Two Kinds of humility - While the king was upon his couch, my spikenard gave forth its fragrance

 

"While the king was upon his couch, my spikenard gave forth its fragrance." Song 1:12 NRSV

Following this quote from the post of November 14, are quotes from Sermons, 42.6-7.

“You see then how great the evils from which a man delivers both himself and me when he responds with meekness on being corrected, submits respectfully, obeys modestly, and humbly admits his fault. To a man like this I shall in all things be a debtor, I shall minister to and serve him as a genuine lover of my Lord, for he is one who can truly say: "while the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.”

From the citing of this verse St. Bernard takes exegetical flight and expresses a theological reflection on the spiritual meaning he sees in this verse.

“How good the fragrance of humility that ascends from the valley of tears, that permeates all places within reach, and perfumes even the royal couch with its sweet delight.

The nard is an insignificant herb, said by those who specialize in the study of plants to be of a warm nature. Hence it seems to be fittingly taken in this place for the virtue of humility, but aglow with the warmth of holy love. I say this because there is a humility inspired and inflamed by charity, and a humility begotten in us by truth but devoid of warmth. This latter depends on our knowledge, the former on our affections. For if you sincerely examine your inward dispositions in the light of truth, and judge them unflatteringly for what they are, you will certainly be humiliated by the baseness that this true knowledge reveals to you, though you perhaps as yet cannot endure that, others too, should see this image so far it is truth that compels your humility, it is as yet untouched by the inpouring of love. But if you were so moved by a love of that truth which, like a radiant light, so wholesomely discovered to you the reality of your condition, you would certainly desire, as far as in you lies, that the opinions of others about you should correspond with what you know of yourself. I say, as far as in you lies, because it is often inexpedient to make known to others all that we know about ourselves, and we are forbidden by the very love of truth and the truth of love to attempt to reveal what would injure another. But if under the impulse of selflove you inwardly conceal the true judgment you have formed of yourself, who can doubt that you lack a love for truth, since you show preference for your own interest and reputation?

7. Convicted by the light of truth then, a man may judge himself of little worth, but you know this is far from the equivalent of a spontaneous association with the lowly that springs from the gift of love. Necessity compels the former, the latter is of free choice. "He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and so gave us the pattern of humility. He emptied himself, he humbled himself, not under constraint of an assessment of himself but inspired by love for us. Though he could appear abject and despicable in men's eyes, he could not judge himself to be so in reality, because he knew who he was. It was his will, not his judgment, that moved him to adopt a humble guise that he knew did not represent him; though not unaware that he was the highest he chose to be looked on as the least. And so we find him saying: ''Learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart. "He said “in heart;" in the affection of the heart, which signifies the will, and a decision arising from the will excludes compulsion. You and I truly know that we deserve disgrace and contempt, that we deserve the worst treatment and the lowest rank, that we deserve punishment, even the whip; but not he. Yet he experienced all these things because he willed it; he was humble in heart, humble with that humility that springs from the heart's love, not that which is exacted by truthful reasoning.

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II

WHY READ ST. BERNARD'S SERMONS ON THE SONG OF SONGS

If you are looking for a  reason to spend the time and effort to read St. Bernard's Sermones,  a very eloquently put reason is provided by the author of the introduction of Volume 3.

Feed the Hungry

"The Christian cannot demand that the world see divine love in equitable economics, but he cannot risk losing this vision himself. Anyone who acknowledges that even real progress is not of itself identical with the kingdom of God, and who wishes his struggle for progress to channel God’s love to the oppressed and hungry world can turn to the contemplative Sermones super Cantica Canticorum to be put in touch with a spring of living water. As he returns to the hungry, he too will know the difference between the leaven and the dough, and between bread and a stone."

EMERO STIEGMAN, Saint Mary University Halifax, Nova Scotia

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER THIRTY-ONE - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX – ON THE SONG OF SONGS III, p. xix

Song of Songs - Sermon 42

 At the start of this sermon St. Bernard presents the mental processes all of us go through when faced with someone who is obviously on a wayward path. Should we try to correct their actions? Do I have the moral authority to correct someone? Is it my responsibility to point out the error of their ways? What happens if they get angry with me? Will I end up losing a friend?

 As for the moral authority, St.Bernard defends action.

"I am neither prophet nor apostle, but I dare to say that I fulfill the role both of prophet and apostle; and though far beneath them in merits I am caught up in similar cares. Even though it be to my great embarrassment, though it put me at serious risk, I am seated on the chair of Moses, to whose quality of life I do not lay claim and whose grace I do not experience. What then? That one must withhold respect for the chair because the man sitting there is unworthy?”

St. Bernard then goes on to discuss the possible consequences of correcting someone’s errant ways. Will his actions produce a penitential response? Will it produce a defensive response? Will it produce a hardened conviction, a rationalization, that the error was actually a good? Will it produce an anger toward you that ruptures a relationship? 

“Sometimes the anger is spiced with impudence, as when the correction is not only met with impatience, but the error impudently defended. … While refusing to be angry with the archer who shot him, he is angry with his physician!” 

Then St. Bernard expresses what many in this predicament say.

“For this reason I should sometimes prefer to remain silent and pretend I had not seen some wrong being done, rather than to bring about so great a calamity by a reprimand. 

Perhaps you will tell me that my good deed will redound to my welfare; that I have freed my own soul and am innocent of the blood of that man in speaking and warning him to turn away from his evil path that he might live. But though you give me countless reasons, they will not comfort me because my eyes rest on a son who is dying. It is as if by that reprimand I sought to achieve my own salvation rather than his. … How much more should I weep and lament for the eternal death of a son of mine even if I am conscious of no failure on my part, even though I have warned him? You see then how great the evils from which a man delivers both himself and me when he responds with meekness on being corrected, submits respectfully, obeys modestly, and humbly admits his fault. To a man like this I shall in all things be a debtor, I shall minister to and serve him as a genuine lover of my Lord….”

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II

A Reflection on Judgement and Mercy

Abbey at Clairvaux

 Recently a friend of mine made a reference to the writings of St. Bernard as “old Catholic”. I as well can make that connection. Along those same lines a relative of mine was telling me of his and his wife's changing from attending the Catholic Mass to attending services at a Lutheran Church. He said he found the experience to be similar to the Catholic experience, but sort of “like Catholicism lite”. The appointment of a new Pastor at our parish also evoked responses from parishioners along similar lines. The emphasis in messaging was to a greater focus on our sinfulness and human weaknesses and to a lesser proclamation of the goodness of which humanity is capable. A return was made to some of the pre-Vatican II liturgical practices. Many fled to other parishes due to this change in messaging.

Most Christians will admit the truthfulness of the fact that we humans are all sinners. Some will make removal of these evil tendencies the center of their spiritual lives through penance and mortification. Perhaps this stems from the belief that only perfection will be worthy of salvation. Some will prefer to focus on the human capacity for good through the practice of virtue. The two approaches are seen in various degrees of emphasis in the people we live and share our lives with. On the spectrum of God’s certain judgement of us to God’s unfailing mercy for us, where does our practice lie?

Each of us must make a serious effort to answer this question. In Sermon 6 St. Bernard offers an interpretation of one who kisses the “spiritual feet” of God.

“However, I must not omit to speak of those spiritual feet of God to which the penitent’s first kiss, understood in a spiritual sense, ought to be directed. … it should not seem unreasonable to us to ascribe the feet to his humanity. Let us call one of these feet mercy, the other judgement. … With these very feet he finds his way into the souls of his lovers, tirelessly enlightening and searching the hearts and the loins of the faithful.” Ser 6:6-7

“There are two signs by which you may recognize such a one, for he cannot but bear upon him the imprint of these divine footsteps. These signs are fear and hope, the former presenting the imprint of judgement, the latter that of mercy. Truly, the Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him, and in them that hope in his mercy, for fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, hope the growth of wisdom. … It is clearly inexpedient to kiss the one without the other; a man who thinks only of the judgement will fall into the pit of despair, another who deceitfully flatters God’s mercy gives birth to a pernicious security.” Ser.6:8

The purpose of the above preamble is to say that St. Bernard, as old a Catholic as he is, presents in his Sermons on the Song of Songs a most balanced approach to good and evil. Frequently in the Sermons he reminds us of our capacity for sin and our need to clean up our act. He tells us that the effort to do so is a necessary condition if we ever hope to see God face to face and experience the ecstasy of His presence. The higher degree to which we can convert from our sinfulness to the exercise of virtue is indicative of the degree to which we can experience God.  He never despairs of our capacity to fight our sinfulness. Through the expression of Christian virtues, virtues that have been and always will be a part of Catholicism, we can elevate ourselves closer and closer to God until in life eternal we can experience him face to face.  

Above quotes taken from CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER FOUR - THE WORKS OF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX Volume Two - Song of Songs I

Mellifluous Medieval Metaphor

 St. Bernard assigns to Pharaoh’s chariots that pursued the Israelites certain malevolent qualities, Malice, Sensuality and Avarice. Move over William Langland and make room for Bernard. The Chariot of Malice is described below and St. Bernard goes on with equally metaphoric descriptions of Sensuality and Avarice.

Sermon 39

6. And now let us look at the chariots prepared by Pharaoh for his princes to persecute the people of God. Malice has a chariot with four wheels named Cruelty, Impatience, Recklessness and Impudence. This chariot’s swift sorties mean the shedding of blood. ²⁵ nor can it be stopped by innocence, nor delayed by patience, nor checked by fear nor inhibited by shame. It is drawn by two vicious horses ready to destroy as they go, earthly Power and worldly Pomp. They are the source of its dazzling speed, for Power gallops where evil beckons, and Pomp courts popular favor in pursuit of dishonest ends. Hence the Psalmist says that the sinner is praised for his evil desires and the honest man gets a blessing; ²⁶ hence, too, the other words: "This is your hour and the power of darkness." ²⁷ And these two horses are driven by two coachmen call Arrogance and Envy; Arrogance drives Pomp, Envy urges on Power. The former is borne rapidly along by a diabolical love of vain display that fills his heart. But the man with genuine self-possession, who is prudently circumspect, seriously concerned about modesty, firmly established in humility, wholesomely chaste, will never be lightly carried away by this empty wind. In a like manner the beast of earthly Power is driven by Envy, urged on by jealousy’s spurs, by worry about possible failure and the fear of being surpassed. One spur is the haunting fear of being supplanted, the other the fear of a rival. These are the goads by which earthly Power is ever disquieted. This is what one finds in the chariot of Malice.

25. Ps 14:3    26. Ps 10:23    27. 

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II

I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon

 

I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Song 1:4 Vulgate (Song 1:5 RNAB)

From Sermon 27.2

“What does she mean then by saying: ‘I am beautiful like the curtains of Solomon’?” I feel here we have a great and wonderful mystery, provided we apply the words, not to the Solomon of this Song, but to him who said of himself: ‘What is here is greater than Solomon.’ Mt 12:42 This Solomon to whom I refer is so great a Solomon that he is called not only Peaceful … but Peace itself: for Paul proclaims that ‘He is our Peace.’ Eph 2:14 … It was he, and not the former Solomon, who spoke these words of God his Father: ‘When he set the heavens in their place, I was there.’ Prov 8:27 His power and his wisdom were undoubtedly present at the establishing of the heavens. 1 Cor 1:24”

Sermon 27.3

3. The bride's form must be understood in a spiritual sense, her beauty as something that is grasped by the intellect; it is eternal because it is an image of eternity. Her gracefulness consists of love, and you have read that "love never ends."1 Cor 13:8 It consists of justice, for "her justice endures forever.” Ps 112:3 It consists of patience, and Scripture tells you ' 'the patience of the poor shall not perish forever." Ps10:19 … Therefore the Church, possessing the promise of happiness to come 1 Tim 4:8, now prepares for it by adorning herself with a variety of graces and virtues Ps 45:10, in order to be found worthy and capable of the fulness of grace.

 Sermon 27.7

7. These two then have their origin in heaven – Jesus the Bridegroom and Jerusalem the Bride. He, in order to be seen by men, “emptied himself taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”⁴⁴ But the bride—in what form or exterior loveliness, in what guise did St John see her coming down? ⁴⁵ Was it perhaps in the company of the angels whom he saw ascending and descending upon the Son of Man? ⁴⁶ It is more accurate to say that he saw the bride when he looked on the Word made flesh, and acknowledged two natures in the one flesh. ⁴⁷ For when that holy Emmanuel introduced to earth the curriculum of heavenly teaching, when we came to know the visible image and radiant comeliness of that supernal Jerusalem,⁴⁸ our mother, revealed to us in Christ and by his means, what did we behold if not the bride in the Bridegroom? What did we admire but that same person who is the Lord of glory,⁴⁹ the Bridegroom decked with a garland, the bride adorned with her jewels? ^so "He who descended is he also who ascended,' '⁵¹ since "no one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven,” ⁵² the one and same Lord who as head of the Church is the Bridegroom, as body is the bride. This heaven-formed man did not appear on earth in vain, ⁵³ since he endowed a multitude of earthly followers with his own heavenly image.⁵⁴ As Scripture says: "the heavenly Man is the pattern of all the heavenly."⁵⁵ From that time the lives of many on earth have been like the lives of heaven's citizens, as when, after the example of that exalted and blessed bride, she who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,⁵⁶ embraced the heavenly Bridegroom with a chaste love. Though, unlike the blessed bride, not yet united to him by vision, she is still espoused to him by faith, as God promised through the Prophet's words: "I will betroth you to me in steadfast love and mercy, I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. "⁵⁷ Hence she strives more and more to resemble her who came from heaven, learning from her to be modest and prudent, learning to be chaste and holy, to be patient and compassionate, and ultimately to be meek and humble of heart. By these virtues she endeavors, even while absent,⁵⁹ to be pleasing to him on whom the angels long to look. ⁶⁰ With a love angelic in its fervor she shows herself to be a fellow-citizen with the saints and a domestic of God, ⁶¹ she shows that she is beloved, that she is a bride.

 44. Phil 2:7    45. Rev 21:2    46. Jn 1:51    47. Gen 2:24    48. Gal 4:26; Ps 49:2    49. 1 Cor     50. Is 61:10   51. Eph 4:10    52. Jn 3.13   53. Bar 3:38   54. 1 Cor 15:47   55. 1 Cor 15:48   56. 1 Kings 10:1-10   57. Hos 2:19-20   58. Mt 11:29   59. 2 Cor 5:9

60. 1 Pet 1:12   61. Eph 2:19

Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you shepherd, where you give rest at midday. Song 1:7

 Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you shepherd, where you give rest at midday. Song 1:7 (RNAB)

Shew me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou liest in the midday …. Song 1:6 (Vulgate)

 I will say to God: Do not put me in the wrong! Let me know why you oppose me. Job 10:2 (RNAB)

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths. Ps 25:4

He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Ps 23:3

Lord, I love the refuge of your house, the site of the dwelling-place of your glory. Ps 26:8

Citing these scriptural passages St. Bernard begins to weave a homily on verse seven (vs. 6 in the Vulgate), chapter one, of the Song of Songs.

“Therefore the man who longs for God does not cease to seek these three things, righteousness, judgement, and the place where the Bridegroom dwells in glory.” Ser.33.1

 “But take note in the first place how exquisitely she [the bride] distinguishes spiritual love from carnal desire, when, in her wish to draw her Beloved’s attention by her affection rather than by his name, she does not say simply, ‘whom I love,’ but ‘O you whom my soul loves.’ Thereby indicating that her love is spiritual.” Ser 33.2

On display is St. Bernard’s gift for exegetical nuance. The phrase he interprets could easily be read as ‘whom I love’ in a casual reading.

“Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you shepherd, where you give rest at midday.”

Bernard now with the same exegetical skills hones in on, “where you shepherd, where you give rest at midday.” 

“II. Consider carefully then, what it is that gives her so much pleasure in the place of pasture. Nor must you ignore the reference to the hour of noon, nor above all that she looks for a place where he who feeds the flock, also lies down, a sign of great security. … in this place there is no need to stand and keep watch for the safety of the flock, since the flock freely wanders in the meadows while the shepherd lies down and rests in the shade. Happy the place in which the sheep move to and fro at will, [Jn 10:9] and no one to frighten them! … What can the bride do but yearn for that place of rest, of security, of exultation, of wonder, of overwhelming joy. But alas! Unhappy me, far from it as I am, saluting it from afar, the very memory of it causes me to weep with the affection expressed by those exiles: ‘By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion! (Ps 137:1) Let me cry out both with the bride and with the prophet: ‘Praise your God. O Zion! For he strengthened the bars of your gates; he blesses your sons within you.’ (Ps 148:1-2) Who would not be filled with vehement longing to be fed in that place, on account of its peace, on account of its richness, on account of its super-abundance? There one experiences neither fear not distaste, nor any want. Paradise is a safe dwelling-place, the Word is sweet nourishment, eternity is wealth beyond calculation.” Ser 33:2

St. Bernard was preaching to 12^th century monks. His rhetoric, encompassing the sweeping history of the people of God, from the melancholy Israel in exile to paradise where “the Word is sweet nourishment”, from the God of Abraham to the Son of God, evokes a passion in St. Bernard that we modern Catholics may find difficult to evoke in ourselves.

He continues to entreat his fellow monks:

“Let us make sure then my sons, let us make haste to a place that is safer, to a pasture that is sweeter, to a land that is richer and more fertile. Let us make haste to a place where we may dwell without fear, where we may abound and never want, where we may feast and never weary. For while passing judgement tranquilly on all things, (Wis 12:18) O Lord of hosts, you feed in security and with fairness all who dwell in that place, you who are at the same time the Lord of armies and the shepherd of sheep.” Ser 33.4

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II

SEEING THROUGH THE EYES OF FAITH

 

St. Bernard by El Greco  

from Sermon 28

IV. Faith cannot be deceived. With the power to understand invisible truths, faith does not know the poverty of the senses; it transcends even the limits of human reason, the capacity of nature, the bounds of experience. Why do you ask the eye to do what it is not equipped to do? And why does the hand endeavor to examine things beyond its reach? What you may learn from these senses is of limited value. But faith will tell you of me without detracting from my greatness. Learn to receive with greater confidence, to follow with greater security, whatever faith commends to you. "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.”⁷⁴ As if after he had ascended he wished to be or could be touched by her! And yet he could be touched, but by the heart, not by the hand; by desire, not by the eye; by faith, not by the senses. "Why do you want to touch me now," he says, "would you measure the glory of the resurrection by a physical touch? Do you not remember that, while was still mortal, the eyes of the disciples could not endure for a short space the glory of my transfigured body that was destined to die?⁷⁵ I still accommodate myself to your senses by bearing this form of a servant which you are accustomed to seeing. But this glory of mine is too wonderful for you, so high that you cannot reach it.⁷⁶  Defer your judgment therefore, refrain from expressing an opinion, do not entrust the defining of so great a matter to the senses, it is for faith to pronounce on it. With its fuller comprehension, faith will define it more worthily and more surely. In its deep and mystical breast it can grasp what is the length and breath and height and depth.⁷⁷ 'What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived '⁷⁸ is borne within itself by faith, as if wrapped in a covering and kept under seal.

74. Jn 20:17    75. Mt 17:6    76. Ps 139:6    77. Eph 3:18    78. 1 Cor 2:9

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II

THE RIGHTEOUS WHO LOVE YOU

 

The first thought that came to mind when I began to read St. Bernard's sermons on the Song of Songs is how eighty-six sermons could be created for a text that is only eight chapters long. Here I am in Sermon 24 and St. Bernard is still expounding on verse 1:3.

The king hath brought me into his storerooms: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, remembering thy breasts more than wine: the righteous love thee. Song 1:3 (Vulgate)

The fact is that St. Bernard digresses often. Sermon 24 consists of two themes. Entitled “DETRACTION AND MAN’S RIGHTEOUSNESS”, the sermon speaks of those who are critical of the bride.

… for in almost any group of young maidens I find some who watch the bride’s actions, not to imitate but to disparage them. Ser 24.3

After four paragraphs of describing the disparagement he cites, he begins to describe what the righteous are like. 

ll. 5. … let me return to the theme I set out to explain, and show who are to be understood here as the "righteous." I am sure that nobody here with a right understanding would hold that those who love the bride [the Church?] are being spoken of in regard to physical perfection. It is spiritual righteousness, that of the soul, that must be explained. It is the Spirit who teaches, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.²⁷ Therefore God made man righteous in his soul,²⁸ not in the body made of earthly slime. He created him according to his own image and likeness.²⁹ He is the one of whom you sing: "The Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him."³⁰ God in his righteousness made man righteous like himself, without iniquity, since there is no iniquity in him. Iniquity is a fault in the heart, not in the flesh, and so you should realize that the likeness of God is to be preserved or restored in your spirit, not in the body of gross clay. For "God is a spirit,”³¹ and those who wish to persevere in or attain to his likeness must enter into their hearts, and apply themselves spiritually to that work, until "with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord," they "become transfigured into the same likeness, borrowing glory from that glory, as the Spirit of the Lord enables them.”³²

 27.1 Cor  2:13    28.Ecles 7:29    29. Gen 1:26    30. Ps 91:16    31. Jn 4:24 32. 32 Cor 3:18

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II

St. Bernard Describes the Qualities of the Bride

St. Bernard's command of Scripture is amazingly displayed as he draws from a wide range of scriptural quotes to make the point of his sermon.

from Sermon 27.2-4 On the Song of Songs

His [Christ’s] power and his wisdom were undoubtedly present at the establishing of the heavens.[12] And do not imagine that he stood by idle, as merely a spectator, because he said "I was there," and not "I was cooperating." Search further on in this text and you will find that he clearly states he was with him arranging all things.[13] Therefore he said: "Whatever the Father does, the Son does too."[14] He it was who spread out the heavens like a curtain, a curtain of superlative beauty that covers the whole face of the earth like a huge tent,and charms our human eyes with the variegated spectacle of sun and moon and stars. Is there anything more lovely than this curtain? Anything more bejewelled than the heavens? Yet even this can in no way be compared to the splendor and comeliness of the bride. It fails because it is a physical thing, the object of our physical senses; its form will pass away.[15] “For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."[16]

Il. 3. The bride's form must be understood in a spiritual sense, her beauty as something that is grasped by the intellect; it is eternal because it is an image of eternity. Her gracefulness consists of love, and you have read that "love never ends."[17] It consists of justice, for "her justice endures forever.”[18] It consists of patience, and Scripture tells you ' 'the patience of the poor shall not perish forever."[19] What shall I say of voluntary poverty? Of humility? To the former an eternal kingdom is promised,[20] to the latter an eternal exaltation.[21] To these must be added the holy fear of the Lord that endures for ever and ever;[22] prudence too, and temperance and fortitude and all other virtues; what are they but pearls in the jewelled raiment of the bride, shining with unceasing radiance? I say unceasing, because they are the basis, the very foundation of immortality. For there is no place for immortal and blissful life in the soul except by means and mediation of the virtues. Hence the Prophet, speaking to God who is eternal happiness, says: "Justice and judgment are the foundation of your throne.”[23] And the Apostle says that Christ dwells in our hearts, not in any and every way, but particularly by faith.²⁴ When Christ, too, was about to ride on the ass, the disciples spread their cloaks underneath him,[25] to signify that our Savior, or his salvation, will not rest in the naked soul until it is clothed with the teaching and discipline of the apostles. [26] Therefore the Church, possessing the promise of happiness to come,^[27] now prepares for it by adorning herself in cloth of gold, girding herself with a variety of graces and virtues,[28] in order to be found worthy and capable of the fulness of grace.

4. Though this visible, material heaven, with its great variety of stars is unsurpassingly beautiful within the bounds of the material creation, I should not dare to compare its beauty with the spiritual and varied loveliness she received with her first robe when being arrayed in the garments of holiness. But there is a heaven of heavens to which the Prophet refers. "Sing to the Lord who mounts above the heaven of heavens, to the east. "[29] This heaven is in the world of the intellect and the spirit; and he who made the heavens by his wisdom,[30] created it to be his eternal dwelling-place. ³¹ You must not suppose that the bride's affections can find rest outside of this heaven, where she knows her Beloved dwells: for where her treasure is, there her heart is too. ³² She so yearns for him that she is jealous of those who live in his presence; and since she may not yet participate in the vision that is theirs, she strives to resemble them in the way she lives. By deeds rather than words she proclaims: “Lord, I love the beauty of your house, the place where your glory dwells.[33]

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[12] 1 Cor 1:24   [13] Prov 8:30    [14] Jn 5:19      [15] 1 Cor 7:31   [16] 2 Cor 4:18   [17] 1Cor 13:8  [18] Ps 112:3    [19] Ps 10:19   [20] Mt 5:3   [21] Lk 14:11  [22] Ps19:10    [23] Ps 89:15    [24] Eph 3:17    [25] Mt 21:7    [26] 2 Cor 5:4    [27] 1 Tim 4:8    [28] Ps 45:10    [29] Ps 68:33-34    [30] Ps 136:5    [31] Is 40:22   [32] Mt 6:21    [33] Ps 26:8   One has been added to the references to Psalms in order to match the Psalms from the NAB. St. Bernard used the Vulgate.

text is from CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II