Saint Bernard More Saints
From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot (1090-1153)
Deposition Painting by TINTORETTO - 1563His mother stood by the cross
The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord's
passion. The holy old man said of the infant Jesus: He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted. He went on to say to Mary: And your own heart will be pierced by a sword.
Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart. For only by passing through your heart could the sword enter the flesh of your Son. Indeed, after your Jesus - who belongs to everyone, but is especially yours - gave up his life, the cruel spear, which was not withheld from his lifeless body, tore open his side. Clearly it did not touch his soul and could not harm him, but it did pierce your heart. For surely his soul was no longer there, but yours could not be torn away. Thus the violence of sorrow has cut through your heart, and we rightly call you more than martyr, since the effect of compassion in you has gone beyond the endurance of physical suffering.
Or were those words: Woman, behold your Son, not more than a sword to you, truly piercing your heart, cuttingthrough to the division between soul and spirit? What an exchange! John is given to you in place of Jesus, the servant in place of the Lord, the disciple in place of the master; the son of Zebedee replaces the Son of God, a mere man replaces God himself. How could these words not pierce your most loving heart, when the mere remembrance of this breaks ours, hearts of stone and iron though they are!
Do not be surprised, brothers, that Mary is said to be a martyr in spirit. Let him be surprised who does not remember the words of Paul, that one of the greatest crimes of the Gentiles was that they were without love. That was far from the heart of Mary; let it be far from her servants.
Perhaps someone will say: "Had she not known before that he would die?" Undoubtedly. "Did she not expect him to rise again at once?" Surely. "And still she grieved over her crucified Son?" Intensely. Who are you and what is the source of your wisdom that you are more surprised at the compassion of Mary than at the passion of Mary's Son? For if he could die in body, could she not die with him in spirit? He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours - Office of Readings
See slide presentation on OUR LADY OF SEVEN SORROWS
Saint Bernard (1090-1153) was born in 1090 near Dijon in France to devout parents of the
highest nobility of Burgundy. After a religious upbringing, he joined the Cistercians in 1111 and later was chosen abbot of the monastery of Clairvaux. There he directed his companions in the practice of virtue by his own good example. Because of various schisms which had arisen in the Church, Bernard traveled throughout Europe restoring peace and unity. He wrote numerous theological and spiritual works.
He had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and it was said of him that no one spoke more sublimely of the Queen of Heaven. He developed close friendships with contemporaries and even popes. The passing of Pope Eugenius was one whom he considered his greatest friend and consoler. Bernard died on 1153 at the age of sixty-thee, after forty years spent in the cloister.
Bernard founded one hundred and sixty-three monasteries in different parts of Europe; at his death they numbered three hundred and forty-three. He was the first Cistercian monk placed on the calendar of saints and was canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1174 and Pope Pius VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church.
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Narrated by Frank Dugan
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