St Bernard on the Annunciation and the Blessed Virgin's Consent: Pt 1

Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

We continue Lent with our series presenting the homilies of St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) on the Virgin Mother. In this and in subsequent posts, I shall be publishing English excerpts* from his homily on the Annunciation and the Blessed Virgin's Consent, to which I have added a number of references and notes.

*SERMONS OF ST. BERNARD ON ADVENT & CHRISTMAS
Compiled and translated at St. Mary s Convent, from the Edition (1508), in black-letter of St. Bernard s Sermons and Letters. R. & T. WASHBOURNE, LTD., 2 & 4 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON MANCHESTER : 74 BRIDGE ST. GLASGOW : 248 BUCHANAN ST. BENZIGER BROS. \ NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO 1909

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. Tecum tutus semper sum. 

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

WHO doubts that the praises we give to the Mother of God redound to the honour of the Son of God; and, in like manner, that in honouring the Son we are also honouring the Mother? For if, according to Solomon, “A wise son is the glory of the father,”[1] how much more glorious is it to become the Mother of Wisdom Himself! But how shall I dare to commend her whose praises are announced by Prophets, spoken by an angel, recorded by the Evangelist? I will not praise, because I do not dare; I will but repeat with all devotion what the Holy Spirit Himself has spoken by the Evangelist, for the words of the text are: “And the Lord will give him the throne of David his father.”

[1] [20] A wise son maketh a father joyful: but the foolish man despiseth his mother.
Filius sapiens laetificat patrem, et stultus homo despicit matrem suam. [Proverbs 15]
[24] The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.
Exsultat gaudio pater justi; qui sapientem genuit laetabitur in eo. [Proverbs 23]

“And the Lord will give him the throne of David his father”

These are the words of the angel to the Virgin declaring that her promised Son should possess the kingdom of David. We all know that our Lord Jesus sprang from the race of David; but how, I ask, did God give Him the throne of His father David, since He never reigned in Jerusalem? On the contrary, when the multitude desired it, He would not consent to be their King,[1] and before Pilate He protested that His kingdom was not of this world.[2 Besides, what great gain was it for Him Who sits upon the Cherubim, and Whom the Prophet saw “upon a throne high and elevated,”[3] to be promised the throne of His father David?

But we know that another Jerusalem is signified by the Jerusalem that now is, one far nobler and richer than that in which David reigned. And I believe it to be here understood, because we often find in Scripture the figure put for that which is typified. Evidently God gave our Lord the throne of His father David when He “constituted Him King upon Sion, His holy mount.”[4] And the Prophet seems to show more plainly of what kingdom he spoke when he said not in Sion, but upon Sion. David reigned in Sion. Upon Sion points out the kingdom of Him of Whom it is said to David, “Of the fruit of thy womb I will put to sit upon thy throne,”[5] and of whom another Prophet speaks, “He shall sit upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom.”[6] In each text we find upon. “The Lord God, therefore, will give him the throne of David his father”—not a typical but a true throne, not temporal but eternal, not earthly but celestial. And what has been said above shows that David so regarded it, for the throne in which he reigned as temporal sovereign bore the image of the eternal one.

[1] [14] Now those men, when they had seen what a miracle Jesus had done, said: This is of a truth the prophet, that is to come into the world.
Illi ergo homines cum vidissent quod Jesus fecerat signum, dicebant : Quia hic est vere propheta, qui venturus est in mundum.
[15] Jesus therefore, when he knew that they would come to take him by force, and make him king, fled again into the mountain himself alone.
Jesus ergo cum cognovisset quia venturi essent ut raperent eum, et facerent eum regem, fugit iterum in montem ipse solus. [John 6]

[2] [33] Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and called Jesus, and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews?
Introivit ergo iterum in praetorium Pilatus : et vocavit Jesum, et dixit ei : Tu es rex Judaeorum?
(...)
[36] Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence.
Respondit Jesus : Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo. Si ex hoc mundo esset regnum meum, ministri mei utique decertarent ut non traderer Judaeis : nunc autem regnum meum non est hinc. [John 18]

[3] [1] In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple.
In anno quo mortuus est rex Ozias, vidi Dominum sedentem super solium excelsum et elevatum; et ea quae sub ipso erant replebant templum. [Isaias 6]

[4] [6] But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.
Ego autem constitutus sum rex ab eo super Sion, montem sanctum ejus, praedicans praeceptum ejus. [Psalm 2]

[5] [11] The Lord hath sworn truth to David, and he will not make it void: of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne.
Juravit Dominus David veritatem, et non frustrabitur eam : De fructu ventris tui ponam super sedem tuam. [Psalm 131]

[6] [7] His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Multiplicabitur ejus imperium, et pacis non erit finis; super solium David, et super regnum ejus sedebit, ut confirmet illud et corroboret in judicio et justitia, amodo usque in sempiternum : zelus Domini exercituum faciet hoc. [Isaiah 9]