St Bernard's Praises of the Virgin Mother: Homily 2, Part 9

St Bernard. Musée de Cluny [Public domain]

'To this warm love of Jesus Christ was joined a most sweet and tender devotion towards His glorious Mother, whose motherly love he repaid with the affection of a child, and whom he jealously honoured. (from Pope Pius XII's Encyclical 'Dr Mellifluus', on St Bernard, the 'last of the Fathers' - 1953)

Our series on St Bernard's homilies in praise of the Virgin Mother continues with the second homily. The Latin text and an English translation are followed by references and notes on vocabulary.

 The Mother of God tenderly nurtured the infant in her womb and gently nursed him on her bosom.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

9. Sed verto me ad conceptum partumque virginalem, si forte inter plurima nova ac mira, quae ibi profecto inspicit qui diligenter inquirit, etiam hanc, quam de Propheta protuli, reperiam novitatem.

I turn to the Virgin's conception and child-bearing, to see if perhaps among the many new and wonderful mysteries that he will discover who inquires diligently,  I might propose a new wonder from the words I have cited from the Prophet.

Porro ibi agnoscitur longitudo brevis, latitudo angusta, altitudo subdita, profunditas plana [alias, plena]. Ibi agnoscitur lux non lucens, verbum infans, aqua sitiens, panis esuriens. Videas, si attendas, potentiam regi, sapientiam instrui, virtutem sustentari: Deum denique lactentem, sed angelos reficientem; vagientem, sed miseros consolantem.

There is seen length shortened, width made narrow, height lowered, depth filled up. There is seen light withholding its rays, the Word an infant, the Water thirsty, the Bread of Heaven suffering hunger. Attend and see how Omnipotence is ruled, Wisdom instructed, Power sustained ; finally, God feeding at the breast; a mewling infant, consoling the afflicted.

Videas, si attendas, tristari laetitiam, pavere fiduciam, salutem pati, vitam mori, fortitudinem infirmari. Sed, quod non minus mirandum est, ipsa ibi cernitur tristitia laetificans, pavor confortans, passio salvans, mors vivificans, infirmitas roborans.

Attend and see, joy is made sorrowful, faith trembles, health suffers, life suffers death, strength is weakened.  But what is equally wonderful is that sorrow gives joy, that weakness gives strength, suffering makes healthy, death restores life, infirmity gives strength.

Cui jam illud quoque non occurrat, quod quaerebam? Nunquid non facile tibi est inter haec feminam agnoscere virum circumdantem, cum Mariam videas virum approbatum a Deo Jesum suo utero circumplectentem? Virum autem dixerim fuisse Jesum, non solum jam cum diceretur vir propheta, potens in opere et sermone [1], sed etiam cum tenera adhuc infantis membra Dei mater blando vel foveret in gremio, vel gestaret in utero.

To whom is it now not clear what I sought? Is it not easy to recognise the woman compassing a man, when you see Mary bearing within her the man Jesus, approved by God?  For I may call Jesus a man not only when He is said to be a prophet mighty in work and word [1], but also when the Mother of God tenderly nurtured the the infant in her womb and gently nursed him on her bosom. 

Vir igitur erat Jesus necdum etiam natus, sed sapientia, non aetate; animi vigore, non viribus corporis; maturitate sensuum, non corpulentia membrorum. Neque enim minus habuit sapientiae, vel potius non minus [alias, minor] fuit sapientia Jesus conceptus, quam natus; parvus, quam magnus.

Jesus, then, was a man even before His birth ; not in age, but in wisdom ; not in strength of body, but in vigour of mind ; not by the development of His members, but by the perfection of His intelligence. For He had no less wisdom, or rather His wisdom was not less when conceived than when born, when a child than when a grown adult.

Sive ergo latens in utero, sive vagiens in praesepio, sive jam grandiusculus interrogans doctores in templo, sive jam perfectae aetatis docens in populo, aeque profecto plenus fuit Spiritu sancto.

Whether hidden in the womb or mewling in the manger, whether a boy questioning the doctors in the Temple or teaching the people in perfect manhood, He was at all times equally full of the Holy Ghost.

Nec fuit hora in quacunque aetate sua, qua de plenitudine illa quam in sui conceptione accepit in utero, vel aliquid minueretur, vel aliquid eidem adjiceretur: sed a principio perfectus, a principio, inquam, plenus fuit spiritu sapientiae et intellectus, spiritu consilii et fortitudinis, spiritu scientiae et pietatis, spiritu timoris Domini [2]

There was no moment of His life when that plenitude of the Holy Spirit which He received at His conception in the womb was either diminished or increased. From the first He was perfect, from the first He was full of the spirit of wisdom and understanding, of the spirit of counsel and fortitude, of the spirit of knowledge and piety, and of the spirit of the fear of the Lord." [2]

References

[1] [19] Quibus ille dixit : Quae? Et dixerunt : De Jesu Nazareno, qui fuit vir propheta, potens in opere et sermone coram Deo et omni populo :  
To whom he said: What things? And they said: Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people; [Luke, 24]
 
[2] [2] Et requiescet super eum spiritus Domini : spiritus sapientiae et intellectus, spiritus consilii et fortitudinis, spiritus scientiae et pietatis; 
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness.

Latin vocab

blandus , a, um: (adj.), fondling; fawning; coaxing; persuasive, alluring, enticing,
circumplectō, xum, ĕre [arch.], tr.,to surround, to encompass.
foveō, fōvī, fōtus, 2, a.: to keep warm; (fig.), foster, protect, cherish; soothe
grandĭuscūlus, a, um,adj. dim. [grandis,]. pretty well grown up