Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Saints

of idleness, even those whom no one has hired (Matt. 20:6): those who have already been hired, if they are found idle, what do they deserve? For faith without works is dead (Jas. 2:26). Our very works, then, are to be done in fervour and in the desire of the heart, so that they may be lamps burning in our hands. Otherwise it is to be feared that we may be found lukewarm, and He may begin to cast us out who speaks in the Gospel, saying: I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I will but that it be kindled? (Luke 12:49.) This plainly is a holy and blessed fire, which the Father sanctified and sent into the world, and in which He is blessed in the churches, as it is written: In the churches bless God the Lord (Ps. 67:27). For our adversary also, as being a perverse rival of the divine works, has; he too, I say, has his own fire, the fire of carnal concupiscence, the fire of envy and ambition, which the Saviour came not to kindle in us but to extinguish. In short, if anyone presumes to offer this strange fire in the divine sacrifice, even if he has Aaron for his father, he shall die in his iniquity.

3. Further, beyond these things that have been said about the common life and brotherly love, about good works and holy fervour: the virtue of humility is the greatest and most necessary, that we may outdo one another in showing honour; and that each should set above himself not only his elders but even the younger ones themselves: which is indeed the perfection of humility and the fullness of righteousness. And since God loves a cheerful giver (II Cor. 9:7), and the fruit of charity is joy in the Holy Spirit, let us sing, as has been said, in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord (Ps. 137:5): let us sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvellous things (Ps. 97:1). If anyone perhaps neglects to make progress in all these things, and to go on from virtue to virtue, let whoever is of this kind know that he is at a standstill, not in procession, nay rather in regression; for on the way of life not to go forward is to go backward, since nothing yet remains in the same state. Further, our progress consists in this, as I remember I have often said: that we never think we have laid hold, but always stretch forward to what lies ahead, strive unceasingly for the better, and continually lay open our imperfection to the gaze of the divine mercy.

SERMON III. On the Child, Mary and Joseph.

1. Today we celebrate the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was performed according to the law of Moses when forty days had passed from the Nativity of the Lord. For it was written in the law that a woman who had conceived seed and borne a son should be unclean seven days, and on the eighth day the boy should be circumcised; then, intent on ablution and purification, she should abstain from entering the temple for thirty-three days; and when these were fulfilled, she should offer the son to the Lord with gifts (Lev. 12). But who would not notice, in the very opening of this sentence, that the mother of the Lord is altogether free of this precept? For do you think that Moses, when about to say that a woman who had borne a son was unclean, did not fear, regarding

the mother of the Lord, to incur the charge of blasphemy, and therefore put first "having conceived seed"? Otherwise, unless he had foreseen that a Virgin would give birth without seed, what need was there to make mention of conceiving seed? It is plain, then, that this law does not include the mother of the Lord, who bore a son without having conceived seed, just as had been foretold through Jeremiah, that the Lord would make a new thing upon the earth. Do you ask what new thing? A woman, he says, shall encompass a man (Jer. 31:22). She will not receive a man from another man, she will not conceive a human being by human law; but within untouched and unimpaired womb she will enclose a man: so that indeed, as the Lord enters and goes out, according to another prophet, the eastern gate remains continually shut (Ezek. 44:2).

2. Do you think, then, that her mind could not be moved to say: What need have I of purification? Why should I abstain from entering the temple, I whose womb, knowing no man, has been made the temple of the Holy Spirit? Why should I not enter the temple, I who have borne the Lord of the temple? Nothing in this conception, nothing in the birth was impure, nothing unlawful, nothing to be purged: since indeed this offspring is the fountain of purity, and has come to make purgation of sins. What should the observance of the law purify in me, who have been made most pure by this very immaculate birth? Truly, O blessed Virgin, truly you have no cause, nor have you need of purification. But had your son any need of circumcision? Be among women as one of them; for your son too is thus in the number of boys. He willed to be circumcised, and will He not much more will to be offered? Offer your son, consecrated Virgin, and present the blessed fruit of your womb to the Lord. Offer, for the reconciliation of us all, the holy victim pleasing to God. God the Father will surely accept the new oblation and the most precious victim, of which He Himself says: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matt. 3:17). But this offering, brethren, seems gentle enough, where He is only presented to the Lord, redeemed with birds, and straightway carried back. The time will come when He will be offered not in the temple, nor in the arms of Simeon, but outside the city in the arms of the cross. The time will come when He will not be redeemed by another's blood, but will redeem others by His own, because God the Father has sent Him as redemption to His people. That will be the evening sacrifice; this is the morning one. This one indeed more delightful, but that one fuller. For this was at the time of His birth, that already in the fullness of His age. Yet of both you may take what the prophet foretold: He was offered because He Himself willed it (Isa. 53:7). For now too He was offered, not because He had need, not because He was under the edict of the law, but because He Himself willed it; and on the cross likewise He was offered, not because He deserved it, not because the Jew had power, but because He Himself willed it. Willingly will I sacrifice to Thee, O Lord, because Thou wast willingly offered for my salvation, not for Thine own need.

5. But what, brethren, do we offer, or what do we render to Him for all that He has rendered to us? He offered for us the most precious victim He had, indeed one than which none could be more precious: and

let us, then, do what we can, offering Him the best we have, which is surely our very selves. He offered Himself; who are you, that you should hesitate to offer yourself? Who will grant me that so great a majesty should deign to receive my offering? I have two mites, O Lord, I mean body and soul: would that I could offer these to Thee perfectly as a sacrifice of praise! For it is good for me, and far more glorious and profitable, that I should rather be offered to Thee than be left to myself. For in myself my soul is troubled, but in Thee my spirit will exult, if it is truly offered to Thee. Brethren, to the Lord who was to die the Jew used to offer dead victims: but now: As I live, says the Lord, I do not will the death of the sinner,

ON THE FEAST OF ST VICTOR, CONFESSOR. SERMON I.

1. The life [variant: virtue] and the singular glory of Victor summon all who are upright of heart not so much to glory as to virtue. It belongs plainly not to an upright but to a perverse mind to seek glory before practising virtue, and to wish to be crowned without having striven lawfully. It is vain for you, it says, to rise before the light (Ps. 126:2). So it is. In vain does he strive for the height of glory who has not first shone with virtue. In vain do the foolish virgins rise to meet the bridegroom, whose lamps are going out: and they are foolish for this reason, that they glory in empty lamps, having no oil of virtue. Far be it from me to glory except in the glory of those whom the Prophet congratulates, saying: O Lord, they shall walk in the light of Thy countenance, and in Thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in Thy righteousness they shall be exalted. And he adds: For Thou art the glory of their virtue (Ps. 88:16–18). Beautifully it is not their glory but the glory of their virtue that is commended. For glory that is without virtue surely comes undeserved, is grasped at too hastily, is caught at with danger. Virtue is the step to glory; virtue is the mother of glory. Deceitful is the glory and vain the beauty which she has not brought forth. She alone is the one to whom glory is rightly owed and safely bestowed.

2. Saint Victor lacks neither virtue nor glory; but it is worth while to consider how both things, and in what order, proceeded in the man. He fought bravely, he overcame manfully, and so at last he is crowned with glory and honour. How indeed should the brave warrior, the humble victor, have remained without glory? Although even in the day of his strength he was not without glory, being admirable for signs and wonders. We have, dearly beloved, in the life of Victor both what we may worthily wonder at and what we may profitably imitate. I wonder that he gave wine in the desert, not a vine but a spring. I wonder and am amazed that while still an infant in the womb he was a terror to the dreadful demons, being foreknown by them, and even then designated by his name. Nor was the name empty, when the flight of the enemies and their extorted confession granted victory

but rather that he be converted and live (Ezek. 33:11). The Lord does not will my death; and shall I not gladly offer Him my life? For this is an appeasing victim, a victim pleasing to God, a living victim. But in that offering of the Lord three are read to have been present; and in our offering three things are likewise required by the Lord. There was present in that offering Joseph, the spouse of the Lord's mother, whose son He was thought to be; there was the Virgin mother herself, and the boy Jesus who was being offered. Let there be, then, in our offering also manly constancy, continence of the flesh, a humble conscience. Let there be, I say, a manly spirit in the resolve to persevere, virginal chastity in continence, a childlike simplicity and humility in conscience. Amen.

-ted to the little infant. Likewise, who would not wonder at the thief caught by a demon, and the man soon set free again from the demon? Who too would not count it a thing to be marvelled at with all wonder, that a man clothed in flesh, the heavens being opened, should fix the eyes of the flesh on the light from above, and see the visions of God, and moreover be soothed by angelic song and taught by an oracle? These and like things we venerate in the holy man; we do not emulate them. And rightly, since they may fail to happen without danger to salvation, and cannot be usurped without danger to salvation. It is safer indeed to emulate the more solid things than the more sublime, and those which savour more of virtue and less of glory.

3. Let us strive, then, to be conformed in conduct to him whom, even if we wished, we could not resemble in wonders. Let us emulate in the man his sober living and devout affection; let us emulate his meekness of spirit, chastity of body, guard of the mouth, purity of mind; to put a bridle on anger and a measure on the tongue, to sleep more sparingly, to pray more frequently, to admonish ourselves with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; to join nights to days and fill them with divine praises. Let us emulate the better gifts. Let us learn from him that he was meek and humble of heart. Let us emulate, I say, that he showed himself generous to the poor, cheerful to guests, patient with sinners, kind to all. For this is better. In these is the form on which we may be stamped; in the miracles a glory by which we may be held back. Let those give joy, these build up; let those move us, these move us forward. Let us feast, dearly beloved, called to the table of a rich man, a table abounding in loaves, heaped with delicacies. Is he not rich who refreshes us with his examples, protects us with his merits, gladdens us with his signs? Rich indeed, at whose solemn banquet today angels and men are gathered together alike: these to be refreshed, those to take delight; these to make progress, those to rejoice. His life filled with good things, what is it but a table laden with food? Yet not everything is set before everyone, but so that each may take what he sees to be expedient and fitting for himself.

4. And I indeed, by a more wholesome counsel, carefully