MY BELOVED IS MINE AND I AM HIS: SELF-KNOWLEDGE IN THE ...

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to lordship over creation and the obedient worship of all God’s creatures. Neglecting the truth of his own created finitude and his indebtedness to his Creator, Lucifer deceived himself into believing that he too might rule over a kingdom of creatures, and so presumptuously aspired to exalt himself against their true King. So Bernard queries the mighty angel: “I will place my throne in the North” (Is 14:13), you say. As all the citizens of heaven stand, you alone affect to sit and disturb the concord of your brothers, the peace of the whole celestial country, and even, as far as you are able, the tranquility of the Trinity! Where has your curiosity lead you, O miserable one, that with singular arrogance, you do not hesitate to cause scandal to heaven’s citizens and injury to their King?...And now arrogantly pondering, curiously investigating, and irreverently approaching unknown heights which others dare not glimpse, you would set up a throne for yourself in heaven, that you might be like the Most High? To what end? With what daring? 189 In the lengthy, relentless, and penetrating cross-examination of the apostate angel which follows, Bernard discerns that Lucifer’s delusional daring was born of nothing other than his false knowledge of himself and his false knowledge of his Creator. On account of his unparalleled resemblance to the Son of God, Bernard explains, the prelapsarian Satan enjoyed a share in the Son’s divine foreknowledge. By this share in the divine foreknowledge, he foresaw that he would indeed one day rule over a kingdom of subservient creatures, namely those angels who would join his revolt and, later, the race of reprobate human beings, the sons and daughters of pride. Though he foresaw that by 189 Hum 31 (III, 40-41): “PON<strong>AM</strong>, inquis, SEDEM ME<strong>AM</strong> AD AQUILONEM. Ceteris astantibus caelicolis, dum tu sedere solus affectas, fratrum concordiam, totius caelestis patriae pacem, ipsius, quantum in te est, quietem Trinitatis infestas. Quo te tua, miser, curiositas ducit, ut praesumptione singulari non dubites civibus scandalum, iniuriam facere Regi?... et tu nescio quae prae ceteris differentius prospiciendo, curiosius inquirendo, irreverentius pervadendo, sedem tibi collocas in caelo, ut sis similis Altissimo? Quo fine? Qua fiducia?” 125
his rule over the reprobate he would, in a sense, rival the Most High, Satan could not, Bernard adds, foresee his future fall and descent into misery apart from God. Resuming his fictive dialogue, Bernard asks his subject, “I wonder, if in God’s foreknowledge you foresaw your reign, why did you not also see your fall? If you did foresee it, what madness led you to desire to rule in such misery?” 190 Bernard answers that Lucifer’s vision of his future was obscured or distorted by his false knowledge of himself and his Creator. With the prospect of his future rule over the proud gleaming in his mind’s eye, Satan’s amor propriae excellentiae swelled in his heart and proposed for his belief the delusion that he could indeed rival the Son’s lordship over all creation without fear of divine retribution. With his curious gaze distracted from the consideration of himself in Truth and fixated on his coming kingdom, he ceased to seek true self-knowledge and so neglected the truth of his created finitude and consequent dependence on his Creator. Simultaneously, his ravenous desire for superiority falsified his understanding of God, leading him to imagine that God as a god of mercy but not justice who could not punish his presumption for fear of losing his own divine goodness. Bernard writes: It is more likely that you did not foresee your fall either because…you presumed upon the goodness of God and therefore said in your heart, “He will not care” (Ps 9:24)…or else because, with the vision of your rule gleaming in your eye, the beam of pride grew so great that you could not see your intervening fall. 191 190 Hum 36 (III, 44): “Sed miror, cum in praescientia Dei tuum praevideris principatum, cur non in eadem praevidisti et praecipitium? Nam si praevidisti, quae insania fuit, ut cum tanta miseria cuperes principari, ut malles misere praeesse, quam feliciter subesse?” 191 Hum 36 (III, 44): “Sed credibilius est, quod non praevidisti: aut propter illam causam, quam superius dixi, quia Dei bonitatem attendens, dixisti in corde tuo: NON REQUIRET, propter quod, o impie, 126
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MY BELOVED IS MINE AND I AM HIS: SE
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MY BELOVED IS MINE AND I AM HIS: SE
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To my Father, James U. DeFrancis, S
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Christ as the Model of Self-Knowled
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esearch: John Cavadini, Cyril O’R
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self-knowledge is the indispensible
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For Bernard, then, humble self-know
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likeness of charity. Within the Cis
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When Gilson asserted that by self-k
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Bernard, Sommerfeldt continues, hum
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a “false image” of himself. 26
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some newfound and joyous moment of
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ecognize that same sinfulness in hi
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foundations of man’s return to Go
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the descent of humility begins the
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saving work of Jesus Christ in the
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the humility, obedience, and love C
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Of particular importance to Bernard
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and second, “what it is like in i
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In his ground-breaking study of med
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direct links between the two. 52 It
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swells in one’s heart that it mov
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pride as “the desire for a perver
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The knowledge of self and God in th
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mercy until you renew all that is i
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CHAPTER 1: THE SCOPE OF BERNARD’S
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Prior to its first conversion, Bern
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Origen, Bernard here and elsewhere
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of God, they will grow ever more un
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and love as she is loved, and the B
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In the interim or “meanwhile” o
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Why do you judge yourself worthy to
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For Bernard, the lesson to be drawn
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warning and why should it compel he
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worldly things her flesh and senses
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aspired to seize a kind of parody o
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thousands of evils upon our entire
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edemptive work is suitably adapted
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emains forever, this grass too rema
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graciously condescending to assume
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Thus the abbot resolves his spiritu
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Page 89 and 90: Through this unflinching self-exami
Page 91 and 92: soon tempers my bitter vision of my
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Page 95 and 96: As observed above, in the second ha
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Page 99 and 100: Ignorance of self breeds pride when
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Page 107 and 108: Though this discrepancy at first ap
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Page 121 and 122: Finally, we should note that Bernar
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Page 145 and 146: Here abbot Bernard figures the prou
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Page 149 and 150: Asserting Self-Will Against Superio
Page 151 and 152: As so often in his narrative of the
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Page 165 and 166: In recognizing the two distinct mom
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Page 169 and 170: inward movement in the soul. In any
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Page 173 and 174: Operating inwardly within this judg
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Page 181 and 182: (Is 46:8). For Bernard, this first
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consolations afforded it by the lif
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thoroughly diseased: reason now see
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Reason’s rebuke is powerful, and
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In this vision, reason is permitted
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conscience she enjoys through the m
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Word of God, “that living and eff
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knowledge and contempt of himself,
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The Self-Awareness of the Bride in
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When the brightness of this beauty
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For Bernard, then, the soul that ha
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figure of this Ecclesia-Sponsa. On
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Conclusion Having considered three
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self-awareness as his own Bride, ra
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CHAPTER 4: SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND THE M
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Christ’s incarnate, crucified, an
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indeed to the entirety of his theol
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significant individual expressions
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The foregoing elements of Bernard
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descended and ascended and showed u
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self, neighbor, and God. He has sho
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own, and from your own experience l
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excursus has been labeled a “digr
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“learned” (didicit) is being pr
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To resolve this question, Bernard r
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You see, therefore, that Christ is
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to the Spirit, by contemplation in
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worse, misguided view of the abbot
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Christ’s Ascension culminates in
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conformed to him. Then, through the
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Modeling this laudabilis curiositas
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The theme of Word’s example of vo
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equally deadly, extreme of despair.
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and humbled by God, so that there w
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as essential elements of the Word I
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led astray. Their amor carnalis Chr
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delivered us from sin and enabled u
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miseria and fires it with the confi
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death to bring about a real, inward
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sins,” “justification,” and
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these life-giving virtues, we must
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precisely through, a careful approp
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perhaps she means, “My Beloved in
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To such a soul, the abbot continues
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gradually assuming the figure of Ch
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to judge themselves in Truth, and s
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ejoice with those who rejoice and w
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love of himself in the glory of div
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I. Works of Bernard of Clairvaux BI
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------. Sermo 29A. Edited by C. Lam
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Courcelle, Pierre. Connais-toi toi-
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------. “Le premier traité authe
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