 |
| Ave Maria. [JJ Tissot, Brooklyn Museum] |
*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.
The Lord is with thee
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” He says not in thee, but with thee. God, Who is equally present everywhere, remains whole and entire by His simple substance and essence. He is present with rational creatures in many different ways. With the good alone He is present by love as well as by knowledge, so that He is with them by agreement of wills. While their wills are subject to justice and right reason, God does not disdain to will what they will, for their wills being conformed to His, they in a manner unite God to themselves.
If God is thus present with all the saints, He is especially so with Mary, with whom He was so closely united as to have not only one will, but one flesh, for from His own Divine nature and from her virginal substance one Christ was made, Who, sharing both natures, was at once the Son of God and Son of the Virgin Mary.
The angel therefore says: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” Not only is there with thee God the Son, Whom thou dost clothe with thy flesh, but also God the Holy Ghost, of Whom thou dost conceive, and God the Father, Who begot Him, Who is to be thy Son. The Father is with thee who makes His Son to be thine; the Son is with thee who institutes with thee a wondrous Sacrament, and yet preserves the seal of thy virginity. The Holy Spirit is with thee, and with the Father and the Son He sanctifies thy pure womb. “The Lord,” therefore, “is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women.”
Blessed art thou
[1] [5] Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ, according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.
I love to add what Elizabeth soon after pronounced, and “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” Not that, because thou art blessed, the fruit of thy womb is also blessed, but because He prevented thee with the blessings of sweetness, therefore art thou blessed. Truly blessed is the fruit of thy womb, in whom all nations are blest, of whose
fullness thou hast received as others have, but in a fuller measure. For this reason, therefore, thou art blessed best “amongst women.” He is called blessed not amongst men, nor amongst angels, but, as the Apostle says, “God blessed above all for ever.”[1] “Blessed, therefore, is the fruit of thy womb”—blessed in sweet odour, blessed in sweet savour, blessed in beauty and comeliness of form. The fragrance of this odoriferous fruit was perceived by him who said: “The smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed”[2]; and is not he truly blessed who is blest by the Lord?
quorum patres, et ex quibus est Christus secundum carnem, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen. [Romans 9].
Cf [52] Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of our fathers: and worthy to be praised, and glorified, and exalted above all for ever: and blessed is the holy name of thy glory: and worthy to be praised, and exalted above all in all ages.
Benedictus es, Domine Deus patrum nostrorum : et laudabilis, et gloriosus, et superexaltatus in saecula. Et benedictum nomen gloriae tuae sanctum : et laudabile, et superexaltatum in omnibus saeculis. [Daniel 3]
[2] [27] He (Jacob) came near, and kissed him (Isaac). And immediately as he smelled the fragrant smell of his garments, blessing him, he said: Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed.
Accessit, et osculatus est eum. Statimque ut sensit vestimentorum illius fragrantiam, benedicens illi, ait : Ecce odor filii mei sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus. [Genesis 27]
Blessed fruit!
Of the sweet relish of this fruit one who had tasted of it exclaimed, “O taste and see how sweet is the Lord”[1]; and elsewhere, “O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee.”[2] And Christ says of Himself while inviting us all to Him: “He that eateth me shall yet hunger, and he that drinketh me shall yet thirst.”[3] He said this because the sweet savour of this fruit, when once tasted,excites a greater appetite.
Blessed fruit! which is the food and drink of those who hunger and thirst after justice.[4] You have heard of its fragrance and of its savour; hear now of its beauty. For if the fruit which brought death into the world was not only sweet to the taste, but beautiful to the eye, as the Scripture testifies[5], much more ought we to seek for beauty in this fruit of life, “upon which,” as another passage in Holy Scripture remarks, “the angels desire to look.”[6] Its beauty was seen in spirit, and desired to be seen in the flesh by him who said: “Out of Sion the loveliness of his beauty.”[7] And, lest you should think lightly of the beauty here commended, remember what is said in another Psalm: “Beautiful above the sons of men, grace is poured abroad on thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.”[8]
“Blessed, then, is the fruit of thy womb,” whom God hath blest for ever, and by whom thou thyself, O Mary, art blessed amongst women, because an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit.[9] Blessed art thou amongst women, who didst escape that universal curse, “In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children”[10]; and that other, “Cursed is the barren in Israel.”[11] Thou hast obtained the singular blessing of neither remaining sterile, nor bringing forth in sorrow.
[1] [9] O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him.
Gustate, et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus; beatus vir qui sperat in eo. [Ps 38]
[2] [20] O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men.
Quam magna multitudo dulcedinis tuae, Domine, quam abscondisti timentibus te! Perfecisti eis qui sperant in te, in conspectu filiorum hominum. [Ps 30]
[3] Cf: [55] He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.
Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, habet vitam aeternam : et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die. [John 6]
[4] [6] Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam : quoniam ipsi saturabuntur. [John 5]
[5] [6] And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat.
Vidit igitur mulier quod bonum esset lignum ad vescendum, et pulchrum oculis, aspectuque delectabile : et tulit de fructu illius, et comedit : deditque viro suo, qui comedit. [Genesis 3]
[6] [12] To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you they ministered those things which are now declared to you by them that have preached the gospel to you, the Holy Ghost being sent down from heaven, on whom the angels desire to look.
quibus revelatum est quia non sibimetipsis, vobis autem ministrabant ea quae nunc nuntiata sunt vobis per eos qui evangelizaverunt vobis, Spiritu Sancto misso de caelo, in quem desiderant angeli prospicere. [1 Peter 1]
[7] [2] Out of Sion the loveliness of his beauty.
Ex Sion species decoris ejus : [Ps 49]
[8] [3] Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.
Speciosus forma prae filiis hominum, diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis; propterea benedixit te Deus in aeternum. [Ps 44]
[9] [17] Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Sic omnis arbor bona fructus bonos facit : mala autem arbor malos fructus facit.
[18] A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit.
Non potest arbor bona malos fructus facere : neque arbor mala bonos fructus facere.
[19] Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire.
Omnis arbor, quae non facit fructum bonum, excidetur, et in ignem mittetur.
[20] Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
Igitur ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. [Matt 7]
[10] [16] To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.
Mulieri quoque dixit : Multiplicabo aerumnas tuas, et conceptus tuos : in dolore paries filios, et sub viri potestate eris, et ipse dominabitur tui. [Gen 3]
[11] [19] And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and he saith to it: May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And immediately the fig tree withered away.
Et videns fici arborem unam secus viam, venit ad eam : et nihil invenit in ea nisi folia tantum, et ait illi : Numquam ex te fructus nascatur in sempiternum. Et arefacta est continuo ficulnea. [Matt 21]
No comments:
Post a Comment