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| St Bernard, by Juan Correa de Vivar, c. 1540-45. Museo del Prado. (Public domain) |
He was the first Cistercian monk to be placed on the calendar of saints and was canonized by Alexander III on the 18th January 1174. Pope Pius VIII bestowed on him the title of Doctor of the Church, “Doctor mellifluus,” on the 20th of August 1830.
I offer this annotated presentation of St Bernard’s Homilies as a small gift to our gentle Queen and Mother in gratitude for her multitudinous graces and favours, requesting her continued help and protection for the author and his family.
The Latin text and references are based upon De laudibus Virginis Matris (Patrologia latina, vol. 183. J. P. Migne). The English text is based upon the version compiled and translated at St. Mary's Convent, York, and published by Washbourne in 1909.
Homily II : §9-10/17
§9. Now I am going to consider the way the Virgin conceived and gave birth in order to see if – among the many new and wondrous things a diligent inquirer will assuredly find there – I might also discover this new thing referred to by the Prophet[1]. In fact here we see what is long made short, what is wide made narrow, what is high made low and what is deep filled up. Here we behold the Light[2] withholding its rays, the Word unable to speak[3], Water feeling thirst[4] and Bread suffering hunger[5]. Just look and see how Omnipotence is ruled, Wisdom is instructed and Strength is sustained; the God who refreshes the Angels is nourished at His Mother’s breast; He who consoles the afflicted utters the cries of a baby. Look and behold joy sorrowing, confidence trembling, safety suffering, life dying, and strength growing weak; but – what is no less remarkable – here we can discern sorrow that gladdens, fear that strengthens, suffering that saves, death that gives life and weakness that fortifies.
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| Jesus as a youth among the doctors. James Tissot (1886-94_. Brooklyn Museumn, NY. |
Who does not now see that I have found what I was looking for? Is it not easy for you to recognize in these things a woman compassing a man, when you see Mary enfolding within her womb Jesus, the man approved by God? I would maintain, moreover, that Jesus was a man not only when He was spoken of as “a prophet, mighty in work and word,”[6] but also when the Mother of God was carrying the Infant’s delicate limbs in her womb and tenderly cradling Him in her arms. Jesus, therefore, was a man even before he was born – a man in wisdom, not in age; in the vigour of His mind, not in bodily strength; and in maturity of judgment, not in physical stature. For the wisdom of Jesus was as great at His conception as at His birth, and it was as great when He was a child as when He was a grown man. Whether hidden in the womb or mewling in the manger, whether a youth among the doctors or teaching the people in the fullness of His manhood, He was in truth equally filled with the Holy Spirit. There was no moment of His human life when that plenitude of the Holy Spirit which He received at His conception was either diminished or increased. From the first He was perfect, from the first He was full of “the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of piety and . . . the spirit of the fear of the Lord.”[7]
Footnotes
[1] Jerem. xxi. 22.
[2] In him was life, and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in darkness: John I. 4-5; I am the light of the world: John viii. 12.
[3] The Latin here is: verbum infans. This can be interpreted as “the word unable to speak” and as “the Word as an infant (or baby).”
[4] He that believeth in me shall never thirst: John vi. 35; If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink: John vii. 37.
[5] I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger: John vi. 35.
[6] Luke xxiv. 19.
[7] Isaias xi. 2-3.
§10.
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| “Santa Maria del Sol” - from the Cathedral of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Córdoba). Reproduced from the Liturgical Arts Journal. |
“And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace before God and men.”
What is here said of wisdom and grace must be understood not of their essence but of their outward appearance; that is to say, our Lord never acquired what He did not before possess, but He seemed to acquire it when He willed it to appear in this way.
You, O Christian soul, do not make progress when and as you would choose but rather, without your knowledge, your journey is directed and your life is ordered. But the Child Jesus who guides your life also regulated His own. When He would, and on what occasions He would, He appeared wise; when and as He willed, He appeared more wise; and when and as He willed, He appeared most wise – though in Himself He never was anything other than most wise. Similarly, although He was always filled with every grace – whether that which He ought to possess before God or that before men – He nevertheless displayed it at His own discretion, now more and now less, according to what He knew to be either in keeping with the merits of the beholders or conducive to their salvation.
It is evident, then, that Jesus always possessed the spirit of a man, even though He did not always appear outwardly as a man. Why would I doubt that He was a man in the womb, when I do not doubt that He was God there? For to be a man is surely less than to be God.
Footnotes
[1] Luke ii. 52.
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 30-31.30-31.
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