The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Letter 391
To the English People
1. I address myself to you, the people of England, in the cause of Christ, in whom lies your salvation. I say this so that the warrant of the Lord and my zeal in his interests may excuse my hardihood in addressing you. I am a person of small account, but my desire for you in Christ is not small. This is my reason and motive for writing, this is why I make bold to address you all by letter. I would have preferred to do so by word of mouth had I but the strength to come to you as I desire.
2. Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of abundant salvation. The earth is shaken because the Lord of heaven is losing his land, the land in which he appeared to men, in which he lived amongst men for more than thirty years; the land made glorious by his miracles, holy by his blood; the land in which the flowers of his resurrection first blossomed. And now, for our sins, the enemy of the Cross has begun to lift his sacrilegious head there, and to devastate with the sword that blessed land, that land of promise. Alas, if there should be none to withstand him, he will soon invade the very city of the living God, overturn the arsenal of our redemption, and defile the holy places which have been adorned by the blood of the immaculate lamb. They have cast their greedy eyes especially on the holy sanctuaries of our Christian Religion, and they long particularly to violate that couch on which, for our sakes, the Lord of our life fell asleep in death.
3. What are you doing, you mighty men of valor? What are you doing, you servants of the Cross? Will you thus cast holy things to dogs, pearls before swine? How great a number of sinners have here confessed with tears and obtained pardon for their sins since the time when these holy precincts were cleansed of pagan filth by the swords of our fathers! The evil one sees this and is enraged, he gnashes his teeth and withers away in fury. He stirs up his vessels of wrath so that if they do but once lay hands upon these holy places there shall be no sign or trace of piety left. Such a catastrophe would be a source of appalling grief for all time, but it would also be a source of confusion and endless shame for our generation. What think you, my brethren ? Is the hand of the Lord shortened and is he now powerless to work salvation, so that he must call upon us, petty worms of the earth, to save and restore to him his heritage? Could he not send more than twelve legions of angels, or even just say the word and save his land? Most certainly he has the power to do this whenever he wishes, but I tell you that God is trying you. (He looks down from heaven at the race of men, to find one soul that reflects, and makes God its aim’, one soul that sorrows for him. For God has pity on his people and on those who have grievously fallen away and has prepared for them a means of salvation. Consider with what care he plans our salvation, and be amazed. Look, sinners, at the depths of his pity, and take courage. He does not want your death but rather that you should turn to him and live. So he seeks not to overthrow you but to help you. When Almighty God so treats murderers, thieves, adulterers, perjurers, and such like, as persons able to find righteousness in his service, what is it but an act of exquisite courtesy all God’s own? Do not hesitate. God is good, and were he intent on your punishment he would not have asked of you this present service or indeed have accepted it even had you offered it. Again I say consider the Almighty’s goodness and pay heed to his plans of mercy. He puts himself under obligation to you, or rather feigns to do so, so that he can help you to satisfy your obligations towards himself. He puts himself in your debt so that, in return for your taking up arms in his cause, he can reward you with pardon for your sins and everlasting glory. I call blessed the generation that can seize an opportunity of such rich indulgence as this, blessed to be alive in this year of jubilee this year of Gods choice. The blessing is spread throughout the whole world, and all the world is flocking to receive this badge of immortality.
4. Your land is well known to be rich in young and vigorous men. The world is fall of their praises, and the renown of their courage is on the lips of all. Gird yourselves therefore like men and take up arms with joy and with zeal for your Christian name, in order to “take vengeance on the heathen, and curb the nations.” How long will your men continue to shed Christian blood; how long will they continue to fight among themselves? You attack each other, you slay each other and by each other you are slain. What is this savage craving of yours? Put a stop to it now, for it is not fighting but foolery. Thus to risk both soul and body is not brave but shocking is not strength but folly. But now, O mighty soldiers, men of war, you have a cause for which you can fight without danger to your souls; a cause in which to conquer is glorious and for which to die is gain.
5. But to those of you who are merchants, men quick to seek a bargain, let me point out the advantages of this great opportunity Do not miss them. Take up the sign of the Cross and you will find indulgence for all the sins which you humbly confess. The cost is small the reward is great. Venture with devotion and the gain will be God s kingdom. They do well therefore who have taken up this heavenly sign, and they also will do well, and profit themselves, who hasten to take up what will prove to be for them a sign of salvation.
6. For the rest, not I but the Apostle warns you, brethren, not to believe every spirit. I have heard with great joy of the zeal for God’s glory which bums m your midst, but your zeal needs the timely restraint of knowledge. The Jews are not to be persecuted, killed or even put to flight. Ask anyone who knows the Sacred Scriptures what he finds foretold of the Jews in the psalm. “Not for their destruction do I pray,” it says. The Jews are for us the living words of Scripture, for they remind us always of what our Lord suffered. They are dispersed all over the world so that by expiating their crime they may be everywhere the living witnesses of our redemption. Hence the same psalm adds, “only let thy power disperse them.” And so it is: dispersed they are. Under Christian princes they endure a hard captivity, but “they only wait for the time of their deliverance.” Finally we are told by the Apostle that when the time is ripe all Israel shall be saved. But those who die before will remain in death. I will not mention those Christian money lenders, if they can be called Christian, who, where there are no Jews, act, I grieve to say, in a manner worse than any Jew. If the Jews were utterly wiped out, what will become of our hope for their promised salvation, their eventual conversion? If the pagans were similarly subjugated to us then, in my opinion, we should wait for them rather than seek them out with swords. But as they have now begun to attack us, it is necessary for those of us who do not carry a sword in vain to repel them with force. It is an act of Christian piety both “to vanquish the proud” and also “to spare the subjected,” especially those for whom we have a law and a promise, and whose flesh was shared by Christ whose name is forever blessed.
Letter 393
To Henry, Archbishop of Mainz
To the venerable lord and most dear father Henry, Archbishop of Mainz, that he may find favor before God, from Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux.
1. I received your kind letter with due respect, but my answer must be brief because of the press of business. By revealing to me your troubles you have given me a sure sign and pledge of your affection and, what is more, a mark of your humility. Who am I, or what is my father’s house, that I should have referred to me a case of contempt for an archbishop and of damage to his metropolitan see? “I am no better than a child that has no skill to find its way back and forth.” Yet ignorant though I be, I am not unmindful of those words of the Most High: “It must needs be that scandals come, but nevertheless woe to that man through whom the scandal cometh.” The fellow you mention in your letter [a monk named Raoul, who had urged violence against Jews as the Second Crusade was being organized] has received no authority from men or through men, nor has he been sent by God. If he makes himself out to be a monk or a hermit, and on that score claims liberty to preach and the duty of doing so, he can and should know that the duty of a monk is not to preach but to pray. He ought to be a man for whom towns are a prison and the wilderness a paradise, but instead of that he finds towns a paradise and the wilderness a prison. A fellow without sense and void of all modesty! A fellow whose foolishness has been set up on a candlestick for all the world to see!
2. I find three things most reprehensible in him: unauthorized preaching, contempt for episcopal authority, and incitation to murder. A new power forsooth! Does he consider himself greater than our father Abraham who laid down his sword at the bidding of him by whose command he took it up? Does he consider himself greater than the Prince of the Apostles who asked the Lord: “Shall we strike with our swords?” He is a fellow full of the wisdom of Egypt which is, as we know, foolishness in the sight of God. He is a fellow who answers Peter’s question differently to the Lord who said: “Put back thy sword into its place; all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.” Is it not a far better triumph for the Church to convince and convert the Jews than to put them all to the sword? Has that prayer which the Church offers for the Jews, from the rising up of the sun to the going down thereof; that the veil may be taken from their hearts so that they may be led from the darkness of error into the light of truth, been instituted in vain? If she did not hope that they would believe and be converted, it would seem useless and vain for her to pray for them. But with the eye of mercy she considers how the Lord regards with favor him who renders good for evil and love for hatred. Otherwise where does that saying come in, “Not for their destruction I pray,” and “When the fullness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then all Israel will be saved,” and “The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem, calling the banished sons of Israel home”? Who is this man that he should make out the Prophet to be a liar and render void the treasures of Christ’s love and pity? This doctrine is not his own but his father’s. But I believe it is good enough for him, since he is like his father who was, we know, “from the first a murderer, a liar, and the father of lies.” What horrid learning, what hellish wisdom is his! A learning and wisdom contrary to the prophets, hostile to the apostles, and subversive of piety and grace. It is a foul Heresy, a sacrilegious prostitution “pregnant with malice, that has conceived only spite, and given birth only to shame”! I should like to say more, but I must forbear. To sum up briefly what I feel about this fellow: He is a man with a great opinion of himself and full of arrogance. He shows by his works and teaching that he would like to make a great name for himself amongst the great of the earth, but that he has not the wherewithal to achieve this.
Source. Archive.org – Translated by Bruno Scott James. The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. London: Burns Oates, 1953.
Commentary on the Song of Songs By Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
SERMON 11 THANKSGIVING FOR CHRIST’S SAVING WORK
2. And for that reason my advice to you, my friends, is to turn aside occasionally
from troubled and anxious pondering on the paths you may be treading, and to
travel on smoother ways where the gifts of God are serenely savored, so that the
thought of him may give breathing space to you whose consciences are
perplexed. I should like you to experience for yourselves the truth of the holy
Prophet’s words: “Make the Lord your joy and he will give you what your heart
desires.” Sorrow for sin is indeed necessary, but it should not be an endless
preoccupation. You must dwell also on the glad remembrance of God’s lovingkindness, otherwise sadness will harden the heart and lead it more deeply into
despair. Let us mix honey with our absinthe, it is more easily drunk when
sweetened, and what bitterness it may still retain will be wholesome. You must fix
your attention on the ways of God, see how he mitigates the bitterness of the
heart that is crushed, how he wins back the pusillanimous soul from the abyss of
despair, how he consoles the grief-stricken and strengthens the wavering with
the sweet caress of his faithful promise. By the mouth of the Prophet he declares:
“For my praise I will bridle you, lest you should perish.” By this he seems to say:
“Lest you should be cast down by excessive sadness at the sight of your sins,
and rush despairingly to perdition like an unbridled horse over a precipice, I shall
rein you in, I shall curb you with my mercy and set you on your feet with my
praises. Then you will breathe freely again in the enjoyment of my benefits,
overwhelmed though you be by evils of your own making, because you will find
that my kindness is greater than your culpability.” If Cain had been curbed by this
kind of bridle he would never have uttered that despairing cry: “My iniquity is
greater than that I may deserve pardon.” God forbid! God forbid! His loving mercy
is greater than all iniquity. Hence the just man is not always accusing himself, he
does so only in the opening words of his intercourse with God; he will normally
conclude that intercourse with the divine praises. You can see therefore that the
order of the just man’s progress is expressed in the words: “After reflecting on my
behavior, I turn my feet to your decrees,” that is, he who has endured grief and
unhappiness in following his own ways can finally say: “In the way of your
decrees lies my joy, a joy beyond all wealth.” Therefore, if you are to follow the
just man’s example, if you are to form a humble opinion of yourselves, you must
think of the Lord with goodness. So you are told in the Book of Wisdom: “Think of
the Lord with goodness, seek him in simplicity of heart.” You will all the more
easily achieve this if you let your minds dwell frequently, even continually, on the
memory of God’s bountifulness. Otherwise, how will you fulfill St Paul’s advice:
“In all things give thanks to God,” if your hearts will have lost sight of those things
for which thanks are due? I would not have you bear the reproach flung at the
Jews of old, who, according to Scripture, “had forgotten his achievements, the
marvels he had shown them.”
SERMON 14 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST AND THE Jews
1. “God is renowned in Judah, his name is great in Israel.” The pagan people who
walked in darkness have seen a great light, a light that shone in Judah and
Israel, and filled them with longing to draw near and be enlightened. Those who
once were not a people at all would now be formed into a people, and the two,
converging like walls, would be joined as one by the one corner-stone. This
union’s fruit is peace. For confidence was imparted in the very utterance of the
invitation already proclaimed: “Rejoice, pagans, with his people.” Hence their
desire to draw near; but the synagogue stood in their way, insisting that a church
gathered from among the pagans would be both unclean and unworthy, taunting
them as idolaters of the lowest type, blinded by the darkness of ignorance. “By
what right do you come here?” the Jews challenged. “Do not touch me.” “Why?”
asked the pagans. “Is God the God of the Jews alone and not of the pagans too?
And though it be true that we have no right, he is not lacking in tender mercy.
Surely he is not merely just? He must be merciful too. O Lord, deal with me
tenderly and I shall live; your mercies are manifold; give me life according to that
justice of yours that can be gentle as mercy itself.” What will the just and merciful
Lord do when he discovers the Jews boasting of the law and flattering
themselves on their own righteousness, blind to their need for mercy and
scorning the pagans who feel that need? The pagans on the other hand, in their
consciousness of sin, admit their unworthiness, and implore mercy rather than
judgment. What, I ask, will the judge do, that judge in whom judgment and mercy
are so equally immanent that neither precedes the other? What can be more
fitting than that he should deal with each according to their dispositions, judgment
for the one, mercy for the other? If the Jew wants judgment, let him have it; and
let the pagans give due honor to God for his mercy. And the judgment is this, that
those who despise God’s loving righteousness and make self-righteousness their
norm, merit censure rather than approval; left to their own righteousness they are
fettered, not liberated.
2. The Jews‘ position is a consequence of the law, which has never led anyone to
perfection; it is a burden which neither they nor their ancestors were strong
enough to support. But the synagogue is stubborn, and looks with disdain on the
easy yoke and the light burden. It is in good health, it has no need of a doctor, of
the grace of the Spirit. It puts its trust in the law: let the law give it what freedom it
can. But no law has yet been made that could impart life; rather does it kill, for
the written letters bring death. Hence the words of Christ: “I have told you
already, you will die in your sins.” And this, O synagogue, is the judgment you
have demanded. Blind and quarrelsome, you will be abandoned to your error
until the whole pagan world that your pride has spurned and your envy
obstructed, shall have entered the fold and bowed to the God who is renowned in
Judah, whose name is great in Israel. It is for judgment that he has come into this
world, so that those without sight may see and those with sight turn blind. Yet this
will not be total blindness, for the Lord will not entirely reject his people, but will
reserve for himself survivors such as the Apostles and the multitude of believers
who in heart and mind are one. He will not cast them off forever, a remnant will
be saved. Mindful of his mercy he will come again to the aid of Israel his servant,
so that mercy may still accompany judgment even where it finds no occasion for
exercise. For if the Jews were dealt with according to their deserts there would
be judgment without mercy to those who had not themselves been merciful.
Judah possesses in abundance the oil of the knowledge of God, but like a miser
keeps it bottled up for his own benefit. Though I intercede with him he shows no
compassion, he will not lend. For himself alone the worship of God, for himself
alone the knowledge of God, the custody of God’s great name. Far from being
zealous for his own welfare, he is jealous of me.
3. You therefore, since you are my Lord, must take up my cause, that your great
name may be still more glorious, the jars of oil be multiplied still. Let it increase,
let it brim over, let it be poured out and diffused in rivulets among the pagans,
that every man may experience the salvation of God. Why should the ingrate Jew
demand that all the oil of salvation be confined to the beard of Aaron? The
source of this oil is not the beard but the head, and the head exists not merely for
the beard but for the whole body. The downward flow touches first the beard but
not exclusively. For all that comes from above is transmitted to the members
further down. Let them descend then, these supernal unguents, down upon the
breasts of the Church, who with great eagerness does not disdain to wring them
from the beard till she is totally bedewed with grace. Nor does she prove
ungrateful, for she proclaims: “your name is oil poured out.” But let it run still
further down till it reaches the very hem of her garment, even me the last of all
and the least worthy, yet a part, nevertheless; of that garment. For I, a little one
in: Christ, by the very right of love crave these graces from the Church’s maternal
breasts. And if some man, roused to envy at the sight of your goodness, should
grumble at your generosity, you, O Lord, must be my security; from you let my
judgment come, not from the haughty Israel. Indeed you must speak too in your
own defense and tell the calumniator — because you are calumniated for
bestowing gifts gratuitously — tell him: “I choose to pay the last-comer as much
as I pay you.” The Pharisee objects to this. Why does he grumble? My claim
rests on the will of the judge, the most just assessment of merit that there is, and
the richest source of reward. Is he not free to act according to his will? The mercy
that he bestows on me does not injure you in the slightest. “Take what belongs to
you and go.” If it be his will to save such as I, what loss is that to you?
4. Over-rate your merits as you please, and boast of your labors — the mercy of
the Lord is better than life itself. I confess that I have not borne the burden of the
day and the heat; it is the will of the Father that my yoke should be easy and my
burden light. I work for scarcely an hour; and if longer, I do not notice it because
of love. Let the Jew rely on his own strength; I am free to discover the will of God
and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do.
This is how I make good what I lose in time and work. The Jew places his trust in
the text of a covenant, I in God’s good pleasure; nor shall my trust be reputed as
folly, because his will is a spring of life. That will reconciles the Father to me,
restores my inheritance with immense liberality, with music, songs and feasting,
with the resounding joys of a whole family in celebration. If that elder brother of
mine becomes indignant and chooses to eat a kid outside with his friends rather
than the fatted calf in my company in my Father’s house, he shall have his
answer: “It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead,
and is alive; he was lost and is found.” The Jews still make merry outside with
their friends the demons, who are pleased to see them swallowing down the
insipid kid of their own sinfulness, to see them stowing it away, foolishly
concealing it in their sluggish stomach. Meantime they despise the justice of
God, and with the purpose of substituting their own, declare themselves free of
sin, free of the need to kill the fatted calf, because in their own eyes they are
made clean and just by the works of the law. But when the evil of the written
letter that brings death is torn in two at the death of the crucified Word, the
Church, led by the Spirit of liberty, daringly penetrates to his inmost depths,
acknowledges and takes delight in him, occupies the place of her rival to become
his bride, to enjoy the embraces of his newly-emptied arms. In the fire of her
spirit, clinging to the Lord Christ who distills and pours on her whole being the oil
of gladness in a measure not given to her companions, she says: “Your name is
oil poured out.” What wonder if she be anointed, since she embraces him who is
the Anointed One?
5. Therefore the Church reclines within, but only the Church of the perfect during
the present time. We too, however, have grounds for hope. Imperfect though we
be, let us rest outside the doors, rejoicing in hope. Meantime the bride and
Groom are within by themselves, enjoying the mystery of their mutual embraces,
safe from the jarring turmoil of carnal desires, from the restless intrusion of
sensible images. But the bevy of bridesmaids, who cannot as yet overcome the
giddiness of youth, must wait outside. Let them wait with confidence for the
fulfillment of those words they have so often read: “The virgins in her train are led
into the king, her ladies-in-waiting follow.” And that each may know of what spirit
she is, I mean by virgins those who committed themselves to Christ before they
could be stained by sinful love. Persevering steadily in this union, they are all the
more happy the earlier they made choice of him. Those called ladies-in-waiting,
however, are the ones who, once conformed to this world by shamefully
prostituting themselves on the full tide of carnal lust to the princes of this world,
whose law was lustful desire, are now at last filled with the shame that urges
them to rid themselves of that deformity and to hasten to put on the form of the
new man with a sincerity all the greater the more late the decision. Both classes
make progress, they grow neither weak nor weary, though still far from feeling
the urge to exclaim: “Your name is oil poured out.” Neither have they the courage
to address the Bridegroom directly. Yet if they make the effort to follow more
exactly the footsteps of the bride, they will find delight in the odor at least of the
overflowing oil, and so be inspired with the desire to strive for more excellent
ends.
6. I am not ashamed to admit that very often I myself, especially in the early days
of my conversion, experienced coldness and hardness of heart, while deep in my
being I sought for him whom I longed to love. I could not yet love him since I had
not yet really found him; at best my love was less than it should have been, and
for that very reason I sought to increase it, for I would not have sought him if I did
not already love him in some degree. I sought him therefore that in him my
numbed and languid spirit might find warmth and repose, for nowhere could I find
a friend to help me, whose love would thaw the wintry cold that chilled my inward
being, and bring back again the feeling of spring-like bliss and spiritual delight.
But my languor and weariness only increased, my soul melted away for sorrow,
even to the verge of despair. All I could do was repeat softly to myself: “Who can
stand before his cold?” Then, at times when I least expected, at the word or even
the sight of a good and holy man, at the memory of a dead or absent friend, he
set his wind blowing and the waters flowing, and my tears were my food day and
night. How can I explain this? Only by ascribing it to the odor from the oil that
anointed the friend in question. For me there was no anointing, but rather the
experience that came by another’s mediation. And so, though made happy by
this favor, I was also embarrassed and humiliated: it was a mere puff of
perfumed air, not the dewy sprinkling for which I longed. Given only the pleasure
of its odor and not of its touch, I saw myself as unworthy of him to whom God
himself would communicate his sweetest joys. And even now, if a similar
experience should happen to me, I eagerly grasp at the proffered gift, I am
grateful for it, even though I feel sad beyond words that I have not won it by my
own merits, that despite my urgent request it has not passed directly from his
hand to mine. I feel ashamed that the remembrance of human goodness should
affect me more powerfully than the thought of God. In these straits I cry out with
a groan: “When shall I come and behold the face of God?” Many of you too, I
feel, have had similar experiences, and have them even still. In what light then
must we view them? I hold that through them our pride is shown up, our humility
guarded, brotherly love fostered and good desires aroused. One and the same
food is medicine for the sick and nourishment for the convalescent; it gives
strength to the weak and pleasure to the strong. One and the same food cures
sickness, preserves health, builds up the body, titillates the palate.
7. But let us return to the words of the bride and listen attentively to what she
says, that we may learn to relish what she relishes. I have already said that the
bride is the Church. She it is to whom much has been forgiven because she
loves much. Hence, when her rival hurls recriminations at her, she turns them to
her own advantage. Hence too we find her more gentle under correction, more
patient under trial; hence the ardor in her love, the wisdom in her decisions; the
humility in her self-knowledge, the attractiveness in her modesty; she is prompt
to obey, sincere and thoughtful in offering thanks. Finally, while the Jews, as we
have said, murmur even when calling to mind their own merits, their endurance
through the burden of the day and the heat, the Church remembers only the
favor received and says: “Your name is oil poured out.”
8. This is plainly Israel‘s witness of praise to the name of the Lord, not indeed the
Israel that lives by the law of the flesh, but he that lives by the law of the Spirit.
For how could the carnal Israel utter such words? It is not that he has no oil, but
that it is not poured out. He has it but keeps it hidden; he has it in his Scriptures
but not in his heart. In the sight of men he clings to the letter of the law; he
clutches in his hand a jar that is full but sealed, nor will he open it and be
anointed. It is within you, deep within, that the Spirit’s unction is poured out: open
and be anointed and you will no longer be a rebellious house. Why store oil in
jars and never apply it to your limbs? Of what use to ponder over your books on
the name of our holy Savior if you exclude his love from your lives You have the
oil: pour it out and experience its threefold power. The Jew scorns these
monitions but you will listen to them. I wish now to tell you what I have so far left
unmentioned: why the name of the Bridegroom is compared to oil. There are
three reasons. But because he is called by many names, since that which is
adequate to him is known to none — for it is ineffable — we must first invoke the
Holy Spirit that he may be pleased to reveal to us that one name above all others
on which he wishes us to concentrate in this instance, for he has given no written
indication of it. This topic however must wait for another time. For even if I now
knew all I should need to know, even if you should not feel oppressed nor I
wearied, the hour-glass indicates the end. Hold fast to all that I have drawn to
your attention, for tomorrow I shall not repeat it. The job I have undertaken, the
task in hand, is to explain why the Bridegroom’s name is compared to oil, and
what this name is. And since I may not trust in my own powers for what I am to
say, prayers must be offered that the Bridegroom himself, Jesus Christ, our Lord,
may reveal it to us by his Spirit. To him all honor and glory for ever and ever.”
Amen.
SERMON 16 MEANING OF THE NUMBER ‘7′ AND THE QUALITIES OF TRUE CONFESSION
What then does that number seven mean? I wonder if anyone among us is so
ingenuous as to think that those yawnings of the boy were devoid of import, their
number fortuitous. I for one do not consider the Prophet’s actions meaningless
when he stretched himself on top of the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his
eyes to his eyes, and his hands on his hands. These deeds were done and
described under the Holy Spirit’s guidance chiefly for the instruction of people
who have succumbed to their own corrupt passions, who have been taught to
play the fool by the wisdom of this world. “For a perishable body presses down
the soul, and this tent of clay weighs down the teeming mind.” So no one should
be surprised or annoyed if I spend some time in minute scrutiny of these matters,
for in them the Holy Spirit has stored his treasures; I know that by these things
men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. And I must warn those present
whose agile minds outstrip my thoughts, and in every sermon anticipate the end
almost before they have grasped the beginning, that I am obliged to adapt myself
primarily to minds that are less keen. But my purpose is not so much to explain
words as to move hearts. I must both draw the water and offer it as a drink, a
work that I shall not accomplish by a spate of rapid comments but by careful
examination and frequent exhortation. I had indeed hoped that the discussion of
the mystical sense of our text would not have detained us so long. I actually
thought that one sermon would suffice, and that passing quickly through that
shadowy wood where allegories lurk unseen, we should arrive, after perhaps one
day’s journey, on the open plain of moral truths. We did not succeed. We have
already been two days traveling and the end has yet to be reached. Looking into
the distance a man can see the tops of trees and the mountain peaks; but his
eye cannot range over the great glens beneath them, nor pierce the pathless
thickets. For example, was it possible for me to have foreseen a reference to
Elisha’s miracle, that suddenly sprang to my mind as I discussed the call of the
pagans and the rejection of the Jews? And now that we have come upon it we
must linger over it for a while, and later return to what we have left aside, for that
too is food for our souls. Hunters and hounds sometimes abandon the quarry
they have raised, and pursue another unexpectedly encountered.
0 Wisdom, sweetly powerful and powerfully sweet, with what skill of healing in
wine and oil do you restore my soul’s health. Powerfully for me and sweet to me.
You deploy your strength from one end of the earth to the other, ordering all
things sweetly, driving off all hostile powers and cherishing the weak. Heal me,
Lord, and I shall really be healed, I shall sing praise to your name and cry out:
“Your name is oil poured out. Not wine poured out—for I do not wish to be put on
trial—but oil, for you crown me with love and tenderness. Oil by all means, for
since it floats above all other liquids with which it mixes, it clearly designates a
name that is above all names. Name utterly dear, utterly sweet! 0 Name
renowned, predestined, sublime and exalted above all forever. This is truly the oil
that makes a man’s face shine, that anoints the head of the man who fasts,
causing him to ignore the oil of sinners. This is the new Name which the mouth of
the Lord has conferred, the Name given by the angel before he was conceived in
the womb.” Not the Jews only, but all who call on that name will be saved, for it
has been poured out without limit. This was the Father’s gift to the Son, the
Church’s Bridegroom, our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever. Amen
SERMON 25 WHY THE BRIDE IS BLACK BUT BEAUTIFUL
9. Does it not seem to you, in accord with what has been said, that he could have
replied to the envious Jews: “I am black but beautiful, sons of Jerusalem”?
Obviously black, since he had neither beauty nor majesty; black because he was
“a worm and no man, scorned by men and despised by the people.” If he even
made himself into sin shall I shirk saying he was black? Look steadily at him in
his filth-covered cloak, livid from blows, smeared with spittle, pale as
death: surely then you must pronounce him black. But enquire also of the
apostles in what guise they found this same man on the mount, and ask the
angels to describe him on whom they long to gaze, and the beauty you discover
will compel your admiration. Beautiful in his own right, his blackness is because
of you. Even clad in my form, how beautiful you are, Lord Jesus! And not merely
because of the miracles of divine power that render you glorious, but because of
your truth and meekness and righteousness. Happy the man who, by attentive
study of your life as a man among men, strives according to his strength to live
like you. The Church in her loveliness has already received from you this blessed
gift, the first fruits of her dowry; she is not slow to pattern herself on what is
beautiful in you, nor ashamed to endure your ignominies. All this we must recall
when she says: “I am black but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem;” to which she
adds the comparison: “like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.” This
dictum is obscure however, and beyond the reach of those already wearied. But
it is a door on which you are given time to knock. Those who are sincere will
there encounter him whose light illumines mysteries; and he will open at once,
because he invites you to knock. He it is who opens and no man shuts, the
Church’s Bridegroom, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
SERMON 28 THE BLACKNESS AND BEAUTY OF THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE BRIDE
5. The hearing succeeded where the sight failed. Appearances deceived the eye,
but truth poured itself into the ear. The eye saw him to be weak, detestable,
wretched, a man condemned to a most shameful death; but to the ear the Son of
God revealed himself, to the ear he made known his beauty, but not to that of the
Jews whose ears were uncircumcised. There was a certain propriety in Peter’s
cutting off the servant’s ear, to open up a way for the truth, that the truth might
set him free, that is, make him a freedman. The centurion was uncircumcised,
but not where his ear was concerned, because at that one cry of a dying man he
recognized the Lord of majesty beneath all those signs of helplessness.
Therefore he did not despise what he saw, because he believed in what he did
not see. He did not believe, however, because of what he saw, but, without any
doubt, because of what he heard, because “faith comes from hearing.” It would
indeed have been a worthy thing if the truth had penetrated to the soul through
the windows of the eyes which are a nobler power; but this, O my soul, is
reserved for us till the life to come, when we shall see face to face. Meantime let
the remedy find entrance where the ancient malady stole a march on us; let life
follow the same pathway as death, light in the wake of darkness, the antidote of
truth after the poison of the serpent. And let it heal the troubled eye that it may
serenely contemplate him whom the sickly eye could not see. The ear was
death’s first gateway, let it be the first to open up to life; let the hearing restore
the vision it took from us. For unless we believe we shall not understand.
Therefore hearing is connected with merit, sight with the reward. Hence the
Prophet says: “You will give to my hearing joy and gladness,” for the beatific
vision is the reward of faithful hearing. We merit the beatific vision by our
constancy in listening. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
The eye that would see God must be cleansed by faith, as it is written: “He
cleansed their hearts by faith.”
V. 11. Here, then, we must pay tribute to the prudence of the bride, and the
profound wisdom of her words. She sought her God under the image of the
curtains of Solomon, that is, in the flesh. She sought life in death, the summit of
glory and honor in the midst of shame, the whiteness of innocence and the
splendor of the virtues under the dark vesture of the Crucified. Those curtains,
black and despicable as they were, contained beneath them Jewels more
precious and more brilliant than a king’s riches. How right not to have been put
off by the blackness in the curtains, when she glimpsed the beauty beneath
them. But many were put off by it, because they failed to glimpse the beauty. “For
if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Herod did not
know, and therefore he despised him. The synagogue did not know, hence it
taunted him with the dark weakness of his Passion: “He saved others; he cannot
save himself. He is the king of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and
we will believe in him.” But the thief, though on the cross, recognized him from
the cross, and proclaimed his total innocence: “What evil has this man done?” he
asked. In the same moment he bore witness to his kingly majesty, saying:
“Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The centurion knew him,
and called him the Son of God. The Church recognizes him, and strives to imitate
his blackness that she may participate in his beauty. She is not ashamed to be
seen as black, to be called black, for she can then say to her beloved: “The
insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” But make sure the blackness
is that of Solomon’s curtains, on the outside and not within, for my Solomon
bears no blackness within. Nor does she say: “I am black like Solomon,” but “as
the curtains of Solomon,” for the blackness of the true Peaceful One is merely
external. The blackness of sin is within; sin defiles the interior before it becomes
visible to the eyes. “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, theft, murder, adultery,
fornication, blasphemy, and these are what defile a man;” but this cannot apply to
Solomon. You will never find these kinds of defilement in the true Peaceful One.
For he who takes away the sins of the world has to be without sin; if he is to be
found fit to reconcile sinners he must duly vindicate for himself the name of
Solomon.
SERMON 29 ON DISCORD IN THE CHURCH AND IN COMMUNITIES
“My mother’s sons turned their anger to me.” Annas and Caiaphas, and Judas
Iscariot, were sons of the synagogue; and from the Church’s very origin these
fought with great bitterness against her, daughter of the synagogue though she
was, and hanged Jesus, her Founder, on a tree. In that moment God fulfilled
through their agency what he had formerly foretold through the Prophet: “I will
strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” And perhaps it
is the voice of that Church we hear in the song of Hezekiah: “My life is cut off, as
by a weaver; while I was yet but beginning he cut me off.” It is about these and
others of that same race who are known to have opposed the Christian name,
that the bride complains when she says: “My mother’s sons turned their anger on
me.” Well did she call them sons of her mother and not of her father, for they did
not have God for their father but the devil; they were murderers, just as he was a
murderer from the beginning. Hence she does not say: “my brother,” or “the sons
of my father,” but: “My mother’s sons turned their anger on me.” If she had failed
to make this distinction, even the Apostle Paul would seem to be included among
those of whom she complains, for he once persecuted the Church of God. But
because while living as an unbeliever he had acted in ignorance, he received the
grace of mercy; and so he exemplified that he had God for father, that he was a
brother of the Church both on his Father’s side and on his mother’s side.
Source. Archive.org – Translated by Kilian Walsh. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs. Liturgical Press, 1971.
Apologia for the Second Crusade
I remember, most Holy Father Eugene, My promises [to complete the treatise De Consideratione] made to you long ago, and at long last I shall acquit myself. The delay, were I aware that it proceeded from carelessness or contempt, should cause me shame. It is not thus, however. As you know, we have fallen upon grave times, which seemed about to bring to an end not only my studies but my very life, for the Lord, provoked by our sins, gave the appearance of having judged the world prematurely, [1Cor: 4:5] with justice, indeed, but forgetful of his mercy.” He spared neither his people nor his name. Do not the heathen say: “Where is their God?” Nor do I wonder, for the sons of the Church, those who bear the label, “Christian,” have been laid low in the desert and have either been slain by the sword or consumed by famine….
We said “Peace, and there is no peace”; we promised good things, “and behold, trouble.”,’ It might seem, in fact, that we acted rashly in this affair [i.e. The Second Crusade] or had “used lightness.[2 Cor 1:17] But, “I did not run my course like a man in doubt of his goal,” [1 Cor 9:26] for I acted on your orders, or rather on God’s orders given through you. . . . The judgments of the Lord are true indeed. Who does not know that? This judgment, however, “is a great deep,” [Ps. 32:7] so much so, that it seems to me not unwarranted to call him blessed who is not scandalized thereat. “
How, then, does human rashness dare reprove what it can scarcely understand? Let us put down some judgments from on high, which are “from everlasting, ” for there may, perhaps, be consolation in them. . . . I speak of a matter which is unknown to no one, but of which no one now seems to be aware. Such is the human heart, indeed, that what we know when we need it not, is lost to us when it is required.
When Moses was going to lead the people out of the land of Egypt, he promised them a better land. Otherwise, would that people, who knew only earthly things, ever have followed him? He led them away-but he did not lead them into the land which he had promised them. The sad and unexpected outcome, however, cannot be laid to the rashness of the leader, for he did everything at the Lord’s command, with “the Lord aiding them and attesting his word by the miracles that went with them.” [Mark 16:20] But, you may say, they were a stiff-necked race ’20 forever contending against the Lord and Moses his servant. Very well, they were rebellious and unbelieving; but what about these other people? [i.e. The Crusaders] Ask them. Why should it be my task to speak of what they have done? One thing I shall say: How could they make progress when they were always looking backward as they walked? Was there a time in the whole journey when they were not in their hearts returning to Egypt? But if the Jews were vanquished and “perished because their iniquity,” is it any wonder that those who did likewise suffered a similar fate? Would anyone say that the fate of the former was contrary to God’s promise? Neither, therefore, was the fate of the latter….
These few things have been said by way of apology, so that your conscience may have something from me, whereby you can hold yourself and me excused, if not in the eyes of those who judge causes from their results, then at least in your own eyes. The perfect and final apology for any man is the testimony of his own conscience. As for myself, I take it to be a small matter to be judged by those “who call evil good, and good evil, whose darkness is light, whose light darkness.” [Is. 5:20]
If one or the other must be done, I would rather that men murmur against us than against God. It would be well for me if he deigns to use me for his shield. . . . I shall not refuse to be made ignominious, so long as God’s glory is not attacked.
Source. Internet Medieval Sourcebook – De Consideratione Libri Quinque, II, 1., in Patrologia Latina 182,: 741-45, translated by James Brundage, The Crusades: A Documentary History, (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1962), 115-121.
SERMON XIII FOR THE ADVENT SEASON (II. For the Eve of the Nativity)
1. I am addressing those who are truly Jews, not in the letter, but in the spirit: the seed of Abraham, which is multiplied according to the promise that we read was made to him. For not the children of the flesh, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed, (Rom. 9:8). Similarly, I do not speak here of that Jerusalem which killed the Prophets. How, in fact could I be able to console her, over whom the Lord wept (Luke 19:41) and which has been given over to destruction? But I speak of that new Jerusalem, which descends from heaven. Fear not, O Judah and Jerusalem (II Chron. 20:17)! No, fear not at all, ye who are true confessors, who confess the Lord not only with your mouth, but with your whole being: who are clad with that confession as with a robe, yes, your whole inward natures confess the Lord, whose very bones say: Lord, who is like unto Thee (Ps. 35:10; D. 34:10), not like those who profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him (Titus 1:16). You confess Him truly, my brethren, if all your works are His works and confess Him. Let them confess Him in two ways, let them be clad, as it were in a double robe of confession, that is, of your own sins, and of the praise of God. For then you shall be true Jews [= confessors of Jehovah, Rev. 2:9] if your whole lives confess that you are sinners, and deserving of the greatest punishments: and that God is supremely good, who foregoes the eternal penalties which you have deserved, for these slight and transitory pains. For whosoever does not ardently desire penitence, seems to say by his actions, that he has no need of it, and thus does not confess his fault: or that penitence is of no service to him, and thus does not confess the Divine goodness. Do you then be true Jews and a true Jerusalem, that you may fear nothing. For Jerusalem is the Vision of peace; the Vision of it, not the possession; on whose borders the Lord hath established peace: but not at the setting out, nor at the midway thither. If then you have not perfect peace, which indeed you are not able to have in this world, at least behold it, look forward to it, meditate upon it and desire it. Fix upon 145it in the eyes of your mind, let your intention direct itself towards peace, do all your actions with a view to attain that peace which passeth all understanding (Phil. 4:7) and in all you do propose to yourself no other end, than to be reconciled with God and have peace with Him.
Source. Elfinspell – From No Uncertain Sound, Sermons that Shaped the Pulpit Tradition, Edited, with an Introduction, by Ray C. Petry, Professor of Church History, Duke University, Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1948; pp. 143-167.
From “IN DIE SANCTO PASCHÆ” (On the Holy Day of Easter) – Sermon on the Seven Seals the Lamb Opens:
Section 1: “The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered (Rev. 5:5). He has indeed conquered malice with wisdom, reaching from end to end mightily and ordering all things sweetly: but mightily for me, sweetly to me. He conquered the blasphemies of the Jews on the cross, bound the strong armed man in his court, and triumphed over the very empire of death. Where now are your reproaches, O Judea? Where are they, O Devil, the vessels of your captivity? Where, O death, is your victory? The slanderer is confounded, the robber is despoiled. A new kind of power! Death, hitherto victorious, is stupefied. What about you, O Judea, who the day before the cross were wagging your sacrilegious head? Why were you harassing with reproaches the true head of man, Christ? ‘Let Christ the King of Israel,’ they say, ‘descend from the cross’ (Mark 15:32). O venomous tongue, word of malice, wicked speech! This is not what you were saying a little before, Caiaphas: ‘It is expedient that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish’ (John 11:50). But that, because it was not a lie, you were not speaking from yourself, you were not saying it of your own accord. ‘If he is the King of Israel, let him descend from the cross’ (Matt. 27:42)—this is plainly yours; or rather his who is a liar from the beginning. For what logic does it seem to have that he should descend if he is king, and not rather ascend? Have you not remembered, ancient serpent, how confounded you departed long ago, when you presumed to say: ‘Cast yourself down’; and: ‘All these things I will give you, if falling down you will adore me’? (Matt. 4:6, 9). Thus it has escaped you, O Judea, that you heard that ‘the Lord reigned from the tree,’ so that you deny he is king because he remains on the tree? But perhaps you have not even heard [or read] that this announcement was owed not to the Jews, but to the nations. It says: ‘Say among the nations that the Lord has reigned from the tree’ (Ps. 95:10).”
Section 2: “Therefore the Gentile governor rightly inscribed the title of kingship on the wood, nor could the Jew, as he wished, corrupt the inscription of the title, much less impede the Lord’s passion and our redemption. ‘Let him descend,’ they say, ‘if he is the King of Israel.’ Rather, because he is the King of Israel, let him not abandon the title of kingship, let him not lay down the rod of command, whose command is indeed upon his shoulder, as Isaiah foretold (Isa. 9:6). ‘Do not write,’ the Jews say to Pilate, ‘do not write: King of the Jews; but, that he himself said, I am King of the Jews‘; and Pilate: ‘What I have written, I have written’ (John 19:19-22). If Pilate [stands by] what he wrote, will Christ not complete what he began? For he himself began, and he will save us. But they say: ‘He saved others, himself he cannot save’ (Matt. 27:42). Rather, if he descends, he will save no one. For since no one can be saved unless he perseveres to the end, how much less can he be the Savior? Therefore he saves [or saved] others: for he, being salvation itself, has no need of salvation. He works our salvation, and does not allow the tail to be missing from the evening sacrifice of the saving victim. He knows, O wicked one, what you are thinking. He will not give you an occasion to steal perseverance from us, which alone is crowned. He will not silence the tongues of preachers, of those consoling the fainthearted and saying to each one: ‘Do not abandon your post’; which would undoubtedly follow if they could respond that Christ abandoned his. For the senses of man and his thoughts are prone to evil. In vain, malicious one, you have prepared your arrows in your quiver; and you heap up the sighs of the disciples with the reproaches of the Jews. For they despair, these reproach: but neither weapon will harm Christ. He chose one time for strengthening the disciples, and another for refuting adversaries.”
Section 3: “Therefore what is he scheming, or for whom is the chameleon preparing snares? Surely for him in whom the enemy will gain nothing, and the son of iniquity will not add to harm him. He is not moved by vain promises, who knows all hearts, just as the most gentle of all was not moved by blasphemous reproach. For the malicious persuasion tended not that they themselves should believe, but that our faith in him, if there was any, should utterly perish. For reading that ‘the works of God are perfect’ (Deut. 32:4), when would we confess as God one who left the work of salvation unfinished? But let us hear what Christ responds to these things through the prophet: ‘Do you seek signs, O Judea? Wait for me in the day of my resurrection’ (Zeph. 3:8). If you wish to believe, I have already shown you greater works. I multiplied signs, I performed healings yesterday and the day before: today I must rather be consummated. Was it not greater, what you saw—evil spirits going out from possessed bodies, and paralytics leaping up from their beds—than nails jumping back from my hands or feet which you fixed? But it is the time for suffering, not for doing; and just as you tried in vain to forestall the hour of passion, so neither will you be able to impede it.”
Section 12: “What then will you do? He both predicted it, and now he has come back to life. Carefully examine the seal of the tomb, for it has been opened. The sign of Jonah the prophet is given to you, because he himself also predicted. Jonah comes out from the belly of the whale; Christ proceeds from the heart of the earth on the third day. Except that manifestly here is more than Jonah (Matt. 12:39-41), who manfully brought himself out even from the womb of death itself. Therefore the men of Nineveh will rise up against you in judgment; therefore they themselves will be your judges, because they obeyed the prophet, but you did not obey even the Lord of the prophets.”
Section 13: “Where is what you were saying: ‘Let him descend from the cross, and we will believe in him’? (Matt. 27:42). You wished to break the seal of the cross, promising that you would enter into faith. Behold, it is opened, not broken: enter in. Otherwise, if you do not believe in him rising, surely neither would you have believed in him descending. If the cross of Christ scandalized you thus—for the word of the cross is indeed a scandal to the Jews, says the Apostle (1 Cor. 1:23)—let at least the newness of the resurrection rouse you. We have found glory in the cross. To us who are saved, it is the power of God, and, as we have shown, the fullness of all virtues. Let there be a part for you at least in the resurrection. But perhaps even that, indeed much more that, scandalizes you, and the odor that is life to us unto life, to you is the odor of death unto death. Why then do we persist? The elder brother does not endure hearing the symphony and chorus, he is indignant that the fatted calf has been killed for us. He stands outside, utterly refuses to enter (Luke 15:28). Let us enter, brothers, and feast on the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth; for indeed Christ our Passover has been sacrificed (1 Cor. 5:7).”
Source. Patrologia Latina – Translated by Claude.AI. Bernard, IN DIE SANCTO PASCHÆ, Migne, PL 183. 1862.