Page 28 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 19

Introduc�on: Who is Bernard of Clairvaux? “has to love itself first” (30). Only then can one
Who is Bernard of Clairvaux and why do we
care about what he has to say? In my case, I
care because I was educated by the Cistercian
fathers, contemporary members of his mona-
s�c community. Their personal example of fide-
lity to Christ, holiness, and above all charity led
me to Bernard’s wri�ngs. My personal fondness
for Bernard aside, let me suggest that we
should care about Bernard’s work not only be-
cause it is true but because he prac�ced what
he preached; he loved sacrificially.
Building on our Lord’s teaching of the two grea-
test commandments (Ma�hew 22:37-40; Mark
12:29-31; Luke 10:27) the monk, preacher, spi-
ritual author, and saint Bernard of Clairvaux
(1090-1153), teaches that the love of God,
neighbor, and self are interconnected. He tou-
ches on this in sermons and le�ers and at
length in his trea�se On Loving God (Bernard of
Clairvaux, 2016). For Bernard, love is not tran-
sac�onal; it is “not a contract” but “an affec�on
of the soul.” It is not rooted in “mere agree-
ment” but arises spontaneously in response to
the beloved. Love’s true reward is not any ex-
ternal benefit but the beloved (Bernard of
Clairvaux, 2016, 26).
A keen psychologist of the spiritual life, Bernard
iden�fies four stages or “degrees” in our forma-
�on in love:
1. I love myself for the sake of myself.
2. I love God out of a recogni�on of my need for
Him.
3. I love God in gra�tude for His many gi�s to
me.
4. Finally, I come to love myself because God
first loved me.
There is a self-referen�al aspect to all four de-
grees of love. The frank narcissism of the first
stage gives way in �me to the humility of the
second, the eucharis�c character of the third,
and culminates in an act of obedience that is a
foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven. This need
not disturb us or compel us to doubt the since-
rity of especially the opening movement as the
soul comes to understand the eschatological
nature of love. In order to transcend the cons-
traints of a “nature… so� and weak,” the soul
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gradually ascend to the love of God and even-
tually come to love “oneself only for God’s
sake” (34). Seen in the light of the last stage,
the narcissism of the first is revealed as the se-
minal presence in the soul of the Kingdom of
God. Across all stages, self-love within the li-
mits of the moral law is not an act of mere for-
mal or external obedience but rather a gradual
process of the believer becoming a co-worker
with Christ in his or her own salva�on, of con-
forming the self to Christ and taking every
thought cap�ve.
Given the limits of human nature and our sinful
condi�on, this last stage of love is something
we only glimpse in this life; it is “something
[we] may [only] hope to possess… or rather to
be possessed by” in heaven (36). Rather than
seeing this as nega�ve, Bernard sees it as the
source of compassion for self and others. In ad-
di�on, this unfulfilled longing is a reminder of
the joy that awaits us in the Kingdom of God
and so both fidelity and pa�ence. Finally, desire
is a source of hope.
Sacrificial Love
“God Himself,” writes Bernard, “is the mo�ve of
our love for Him.” As for “the measure of love”
we owe God the answer is “clear enough” to
those who have studied the Scriptures; we are
to love Him “without measure.” Because
though he is the abbot of a monastery made up
of both the “learned and the unlearned” he re-
alizes he must remember the la�er even if he
has already “said enough for the former.” And
so the love of neighbor requires that he “unfold
[his] meaning, and perhaps add somewhat to
it” for the benefit of all (p. 9).
This is not merely a moral or ins�tu�onal obli-
ga�on for Bernard. Faithful to the example of
Christ Who “gave Himself to us in spite of our
unworthiness, and, being God, what could He
give us of greater worth than Himself” his cate-
chesis on love is also his own, personal act of
self-offering. His trea�se is a sacrifice of his
own interiority for the sake of his spiritual sons
and, as it happens, for us as well. Such sacrifici-
al service for others is a central theme of Be-
nard’s life. Though a nobleman, he renounces