St. Bernard: Proclaimer of the Good News

-
At a young age, St. Bernard was appointed abbot of the Cistercian Monastery of Clairvaux, and thus began exercising his enormous influence over Christendom. Even into the modern age, the works of St. Bernard remain a prime example of what it means to strive toward holiness. Because of his reputation, the abbot had been popularly proclaimed a Doctor of the Church since his death in A.D. 1153. Pope Pius VIII made those popular and historical sentiments official in A.D. 1830.

At the center of all of the wonderful stories that recount St. Bernard's life, and all of his poignant teachings are two things: humility and an intense desire to be united with God in pure Love. The following passage, then, illustrates this point most appropriately. In his treatise, On Loving God, the monk wrote:

"Admit that God deserves to be loved very much, yea, boundlessly, because He loved us first, He infinite and we nothing, love 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, yea, and His wisdom is infinite, whose peace passeth all understanding; since it is He who loves us, I say, can we think of repaying Him grudgingly? 'I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I trust' (Psalm 18:1). He is all that I need, all that I long for. My God and my help, I will love Thee for Thy great goodness; not so much as I might, surely, but as much as I can. I cannot love Thee as Thou deservest to be loved, for I cannot love Thee more than my own feebleness permits. I will love Thee more when Thou deemest me worthy to receive greater capacity for loving; yet never so perfectly as Thou hast deserved of me. 'Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written' (Psalm 139:16). Yet Thou recordest 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" (Chapter VI).

The great Doctor's words were meant to remind readers that we must always strive to love God more perfectly, despite the fact that we can never love Him as much as He deserves (at least not this side of Heaven). Because He created us and sustains our life, God deserves our immeasurable love for our whole life.

In conclusion, let us pray with the Church as She prays on the Feast of St. Bernard:
Heavenly Father,
St. Bernard was filled with zeal for your house and was a radiant light in your Church.
By his prayers, may we be filled with this spirit of zeal and walk always as children of the light.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God for ever and ever.
Amen.

God Bless.

Popular posts from this blog

Learning Virtue from St. Martin de Porres

-
Image
[This post appeared originally on my full site, which is now no longer in operation, in November 2012.] It seems that more should be written about a saint from whom we can learn so many lessons in virtue.  Yet that is not the case with St. Martin de Porres, from whom we have much to learn about humility, detachment, fasting, justice, and charity.  The website of the St. Martin de Porres Shrine and Institute (located in my own diocese; a wonderful initiative with a beautiful chapel) offers a mere four paragraphs of biographical information, while other sites ( here , here , and here ) devote no more than 10 sentences to this exemplar of heroic virtue.  Surely, Brother Martin, who was so humble in this life, finds that to be a fitting scenario even after his death. From the very earliest days of his life, he embraced his lowly situation.  He desired to do nothing more than glorify the Creator by serving creatures.  He reached out to slaves, orphan...
Read more

St. Cyril of Jerusalem on the Eucharist

-
Image
Although the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was not the first thing that convinced me I needed to become Catholic, it was of prime importance in my journey home. Now that I am home, the Eucharist is what sustains and strengthens me on my perpetual search for holiness. Indeed, it is the "source and summit" of my Christian life. Thus, I always enjoy taking time to read what Christians in the first centuries had to say about "the breaking of the bread." My findings are such: there is clear evidence that, from the time Christ instituted the Eucharistic meal on Holy Thursday, Christians believed Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity to be TRULY present. They never considered that it might be "just a symbol." Only within the last five centuries has the "just a symbol" argument taken form, no doubt to the detriment of the true Faith and otherwise faithful Christians. To prove my argument, I have provided two quotes from St. Cyril of Jer...
Read more

Gratitude: Foundation of Our Spiritual Growth

-
Image
Gratitude is not simply a quaint idea to which we should tip our caps during a few short weeks in November each fall.  It is important that we move beyond a trite understanding and application, and come to understand the real place of gratitude in the spiritual life.  It is nothing less than a virtue and disposition that is at the foundation of our potential spiritual growth.  (In a corresponding way, its absence is at the “foundation” of spiritual stagnation.) Before we ever begin to speak of spiritual realities, gratitude simply helps us to get by more efficiently, effectively, and happily than the opposite alternative.  Grateful people grow and flourish, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, in ways that ungrateful people do not.  Still, we must resist the temptation to deal with gratitude simply on the natural level.  We must bring these principles to the supernatural level and grasp them there. We must come to understand that gratitude...
Read more