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    A Month of Prayer with St. Bernard of Clairvaux
    A Month of Prayer with St. Bernard of Clairvaux
    A Month of Prayer with St. Bernard of Clairvaux
    Ebook79 pages1 hour

    A Month of Prayer with St. Bernard of Clairvaux

    By Wyatt North

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    About this ebook

    Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was a Burgundian abbot who was credited with the revitalization of the Benedictine order through the nascent Order of the Cistercians. He lived during the time of schism, when the head of the church was in contention. Benedict was chosen to help decide between the claims on the papacy - ultimately siding with Pope Innocent II rather than the Antipope Anacletus II. Benedict played a significant role in unifying the church and protecting its unity against the threat that this dispute signified.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWyatt North Publishing
    Release dateMay 5, 2021
    ISBN9781667304182

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      A Month of Prayer with St. Bernard of Clairvaux - Wyatt North

      Introduction

      Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was a Burgundian abbot who was credited with the revitalization of the Benedictine order through the nascent Order of the Cistercians. He lived during the time of schism, when the head of the church was in contention. Benedict was chosen to help decide between the claims on the papacy—ultimately siding with Pope Innocent II rather than the Antipope Anacletus II. Benedict played a significant role in unifying the church and protecting its unity against the threat that this dispute signified. For Bernard, the issue at hand was not merely a question of order and polity but a matter of loving God properly.

      Saint Bernard is known chiefly from his writings on loving God. It is one thing to recognize that God loves us, but how is it that we, who are limited by our human capacities, can return God’s love properly? Certainly, it’s not a matter of degrees or a measure of love. If God loves us with all that He is—and He does—and we love Him with all that we are, our finite love cannot compare to the infinite love that God extends toward us. Nonetheless, Jesus declared that all of the law could be summed up by two commands. The greatest being that we should love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and strength. The second, of course, being that we should love our neighbors as ourselves.

      Day 1

      God is love. If we are going to ask why it is important that we love God, the answer must start with God’s nature and character. This is the insight that St. Bernard gave in his book, On Loving God, and we would do well to consider it. Often, we hear people say things like, I couldn’t love a God who allows bad things to happen, and other similar sentiments. However, God is love. We love because He first loved us. The cross is sufficient to demonstrate the basis of our love of God. It’s there that we should look, not within the contingencies of our lives, if we are to love God properly.

      Meditations from St. Bernard

      You want me to tell you why God is to be loved and how much. I answer, the reason for loving God is God Himself; and the measure of love due to Him is immeasurable love. Is this plain? Doubtless, to a thoughtful man; but I am debtor to the unwise also. A word to the wise is sufficient; but I must consider simple folk too. Therefore, I set myself joyfully to explain more in detail what is meant above.

      We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable. When one asks, Why should I love God? he may mean, What is lovely in God? or What shall I gain by loving God? In either case, the same sufficient cause of love exists, namely, God Himself.

      And first, of His title to our love. Could any title be greater than this, that He gave Himself for us unworthy wretches? And being God, what better gift could He offer than Himself? Hence, if one seeks for God’s claim upon our love here is the chiefest: Because He first loved us (I John 4.19).

      Ought He not to be loved in return, when we think who loved, whom He loved, and how much He loved? For who is He that loved? The same of whom every spirit testifies: ‘Thou art my God: my goods are nothing unto Thee’ (Ps. 16.2, Vulg.). And is not His love that wonderful charity which ‘seeketh not her own’? (I Cor.13.5). But for whom was such unutterable love made manifest? The apostle tells us: ‘When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son’ (Rom. 5.10). So it was God who loved us, loved us freely, and loved us while yet we were enemies. And how great was this love of His? St. John answers: ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3.16). St. Paul adds: ‘He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all’ (Rom. 8.32); and the Son says of Himself, ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’ (John 15.13).

      St. Bernard of Clairvaux. On Loving God, Ch. 1.

      Additional Biblical Reflections: Deuteronomy 6:5; John 14:21; Galatians 2:20.

      Prayer

      Lord, your love for us is greater than we can possibly comprehend. Yet, so often, the love we have for you pales in comparison to the love you demonstrated for us on the cross. Lord, grant us hearts that conform to the image of your Son so that we might love you as you love us. Amen.

      Day 2

      Even besides the cross, the Love of God is abundant and evident to believers and unbelievers alike. Despite our lack of gratitude, God continues to grant earthly blessings like food, sunlight, and food even to those who blaspheme His name. As such, life in creation testifies to our basis of love for God on several levels. If we do not see cause to love God, it is on account of the hardness of our hearts, not on account of

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