Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) is one of my heroes. He was an intriguing mix of humility and energy. His desire for God was immense. An example of his unusual perspective and personality is that he thought it presumptuous to start a new movement in the Catholic church so he aimed to bring life and faith to an existing order in Roman Catholicism. At 25 years of age he left an established monastery to start a new community, which is remarkable.
Even in this he knew boundaries. Later in life he was approached with the opportunity to become pope (in the context of rivalling factions within Catholicism he held such esteem that his appointment would not be opposed) but he proposed the papacy going to a man he had fathered in the spirit, a man from his community. The nomination was eventually successful, thus Bernard had effectively appointed the new pope. And Bernard's overriding ambition? To stay in the prayer room. Seriously. No exaggeration. In a time of rampant unbridled ambition within Christendom its extraordinary to see a leader not having to have the most or the biggest. And/or the spotlight on them.
He is widely credited with writing the lyrics to the hymn Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee. One of the verses goes like the following, which if you have seen Jesus and given Him your pledge of eternal love and gratitude you will understand, gushes in the following way
But what to those who find? Ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
Jesus, our only joy be Thou.
As Thou our prize wilt be;
Jesus, be Thou our glory now
And thru eternity.
He also taught a series of sermons (86 to be precise) on the Song of Solomon over the last 18 years of his life which have been published and are available on the internet if you search for them. Here's part of one of those sermons:
“Let him kiss me,” she says, “with the kiss of his mouth?” (Sg
1:1). Who is speaking? The Bride. But why “Bride”? She is the
soul which thirsts for God. I set out the different affections so as
to make it clearer which properly belongs to the Bride. If someone
is a slave, he fears his master’s hand. If he is a pupil, he
bends his ear to his master. If he is a son, he honors his father.
But she who asks for a kiss feels love. This affection of love excels
among the gifts of nature, especially when it returns to its
source, which is God. For no names can be found as sweet as
those in which the Word and the soul exchange affections, as
Bridegroom and Bride, for to such everything is common, nothing
is the property of one and not the other, nothing is held separately.
They share one inheritance, one table, one house, one
bed, one flesh. For this she leaves her father and her mother and
clings to her husband and the two are one flesh (Gn 2:24). She is
also commanded to forget her people and her father’s house so
that he may desire her beauty (Ps 45:10-11).
So then love especially and chiefly belongs to those who
are married and it is not inappropriate to call the loving soul a
Bride. For she who asks a kiss feels love. She does not ask for
freedom or payment or an inheritance or learning, but for a kiss,
in the manner of a most chaste bride, who sighs for holy love;
and she cannot disguise the flame which is so evident.
It is a great thing which she will ask of the Great One, but
she does not flirt with him as others do, and she does not beat
about the bush. She tells him clearly what she desires. She uses
no preliminaries. She does not try to win him round. But with an
open face she bursts out suddenly from a full heart (Mt 12:34),
“Let him kiss me,” she says, “with the kiss of his mouth.” Surely it
seems to you as though she said, “Who have I in heaven but you
and who but you do I want upon earth?” (Ps 72:25). (Sermon 7)
Its time to get on with my day. But I pause with this request of Jesus today: Let Him kiss me, let me know the deep things He would give the longing heart.
