing in the fullness of time during the reign of sin and death." But it is the glory of the Resurrection, in the new springtime of regenerating grace, that the fresh flowers of the later age come forth, whose fruit shall be given without measure at the general resurrection, when time shall be no more. And so it is written, "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth"; signifying that summer has come back with Phil 2:10.
Gal 4:4.
"Sg 1:16.
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SAINT BERNARD OF
CLAIRVAUX
Him who dissolves icy death into the spring of a new life and says, "Behold, I make all things new."** His Body sown in the grave has blossomed in the Resurrection;" and in like manner our valleys and fields which were barren or frozen, as if dead, glow with reviving life and warmth.
The Father of Christ who makes all things new, is well pleased with the freshness of those flowers and fruits, and the beauty of the field which breathes forth such heavenly fragrance; and He says in benediction "See, the smell of My
Son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed"; blessed to overflowing, indeed, since of His fullness have all we received." But the Bride may come when she pleases and gather flowers and fruits therewith to adorn the inmost recesses of her conscience; that the Bridegroom when He comes may find the chamber of her heart redolent with perfume.
So it behooves us, if we would have Christ for a frequent guest, to fill our hearts with faithful meditations on the mercy He showed in dying for us, and on His mighty power in rising again from the dead. To this David testified when he sang, "God spoke once, and twice I have also heard the same; that power belongs unto God; and that You, Lord, are merciful."*" And surely there is proof enough and to spare in that Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification, and ascended into heaven that He might protect us from on high, and sent the Holy Spirit for our comfort.
Hereafter He will come again for the consummation of our Sg a:nrff; Rv 21:5.
44 1 Cor 15:42.
°Gn 273273 Jn 1:16, Ps 62:11 ff.
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ONS EL O ValeNi G) GO D bliss. In His Death He displayed His mercy, in His Resurrection His power; both combine to manifest His glory.
The Bride desires to be stayed with flagons and comforted with apples, because she knows how easily the warmth of love can languish and grow cold; but such helps are only until she has entered into the bride chamber. There she will receive His long-desired caresses even as she sighs, "His left hand is under my head and His right hand embraces me.""" Then she will perceive how far the embrace of the right hand excels all sweetness, and that the left hand with which He at first caressed her cannot be compared to it. She will understand what she has heard: "It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing,"*" She will prove what she has read: "My memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the honeycomb.""" What is written elsewhere, "The memorial of Your abundant kindness shall be showed," refers doubtless to those of whom the psalmist had said just before: "One generation shall praise Your works unto another and declare
Your power."" Among us on the earth there is His memory; but in the Kingdom of heaven His very Presence. That Presence is the joy of those who have already attained to beatitude; the memory is the comfort of us who are still wayfarers, journeying toward the Fatherland.
Sg 2:6.
In 6:63.
Eccl 24:20.
*Ps 145:7, 4: een
SAINT BERNARD OF
CLAIRVAUX
Chapter IV
OF THOSE WHO FIND COMFORT IN THE REC-
OLLECTION OF GOD, OR ARE FITTEST FOR
HIS LOVE But it will be well to note what class of people takes comfort in the thought of God. Surely not that perverse and crooked generation to whom it was said, "Woe unto you that are rich; for you have received your consolation."" Rather, those who can say with truth, "My soul refuses comfort." For it is meet that those who are not satisfied by the present should be sustained by the thought of the future, and that the contemplation of eternal happiness should solace those who scorn to drink from the river of transitory joys. That is the generation of them that seek the Lord, even of them that seek, not their own, but the face of the God of Jacob. To them that long for the presence of the living God, the thought of Him is sweetness itself: but there is no satiety, rather an ever-increasing appetite, even as the Scripture bears witness, "they that eat me shall yet be hungry";" and if the one so hungered spoke, "When I wake up after Your likeness, I shall be satisfied with it." Yes, blessed even now are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they, and they only, shall be filled. Woe to you, wicked and perverse generation; woe to you, foolish and abandoned people, who hate Christ's memory, and dread His second
Advent! Well may you fear, who will not now seek deliverance from the snare of the hunter; because "they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish
"Lk 6:24.
Ps vie Eccl 24:21.
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ON LOVING GOD and hurtful lusts."* In that day we shall not escape the dreadful sentence of condemnation, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire." O dreadful sentence indeed,
O hard saying! How much harder to bear than that other saying which we repeat daily in church, in memory of the Passion: "Whoso eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life." That signifies, whoso honors My death and after My example mortifies his members which are upon the earth shall have eternal life, even as the apostle says, "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him."" And yet many even today recoil from these words and go away, saying by their action if not with their lips, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" "A generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit cleaves not steadfastly unto God,"" but chooses rather to trust in uncertain riches, it is disturbed at the very name of the Cross, and counts the memory of the Passion intolerable. How can such sustain the burden of that fearful sentence, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels"? "On whomsoever that stone shall fall it will grind him to powder"; but "the generation of the faithful shall be blessed," since, like the apostle, they labor that whether present or absent they may be accepted of the Lord." At the last day they too shall hear the Judge pronounce their award, "Come, you blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."° 41 Tm 6:9.
Mt 25: 41.
In 6:54.
"Col 3:53 1 Tm 2:
Tz In 6:60.
*Ps 78:8.
Lk 20:18; Ps 112:2; 1 Cor 5:9.
61 "Mt 25:34.
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SAINT BERNARD OF
CLAIRVAUX
On that day those who set not their hearts aright will feel, too late, how easy is Christ's yoke, to which they would not bend their necks and how light His burden, in comparison with the pains they must then endure. O wretched slaves of Mammon, you cannot glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ while you trust in treasures laid up on earth: you cannot taste and see how gracious the Lord is, while you are hungering for gold. If you have not rejoiced at the thought of His coming, that day will be indeed a day of wrath to you.
But the believing soul longs and faints for God; she rests sweetly in the contemplation of Him. She glories in the reproach of the Cross, until the glory of His face shall be revealed. Like the Bride, the dove of Christ, that is covered with silver wings," white with innocence and purity, she reposes in the thought of Your abundant kindness, Lord
Jesus; and above all she longs for that day when in the joyful splendor of Your saints, gleaming with the radiance of the Beatific Vision, her feathers shall be like gold, resplendent with the joy of Your countenance.
Rightly then may she exult, "His left hand is under my head and His right hand embraces me." The left hand signifies the memory of that matchless love, which moved
Him to lay down His life for His friends; and the right hand is the Beatific Vision which He has promised to His own, and the delight they have in His presence. The psalmist sings rapturously, "At Your right hand there is pleasure for evermore": " so we are warranted in explaining the right hand as that divine and deifying joy of His presence.
Rightly too is that wondrous and ever-memorable love symbolized as His left hand, upon which the Bride rests her
"PS 68:13.
3Ps 16:11.
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ORNS
7-EO'VAIENUG!
AGOFD head until iniquity be done away: for He sustains the purpose of her mind, lest it should be turned aside to earthly, carnal desires. For the flesh wars against the spirit: "The corruptible body presses down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weighs down the mind that muses upon many things."
What could result from the contemplation of compassion so marvelous and so undeserved, favor so free and so well attested, kindness so unexpected, clemency so unconquerable, grace so amazing except that the soul should withdraw from all sinful affections, reject all that is inconsistent with God's love, and yield herself wholly to heavenly things? No wonder is it that the Bride, moved by the perfume of these unctions, runs swiftly, all on fire with love, yet reckons herself as loving all too little in return for the Bridegroom' love.
And rightly, since it is no great matter that a little dust should be all consumed with love of that Majesty which loved her first and which revealed itself as wholly bent on saving her. For "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." This sets forth the Father's love. But "He has poured out His soul unto death," was written of the Son." And of the Holy Spirit it is said,
"The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." It is plain, therefore, that God loves us, and loves us with all His heart; for the Holy Trinity altogether loves us, if we may venture so to speak of the infinite and incomprehensible Godhead who is essentially one.
Is 53:12.
In 14:26.
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SAINT BERNARD OF
CLAIRVAUX
Chapter V
OF THE CHRISTIAN S DEBT OF LOVE,
HOW GREAT IT IS
From the contemplation of what has been said, we see plainly that God is to be loved, and that He has a just claim upon our love. But the infidel does not acknowledge the Son of God, and so he can know neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit; for he that honors not the Son, honors not the Father which sent Him, nor the Spirit whom He has sent." He knows less of God than we; no wonder that he loves God less. This much he understands at least—that he owes all he is to his Creator, But how will it be with me? For I know that my God is not merely the bounteous Bestower of my life, the generous Provider for all my needs, the pitying
Consoler of all my sorrows, the wise Guide of my course: but that He is far more than all that. He saves me with an abundant deliverance: He is my eternal Preserver, the portion of my inheritance, my glory. Even so it is written, "With Him is plenteous redemption"; and again, "He entered in once into sg holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."
Of His salvation it is written, "He forsakes not His that be godly; but they are preserved forever"; and of His bounty, "Good measure, pressed down and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom"; and in another place, "Eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, those things which God has prepared for them that love Him.""' He will glorify us, even as the apostle bears witness, saying, "We look for the Savior,
(Jn 5:23.
Dg 130:7; Heb g:12.
™Ps 37:28; Lk 6:38; 1 Cor 2:9, [18]
OWN, .L. O ValeN, Gi -G: OD the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body"; and again,
"T reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us"; and once more, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen."""
"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?"" Reason and natural justice alike move me to give up myself wholly to loving Him to whom I owe all that I have and am. But faith shows me that I should love Him far more than I love myself, as I come to realize that He has given me not my own life only, but even Himself. Yet, before the time of full revelation had come, before the Word was made flesh, died on the Cross, came forth from the grave, and returned to His Father; before God had shown us how much He loved us by all this plenitude of grace, the commandment had been uttered, "You shall love the Lord
Your God with all Your heart, and with all Your soul and with all Your might," 73 that is, with all Your being, all Your knowledge, all Your powers. And it was not unjust for God to claim this from His own work and gifts. Why should not the creature love his Creator, who gave him the power to love? Why should he not love Him with all his being, since it is by His gift alone that he can do anything that is good? It was God's creative grace that out of nothingness raised us to the dignity of manhood; and from this appears our duty to love Him, and the justice of His claim to that love. But how
"Phil 3:20ff.; Rom 8:18; 1 Cor 4:17ff.
™Ps 116:12.
Dt 6:5.
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SAINT BERNARD OF
CLAIRVAUX
infinitely is the benefit increased when we bethink ourselves of His fulfillment of the promise, "you, Lord, shall save both man and beast: how excellent is your mercy, O Lord!" For we, who "turned our glory into the similitude of a calf that eats hay," by our evil deeds debased ourselves so that we might be compared unto the beasts that perish. I owe all that I am to Him who made me: but how can I pay my debt to Him who redeemed me, and in such wondrous wise?
Creation was not so vast a work as redemption; for it is written of man and of all things that were made, "He spoke the word, and they were made.""" But to redeem that creation which sprang into being at His word, how much He spoke, what wonders He wrought, what hardships He endured, what shames He suffered! Therefore what reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits which He has done unto me? In the first creation He gave me myself; but in His new creation He gave me Himself, and by that gift restored to me the self that I had lost. Created first and then restored, | owe Him myself twice over in return for myself.
But what have I to offer Him for the gift of Himself? Could I multiply myself a thousandfold and then give Him all, what would that be in comparison with God?
"Ps 36:6ff.
Ps 106:20.
Ps 14835.
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OUN® "LtGiV il NEG (GkOlD Chapter VI
A BRIEF SUMMARY
Admit that God deserves to be loved very much, yea, boundlessly, because He loved us first, He infinite and we nothing, loved us, miserable sinners, with a love so great and so free. This is why I said at the beginning that the measure of our love to God is to love immeasurably. For since our love is toward God, who is infinite and immeasurable, how can we bound or limit the love we owe Him? Besides, our love is not a gift but a debt.
And since it is the Godhead who loves us, Himself boundless, eternal, supreme love, of whose greatness there is no end, yes, and His wisdom is infinite, whose peace passes all understanding; since it is He who loves us, I say, can we think of repaying
Him grudgingly? "TI will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust.""" He is all that I need, all that I long for. My God and my help, I will love You for Your great goodness; not so much as I might, surely, but as much as I can.
I cannot love You as You deserve to be loved, for I cannot love You more than my own feebleness permits. I will love You more when You deem me worthy to receive greater capacity for loving; yet never so perfectly as You have deserved of me. "Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in Your book all my members were written."" Yet You record in that book all who do what they can, even though they cannot do what they ought. Surely I have said enough to show how God should be loved and why. But who has felt, who can know, who express, how much we should love Him.
7Ps 18:1 ff.
™Ps 139:16.
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