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

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In paragraph 17 of his letter, Bernard characterizes Abelard’s soteriological position as follows: He thinks and argues that the whole reason the Lord of glory emptied himself, made himself lower than the angels, was born of a woman, lived in this world, experienced our infirmities, suffered our weakness, and at last returned to his own place by his death on the cross should be reduced to this: that by his life and teaching, he might give men and women a model for how to live, and by his suffering and death, set them a perfect example of charity. 397 As we have just seen through our study of Bernard’s festal sermons, the abbot certainly agrees with Abelard that Christ’s life in the flesh has given human beings an inspiring example of supreme humility and love. By the mysteries of his Incarnate life, Christ has, Bernard agrees, “given men and women a model for how to live” and, by his suffering and death, has indeed “set a perfect example of charity.” Yet, for Bernard, Christ’s death on the Cross has done, and indeed must do, much more than merely show forth a moving example of a righteous living. By his Paschal Mystery, Bernard contends, Christ not only models charity, but effects it in the hearts of those who are joined to him in his death: “Did he therefore teach righteousness, but not give it? Did he show us charity, but not infuse it?” 398 Bernard asks. Though Christ’s redemptive death, Bernard continues, his disciples have received not only an example of perfect love, but also “reconciliation” with God, “remission of 397 Ep 190.17 (VIII, 31): “Haec est iustitia hominis in sanguine Redemptoris, quam homo perditionis exsufflans et subsannans, in tantum evacuare conatur, ut totum quod Dominus gloriae SEMETIPSUM EX<strong>IN</strong>ANIVIT, quod minoratus est ab angelis, quod natus de femina, quod conversatus in mundo, quod expertus infirma, quod passus indigna, quod demum per mortem crucis in sua reversus, ad id solum putet et disputet redigendum, ut traderet hominibus formam vitae vivendo et docendo, patiendo autem et moriendo caritatis metam praefigeret.” 398 Ep 190.17 (VIII, 31): “Ergo docuit iustitiam, et non dedit; ostendit caritatem, sed non infudit?” 251
sins,” “justification,” and “redemption or liberation from the power of the devil.” 399 By the superabundant love with which he offered himself to his Father for our sake in his Passion, Christ has made each of these saving gifts available to all those who are joined to his Passion, as members to their Head, by faith, charity, and the sacraments, especially the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. And for Bernard moreover, if one has not participated in these saving fruits of Christ’s Passion, his edifying example of humility and love will be to no purpose. For if by his death Christ’s has not liberated the soul from its enslavement to sin, and infused that soul with the humility and charity he models on the cross, the soul’s efforts to imitate Christ’s example will be made in vain. “What does it profit us if Christ instructs us, but does not restore us?” Bernard asks. “Are we not instructed in vain if the body of death is not destroyed in us that we might no longer serve sin? (Rom 6:6).” 400 To illustrate the significance of the real, inward, ontological change Christ’s death effects within us, Bernard draws an instructive parallel between our fleshly generation in Adam and our spiritual regeneration in Christ. If Christ benefits us only by his mere display of virtue, he argues, then Adam can only harm us by his mere display of sin. Yet, just as the Catholic faith holds that by our fleshly generation from Adam we have become sharers in Adam’s sin, so it holds that by our spiritual regeneration in Christ, we have 399 Ep 190.20 (VIII, 34): “Sive igitur reconciliatio, sive remissio peccatorum, sive iustificatio sit, sive etiam redemptio vel liberatio de vinculis diaboli a quo captivi tenebamur ad ipsius voluntatem, intercedente morte Unigeniti obtinemus.” On the relationship between these various aspects of the one mysterium redemptionis in Bernard’s Christology, see Kereszty, “Relationship between Anthropology and Christology. St. Bernard, a Teacher for Our Age,” 283-287. 400 Ep 190.23 (VIII, 36): “Ceterum quid prodest quod nos instituit, si non restituit? Aut numquid frustra instruimur, si non prius DESTRUATUR in nobis CORPUS PECCATI, UT ULTRA NON SERVI<strong>AM</strong>US PECCATO?” 252
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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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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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Page 211 and 212: CHAPTER 4: SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND THE M
Page 213 and 214: Christ’s incarnate, crucified, an
Page 215 and 216: indeed to the entirety of his theol
Page 217 and 218: significant individual expressions
Page 219 and 220: The foregoing elements of Bernard
Page 221 and 222: descended and ascended and showed u
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Page 227 and 228: excursus has been labeled a “digr
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Page 231 and 232: To resolve this question, Bernard r
Page 233 and 234: You see, therefore, that Christ is
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Page 241 and 242: conformed to him. Then, through the
Page 243 and 244: Modeling this laudabilis curiositas
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Page 247 and 248: equally deadly, extreme of despair.
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 259: death to bring about a real, inward
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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