PL 183 · cols. 535–536

Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Saints

Sermon VI

(Osee II, 20, 19). Si non fecit ille quod sponsus, si non tanquam sponsus amavit, si non zelatus est tanquam sponsus, noli acquiescere sponsam te arbitrari.

(Hos. 2:20, 19). If He has not done what a bridegroom does, if He has not loved as a bridegroom, if He has not been jealous as a bridegroom, do not consent to think yourself a bride.

10. Itaque, fratres mei, si per abundantem refectionem magni patrisfamilias domus esse probamur, si templum Dei per sanctificationem, si civitas summi regis per socialis vitae communionem, si sponsa immortalis sponsi per dilectionem, puto, jam non est quod dicere verear nostram esse solemnitatem. Nec miremini quod in terris agitur haec celebritas, siquidem agitur et in coelis. Nempe si (ut Veritas ait, et non potest non esse verum) super uno peccatore poenitentiam agente gaudium est in coelis, etiam angelis Dei (Luc. XV, 10), non est dubium quin sit eis hodie gaudium multiplex super jam multo peccatore poenitentiam agente. Adhuc amplius vultis audire? Etiam gaudium Domini, fortitudo nostra (II Esdr. VIII, 10). Collaetemur ergo angelis Dei, congaudeamus Deo, et in gratiarum actione praesens solemnitatis agatur, quia quanto nobis domestica, tanto amplius debet esse devota.

10. And so, my brethren, if through abundant refreshment we are shown to be the house of the great father of the household, if the temple of God through sanctification, if the city of the supreme King through the communion of social life, if the bride of the immortal Bridegroom through love, then, I think, there is no longer anything I should fear to say: that this solemnity is ours. Nor wonder that this celebration is kept on earth, since it is kept in heaven too. For if (as the Truth says, and it cannot be other than true) there is joy in heaven, even for the angels of God, over one sinner doing penance (Luke 15:10), there is no doubt that there is manifold joy for them today over a sinner, now many, doing penance. Do you wish to hear still more? The joy of the Lord too is our strength (Neh. 8:10). Let us rejoice together, then, with the angels of God, let us rejoice with God, and let the present [day] of the solemnity be kept in thanksgiving, since the more it is our own, so much the more devout it ought to be.

SERMO VI. De reverentia sacris locis debita.

SERMON VI. On the Reverence Due to Holy Places.

1. Domestica nobis celebritas dedicatio domus nostrae; magis autem domestica nostra ipsorum dedicatio est. Nostra siquidem illa aspersio, nostra illa benedictio, nostra consecratio fuit, quae per manus sanctorum celebrata pontificum, etiam hodie anniversario reditu votivis laudibus ad memoriam revocatur. Numquid de lapidibus cura est Deo? Non parietes dicunt, sed homines: Ipsi enim cura est de nobis (I Petr. V, 7). Unus homo erat Jacob, et dormiens vidit descendentes angelos et ascendentes. Parum est hoc; etiam Dominum angelorum adesse testatus est, dicens: Vere Dominus est in loco isto et ego nesciebam (Gen. XXXVIII, 12, 16). Miratur enim gratiam, et dignationis magnitudinem expavescit. Quam terribilior est iste locus, quam evidentius certiusque Dominus est in loco isto, ubi nimirum non modo duo aut tres, sed tam multi in ipsius congregati nomine perseverant! Nemo jam nesciat, nemo vestrum ignoret. Siquidem non accepimus spiritum mundi hujus, sed spiritum qui ex Deo est, ut sciamus quae a Deo data sunt nobis (I Cor, II 12). Terribilis plane locus, et dignus omni reverentia, quem fideles viri inhabitant; quem angeli sancti frequentant; quem sua quoque praesentia Dominus ipse dignatur.

1. The dedication of our house is a celebration that belongs to us; but more our own still is the dedication of ourselves. For ours was that sprinkling, ours that blessing, ours the consecration, which, performed by the hands of holy bishops, is today too, as the year comes round, recalled to memory with votive praises. Is it of stones that God has care? Not walls say it, but men: For He has care of us (1 Pet. 5:7). Jacob was one man, and sleeping he saw angels descending and ascending. That is little; he testified also that the Lord of the angels was present, saying: Truly the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not (Gen. 28:12, 16). For he marvels at the grace and is struck with dread at the greatness of the condescension. How much more terrible is this place, how much more evidently and certainly is the Lord in this place, where indeed not merely two or three, but so many persevere gathered in His name! Let no one now not know it, let none of you be ignorant of it. For we have received not the spirit of this world, but the spirit that is from God, that we may know the things that have been given us by God (1 Cor. 2:12). Truly a terrible place, and worthy of all reverence, which faithful men inhabit; which the holy angels frequent; which the Lord Himself deigns to honour with His presence too.

2. Quomodo enim tantus patriarcha nescire potuerat quod non esset locus ubi non esset Deus? Sed forte aliud esse miratus est, ubi ait: Vere Dominus est in loco isto. Ibi vere est et vere Dominus est, ubi in ejus nomine angeli simul et homines

2. For how could so great a patriarch have failed to know that there was no place where God was not? But perhaps he marvelled that it was something else, when he says: Truly the Lord is in this place. There He truly is, and is truly Lord, where in His name angels and men together

Editors' notes and page, col. 535

Footnotes

(80*) ‹anchor: angeli sancti frequentant› · call in col 535 Huc spectare videtur Joannes Ermitta in lib. 2 de Vita S. Bernardi, num. 7, ubi ejus verba refert ex sermone in dedicatione ecclesiae habito: « Nunc sancti Angeli solemnizationi vestrae interfuerunt, » etc. tomo 6.

John the Hermit seems to have this passage in view in book 2 of the Life of St Bernard, no. 7, where he reports Bernard's words from a sermon preached at the dedication of a church: "Now the holy angels have been present at your solemn celebration," etc., volume 6.

(printed under page 273)

Page

running head: 535 S. BERNARDI ABBATIS CLAR[AE-VALLENSIS] (right part of the head cut off in the image)
marginal letters: A ‹rationibus (Osee II›; B ‹bium quin sit eis hodie›; C ‹versario reditu votivis›; D ‹spiritum mundi hujus›
old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 183:536

congregantur. Licet enim in omni loco sit, qui nullo clauditur loco, signanter tamen dicimus: Pater noster, qui es in coelis (Matth. VI, 9), quod aliter illic et proprio quodam modo praesentem se exhibeat, non quidem ipse diversus, sed diversa distinguens. Est ergo in omni loco, omnia universaliter continens, omniaque disponens; sed longe tamen aliter atque aliter. Apud homines malos est praestans atque dissimulans; apud electos homines operans et servans; apud superos pascens et cubans; apud inferos arguens et damnans. Facit solem suum oriri etiam super malos: sed ubi malorum interim dissimulatio est, quodam modo veritas non est. Itaque, si dicere licet, apud impios est in dissimulatione; apud justos in veritate; apud angelos in felicitate; apud inferos in feritate sua. Durum vobis sonat quod de feritate dixi? ego vero et iram vereor, et furorem. Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me (Psal. VI, 2) etc. Vere, inquit, Dominus est in loco isto. Ubi enim pluit super justos et injustos, pater est, et Pater misericordiarum, exspectans homines ad poenitentiam. Ubi damnat obstinatos, judex est, et horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis (Hebr. X, 31); ubi cubat, sponsus est: et beata anima quam introduxerit in cubiculum suum.

are gathered. For though He Who is enclosed by no place is in every place, yet we say expressly: Our Father, Who art in heaven (Matt. 6:9), because there He shows Himself present otherwise and in a certain proper manner, not that He Himself is different, but distinguishing different things. He is, then, in every place, containing all things universally and disposing all things; but yet in ways far different one from another. Among evil men He is bestowing and overlooking; among chosen men, working and preserving; among those above, feeding and lying at rest; among those below, reproving and condemning. He makes His sun rise even upon the wicked: but where for the present there is overlooking of the wicked, in a certain manner there is not truth. And so, if one may say it, among the impious He is in overlooking; among the just, in truth; among the angels, in felicity; among those below, in His fierceness. Does what I said of fierceness sound hard to you? But I fear both His anger and His fury. Lord, rebuke me not in Thy fury (Ps. 6:2), and so on. Truly, he says, the Lord is in this place. For where He sends rain upon the just and the unjust, He is a father, and the Father of mercies, waiting for men to repent. Where He condemns the obstinate, He is a judge, and it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31); where He lies at rest, He is the bridegroom: and blessed the soul whom He has brought into His chamber.

3. Caeterum in loco isto vere Dominus est, si tamen serviamus ei in spiritu et veritate. Non enim vere Dominus erat apud eos quibus dicebat: Quid vocatis me, Domine, Domine; et non facitis quae dico? (Luc. VI, 46.) Testantur sacrae litterae in paradiso olim positum primum Adam ut operaretur et custodiret illum (Gen. II, 15). Sic secundus Adam in ecclesia sanctorum, in congregatione suorum, in horto deliciarum: siquidem deliciae suae esse cum filiis hominum; ita, inquam, et ipse Dominus est in loco isto, ut operetur atque custodiat. Alioquin sicut: Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam; sic nihilominus: Nisi ipse custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam (Psal. CXXVI, 1). Porro angelos ascendentes et descendentes esse in loco isto, patriarchalis ipsa visio manifestat: ascendentes, ut videant faciem Patris; descendentes, ut provideant nobis. Quid ergo? Nos quomodo hic esse debemus, in quanta reverentia stare in loco isto, ubi Deus est operans et s⟨e⟩rvans, angeli ascendentes et descendentes? Nimirum poenitentes et exspectantes esse nos convenit. Hoc est enim oblivisci quae retro sunt- ignorare, reprobare, recogitare annos illos in amaritudine animae nostrae, ac deinceps cogitatione simul et aviditate extendere nos in anteriora. Ad hoc venimus, in hoc ⟨p⟩ositi sumus. Hae⟨c⟩ sunt quae exiguntur a nobis, praeteritorum poen⟨it⟩udo peccatorum, et futurorum exspectatio praemiorum.

3. But in this place the Lord truly is, provided we serve Him in spirit and in truth. For He was not truly Lord among those to whom He said: Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46.) The sacred writings testify that the first Adam was once placed in paradise to work it and to keep it (Gen. 2:15). So the second Adam [is] in the church of the saints, in the congregation of His own, in the garden of delights: since His delights are to be with the children of men; so, I say, He too is Lord in this place, to work and to keep. Otherwise, just as: Unless the Lord build the house, they have laboured in vain who build it; so no less: Unless He keep the city, he watches in vain who keeps it (Ps. 126:1). Further, that angels ascending and descending are in this place, the patriarch's vision itself makes manifest: ascending, that they may see the face of the Father; descending, that they may provide for us. What then? How ought we to be here, in what great reverence to stand in this place, where God is working and preserving, and angels ascending and descending? Surely it befits us to be penitent and expectant. For this is to forget the things that are behind: to disown them, to condemn them, to think over those years in the bitterness of our soul, and thenceforth, with thought and eagerness together, to stretch ourselves forward to the things ahead. For this we have come, for this we have been placed here. These are the things required of us: repentance for past sins, and expectation of future rewards.

Editors' notes and page, col. 536