[God] had made only two noble creatures who were sharers in reason and capable of blessedness: angels and human beings. Yet on my account he has lost many of the angels and all of the human beings. Therefore, so that they may know that I love the Father, let those whom he seems somehow to have lost on my account be restored to him through me. If this storm has arisen on my account, says Jonah, pick me up and throw me into the sea!
St. Bernard of Clairvauex
On the Lord’s Advent, Sermon One
