A Cistercian and great preacher, he fought for the peace and unity of the Church against schism. He wrote many treatises on the Blessed Virgin and Jesus Christ (Fr James Socias, et al [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1614) including prayers such as ‘The Memorare’ and the ‘Hail, Holy Queen’ (Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p17).
The saint’s life in the solitude of the cloister
Bernard had the happiness of being born to pious as well as noble parents. His mother early taught him the love of chastity and a tender devotion to Our Lady. Her pains were well rewarded.
Bernard, endowed with natural eloquence and rare intelligence, made spectacular progress in study. His chastity was heroic. To punish himself for an imprudent glance, he jumped into the water during a severe frost. Eventually, he celebrated the praises of Our Lady with unprecedented success nobody ever surpassed.
At the age of twenty-three, he felt called to rigorously reform the Cistercians, recently founded by St Robert of Molesmes. He overcame the opposition of his brothers, and induced them and twenty-five others, to follow him. Thirty in all, they entered Citeaux the same day; and the following year (1114) made their profession into the hands of the Abbot, St Stephen.
The first fervor of St Bernard’s cloister life never relaxed; became the model of eminent virtue in a few years. The mortification of his senses became almost natural. After a year at Citeaux, he did not know, as a circumstance proved, the kind of ceiling at the dormitory nor the number of windows in the church choir.
He was equally mortified in food, often brown bread dipped in warm water. Only under obedience was he induced to take sometimes, for his health, soup with a little oil and honey.
Dead to the world and to himself, he had no will except to undertake the lowest and most unpleasant offices in the community. The time for prayer, his greatest delight, always seemed too short.
Uninterrupted in prayer, he never lost the presence of God even in dealing with people of the world; and therefore, possessed an unction which won the hearts of all who came near him. To stimulate his fervor, he often told himself, ‘Bernard, Bernard, why did you come here?’
The peace and happiness that Bernard enjoyed in the solitude of the cloister were unspeakable. Often he was heard to cry out, ‘Oh, happy solitude! Oh, only abode of happiness!’ But God often broke this solitude.
The wisdom St Bernard, when Abbot of Clairvaux, gave so many brilliant proofs of, drew the attention of the whole Church on him. Kings and princes desired him to arbitrate in their disputes. The Sovereign Pontiffs obliged him to undertake long and arduous journeys to pacify nations, to direct councils, to put an end to schisms or to preach crusades.
Amidst all these honors, in this turmoil of business, the saint lost none of his humility or of his union with God. Wherever he went he carried his solitude with him. Let us endeavor to do the same.
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp531-3
“Heaven rejoices, hell trembles, Satan flees every time I say only: ‘Hail, Mary’!
“You are the Queen of Mercy, and I am the most miserable sinner of all. Thus, if I am the most wretched of your subjects, you must take more care of me than of all the others.
“Let him be silent concerning your mercy, O Virgin most blessed, if there be one who invoked you in his need and who remembers you to have failed him.”
Ref: St Bernard. In Rev Joseph A Viano, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, pp37, 38, 39
The contemplative life has occupied and will go on occupying a place of honor in the Church. Lives are dedicated to prayer and silence, to adoration and penitence in the cloister; ‘it is hdden with Christ in God’. This consecrated life is the development of, and has its foundation in, the gift received in baptism.
Through this sacrament, God chose us in Christ ‘before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and immaculate before him in charity’. Through it he actually delivered us from sin and incorporated us in Christ and His Church that we might live a new life.
Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p308
The narrow path
Many people live pursuing immediate goals not mindful of God, who should be the reference point for everything else. To gain that perspective “we need to smoothe off the rough edges a little more each day -- as if working in stone or wood -- and get rid of the hindering defects in our own lives with a spirit of penance and with small mortifications.” (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 403)
The path Our Lord points out to us is a joyful one. Yet it is the path of the cross and sacrifice, of temperance and mortification. But we prefer the broad road, the least troublesome way through life although it has little to offer us. We choose the wide door which does not lead to Heaven.
“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Lk 9:23) “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (Jn 12:24)
We need to practise the virtue of temperance if we desire to enter into the next life. We must live a spirit of detachment regarding the things we own and use. “We cannot be like those people who seem to be dominated by economics; almost all of their personal and social lives are permeated by a kind of economic mentality.” (Second Vatican Council, “Gaudium et spes”, 63)
The narrow path is safe and attractive. Along it, with a rhythm of sobriety and sacrifice, we also meet joy because “the cross is no longer a gallows. It is the throne from which Christ reigns. And at his side, his Mother, our Mother too. The Blessed Virgin will obtain for you the strength ... you need to walk resolutely in the footsteps of her Son.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 141)
Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 3:653-4; 657
In the celebrated church of the Benedictines of Affighem, in Brabant is seen an image of the Blessed Virgin, of which it has been received by tradition that St Bernard, saluting it in these terms, “Salve, Maria”, it answered him, “Salve, Bernarde”. — Justus Lipsius, t. ii., c. 4, 4. “Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; (http://www.bethlehemobserver.com);(www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html).
Commemoration of St. Bernard's "Ave Maria" and Mary's "Ave Bernarde". (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
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