Tag: Bernard of Clairvaux
A Medieval Remedy for Modernity’s Ills
Show me a Catholic not troubled by the circumstances of these days, and I will show you a Catholic asleep. Society’s woes rock his soul, but the historic perils facing Holy Church do so even more. Not only from outside her walls, but more frighteningly, from within. How are we to keep our spirits from sagging?… Read More ›
Who will free me from this body of death?
Unhappy creature that I am, who will free me from this body of death by which I am weighed down and oppressed to the extent that, unless the Lord helps me, my soul would soon be living in hell! The soul struggling under this load laments saying: ‘Why have you set me against you, and… Read More ›
There is a great natural gift within us
Why should the soul not venture with confidence into the presence of him by whose image she sees herself honored, and in whose likeness she knows herself made glorious? Why should she fear a majesty when her very origin gives her ground for confidence? All she has to do is to take care to preserve… Read More ›
Padre Pio, Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Shoulder Wound of Christ
Two great saints were prayerfully, and painfully, devoted to a wound of Christ’s Passion, “not recorded by men…” What do medieval mystic St. Bernard of Clairvaux and modern monk St. Padre Pio have in common? Well, they’re both saints, sharing in the eternal reward which God has prepared for them. But beyond that, both had… Read More ›
There is no sound flesh in us
We are as if we were not, likened to vanity and counted as nothing, supposing ourselves to be something when actually we are nothing. We enter this world wounded, walk here and then depart, wounded still. There is no sound flesh in us, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head…. Read More ›
The Necessity of Contemplative Monasticism for the New Evangelization
When we discuss the “New Evangelization,” we tend to think of the many active ways in which the Church seeks to engage the world and to share the Gospel with it. From large-scale special events such as World Youth Day and the recently completed Year of Faith; to the everyday work at the diocesan and… Read More ›
Who can pluck us out of His hand?
It is good for me to be troubled, Lord, as long as you are with me, better than reigning without you, of feasting without you, of being glorified without you. It is good for me to embrace you in tribulation, to have you with me in the furnace, better than being without you even in… Read More ›
St. Bernard on Free Choice
Free choice is something clearly divine which shines forth in the soul like a jewel set in gold. From it the soul derives its power of judgement, and its option of choosing between good and evil, between life and death, in fact between light and darkness, and any other concepts which are perceived by the… Read More ›
Not Two but Three Comings of the Lord
We know that there are three comings of the Lord. The third lies between the other two. It is invisible, while the other two are visible. In the first coming he was seen on earth, dwelling among men; he himself testifies that they saw him and hated him. In the final coming all flesh will… Read More ›
What is God?
(Read this as Lectio — it cannot be read quickly without reflection.) What is God? That without which nothing exists. Just as nothing can exist without him, so he cannot exist without himself: he exists for himself, he exists for all, and consequently in some way he alone exists who is his own existence and… Read More ›