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

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Bernard, each of the mysteries of the Word’s descent and ascent in the flesh are integral to his saving work. As Bernard writes in his third sermon for the Circumcision, “The whole is given to me, all is poured out for my benefit.” 347 Again, in his second sermon for Pentecost, the abbot has Christ proclaim: I give you not only my conception, but also my life, in each of its stages; I give you my infancy, my boyhood, my adolescence, and my youth, together with my death, my resurrection, my ascension, and my sending of the Spirit. I will do this so that my conception may cleanse yours, my life may instruct yours, my death may destroy yours, my resurrection may precede yours, my ascension may prepare yours, and, finally, that the Spirit may strengthen you in your weakness. 348 Bernard’s two-fold reference to Christ’s sending of the Spirit underscores an aspect of Bernard’s soteriology that is not entirely evident in McGinn’s article: the mystery of Christ’s Ascension into glory is not complete without his gift of the Spirit at Pentecost. It is true, as McGinn notes, that, for Bernard, the feast of the Ascension is the “consummation and fulfillment of all the other feasts, the happy conclusion to the entire journey of the Son of God.” 349 Yet, it is equally true, for Bernard, that the mystery of 347 3 Circ 4 (IV, 284): “Totus siquidem mihi datus, et totus in meos usus expensus est.” All translations of Bernard’s liturgical sermons are my own, unless otherwise indicated. The reader should, however, consult the following translations from which I have benefited: Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for the Advent and Christmas Season, trans. Irene Edmonds, Wendy Mary Beckett, and Conrad Greenia, ed. John Leinenweber, Cistercian Fathers 51 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2007); Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for the Summer Season: Liturgical Sermons from Rogationtide and Pentecost, trans. Beverly Mayne Kinzel and James Jarzembowski, Cistercian Fathers 53 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1991). 348 2 Pent 5 (V, 168): “, ait,
Christ’s Ascension culminates in his gift of the Spirit to his faithful so that those who receive his Spirit might be strengthened to imitate the journey of his descent and ascent in the flesh. To obtain a comprehensive picture of Bernard’s soteriology, then, we need to consider his reflections on each of the mysteries of Christ’s life, from Advent to Pentecost. In his sermons on the feasts of Advent, Christmas, the Circumcision, Epiphany, and the Passion, Bernard contemplates the mysteries of the Word Incarnate’s descent; in those for the Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost, he contemplates the mysteries of Christ’s ascent. In contemplating these mysteries, Bernard and his monks will also have occasion to contemplate their own, individual progress in the spiritual life. For, in Bernard’s view, the order of Christ’s mysteries of descent and ascent reflects the order of the soul’s passage through the various stages of its return to God. As the abbot observes in the opening to his fourth sermon for the feast of Easter, Christ’s saving mysteries are “so many medicines for our souls.” 350 As each monk progresses throughout the liturgical year, therefore, he must “consider just how far these medicines have begun to work within him.” 351 “For there are those,” Bernard continues, “for whom Christ has not yet been born, others for whom he has not yet suffered, still others for whom he has not yet risen. There are some for whom he has not yet ascended, and still others to whom he has not yet sent the Spirit.” 352 Each dominical feast of the liturgical year will therefore 350 4 Pasc 1 (V, 110): “Omnia quae de Salvatore legimus, medicamina sunt animarum nostrarum.” 351 4 Pasc 1 (V, 110): “Cogitet unusquisque quantum operentur in eo tam salutaria medicamenta.” 352 4 Pasc 1 (V, 110): “Sunt enim quibus nondum natus est Christus, sunt quibus nondum est passus, sunt quibus non surrexit usque adhuc. Aliis quoque nondum ascendit, aliis nondum misit Spiritum Sanctum.” 230
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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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of self-knowledge enabled self-dece
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humbles himself will be exalted”
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Church, enabling scholars to instru
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Through this unflinching self-exami
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soon tempers my bitter vision of my
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edeem him, sanctify him, and offer
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As observed above, in the second ha
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modeled and effected by the Word-ma
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Ignorance of self breeds pride when
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consideration of others and their a
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consideration of his treatise as a
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symmetry between these two parts an
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Though this discrepancy at first ap
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self, God, and neighbor. Since it i
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estored in this divine likeness as
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eturn to his suffering brothers and
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much more should the monk not exalt
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for your brother’s misery and not
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sinful weakness and nothing of thei
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Finally, we should note that Bernar
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journey to which the monk will comm
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and judge others or to see how they
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condemned. Lifting his eyes in humi
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will contrary to both the law of Go
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in him by her obedience to his will
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contempt not only for herself and h
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his rule over the reprobate he woul
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in misery rather than to be subject
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descending these early steps of pri
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pleases them and avoid what makes t
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knows.” 201 Should the topic of c
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Here abbot Bernard figures the prou
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ut believe in his inmost heart that
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Asserting Self-Will Against Superio
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As so often in his narrative of the
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who he is, everyone judges him, and
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monk’s descent into this deepest
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God in heaven. He will acknowledge
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Consumed by this self-centered love
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their hearts. Hence Bernard’s fre
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done…by whoever would walk in the
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In recognizing the two distinct mom
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experience, lamenting how he has ma
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inward movement in the soul. In any
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share with them in that divine merc
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Operating inwardly within this judg
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the Truth in his own nature? Matter
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arguing from both allusions in text
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upon the “stage” of the soul an
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(Is 46:8). For Bernard, this first
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desperate need for the healing grac
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consolations afforded it by the lif
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Page 189 and 190: Reason’s rebuke is powerful, and
Page 191 and 192: In this vision, reason is permitted
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Page 199 and 200: The Self-Awareness of the Bride in
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Page 207 and 208: Conclusion Having considered three
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Page 219 and 220: The foregoing elements of Bernard
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Page 231 and 232: To resolve this question, Bernard r
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Page 241 and 242: conformed to him. Then, through the
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Page 249 and 250: and humbled by God, so that there w
Page 251 and 252: as essential elements of the Word I
Page 253 and 254: led astray. Their amor carnalis Chr
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Page 261 and 262: sins,” “justification,” and
Page 263 and 264: these life-giving virtues, we must
Page 265 and 266: precisely through, a careful approp
Page 267 and 268: perhaps she means, “My Beloved in
Page 269 and 270: To such a soul, the abbot continues
Page 271 and 272: gradually assuming the figure of Ch
Page 273 and 274: to judge themselves in Truth, and s
Page 275 and 276: ejoice with those who rejoice and w
Page 277 and 278: love of himself in the glory of div
Page 279 and 280: I. Works of Bernard of Clairvaux BI
Page 281 and 282: ------. Sermo 29A. Edited by C. Lam
Page 283 and 284: Courcelle, Pierre. Connais-toi toi-
Page 285 and 286: ------. “Le premier traité authe
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