His writings would fill my little room. But, his three volumes of his Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles are all I would need for meditations for years to come.
I have not commented much, as how can one in my lowly state comment on a soul who came to unity with God before he died? That Bernard was given illumination by God about love and the soul is clear.
Therefore, here is one more section, which I share.
But there is something else that moves me, arouses and
enflames me even more.
Good Jesus, the chalice you drank, the price of our
redemption, makes me love you
more than all the rest. This alone would be enough to claim
our love. This, I say, is what
wins our love so sweetly, justly demands it, firmly binds
it, deeply affects it. Our Savior
had to toil so hard in this, in fact in making the whole
world the Creator did not labor so
much. Then he spoke and they were made; he commanded and
they were created. But
in saving us he had to endure men who contradicted his
words, criticized his actions,
ridiculed his sufferings, and mocked his death. See how much
he loved us.
Add to this
Add to this
the fact that he was not returning love but freely offering
it. For who had given him
anything first, that it should be returned to him? As St
John said: "Not that we had loved
him, but that he first loved us." He loved us even
before we existed, and in addition he
loved us when we resisted him. According to the witness of St Paul : "Even when
we
If he had not loved his enemies, he could not have had any friends, just as he would have
had no one to love if he had not loved those who were not.
In our darkness and stupidity, Christ loves us first. He waits; he freely gives.
In our darkness and stupidity, Christ loves us first. He waits; he freely gives.
His love was sweet, and wise, and strong. I call it sweet
because he took on a human
body, wise because he avoided sin, strong because he endured
death. Even though he
took a body, his love was never sensual, but always in the
wisdom of the Spirit. "A Spirit
before our face is Christ the Lord," jealous of us but
with the jealousy of God, not man,
and certainly not like that of the first man, Adam, for Eve.
So those whom he sought
after in a body, he loved in the spirit and redeemed in
power. How sweet it is to see as
man the Creator of humanity. While he carefully protected
nature from sin, he forcefully
A dear friend, a
wise counselor, a strong helper. Should I not willingly
entrust myself to the one who had
the good will, the wisdom, the strength to save me? He
sought me out, he called me
through grace; will he refuse me as I come to him? I fear
neither force nor fraud which
can snatch me from his hand. He is the one who conquered all
things, even death, and
tricked the serpent, the seducer of the world, with a holy
deception. He was more
prudent than the one, more powerful than the other. He took
to himself a true body but
only the likeness of sin, giving a sweet consolation to weak
men in the one and in the
other hiding a trap to deceive the devil. To reconcile us to
the Father he bravely suffered
death and conquered it, pouring out his blood as the price
of our redemption. His divine
majesty would not have sought me in chains unless he had
loved me so tenderly, but he
added wisdom to his affection by which he deceived the
serpent. Then he added
patience with which to appease his divine Father who had
been offended.
These are the qualities of love of which I promised to tell
you. But I have shown them to
Be simple and look for the one thing that matters....
Christian, learn from Christ how you ought to love Christ. Learn a love that is tender,
wise, strong; love with tenderness, not passion, wisdom, not
foolishness, and strength,
lest you become weary and turn away from the love of the
Lord. Do not let the glory of
the world or the pleasure of the flesh lead you astray; the
wisdom of Christ should
become sweeter to you than these. The light of Christ should
shine so much for you that
the spirit of lies and deceit will not seduce you.
Finally, Christ as the strength of God
Finally, Christ as the strength of God
Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Let love enkindle
your zeal, let knowledge inform it, let constancy strengthen
it. Keep it fervent, discreet,
courageous. See it is not tepid, or temerarious, or timid.
See for yourself if those three
commands are not prescribed in the law when God says:
"You shall love the Lord your
God with your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole
strength." It seems to me, if
no more suitable meaning for this triple distinction comes
to mind, that the love of the
heart relates to a certain warmth of affection, the love of
the soul to energy or judgment
So love the
Lord your God with the full and deep affection of your
heart, love him with your mind
wholly awake and discreet, love him with all your strength,
so much so that you would
not even fear to die for love of him. As it is written:
"For love is strong as death, jealousy
is bitter as hell." Your affection for your Lord Jesus
should be both tender and intimate,
to oppose the sweet enticements of sensual life. Sweetness
conquers sweetness as
one nail drives out another. No less than this keep him as a
strong light for your mind
and a guide for your intellect, not only to avoid the
deceits of heresy and to preserve the
purity of your faith from their seductions, but also that
you might carefully avoid an
indiscreet and excessive vehemence in your conversation. Let
your love be strong and
constant, neither yielding to fear nor cowering at hard
work. Let us love affectionately,
discreetly, intensely. We know that the love of the heart,
which we have said is
affectionate, is sweet indeed, but liable to be led astray
if it lacks the love of the soul.
And the love of the soul is wise indeed, but fragile without
that love which is called the
To be continued....
