St. Bernard: Poetry as Prose - Prose as Poetry

 At times the writings of St. Bernard can be dense with theological significance. When reading the English translations of his work there is a sense that even the translator is uncertain of the meanings St. Bernard wished to convey. At other times the prose, translated to English, flows so well one can easily appreciate its poetic qualities. One such example is in his book, The Steps of Humility and Pride, Section VIII:21*. When reading the prose it cannot be helped but to notice the lyrical and musical phrasing. 

At the risk of exposing my lack of poetic acumen, I've taken the liberty to versify a portion of this paragraph. The footnotes to the text have been omitted for clarity, but the last stanza exudes the ambiance of the Song of Songs. 

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The Son of God, the Word and Wisdom of the Father, 

Mercifully assumed to himself human reason, the first of our powers.

He found it oppressed by the flesh, Held captive by sin, blinded by ignorance.

Distracted by outward things. He raised it by his might, taught it by his wisdom,

Drew it to things interior.

 

More wonderfully still, he delegated to it His own power of Judge.

To judge is the proper act of Truth and in this it shared, 

When out of reverence for the Word to which it is joined

It became accuser, witness and judge against itself.

 

Humility had been born from the union of the Word with human reason.

Then the Holy Spirit lovingly visited the second power, the will;

He found it rotten with the infection of the flesh,

But already judged by reason.

 

Gently he cleansed it, made it burn with affection,

Made it merciful until, like a skin made pliable by oil

It would spread abroad the heavenly oil of love even to its enemies.

The union of the Holy Spirit with the human will give[s] birth to charity.

 

See how this perfect soul, its two powers, The reason and the will,

Without spot and wrinkle, the reason instructed by the Word of Truth,

The will inflamed by Truth’s Spirit; sprinkled with the hyssop of humility,

Fired with the flame of charity; cleansed from spot by humility,

smoothed of wrinkle by charity; the reason never shrinking from the truth,

the will never striving against reason.

 

And this blessed soul the Father binds to himself as his own glorious bride.  

Now reason is no longer preoccupied with itself  and the will is no longer concerned with other men;

For this blessed soul all is lost in one delight: “The King has led me into his chamber.”

She learned humility in the school of the Son; she was led by the Holy Spirit

From the school of humility to the storehouse of charity.

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*THE STEPS OF HUMILITY AND PRIDE, CISTERTIAN PUBLICATIONS INC., 1973

Humility Defined

 Some thoughts from The Steps of Humility and Pride by St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Quoting from p. 30:

“2. To define humility: Humility is a virtue by which a man has a low opinion of himself because he knows himself well.”

In a note the translator cites a caveat pertinent to this definition: “For Bernard, humility is truth, the low opinion of self must be based on fact.” In a letter to Abbot Baldwin St. Bernard stated, “Humility is not praiseworthy when it is not in accordance with the facts.”

St. Bernard was certainly a pious man, a talented man, a gifted leader. His contemporaries, the monks he shepherded, his fellow Abbots, and even the Popes of his day went to him for spiritual guidance and leadership. How is it then that he could honestly assess his abilities and still have a low opinion of himself?

The only way these apparently contradictory positions can be true is if he does not consider those gifts to be his but to be enabled by the grace of God and therefore belong to God. Once that realization takes hold then a low opinion of ones-self is easy to assume. What do we have that has not been given to us? If we compare ourselves to our God how can any one consider himself other than very low?

Quoting St. Augustine from Confessions:

“Men pay You more than is of obligation to win return from You,

yet who has anything that is not already Yours?”

THE STEPS OF HUMILITY AND PRIDE, CISTERTIAN PUBLICATIONS INC., 1973

In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and found him not. Sg 3:1 (Vulgate)

 St. Bernard died in 1153 AD before he completed the commentaries on the Song of Songs. This fact managed to elude me until, at the end of Sermon 86, the publisher had a note indicating that the task was picked up by two other Cistercians. Gilbert of Hoyland was the first, writing forty-eight sermons, starting at Chapter 3 and ending at 5:10. Not leaving anything incomplete John of Ford finished the work with another 120 sermons!

I began the reading of St. Bernard's commentary thinking that after reading eighty-six sermons I would know all there is to know about the Song of Songs. Such hubris! Obviously I failed to practice what St. Bernard advised we must do when we pray. His advice is the last line of this post.

FROM SERMON 86

 1. First then observe the modesty of the Bride; surely nothing in human conduct can be counted lovelier. This is what I should like above all to take in my hands and pluck, like a beautiful flower, to present to all our young people… The grace of modesty is an adornment to persons of all ages, but because, being tender, it shines out with greater brightness and beauty in those of tender age. What is more endearing in a young man* then modesty? How lovely it is, and what a bright jewel in the life and bearing of a young man! What a true and sure indication of hope it is, the mark of a good disposition! It is the rod of discipline,[2]chastening the affections and controlling the thoughtless actions and impulses of an age which lacks stability, and checking its arrogance. What is so far removed from evil-speaking or any kind of bad behavior? It is the sister of self-control. There is no clear indication of dove-like simplicity,[3]and thus it is the mark of innocence. It is the lamp which lights the unassuming mind,[4]so that nothing dishonorable or unbecoming may attempt to dwell in it without being instantly discovered. Thus it is the destroyer of evils and the protector of its inborn purity, the particular glory of the conscience, the guardian of its reputation, the adornment of its life, the seat of virtue and its first fruits, the boast of nature and the mark of all honor. Even the blush which modesty brings to the cheeks gives grace and beauty to the countenance.

2.… The Bride seeks the Word with modesty, in her bed, at night; … She seeks him to purify her conscience, she seeks him to obtain a testimony, so that she can say, 'this is my glory, the testimony of my conscience.[5]In my little bed nightlong I sought him whom my soul loves.'[6]Her modesty, you observe, is indicated both by the place and the time. What is more welcome to a modest mine and privacy? Night and her bed insures her privacy. … It is clear that the Son, our teacher, has enjoined us to seek privacy when we pray, in order to promote modesty. What is so unseemly, particularly in a young man, as showing-off holiness? It is at this age that the elements of religious obedience can be best learned. … It is to be recommended that when you go to pray you first mentioned your modesty and say, 'I am small and of no importance; yet I do not forget your precepts.'[7]

[1] Sg 3:1,   [2] Prov 22:15   [3] Mt 10:16   [4] mens   [5] 2 Cor 1:12   [6] Sg 3:1   [7] Ps 119:141 

*The use of a male pronoun may bring a grimace to the face of the reader given our modern day sensitivities. He is however speaking about a relationship between the Bridegroom and the Bride. Throughout the Sermons St. Bernard frequently reminds us that this relationship is always explicated in a spiritual, not a carnal, sense.

The Eloquence of St. Bernard

 

Like many of the emotions and stirrings of the heart that we feel when we hear another's story of conversion and personal epiphanies, there is no difference from what others before may have experienced and expressed. What stirs us in the hearing is the glimpse into the heart of some one who in the telling verifies and reinforces what we have experienced in our own spiritual life. At work also is the mode of expression that presents facets of spiritual conversion that inspire the listener to ever greater conversion.

Now, add to that formula the eloquence of St. Bernard and his command of scripture and you have what is quoted below from Sermon 74 on the Song of Songs.

My lover belongs to me and I to him; he feeds among the lilies. Until the day grows cool and the shadows flee, roam, my lover, Like a gazelle or a young stag upon the rugged mountains. Sg 16-17 NRSV

"Return, she says. Clearly he whom she calls back is not there, yet he has been, not long before…. So importunate a recall shows great love on the part of the one and great loveliness on the part of the other. Who are these who are so taken up with charity, these unwearying lovers, whose passion drives them on and gives them no rest?

… Who will disclose to me the mystery of this change? Who will adequately explained to me the going and returning of the Word? Surely the Bridegroom will not stoop to inconstancy?… How can any movement of any kind be attributed to him who is God? For he is immutable.

2.… Let us then follow this discourse of pure love,[1] and say that the word of God, God himself, the Bridegroom of the soul, comes to the soul and leaves it again as he wishes,[2] but we must realize that this happens as a result of soul's sensitivity, and is not due to any movement of the Word. Indeed, when the soul is aware of the influence of grace she acknowledges the presence of the Word; but when she is not, she mourns his absence and again seeks his presence, saying with the prophet, 'My face has sought you; your face, Lord, I will seek.'[3]

3.… Now show me a soul which the bridegroom, the Word, is accustomed to visit often, whose friendship has made bold, for who hungers for what it has once tasted, whom contempt of all things has given leisure, and without hesitation I will assign it the voice and name of the Bride….

4. Now it is clear that his comings and goings are the fluctuations in the soul of which he speaks when he says 'I go away, and come again to you',[4] and, 'a little while and you shall not see me, and again a little while and you shall see me.’[5]… How long a little while! … The word of my Lord may not be doubted, but it is a long while, far too long.… For the loving soul is carried away by her prayers and drawn on by her longing; she forgets her deserts, closes her eyes to the majesty of the Bridegroom but opens them to the pleasure he brings, looking only at his saving grace,[6] and in that putting her confidence.… Calling him, with accustomed familiarity, not 'Lord' but 'beloved': 'Return, my beloved'.

 5. Now bear with my foolishness for a little.[7] I want to tell you of my own experience, as I promised. I admit that the Word has also come to me… And has come many times. But although he has come to me, I have never been conscious of the moment of his coming. I perceive his presence, I remember afterwards that he had been with me; sometimes I had a presentiment that he would come, but I was never conscious of his coming or his going.[8] … How then did he enter? Perhaps he did not enter because he does not come from outside? He's not one of the things which exist outside us.[9] Yet he does not come from within me, for he is good,[10] & I know that there is no good in me. …

6. You ask then how I knew he was present, when his ways can in no way be traced?[11] He is life and power,[12]and as soon as he enters in, he awakens my slumbering soul; he stirs and sooths and pierces my heart,[13] for before it was hard as stone,[14] and diseased. So he has begun to pluck out and destroy, to build up into plant, to water dry places and illuminate dark ones;[15] to open what was closed and to warm what was cold; to make the crooked straight and the rough places smooth,[16] so that my soul may bless the Lord, and all that is within me may praise his holy name.[17]… It was not by any movement of his that I recognized his coming; it was not by any of my senses that I perceived he had penetrated to the depths of my being. Only by the movement of my heart, as I have told you, that I perceive his presence; and I knew the power of his might[18] because my faults were put to flight and my human yearnings brought into subjection. I have marveled at the depth of his wisdom[19] when my secret faults[20] have been revealed and made visible; and the very slightest amendment of my way of life I have experienced his goodness and mercy; in the renewal and remaking of the spirit of my mind,[21] that is of my inmost being, I have perceived the excellence of his glorious beauty,[22] and when I contemplate all these things I am filled with awe and wonder at his manifold greatness.[23]"

CISTERCIAN FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER FORTY - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX – ON THE SONG OF SONGS IV

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[1] Ps 12:7  [2] 1 Cor 12:11  [3] Ps 27:8  [4] Jn 14:28  [5] Jn 16:17  [6] Ps 12:6  [7] 2 Cor 1:11  [8] Ps 121:8  [9] 1 Cor 5:12 

[10] Ps 52:11  [11] Rom 11:33  [12] Heb 4:12  [13] Sg 4:9  [14] Si 3:27, Ez 11:19, 36:26  [15] Jer 1:10  [16] Is 40:4

[17] Ps 103:1  [18] Eph 1:13  [19] Qo 7:25  [20] Ps 19:13  [21] Eph 4:23  [22] Ps 50:2  [23] Ps 151:2 

Catch us the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines are in flower.” Sg 2:15

St. Bernard - El Greco

 God came as a man in order to redeem his people. Declared in Scripture, even by a Roman soldier, it is what makes Christianity so difficult for humanity to believe. It is a fact preached upon many times by the disciples and fathers of the Church. In Sermon 64 on the Song of Songs St. Bernard lends his eloquence to the message.

“Catch us the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines are in flower.” ^{Sg 2:15}

Focusing on the word “us” in this verse St. Bernard takes us on a flight of theological reflection.

“He who has deigned to unite himself with us does not look upon our advantage as something foreign to himself, for he orders the foxes to be caught, not for himself, but for us along with him. Notice that he says 'for us'. What gracious condescension! Do you not think that he is speaking as the father of the family, in that he keeps nothing for himself, but has everything in common with his wife and children and household? He who speaks is indeed God, yet it is not as God that he speaks, but as a Bridegroom.

'Catch us the foxes.' You see how he speaks, as though to equals – he who has no equal. He could've said 'me', but he preferred to say 'us', for he delights in companionship. What sweetness! What grace! What a mighty love! Can it be that the Highest of all is made one with all? Who has brought this about? Love has brought this about, without regard for its own dignity, strong in affection and efficacious in persuasion. What could be more violent? Love prevails even with God. What could be so nonviolent? It is love. What force is there, I ask, which advances so violently towards victory, yet is so unresisting to violence? For he emptied himself, so that you might know that it was the fullness of love which was out- poured ^{Phil 2: 7}, that his loftiness was laid low and that his unique nature made to be your fellow. With whom, O wonderful Bridegroom, have you such familiar friendship? 'Catch them for us,' he says. For whom, besides you? For the Church of the Gentiles? She is made up of mortals and sinners. What she is, we know; but who are you ^{Jn 1:19}, so devoted to the ethiopian ^{Num 12:1} woman, so eager a lover? … Are you not he who is the fairest of the children of men? ^{Ps 44:3, Wis 7:26} I have said too little. You are the brightness of eternal life, the splendor and image of the being of God, God over all, blessed forever. ^{Heb 1:3, Rom 9:5} Amen."  from Sermon 64.9-10

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

The fig tree has put forth its green figs. (Song of Songs 2:13)

“The fig tree has put forth its green figs.” (Sg. 2:13) With this quote St. Bernard opens Sermon 60 on the Song of Songs. Now the fig tree has a peculiar reproductive process. There is an initial bud called a breba producing a crop relatively early in the year on the previous year's growth. These fruits are frequently small, acidic and inferior in texture. The second crop occurs later in the year on the current year's growth and these figs are edible. The fig tree does not flower; its flowers, male and female, are inside the fruit, enclosed by the outer shell and so never displays a flower before budding.

This process becomes the seed for a theological reflection critical of the nation of Israel before the coming of Christ.

“I do not think myself free to apply this passage to people in general, however: one person is distinctly referred to. For he did not speak of many trees …, but of one … meaning I think, the Jewish people. How often the Saviour uses this image in the Gospel! [Lk 13:6; Lk 21:29; Jn 1:48; Mk 11:13-14] … The fig tree is a good image, for though sprouting from the sound patriarchal root it never aimed to reach for the sky, never aimed at lifting itself from the ground, never responded to the root by putting out branches, by blooming to flower, by an abundance of fruit. O stunted twisted, knotty tree, how completely ill suited to you is your root. For the root is holy. (Rom 11:16) Does any thing worthy of it appear in your branches? .… Worthless seed, you have not brought these forth from that noble root. What it contains is of the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:20) and in every respect refined and sweet. Where then do these green figs come from? And really what does that nation have that is not crude? Neither their actions nor their inclinations nor their understanding; not even the rites with which they worship God. Their actions are summed up in strife, their whole orientation was to wealth, their understanding was darkened in literalism, they worshipped with the blood of sheep and cattle.”

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

Lest you begin to feel that St. Bernard is too hard on the Jewish people a reading of Matthew 23:29-36, in fact all of Mt 23, you will see Jesus equally critical and even condemnatory of his chosen people.

More on the fig tree as a symbol of the Jewish people in the next post. 

Sermon 8 – THE HOLY SPIRIT: THE KISS OF THE KISS OF THE MOUTH

 

St Bernard does not lay out as a direct definition “the kiss of the kiss of the mouth.” But rather through a series of scriptural references and his unique understanding of them provides his exposition of “the kiss” and the “kiss of the kiss.”

From Sermon 8

8.1 “As I promised yesterday, and as you well remember, today we are to speak of the supreme kiss, that of the mouth. … I think I should begin by considering the higher truths, and it seems to me that a kiss past comprehension, beyond the experience of any mere creature, was designated by him who said: ‘“No one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the son chooses to reveal him.”[1] …. Now, that mutual knowledge and love between him who begets and him who is begotten – what can it comprise if not a kiss that is utterly sweet, but utterly a mystery as well?

8.2 “For my part I am convinced that no creature, not even an angel, is permitted to comprehend this secret of divine love, so holy and so august. Does not Paul proclaim from his own experience that this is a peace which surpasses all understanding, even that of the angels?[2] And hence the bride, although otherwise so audacious, does not dare to say: ‘“Let him kiss me with his mouth,” for she knows that this is the prerogative of the Father alone. What she does ask for is something less: ‘“Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.” Do you wish to see the newly chosen bride receiving this unprecedented kiss, given not by the mouth but by the kiss of the mouth? Then look at Jesus in the presence of his Apostles: "’He breathed on them,” according to St. John, “’and he said: ‘receive the Holy Spirit.’”[3] That favor, given to the newly chosen Church, was indeed a kiss. That? you say. That corporeal breathing? Oh, no, but rather the invisible Spirit, who is so bestowed in that breath of the Lord that he is understood to proceed from him equally as from the Father,[4] truly the kiss that is common both to him who kisses and to him who is kissed. Hence the bride is satisfied to receive the kiss of the Bridegroom, though she not be kissed with his mouth. For her it is no mean or contemptible thing to be kissed by the kiss because it is nothing less than the gift of the Holy Spirit. If, as is properly understood, The Father is he who kisses, the Son he who is kissed, then it cannot be wrong to see in the kiss the Holy Spirit, for he is the imperturbable peace of the Father and the Son, their unshakable bond, their undivided love, their indivisible unity."

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

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[1] Mt 11:27     [2] Phil 4:7     [3] Jn 20:22     [4] Jn 15:26