"Love is a sweet and pleasurable food because it gives rest to the tired, strength to the weak, and joy to the sorrowful. Love makes the yoke of truth easy to bear and its burden light."
Bernard of Clairvaux was born in 1090. At the age of 22 he became a Cistercian monk, and persuaded about thirty of his relatives and friends to join him on this path. He became the abbot of Clairvaux when he was 25 years old. During his lifetime he founded many other monastic communities.
This edition includes two of St Bernard's books: The Twelve Steps of Humility and Pride and On Loving God. They are short books, with very short chapters, often only a page or so long. The first was written for his fellow monks; the second for "the illustrious Lord Aimeric, Cardinal-Deacon and Chancellor of the Roman Church", who had apparently been asking Bernard questions about the faith.
What is the book about?
Twelve Steps spends its first half describing what the goal of humility is, before moving on to outline the twelve steps of pride (St Bernard feels himself more capable of talking about pride than humility). He says that the goal of humility is to find the truth. "On it [the path of humility] truth is sought, love is gained, and the fruits of wisdom are won." The steps of pride lead downward, but the steps of humility will bring you back up again.
On Loving God answers the question, "Why should we love God?" by dividing it into two questions. Firstly, what makes God worth loving, and secondly, how does loving God benefit us. The short answer is, "The reason for loving God is God himself and how he should be loved is to love without limit." St Bernard immediately adds, "Is this a sufficient answer? Perhaps, but only for the wise"! Fortunately, he condescends to expand a little for those of us who are less wise.
What encouraged you?
I really liked chapter 3 of Twelve Steps. St Bernard starts by saying, "we must look for truth in ourselves, in our neighbours, and in truth itself." In ourselves, through self-examination (with humility); in our neighbours, through empathy and compassion; and in truth itself, through a direct vision from God. We can't jump straight to a knowledge of the truth if we don't learn to see it in ourselves and others first.
He then talks about the verse from Hebrews chapter 5, that Jesus "learned obedience from what he suffered". I do like the book of Hebrews, but had always been slightly puzzled by this verse. I thought St Bernard's interpretation was a good one. He says that of course Jesus, as God, knew what compassion and obedience were in theory, but "as he had no experience of sorrow or subjection, he lacked the opportunity of practising [them]". In becoming a man, he learned compassion and obedience through personal experience, and "we now know for certain that he has strength to sympathise with us because of his suffering". I found that very encouraging.
What challenged you?
How has it changed how you see things?
- Man loves himself for his own sake
- Man loves God for man's sake
- Man loves God for God's sake
- Man only loves himself for God's sake
What would you like to explore further?
Both St Bernard and St Teresa quote extensively from the Song of Songs. This very romantic and poetic book of the Bible doesn't get much airtime in modern churches. But they clearly saw it as a key theological document. For example, St Bernard says this of the Church:
"She sees the Father's only Son carrying his cross... the creator of life and glory nailed to the cross... finally giving up his precious life for this friends. The Church sees it all, and the sword of love pierces her soul even more so that she repeats 'strengthen me... for I am faint with love.'"
That last line is a quote from Song of Songs 2:5, and he carries on the metaphor through the chapter, talking about fruit and flowers and all sorts. Even a hardened pragmatist like myself can appreciate a bit of poetry! I think the Song of Songs might be due a re-read.
What is one thing you will remember?
Going right back to the beginning of the book, St Bernard starts by saying that Jesus is our example of humility. When Jesus says, 'I am the way, the truth and the life', St Bernard says, "It's as if he were saying, 'I am the way because I lead to the truth; I am the truth because I promise life; and I am myself the life which I give.'" That seems to me to be a very generous way to understand a verse which has often been used in a restrictive sense.
Later in the chapter it says, "Jesus promises to give us his life-support during the journey." And don't we all need that?
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