Migne Reading Room
PL 183 · cols. 50–52
Bernard of Clairvaux, In Adventu Domini sermo V
Sermon V
SERMO V. De medio adventu, et triplici innovatione.
SERMON V. On the middle advent, and a threefold renewal.
1. Diximus nuper his qui deargentaverunt pennas suas, dormiendum inter medios cleros, duos significantes adventus: sed ubi sit dormiendum non diximus. Tertius enim quidam adventus est medius inter illos; in quo delectabiliter dormiunt qui eum norunt. Illi enim duo manifesti sunt, sed non iste. In priori quidem in terris visus, et cum hominibus conversatus est; quando, sicut ipse testatur, et viderunt, et oderunt (Joan. XV, 24). In posteriore vero videbit omnis caro salutare Dei nostri (Luc. III, 6); et videbunt in quem transfixerunt (Joan. XIX, 37). Medius occultus est, in quo soli eum in seipsis vident electi, et salvae fiunt animae eorum. In primo ergo venit in carne et infirmitate; in hoc medio, in spiritu et virtute; in ultimo, in gloria et majestate. Per virtutem enim pervenitur ad gloriam: quia Dominus virtutum ipse est Rex gloriae (Psal. XXIII, 10). Et item alibi ait idem propheta: Ut viderem
1. We said lately to those who have silvered their wings that they must sleep between the middle lots, which signify the two advents; but where one must sleep we did not say. For there is a certain third advent, a middle one between those; in which they sleep delightfully who know it. For those two are manifest, but not this one. In the former He was indeed seen on earth, and conversed with men; when, as He Himself testifies, they both saw and hated (John 15:24). In the latter, however, all flesh shall see the salvation of our God (Luke 3:6); and they shall look on Him whom they pierced (John 19:37). The middle one is hidden, in which the elect alone see Him within themselves, and their souls are made safe. In the first, then, He came in flesh and weakness; in this middle one, in spirit and power; in the last, in glory and majesty. For through power one arrives at glory: because the Lord of powers, He is the King of glory (Ps. 23:10). And again elsewhere the same prophet says: That I might see
virtutem tuam, et gloriam tuam (Psal. LXII, 3). Adventus siquidem iste medius, via quaedam est, per quam a primo venitur ad ultimum. In primo Christus fuit redemptio nostra: in ultimo apparebit vita nostra: in isto ut dormiamus inter medios cleros, requies est et consolatio nostra.
Thy power and Thy glory (Ps. 62:3). For this middle advent is a kind of way, by which one comes from the first to the last. In the first Christ was our redemption; in the last He will appear as our life; in this one, that we may sleep between the middle lots, He is our rest and consolation.
2. Sed ne cui forte inventitia videantur quae de hoc adventu medio dicimus, ipsum audite. Si quis diligit me, inquit, sermones meos servabit: et Pater meus diliget eum, et ad eum veniemus (Joan. XIV, 23). Sed quid est, Si quis diligit me, sermones meos servabit? Legi enim alibi: Qui timet Deum, faciet bona (Eccli. XV, 1); sed plus aliquid dictum sentio de diligente, quia sermones Dei servabit. Ubi ergo servandi sunt? Haud dubium quin in corde, sicut ait Phopheta: In corde meo abscondi eloquia tua, ut non peccem tibi (Psal. CXVIII, 11). Sed quomodo in corde servandi? an sufficit sola eos servare memoria? At vero sic servanti dicet Apostolus: Quoniam scientia inflat (I Cor. VIII, 1). Denique et memoriam facile delet oblivio. Sic serva sermonem Dei, quomodo melius servare potes cibum corporis tui. Nam et ille panis vivus est, et cibus mentis. Panis terrenus dum in arca est, potest a fure tolli, potest a mure corrodi, potest vetustate corrumpi. Ubi vero comederis illum, quid horum timeas? Hoc modo custodi verbum Dei: beati enim qui custodiunt illud (Luc. XI, 28). Ergo trajiciatur in viscera quaedam animae tuae; transeat in affectiones tuas, et in mores tuos. Comede bonum, et delectabitur in crassitudine anima tua. Ne obliviscaris comedere panem tuum, ne exarescat cor tuum, sed adipe et pinguedine repleatur anima tua.
2. But lest what we say about this middle advent should perhaps seem to anyone to be invented, hear Him Himself. If anyone loves me, He says, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him (John 14:23). But what is it, If anyone loves me, he will keep my words? For I have read elsewhere: He who fears God will do good things (Sir. 15:1); but I perceive something more to have been said of the one who loves, that he will keep the words of God. Where, then, are they to be kept? No doubt in the heart, as the Prophet says: In my heart I have hidden Thy words, that I may not sin against Thee (Ps. 118:11). But how are they to be kept in the heart? Is it enough to keep them in the memory alone? But to one who keeps them so the Apostle will say: For knowledge puffs up (1 Cor. 8:1). And besides, forgetfulness easily erases memory. Keep the word of God in the way in which you can best keep the food of your body. For that too is living bread, and the food of the mind. Earthly bread, while it is in the chest, can be taken away by a thief, can be gnawed by a mouse, can be spoiled by age. But once you have eaten it, which of these things would you fear? In this manner guard the word of God: for blessed are they who guard it (Luke 11:28). Let it therefore be passed into certain inward parts of your soul; let it pass into your affections, and into your conduct. Eat what is good, and your soul shall delight itself in fatness. Do not forget to eat your bread, lest your heart wither; but let your soul be filled with marrow and fatness.
3. Si sic verbum Dei servaveris, haud dubium quin ab eo serveris. Veniet enim Filius ad te cum Patre, veniet Propheta magnus, qui renovabit Jerusalem, et ille nova faciet omnia. Hoc enim faciet hic adventus, ut, sicut portavimus imaginem terreni, sic portemus et imaginem coelestis (I Cor. XV, 49). Sicut fuit vetus Adam effusus per totum hominem, et totum occupavit, ita modo totum obtineat Christus, qui totum creavit, totum redemit, totum et glorificabit, quique totum hominem salvum fecit in Sabbato. Erat in nobis aliquando vetus homo: praevaricator ille erat in nobis, tam in manu quam in ore, et in corde. In manu dupliciter, per facinus et flagitium. In ore similiter per arrogantiam et detractionem. In corde quoque per desideria carnis, et desideria gloriae temporalis. Nunc autem si quo nova creatura in ipso, vetera transierunt, et contra facinus in manu, innocentia; contra flagitium, continentia est. In ore contra arrogantiam, verbum confessionis; contra detractionem, verbum aedificationis, ut recedant vetera de ore notro. In corde vero contra carnis desideria, charitas; humilitas contra gloriam temporalem. Et vide si non in his tribus Christum Dei Verbum recipiant singuli electorum, quibus dictum est: Pone me signaculum super brachium tuum, signum super cor tuum (Cantic. VIII, 6);
3. If you keep the word of God thus, there is no doubt that you will be kept by it. For the Son will come to you with the Father; the great Prophet will come, who will renew Jerusalem, and He will make all things new. For this is what this advent will do: that, as we have borne the image of the earthly, so we may bear also the image of the heavenly (1 Cor. 15:49). As the old Adam was poured out through the whole man and occupied the whole, so now let Christ possess the whole, Who created the whole, redeemed the whole, and will also glorify the whole, and Who made the whole man whole on the Sabbath. There was in us once the old man: that transgressor was in us, in the hand as much as in the mouth, and in the heart. In the hand doubly, through crime and through shameful deed. In the mouth likewise, through arrogance and detraction. In the heart also, through the desires of the flesh and the desires of temporal glory. But now, if anyone is a new creature in Him, the old things have passed away; and against crime in the hand there is innocence; against shameful deed, continence. In the mouth, against arrogance, the word of confession; against detraction, the word of edification, that the old things may depart from our mouth. In the heart, moreover, against the desires of the flesh, charity; humility against temporal glory. And see whether the individual elect do not receive Christ, the Word of God, in these three, they to whom it has been said: Set me as a seal upon your arm, as a sign upon your heart (Song 8:6);
et alibi: Prope est verbum in ore tuo, et in corde tuo (Rom. X, 8).
and elsewhere: The word is near, in your mouth and in your heart (Rom. 10:8).