Praises of the Virgin Mother by St Bernard : Homily IV : §7/11

St Bernard, by Juan Correa de Vivar,
c. 1540-45. Museo del Prado.
(Public domain)

The following posts present the text of four homilies by St Bernard (1090-1153) frequently given the title of Missus est but which he himself called Praises of the Virgin Mother.

 

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 IV : §7/11

 §7.   It should not be supposed, however, that these magnificent things which you hear foretold by the Angel would be brought to pass by him. 

The Annunciation, by Albani (1630s).
Hermitahe Museum, St Petersburg. Public domain.

Listen to what he goes on to say[1]: 

“Because no word shall be impossible with God.” 

It is as though he were saying: “In all that I faithfully promise, I rest not on my own power, but on the power of Him who sent me, because no word shall be impossible with God.” How indeed could any word be impossible with Him who made all things by the Word[2]? 

There is something else in the Angel’s words which strikes me: that he pointedly does not say “because no act shall be impossible with God,” but “no word.” Did He say “word.” for this reason: that just as men can easily say whatever they want, even things they are utterly unable to do, so God easily (or rather more easily than we could possibly imagine) can accomplish in act whatever they are able to express in words? I will speak more plainly: if it were as easy for men to do what they wish as it is to say it, then no word would be impossible for them either. “Easier said than done” is an old and popular saying but this applies only to men, not to God; for with God, speaking is the same as willing and doing is the same as speaking, hence for Him it is a case of “no sooner said than done.” Accordingly, “no word shall be impossible with God.”

For example: the Prophets could foresee and foretell that a virgin and a barren woman would conceive and give birth; but could they actually bring about these events? God, who gave them the ability to foresee these things, could just as easily accomplish them through Himself at the time He willed that which He had promised. Indeed, with God the word does not differ from the intention, because He is truth; nor the deed from the word, because He is power; nor the method from the deed, because He is wisdom: hence,  “no word shall be impossible with God.”

Footnotes

[1] Luke i. 37.

[2] John i. 1-3.

+       +        +

The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.

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. 

 

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.