On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

1

On Loving God

By

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

This book is in the public domain.

It is not copyrighted.

Made available to the net by Paul Halsall

Halsall@Murray.Fordham.edu

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

2

DEDICATION

To the illustrious Lord Haimeric, Cardinal

Deacon of the Roman Church, and Chancellor:

Bernard, called Abbot of Clairvaux, wisheth long

life in the Lord and death in the Lord.

Hitherto you have been wont to seek prayers

from me, not the solving of problems; although I

count myself sufficient for neither. My

profession shows that, if not my conversation;

and to speak truth, I lack the diligence and the

ability that are most essential. Yet I am glad that

you turn again for spiritual counsel, instead of

busying yourself about carnal matters: I only

wish you had gone to some one better equipped

than I am. Still, learned and simple give the same

excuse and one can hardly tell whether it comes

from modesty or from ignorance, unless

• obedience to the task assigned shall reveal. So,

take from my poverty what I can give you, lest I

should seem to play the philosopher, by reason

• of my silence. Only, I do not promise to answer
• other questions you may raise. This one, as to

loving God, I will deal with as He shall teach

me; for it is sweetest, it can be handled most

safely, and it will be most profitable. Keep the

• others for wiser men.

Chapter I. Why we should love God

and the measure of that love

You want me to tell you why God is to be loved

and how much. I answer, the reason for loving

God is God Himself; and the measure of love

due to Him is immeasurable love. Is this plain?

Doubtless, to a thoughtful man; but I am debtor

to the unwise also. A word to the wise is

sufficient; but I must consider simple folk too.

Therefore I set myself joyfully to explain more

in detail what is meant above.

We are to love God for Himself, because of a

twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable,

nothing more profitable. When one asks, Why

should I love God? he may mean, What is lovely

in God? or What shall I gain by loving God? In

either case, the same sufficient cause of love

exists, namely, God Himself.

And first, of His title to our love. Could any title

be greater than this, that He gave Himself for us

unworthy wretches? And being God, what better

gift could He offer than Himself? Hence, if one

seeks for God's claim upon our love here is the

chiefest: Because He first loved us (I John 4.19).

Ought He not to be loved in return, when we

think who loved, whom He loved, and how much

He loved? For who is He that loved? The same

• of whom every spirit testifies: 'Thou art my God:

my goods are nothing unto Thee' (Ps. 16.2,

Vulg.). And is not His love that wonderful

charity which 'seeketh not her own'? (I Cor.13.5).

But for whom was such unutterable love made

manifest? The apostle tells us: 'When we were

enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death

• of His Son' (Rom. 5.10). So it was God who

loved us, loved us freely, and loved us while yet

we were enemies. And how great was this love

• of His? St. John answers: 'God so loved the

world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,

but have everlasting life' (John 3.16). St. Paul

adds: 'He spared not His own Son, but delivered

Him up for us all' (Rom. 8.32); and the son says

• of Himself, 'Greater love hath no man than this,

that a man lay down his life for his friends' (John

15.13).

This is the claim which God the holy, the

supreme, the omnipotent, has upon men, defiled

and base and weak. Some one may urge that this

is true of mankind, but not of angels. True, since

for angels it was not needful. He who succored

men in their time of need, preserved angels from

such need; and even as His love for sinful men

wrought wondrously in them so that they should

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

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not remain sinful, so that same love which in

equal measure He poured out upon angels kept

them altogether free from sin.

Chapter II. On loving God. How

much god deserves love from man in

recognition of His gifts, both

material and spiritual: and how

these gifts should be cherished

without neglect of the Giver

Those who admit the truth of what I have said

know, I am sure, why we are bound to love God.

But if unbelievers will not grant it, their

ingratitude is at once confounded by His

innumerable benefits, lavished on our race, and

plainly discerned by the senses. Who is it that

gives food to all flesh, light to every eye, air to

all that breathe? It would be foolish to begin a

catalogue, since I have just called them

innumerable: but I name, as notable instances,

food, sunlight and air; not because they are God's

best gifts, but because they are essential to

bodily life. Man must seek in his own higher

nature for the highest gifts; and these are dignity,

wisdom and virtue. By dignity I mean free-will,

whereby he not only excels all other earthly

creatures, but has dominion over them. Wisdom

is the power whereby he recognizes this dignity,

and perceives also that it is no accomplishment

• of his own. And virtue impels man to seek

eagerly for Him who is man's Source, and to lay

fast hold on Him when He has been found.

Now, these three best gifts have each a twofold

character. Dignity appears not only as the

prerogative of human nature, but also as the

cause of that fear and dread of man which is

upon every beast of the earth. Wisdom perceives

this distinction, but owns that though in us, it is,

like all good qualities, not of us. And lastly,

virtue moves us to search eagerly for an Author,

and, when we have found Him, teaches us to

cling to Him yet more eagerly. Consider too that

dignity without wisdom is nothing worth; and

wisdom is harmful without virtue, as this

argument following shows: There is no glory in

having a gift without knowing it. But to know

• only that you have it, without knowing that it is

not of yourself that you have it, means selfglorying,

but no true glory in God. And so the

apostle says to men in such cases, 'What hast

thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou

didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou

hadst not received it? (I Cor. 4.7). He asks, Why

dost thou glory? but goes on, as if thou hadst not

received it, showing that the guilt is not in

glorying over a possession, but in glorying as

though it had not been received. And rightly

such glorying is called vain-glory, since it has

not the solid foundation of truth. The apostle

shows how to discern the true glory from the

false, when he says, He that glorieth, let him

glory in the Lord, that is, in the Truth, since our

Lord is Truth (I Cor. 1.31; John 14.6).

We must know, then, what we are, and that it is

not of ourselves that we are what we are. Unless

we know this thoroughly, either we shall not

glory at all, or our glorying will be vain. Finally,

it is written, 'If thou know not, go thy way forth

by the footsteps of the flock' (Cant. 1.8). And

this is right. For man, being in honor, if he know

not his own honor, may fitly be compared,

because of such ignorance, to the beasts that

perish. Not knowing himself as the creature that

is distinguished from the irrational brutes by the

possession of reason, he commences to be

confounded with them because, ignorant of his

• own true glory which is within, he is led captive

by his curiosity, and concerns himself with

external, sensual things. So he is made to

resemble the lower orders by not knowing that

he has been more highly endowed than they.

We must be on our guard against this ignorance.

We must not rank ourselves too low; and with

still greater care we must see that we do not

think of ourselves more highly than we ought to

think, as happens when we foolishly impute to

• ourselves whatever good may be in us. But far

more than either of these kinds of ignorance, we

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

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must hate and shun that presumption which

would lead us to glory in goods not our own,

knowing that they are not of ourselves but of

God, and yet not fearing to rob God of the honor

due unto Him. For mere ignorance, as in the first

instance, does not glory at all; and mere wisdom,

as in the second, while it has a kind of glory, yet

does not glory in the Lord. In the third evil case,

however, man sins not in ignorance but

deliberately, usurping the glory which belongs to

God. And this arrogance is a more grievous and

deadly fault than the ignorance of the second,

since it contemns God, while the other knows

Him not. Ignorance is brutal, arrogance is

devilish. Pride only, the chief of all iniquities,

can make us treat gifts as if they were rightful

attributes of our nature, and, while receiving

benefits, rob our Benefactor of His due glory.

Wherefore to dignity and wisdom we must add

virtue, the proper fruit of them both. Virtue seeks

and finds Him who is the Author and Giver of all

good, and who must be in all things glorified;

• otherwise, one who knows what is right yet fails

to perform it, will be beaten with many stripes

(Luke 12.47). Why? you may ask. Because he

has failed to put his knowledge to good effect,

but rather has imagined mischief upon his bed

(PS. 36.4); like a wicked servant, he has turned

aside to seize the glory which, his own

knowledge assured him, belonged only to his

good Lord and Master. It is plain, therefore, that

dignity without wisdom is useless and that

wisdom without virtue is accursed. But when one

possesses virtue, then wisdom and dignity are

not dangerous but blessed. Such a man calls on

God and lauds Him, confessing from a full heart,

'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy

name give glory' (PS. 115.1). Which is to say, 'O

Lord, we claim no knowledge, no distinction for

• ourselves; all is Thine, since from Thee all things

do come.'

But we have digressed too far in the wish to

prove that even those who know not Christ are

sufficiently admonished by the natural law, and

by their own endowments of soul and body, to

love God for God's own sake. To sum up: what

infidel does not know that he has received light,

air, food--all things necessary for his own body's

life--from Him alone who giveth food to all flesh

(Ps. 136.25), who maketh His sun to rise on the

evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just

and on the unjust (Matt. 5.45). Who is so

impious as to attribute the peculiar eminence of

humanity to any other except to Him who saith,

in Genesis, 'Let us make man in Our image, after

Our likeness'? (Gen. 1.26). Who else could be

the Bestower of wisdom, but He that teacheth

man knowledge? (Ps. 94.10). Who else could

bestow virtue except the Lord of virtue?

Therefore even the infidel who knows not Christ

but does at least know himself, is bound to love

God for God's own sake. He is unpardonable if

he does not love the Lord his God with all his

heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind;

for his own innate justice and common sense cry

• out from within that he is bound wholly to love

God, from whom he has received all things. But

it is hard, nay rather, impossible, for a man by

his own strength or in the power of free-will to

render all things to God from whom they came,

without rather turning them aside, each to his

• own account, even as it is written, 'For all seek

their own' (Phil. 2.21); and again, 'The

imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth'

(Gen. 8.21 ).

Chapter III. What greater incentives

Christians have, more than the

heathen, to love God

The faithful know how much need they have of

Jesus and Him crucified; but though they wonder

and rejoice at the ineffable love made manifest in

Him, they are not daunted at having no more

than their own poor souls to give in return for

such great and condescending charity. They love

all the more, because they know themselves to be

loved so exceedingly; but to whom little is given

the same loveth little (Luke 7.47). Neither Jew

nor pagan feels the pangs of love as doth the

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

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Church, which saith, 'Stay me with flagons,

comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love'

(Cant. 2.5). She beholds King Solomon, with the

crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the

day of his espousals; she sees the Sole-begotten

• of the Father bearing the heavy burden of His

Cross; she sees the Lord of all power and might

bruised and spat upon, the Author of life and

glory transfixed with nails, smitten by the lance,

• overwhelmed with mockery, and at last laying

down His precious life for His friends.

Contemplating this the sword of love pierces

through her own soul also and she cried aloud,

'Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples;

for I am sick of love.' The fruits which the

Spouse gathers from the Tree of Life in the midst

• of the garden of her Beloved, are pomegranates

(Cant. 4.13), borrowing their taste from the

Bread of heaven, and their color from the Blood

• of Christ. She sees death dying and its author
• overthrown: she beholds captivity led captive

from hell to earth, from earth to heaven, so 'that

at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of

things in heaven and things in earth and things

under the earth' (Phil. 2.10). The earth under the

ancient curse brought forth thorns and thistles;

but now the Church beholds it laughing with

flowers and restored by the grace of a new

benediction. Mindful of the verse, 'My heart

danceth for joy, and in my song will I praise

Him', she refreshes herself with the fruits of His

Passion which she gathers from the Tree of the

Cross, and with the flowers of His Resurrection

whose fragrance invites the frequent visits of her

Spouse.

Then it is that He exclaims, 'Behold thou art fair,

My beloved, yea pleasant: also our bed is green'

(Cant. 1. 16). She shows her desire for His

coming and whence she hopes to obtain it; not

because of her own merits but because of the

flowers of that field which God hath blessed.

Christ who willed to be conceived and brought

up in Nazareth, that is, the town of branches,

delights in such blossoms. Pleased by such

heavenly fragrance the bridegroom rejoices to

revisit the heart's chamber when He finds it

adorned with fruits and decked with flowers--

that is, meditating on the mystery of His Passion

• or on the glory of His Resurrection.

The tokens of the Passion we recognize as the

fruitage of the ages of the past, appearing in the

fullness of time during the reign of sin and death

(Gal. 4.4). But it is the glory of the Resurrection,

in the new springtime of regenerating grace, that

the fresh flowers of the later age come forth,

whose fruit shall be given without measure at the

general resurrection, when time shall be no more.

And so it is written, 'The winter is past, the rain

is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth'

(Cant. 2.11 f); signifying that summer has come

back with Him who dissolves icy death into the

spring of a new life and says, 'Behold, I make all

things new' (Rev. 21.5). His Body sown in the

grave has blossomed in the Resurrection (I Cor.

15.42); and in like manner our valleys and fields

which were barren or frozen, as if dead, glow

with reviving life and warmth.

The Father of Christ who makes all things new,

is well pleased with the freshness of those

flowers and fruits, and the beauty of the field

which breathes forth such heavenly fragrance;

and He says in benediction, 'See, the smell of My

Son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath

blessed' (Gen. 27.27). Blessed to overflowing,

indeed, since of His fullness have all we received

(John 1.16). But the Bride may come when she

pleases and gather flowers and fruits therewith to

adorn the inmost recesses of her conscience; that

the Bridegroom when He cometh may find the

chamber of her heart redolent with perfume.

So it behoves us, if we would have Christ for a

frequent guest, to fill our hearts with faithful

meditations on the mercy He showed in dying

for us, and on His mighty power in rising again

from the dead. To this David testified when he

sang, 'God spake once, and twice I have also

heard the same; that power belongeth unto God;

and that Thou, Lord, art merciful (Ps. 62.11f).

And surely there is proof enough and to spare in

that Christ died for our sins and rose again for

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

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• our justification, and ascended into heaven that

He might protect us from on high, and sent the

Holy Spirit for our comfort. Hereafter He will

come again for the consummation of our bliss. In

His Death He displayed His mercy, in His

Resurrection His power; both combine to

manifest His glory.

The Bride desires to be stayed with flagons and

comforted with apples, because she knows how

easily the warmth of love can languish and grow

cold; but such helps are only until she has

entered into the bride chamber. There she will

receive His long-desired caresses even as she

sighs, 'His left hand is under my head and His

right hand doth embrace me' (Cant. 2.6). Then

she will perceive how far the embrace of the

right hand excels all sweetness, and that the left

hand with which He at first caressed her cannot

be compared to it. She will understand what she

has heard: 'It is the spirit that quickeneth; the

flesh profiteth nothing' (John 6.63). She will

prove what she hath read: 'My memorial is

sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than

the honey-comb' (Ecclus. 24.20). What is written

elsewhere, 'The memorial of Thine abundant

kindness shall be showed' (Ps. 145.7), refers

doubtless to those of whom the Psalmist had said

just before: 'One generation shall praise Thy

works unto another and declare Thy power' (Ps.

145.4). Among us on the earth there is His

memory; but in the Kingdom of heaven His very

Presence. That Presence is the joy of those who

have already attained to beatitude; the memory is

the comfort of us who are still wayfarers,

journeying towards the Fatherland.

Chapter IV. Of those who find

comfort in there collection of God, or

are fittest for His love

But it will be well to note what class of people

takes comfort in the thought of God. Surely not

that perverse and crooked generation to whom it

was said, 'Woe unto you that are rich; for ye

have received your consolation' (Luke 6.24).

Rather, those who can say with truth, 'My soul

refuseth comfort' (Ps. 77.2). For it is meet that

those who are not satisfied by the present should

be sustained by the thought of the future, and

that the contemplation of eternal happiness

should solace those who scorn to drink from the

river of transitory joys. That is the generation of

them that seek the Lord, even of them that seek,

not their own, but the face of the God of Jacob.

To them that long for the presence of the living

God, the thought of Him is sweetest itself: but

there is no satiety, rather an ever-increasing

appetite, even as the Scripture bears witness,

'they that eat me shall yet be hungry' (Ecclus.

24.21); and if the one an-hungred spake, 'When I

awake up after Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied

with it.' Yea, blessed even now are they which

do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they,

and they only, shall be filled. Woe to you,

wicked and perverse generation; woe to you,

foolish and abandoned people, who hate Christ's

memory, and dread His second Advent! Well

may you fear, who will not now seek deliverance

from the snare of the hunter; because 'they that

will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and

into many foolish and hurtful lusts' (I Tim. 6.9).

In that day we shall not escape the dreadful

sentence of condemnation, 'Depart from Me, ye

cursed, into everlasting fire' (Matt. 25.41). O

dreadful sentence indeed, O hard saying! How

much harder to bear than that other saying which

we repeat daily in church, in memory of the

Passion: 'Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh

My blood hath eternal life' (John 6.54). That

signifies, whoso honors My death and after My

example mortifies his members which are upon

the earth (Col. 3.5) shall have eternal life, even

as the apostle says, 'If we suffer, we shall also

reign with Him' (II Tim. 2.12). And yet many

even today recoil from these words and go away,

saying by their action if not with their lips, 'This

is a hard saying; who can hear it?' (John 6.60). 'A

generation that set not their heart aright, and

whose spirit cleaveth not steadfastly unto God'

(Ps. 78.8), but chooseth rather to trust in

uncertain riches, it is disturbed at the very name

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

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• of the Cross, and counts the memory of the

Passion intolerable. How can such sustain the

burden of that fearful sentence, 'Depart from Me,

ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the

devil and his angels'? 'On whomsoever that stone

shall fall it will grind him to powder' (Luke

20.18); but 'the generation of the faithful shall be

blessed' (Ps. 112.2), since, like the apostle, they

labor that whether present or absent they may be

accepted of the Lord (II Cor. 5.9). At the last day

they too shall hear the Judge pronounce their

award, 'Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit

the kingdom prepared for you from the

foundation of the world' (Matt. 25.34).

In that day those who set not their hearts aright

will feel, too late, how easy is Christ's yoke, to

which they would not bend their necks and how

light His burden, in comparison with the pains

they must then endure. O wretched slaves of

Mammon, you cannot glory in the Cross of our

Lord Jesus Christ while you trust in treasures

laid up on earth: you cannot taste and see how

gracious the Lord is, while you are hungering for

gold. If you have not rejoiced at the thought of

His coming, that day will be indeed a day of

wrath to you.

But the believing soul longs and faints for God;

she rests sweetly in the contemplation of Him.

She glories in the reproach of the Cross, until the

glory of His face shall be revealed. Like the

Bride, the dove of Christ, that is covered with

silver wings (Ps. 68.13), white with innocence

and purity, she reposes in the thought of Thine

abundant kindness, Lord Jesus; and above all she

longs for that day when in the joyful splendor of

Thy saints, gleaming with the radiance of the

Beatific Vision, her feathers shall be like gold,

resplendent with the joy of Thy countenance.

Rightly then may she exult, 'His left hand is

under my head and His right hand doth embrace

me.' The left hand signifies the memory of that

matchless love, which moved Him to lay down

His life for His friends; and the right hand is the

Beatific Vision which He hath promised to His

• own, and the delight they have in His presence.

The Psalmist sings rapturously, 'At Thy right

hand there is pleasure for evermore' (Ps. 16.11):

so we are warranted in explaining the right hand

as that divine and deifying joy of His presence.

Rightly too is that wondrous and evermemorable

love symbolized as His left hand,

upon which the Bride rests her head until

iniquity be done away: for He sustains the

purpose of her mind, lest it should be turned

aside to earthly, carnal desires. For the flesh wars

against the spirit: 'The corruptible body presseth

down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle

weigheth down the mind that museth upon many

things' (Wisdom 9.15). What could result from

the contemplation of compassion so marvelous

and so undeserved, favor so free and so well

attested, kindness so unexpected, clemency so

unconquerable, grace so amazing except that the

soul should withdraw from all sinful affections,

reject all that is inconsistent with God's love, and

yield herself wholly to heavenly things? No

wonder is it that the Bride, moved by the

perfume of these unctions, runs swiftly, all on

fire with love, yet reckons herself as loving all

too little in return for the Bridegroom's love. And

rightly, since it is no great matter that a little dust

should be all consumed with love of that Majesty

which loved her first and which revealed itself as

wholly bent on saving her. For 'God so loved the

world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in Him should not perish

but have everlasting life' (John 3.16). This sets

forth the Father's love. But 'He hath poured out

His soul unto death,' was written of the Son (Isa.

53.12). And of the Holy Spirit it is said, 'The

Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the

Father will send in My name, He shall teach you

all things, and bring all things to your

remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you'

(John 14.26). It is plain, therefore, that God loves

us, and loves us with all His heart; for the Holy

Trinity altogether loves us, if we may venture so

to speak of the infinite and incomprehensible

Godhead who is essentially one.

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

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Chapter V. Of the Christian's debt of

love, how great it is

From the contemplation of what has been said,

we see plainly that God is to be loved, and that

He has a just claim upon our love. But the infidel

does not acknowledge the Son of God, and so he

can know neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit;

for he that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not

the Father which sent Him, nor the Spirit whom

He hath sent (John 5.23). He knows less of God

than we; no wonder that he loves God less. This

much he understands at least--that he owes all he

is to his Creator. But how will it be with me? For

I know that my God is not merely the bounteous

Bestower of my life, the generous Provider for

all my needs, the pitiful Consoler of all my

sorrows, the wise Guide of my course: but that

He is far more than all that. He saves me with an

abundant deliverance: He is my eternal

Preserver, the portion of my inheritance, my

glory. Even so it is written, 'With Him is

plenteous redemption' (Ps. 130.7); and again, 'He

entered in once into the holy place, having

• obtained eternal redemption for us' (Heb. 9.12).

Of His salvation it is written, 'He forsaketh not

His that be godly; but they are preserved for

ever' (Ps. 37.28); and of His bounty, 'Good

measure, pressed down and shaken together, and

running over, shall men give into your bosom'

(Luke 6.38); and in another place, 'Eye hath not

seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the

heart of man, those things which God hath

prepared for them that love Him' (I Cor. 2.9). He

will glorify us, even as the apostle beareth

witness, saying, 'We look for the Savior, the

Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile

body that it may be fashioned like unto His

glorious body' (Phil. 3.20f); and again, 'I reckon

that the sufferings of this present time are not

worthy to be compared with the glory which

shall be revealed in us' (Rom. 8.18); and once

more, 'Our light affliction, which is but for a

moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding

and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at

the things which are seen, but at the things which

are not seen (II Cor. 4.17f).

'What shall I render unto the Lord for all His

benefits towards me?' (Ps. 116.12). Reason and

natural justice alike move me to give up myself

wholly to loving Him to whom I owe all that I

have and am. But faith shows me that I should

love Him far more than I love myself, as I come

to realize that He hath given me not my own life

• only, but even Himself. Yet, before the time of

full revelation had come, before the Word was

made flesh, died on the Cross, came forth from

the grave, and returned to His Father; before God

had shown us how much He loved us by all this

plenitude of grace, the commandment had been

uttered, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with

all thine heart, and with all thy soul and with all

thy might' (Deut. 6.5), that is, with all thy being,

all thy knowledge, all thy powers. And it was not

unjust for God to claim this from His own work

and gifts. Why should not the creature love his

Creator, who gave him the power to love? Why

should he not love Him with all his being, since

it is by His gift alone that he can do anything that

is good? It was God's creative grace that out of

nothingness raised us to the dignity of manhood;

and from this appears our duty to love Him, and

the justice of His claim to that love. But how

infinitely is the benefit increased when we

bethink ourselves of His fulfillment of the

promise, 'thou, Lord, shalt save both man and

beast: how excellent is Thy mercy, O Lord! ' (Ps.

36.6f.). For we, who 'turned our glory into the

similitude of a calf that eateth hay' (Ps. 106.20),

by our evil deeds debased ourselves so that we

might be compared unto the beasts that perish. I

• owe all that I am to Him who made me: but how

can I pay my debt to Him who redeemed me, and

in such wondrous wise? Creation was not so vast

a work as redemption; for it is written of man

and of all things that were made, 'He spake the

word, and they were made' (Ps. 148.5). But to

redeem that creation which sprang into being at

His word, how much He spake, what wonders

He wrought, what hardships He endured, what

shames He suffered! Therefore what reward shall

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

9

I give unto the Lord for all the benefits which He

hath done unto me? In the first creation He gave

me myself; but in His new creation He gave me

Himself, and by that gift restored to me the self

that I had lost. Created first and then restored, I

• owe Him myself twice over in return for myself.

But what have I to offer Him for the gift of

Himself? Could I multiply myself a thousandfold

and then give Him all, what would that be in

comparison with God?

Chapter VI. A brief summary

Admit that God deserves to be loved very much,

yea, boundlessly, because He loved us first, He

infinite and we nothing, loved us, miserable

sinners, with a love so great and so free. This is

why I said at the beginning that the measure of

• our love to God is to love immeasurably. For

since our love is toward God, who is infinite and

immeasurable, how can we bound or limit the

love we owe Him? Besides, our love is not a gift

but a debt. And since it is the Godhead who

loves us, Himself boundless, eternal, supreme

love, of whose greatness there is no end, yea, and

His wisdom is infinite, whose peace passeth all

understanding; since it is He who loves us, I say,

can we think of repaying Him grudgingly? 'I will

love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my

rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God,

my strength, in whom I will trust' (Ps. 18.1f). He

is all that I need, all that I long for. My God and

my help, I will love Thee for Thy great

goodness; not so much as I might, surely, but as

much as I can. I cannot love Thee as Thou

deservest to be loved, for I cannot love Thee

more than my own feebleness permits. I will

love Thee more when Thou deemest me worthy

to receive greater capacity for loving; yet never

so perfectly as Thou hast deserved of me. 'Thine

eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;

and in Thy book all my members were written'

(PS. 139.16). Yet Thou recordest in that book all

who do what they can, even though they cannot

do what they ought. Surely I have said enough to

show how God should be loved and why. But

who has felt, who can know, who express, how

much we should love him.

Chapter VII. Of love toward God not

without reward: and how the hunger

• of man's heart cannot be satisfied

with earthly things

And now let us consider what profit we shall

have from loving God. Even though our

knowledge of this is imperfect, still that is better

than to ignore it altogether. I have already said

(when it was a question of wherefore and in what

manner God should be loved) that there was a

double reason constraining us: His right and our

advantage. Having written as best I can, though

unworthily, of God's right to be loved. I have

still to treat of the recompense which that love

brings. For although God would be loved

without respect of reward, yet He wills not to

leave love unrewarded. True charity cannot be

left destitute, even though she is unselfish and

seeketh not her own (I Cor. 13.5). Love is an

affection of the soul, not a contract: it cannot rise

from a mere agreement, nor is it so to be gained.

It is spontaneous in its origin and impulse; and

true love is its own satisfaction. It has its reward;

but that reward is the object beloved. For

whatever you seem to love, if it is on account of

something else, what you do really love is that

something else, not the apparent object of desire.

St. Paul did not preach the Gospel that he might

earn his bread; he ate that he might be

strengthened for his ministry. What he loved was

not bread, but the Gospel. True love does not

demand a reward, but it deserves one. Surely no

• one offers to pay for love; yet some recompense

is due to one who loves, and if his love endures

he will doubtless receive it.

On a lower plane of action, it is the reluctant, not

the eager, whom we urge by promises of reward.

Who would think of paying a man to do what he

was yearning to do already? For instance no one

would hire a hungry man to eat, or a thirsty man

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

10

to drink, or a mother to nurse her own child.

Who would think of bribing a farmer to dress his

• own vineyard, or to dig about his orchard, or to

rebuild his house? So, all the more, one who

loves God truly asks no other recompense than

God Himself; for if he should demand anything

else it would be the prize that he loved and not

God.

It is natural for a man to desire what he reckons

better than that which he has already, and be

satisfied with nothing which lacks that special

quality which he misses. Thus, if it is for her

beauty that he loves his wife, he will cast longing

eyes after a fairer woman. If he is clad in a rich

garment, he will covet a costlier one; and no

matter how rich he may be he will envy a man

richer than himself. Do we not see people every

day, endowed with vast estates, who keep on

joining field to field, dreaming of wider

boundaries for their lands? Those who dwell in

palaces are ever adding house to house,

continually building up and tearing down,

remodeling and changing. Men in high places are

driven by insatiable ambition to clutch at still

greater prizes. And nowhere is there any final

satisfaction, because nothing there can be

defined as absolutely the best or highest. But it is

natural that nothing should content a man's

desires but the very best, as he reckons it. Is it

not, then, mad folly always to be craving for

things which can never quiet our longings, much

less satisfy them? No matter how many such

things one has, he is always lusting after what he

has not; never at peace, he sighs for new

possessions. Discontented, he spends himself in

fruitless toil, and finds only weariness in the

evanescent and unreal pleasures of the world. In

his greediness, he counts all that he has clutched

as nothing in comparison with what is beyond

his grasp, and loses all pleasure in his actual

possessions by longing after what he has not, yet

covets. No man can ever hope to own all things.

Even the little one does possess is got only with

toil and is held in fear; since each is certain to

lose what he hath when God's day, appointed

though unrevealed, shall come. But the perverted

will struggles towards the ultimate good by

devious ways, yearning after satisfaction, yet led

astray by vanity and deceived by wickedness.

Ah, if you wish to attain to the consummation of

all desire, so that nothing unfulfilled will be left,

why weary yourself with fruitless efforts,

running hither and thither, only to die long

before the goal is reached?

It is so that these impious ones wander in a

circle, longing after something to gratify their

yearnings, yet madly rejecting that which alone

can bring them to their desired end, not by

exhaustion but by attainment. They wear

themselves out in vain travail, without reaching

their blessed consummation, because they

delight in creatures, not in the Creator. They

want to traverse creation, trying all things one by

• one, rather than think of coming to Him who is

Lord of all. And if their utmost longing were

realized, so that they should have all the world

for their own, yet without possessing Him who is

the Author of all being, then the same law of

their desires would make them contemn what

they had and restlessly seek Him whom they still

lacked, that is, God Himself. Rest is in Him

alone. Man knows no peace in the world; but he

has no disturbance when he is with God. And so

the soul says with confidence, 'Whom have I in

heaven but Thee; and there is none upon earth

that I desire in comparison of Thee. God is the

strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. It

is good for me to hold me fast by God, to put my

trust in the Lord God' (Ps. 73.25ff). Even by this

way one would eventually come to God, if only

he might have time to test all lesser goods in

turn.

But life is too short, strength too feeble, and

competitors too many, for that course to be

practicable. One could never reach the end,

though he were to weary himself with the long

effort and fruitless toil of testing everything that

might seem desirable. It would be far easier and

better to make the assay in imagination rather

than in experiment. For the mind is swifter in

• operation and keener in discrimination than the

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

11

bodily senses, to this very purpose that it may go

before the sensuous affections so that they may

cleave to nothing which the mind has found

worthless. And so it is written, 'Prove all things:

hold fast that which is good' (I Thess. 5.21).

Which is to say that right judgment should

prepare the way for the heart. Otherwise we may

not ascend into the hill of the Lord nor rise up in

His holy place (Ps. 24.3). We should have no

profit in possessing a rational mind if we were to

follow the impulse of the senses, like brute

beasts, with no regard at all to reason. Those

whom reason does not guide in their course may

indeed run, but not in the appointed race-track,

neglecting the apostolic counsel, 'So run that ye

may obtain'. For how could they obtain the prize

who put that last of all in their endeavor and run

round after everything else first?

But as for the righteous man, it is not so with

him. He remembers the condemnation

pronounced on the multitude who wander after

vanity, who travel the broad way that leads to

death (Matt. 7.13); and he chooses the King's

highway, turning aside neither to the right hand

nor to the left (Num. 20.17), even as the prophet

saith, 'The way of the just is uprightness (Isa.

26.7). Warned by wholesome counsel he shuns

the perilous road, and heeds the direction that

shortens the search, forbidding covetousness and

commanding that he sell all that he hath and give

to the poor (Matt. 19.21). Blessed, truly, are the

poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt.

5.3). They which run in a race, run all, but

distinction is made among the racers. 'The Lord

knoweth the way of the righteous: and the way

• of the ungodly shall perish' (Ps. 1.6). 'A small

thing that the righteous hath is better than great

riches of the ungodly' (Ps. 37.16). Even as the

Preacher saith, and the fool discovereth, 'He that

loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver'

(Eccles. 5.10). But Christ saith, 'Blessed are they

which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,

for they shall be filled' (Matt. 5.6).

Righteousness is the natural and essential food of

the soul, which can no more be satisfied by

earthly treasures than the hunger of the body can

be satisfied by air. If you should see a starving

man standing with mouth open to the wind,

inhaling draughts of air as if in hope of

gratifying his hunger, you would think him

lunatic. But it is no less foolish to imagine that

the soul can be satisfied with worldly things

which only inflate it without feeding it. What

have spiritual gifts to do with carnal appetites, or

carnal with spiritual? Praise the Lord, O my soul:

who satisfieth thy mouth with good things (Ps.

103.1ff). He bestows bounty immeasurable; He

provokes thee to good, He preserves thee in

goodness; He prevents, He sustains, He fills thee.

He moves thee to longing, and it is He for whom

thou longest.

I have said already that the motive for loving

God is God Himself. And I spoke truly, for He is

as well the efficient cause as the final object of

• our love. He gives the occasion for love, He

creates the affection, He brings the desire to

good effect. He is such that love to Him is a

natural due; and so hope in Him is natural, since

• our present love would be vain did we not hope

to love Him perfectly some day. Our love is

prepared and rewarded by His. He loves us first,

• out of His great tenderness; then we are bound to

repay Him with love; and we are permitted to

cherish exultant hopes in Him. 'He is rich unto

all that call upon Him' (Rom. 10.12), yet He has

no gift for them better than Himself. He gives

Himself as prize and reward: He is the

refreshment of holy soul, the ransom of those in

captivity. 'The Lord is good unto them that wait

for Him' (Lam. 3.25). What will He be then to

those who gain His presence? But here is a

paradox, that no one can seek the Lord who has

not already found Him. It is Thy will, O God, to

be found that Thou mayest be sought, to be

sought that Thou mayest the more truly be

found. But though Thou canst be sought and

found, Thou canst not be forestalled. For if we

say, 'Early shall my prayer come before Thee'

(Ps. 88.13), yet doubtless all prayer would be

lukewarm unless it was animated by Thine

inspiration.

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

12

We have spoken of the consummation of love

towards God: now to consider whence such love

begins.

Chapter VIII. Of the first degree of

love: wherein man loves God for

self's sake

Love is one of the four natural affections, which

it is needless to name since everyone knows

them. And because love is natural, it is only right

to love the Author of nature first of all. Hence

comes the first and great commandment, 'Thou

shalt love the Lord thy God.' But nature is so

frail and weak that necessity compels her to love

herself first; and this is carnal love, wherewith

man loves himself first and selfishly, as it is

written, 'That was not first which is spiritual but

that which is natural; and afterward that which is

spiritual' (I Cor. 15.46). This is not as the precept

• ordains but as nature directs: 'No man ever yet

hated his own flesh' (Eph. 5.29). But if, as is

likely, this same love should grow excessive and,

refusing to be contained within the restraining

banks of necessity, should overflow into the

fields of voluptuousness, then a command

checks the flood, as if by a dike: 'Thou shalt love

thy neighbor as thyself'. And this is right: for he

who shares our nature should share our love,

itself the fruit of nature. Wherefore if a man find

it a burden, I will not say only to relieve his

brother's needs, but to minister to his brother's

pleasures, let him mortify those same affections

in himself, lest he become a transgressor. He

may cherish himself as tenderly as he chooses, if

• only he remembers to show the same indulgence

to his neighbor. This is the curb of temperance

imposed on thee, O man, by the law of life and

conscience, lest thou shouldest follow thine own

lusts to destruction, or become enslaved by those

passions which are the enemies of thy true

welfare. Far better divide thine enjoyments with

thy neighbor than with these enemies. And if,

after the counsel of the son of Sirach, thou goest

not after thy desires but refrainest thyself from

thine appetites (Ecclus. 18.30); if according to

the apostolic precept having food and raiment

thou art therewith content (I Tim. 6.8), then thou

wilt find it easy to abstain from fleshly lusts

which war against the soul, and to divide with

thy neighbors what thou hast refused to thine

• own desires. That is a temperate and righteous

love which practices self-denial in order to

minister to a brother's necessity. So our selfish

love grows truly social, when it includes our

neighbors in its circle.

But if thou art reduced to want by such

benevolence, what then? What indeed, except to

pray with all confidence unto Him who giveth to

all men liberally and upbraideth not (James 1.5),

who openeth His hand and filleth all things

living with plenteousness (Ps. 145.16). For

doubtless He that giveth to most men more than

they need will not fail thee as to the necessaries

• of life, even as He hath promised: 'Seek ye the

Kingdom of God, and all those things shall be

added unto you' (Luke 12.31). God freely

promises all things needful to those who deny

themselves for love of their neighbors; and to

bear the yoke of modesty and sobriety, rather

than to let sin reign in our mortal body (Rom.

6.12), that is indeed to seek the Kingdom of God

and to implore His aid against the tyranny of sin.

It is surely justice to share our natural gifts with

those who share our nature.

But if we are to love our neighbors as we ought,

we must have regard to God also: for it is only in

God that we can pay that debt of love aright.

Now a man cannot love his neighbor in God,

except he love God Himself; wherefore we must

love God first, in order to love our neighbors in

Him. This too, like all good things, is the Lord's

doing, that we should love Him, for He hath

endowed us with the possibility of love. He who

created nature sustains it; nature is so constituted

that its Maker is its protector for ever. Without

Him nature could not have begun to be; without

Him it could not subsist at all. That we might not

be ignorant of this, or vainly attribute to

• ourselves the beneficence of our Creator, God

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

13

has determined in the depths of His wise counsel

that we should be subject to tribulations. So

when man's strength fails and God comes to his

aid, it is meet and right that man, rescued by

God's hand, should glorify Him, as it is written,

'Call upon Me in the time of trouble; so will I

hear thee, and thou shalt praise Me' (Ps. 50.15).

In such wise man, animal and carnal by nature,

and loving only himself, begins to love God by

reason of that very self-love; since he learns that

in God he can accomplish all things that are

good, and that without God he can do nothing.

Chapter IX. Of the second and third

degrees of love

So then in the beginning man loves God, not for

God's sake, but for his own. It is something for

him to know how little he can do by himself and

how much by God's help, and in that knowledge

to order himself rightly towards God, his sure

support. But when tribulations, recurring again

and again, constrain him to turn to God for

unfailing help, would not even a heart as hard as

iron, as cold as marble, be softened by the

goodness of such a Savior, so that he would love

God not altogether selfishly, but because He is

God? Let frequent troubles drive us to frequent

supplications; and surely, tasting, we must see

how gracious the Lord is (Ps. 34.8). Thereupon

His goodness once realized draws us to love Him

unselfishly, yet more than our own needs impel

us to love Him selfishly: even as the Samaritans

told the woman who announced that it was

Christ who was at the well: 'Now we believe, not

because of thy saying: for we have heard Him

• ourselves, and know that this is indeed the

Christ, the savior of the world' (John 4.42). We

likewise bear the same witness to our own

fleshly nature, saying, 'No longer do we love

God because of our necessity, but because we

have tasted and seen how gracious the Lord is'.

Our temporal wants have a speech of their own,

proclaiming the benefits they have received from

God's favor. Once this is recognized it will not

be hard to fulfill the commandment touching

love to our neighbors; for whosoever loves God

aright loves all God's creatures. Such love is

pure, and finds no burden in the precept bidding

us purify our souls, in obeying the truth through

the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren (I

Peter 1.22). Loving as he ought, he counts that

command only just. Such love is thankworthy,

since it is spontaneous; pure, since it is shown

not in word nor tongue, but in deed and truth (I

John 3.18); just, since it repays what it has

received. Whoso loves in this fashion, loves even

as he is loved, and seeks no more his own but the

things which are Christ's, even as Jesus sought

not His own welfare, but ours, or rather

• ourselves. Such was the psalmist's love when he

sang: 'O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is

gracious' (Ps. 118.1). Whosoever praises God for

His essential goodness, and not merely because

• of the benefits He has bestowed, does really love

God for God's sake, and not selfishly. The

psalmist was not speaking of such love when he

said: 'So long as thou doest well unto thyself,

men will speak good of thee'(Ps. 49.18). The

third degree of love, we have now seen, is to

love God on His own account, solely because He

is God.

Chapter X. Of the fourth degree of

love: wherein man does not even

love self save for God's sake

How blessed is he who reaches the fourth degree

• of love, wherein one loves himself only in God!

Thy righteousness standeth like the strong

mountains, O God. Such love as this is God's

hill, in the which it pleaseth Him to dwell. 'Who

shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?' 'O that I

had wings like a dove; for then would I flee

away and be at rest.' 'At Salem is His tabernacle;

and His dwelling in Sion.' 'Woe is me, that I am

constrained to dwell with Mesech! ' (Ps. 24.3;

55.6; 76.2; 120.5). When shall this flesh and

blood, this earthen vessel which is my soul's

tabernacle, attain thereto? When shall my soul,

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

14

rapt with divine love and altogether selfforgetting,

yea, become like a broken vessel,

yearn wholly for God, and, joined unto the Lord,

be one spirit with Him? When shall she exclaim,

'My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the

strength of my heart and my portion for ever' (Ps.

73.26). I would count him blessed and holy to

whom such rapture has been vouchsafed in this

mortal life, for even an instant to lose thyself, as

if thou wert emptied and lost and swallowed up

in God, is no human love; it is celestial. But if

sometimes a poor mortal feels that heavenly joy

for a rapturous moment, then this wretched life

envies his happiness, the malice of daily trifles

disturbs him, this body of death weighs him

down, the needs of the flesh are imperative, the

weakness of corruption fails him, and above all

brotherly love calls him back to duty. Alas! that

voice summons him to re-enter his own round of

existence; and he must ever cry out lamentably,

'O Lord, I am oppressed: undertake for me' (Isa.

38.14); and again, 'O wretched man that I am!

who shall deliver me from the body of this

death?' (Rom. 7.24).

Seeing that the Scripture saith, God has made all

for His own glory (Isa. 43.7), surely His

creatures ought to conform themselves, as much

as they can, to His will. In Him should all our

affections center, so that in all things we should

seek only to do His will, not to please ourselves.

And real happiness will come, not in gratifying

• our desires or in gaining transient pleasures, but

in accomplishing God's will for us: even as we

pray every day: 'Thy will be done in earth as it is

in heaven' (Matt. 6.10). O chaste and holy love!

O sweet and gracious affection! O pure and

cleansed purpose, thoroughly washed and purged

from any admixture of selfishness, and

sweetened by contact with the divine will! To

reach this state is to become godlike. As a drop

• of water poured into wine loses itself, and takes

the color and savor of wine; or as a bar of iron,

heated red-hot, becomes like fire itself,

forgetting its own nature; or as the air, radiant

with sun-beams, seems not so much to be

illuminated as to be light itself; so in the saints

all human affections melt away by some

unspeakable transmutation into the will of God.

For how could God be all in all, if anything

merely human remained in man? The substance

will endure, but in another beauty, a higher

power, a greater glory. When will that be? Who

will see, who possess it? 'When shall I come to

appear before the presence of God?' (Ps. 42.2).

'My heart hath talked of Thee, Seek ye My face:

Thy face, Lord, will I seek' (Ps. 27.8). Lord,

thinkest Thou that I, even I shall see Thy holy

temple?

In this life, I think, we cannot fully and perfectly

• obey that precept, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy

God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and

with all thy strength, and with all thy mind'

(Luke 10.27). For here the heart must take

thought for the body; and the soul must energize

the flesh; and the strength must guard itself from

impairment. And by God's favor, must seek to

increase. It is therefore impossible to offer up all

• our being to God, to yearn altogether for His

face, so long as we must accommodate our

purposes and aspirations to these fragile, sickly

bodies of ours. Wherefore the soul may hope to

possess the fourth degree of love, or rather to be

possessed by it, only when it has been clothed

upon with that spiritual and immortal body,

which will be perfect, peaceful, lovely, and in

everything wholly subjected to the spirit. And to

this degree no human effort can attain: it is in

God's power to give it to whom He wills. Then

the soul will easily reach that highest stage,

because no lusts of the flesh will retard its eager

entrance into the joy of its Lord, and no troubles

will disturb its peace. May we not think that the

holy martyrs enjoyed this grace, in some degree

at least, before they laid down their victorious

bodies? Surely that was immeasurable strength

• of love which enraptured their souls, enabling

them to laugh at fleshly torments and to yield

their lives gladly. But even though the frightful

pain could not destroy their peace of mind, it

must have impaired somewhat its perfection.

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

15

Chapter XI. Of the attainment of this

perfection of love only at the

resurrection

What of the souls already released from their

bodies? We believe that they are overwhelmed in

that vast sea of eternal light and of luminous

eternity. But no one denies that they still hope

and desire to receive their bodies again: whence

it is plain that they are not yet wholly

transformed, and that something of self remains

yet unsurrendered. Not until death is swallowed

up in victory, and perennial light overflows the

uttermost bounds of darkness, not until celestial

glory clothes our bodies, can our souls be freed

entirely from self and give themselves up to

God. For until then souls are bound to bodies, if

not by a vital connection of sense, still by natural

affection; so that without their bodies they

cannot attain to their perfect consummation, nor

would they if they could. And although there is

no defect in the soul itself before the restoration

• of its body, since it has already attained to the

highest state of which it is by itself capable, yet

the spirit would not yearn for reunion with the

flesh if without the flesh it could be

consummated.

And finally, 'Right dear in the sight of the Lord

is the death of His saints' (Ps. 116.15). But if

their death is precious, what must such a life as

theirs be! No wonder that the body shall seem to

add fresh glory to the spirit; for though it is weak

and mortal, it has availed not a little for mutual

help. How truly he spake who said, 'All things

work together for good to them that love God'

(Rom. 8.28). The body is a help to the soul that

loves God, even when it is ill, even when it is

dead, and all the more when it is raised again

from the dead: for illness is an aid to penitence;

death is the gate of rest; and the resurrection will

bring consummation. So, rightly, the soul would

not be perfected without the body, since she

recognizes that in every condition it has been

needful to her good.

The flesh then is a good and faithful comrade for

a good soul: since even when it is a burden it

assists; when the help ceases, the burden ceases

too; and when once more the assistance begins,

there is no longer a burden. The first state is

toilsome, but fruitful; the second is idle, but not

monotonous: the third is glorious. Hear how the

Bridegroom in Canticles bids us to this threefold

progress: 'Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink

abundantly, O beloved' (Cant. 5.1). He offers

food to those who are laboring with bodily toil;

then He calls the resting souls whose bodies are

laid aside, to drink; and finally He urges those

who have resumed their bodies to drink

abundantly. Surely those He styles 'beloved'

must overflow with charity; and that is the

difference between them and the others, whom

He calls not 'beloved' but 'friends'. Those who

yet groan in the body are dear to Him, according

to the love that they have; those released from

the bonds of flesh are dearer because they have

become readier and abler to love than hitherto.

But beyond either of these classes are those

whom He calls 'beloved': for they have received

the second garment, that is, their glorified

bodies, so that now nothing of self remains to

hinder or disturb them, and they yield themselves

eagerly and entirely to loving God. This cannot

be so with the others; for the first have the

weight of the body to bear, and the second

desires the body again with something of selfish

expectation.

At first then the faithful soul eats her bread, but

alas! in the sweat of her face. Dwelling in the

flesh, she walks as yet by faith, which must work

through love. As faith without words is dead, so

work itself is food for her; even as our Lord

saith, 'My meat is to do the will of Him that sent

Me' (John 4.34). When the flesh is laid aside, she

eats no more the bread of carefulness, but is

allowed to drink deeply of the wine of love, as if

after a repast. But the wine is not yet unmingled;

even as the Bridegroom saith in another place, 'I

have drunk My wine with My milk' (Cant. 5.1).

For the soul mixes with the wine of God's love

the milk of natural affection, that is, the desire

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

16

for her body and its glorification. She glows with

the wine of holy love which she has drunk; but

she is not yet all on fire, for she has tempered the

potency of that wine with milk. The unmingled

wine would enrapture the soul and make her

wholly unconscious of self; but here is no such

transport for she is still desirous of her body.

When that desire is appeased, when the one lack

is supplied, what should hinder her then from

yielding herself utterly to God, losing her own

likeness and being made like unto Him? At last

she attains to that chalice of the heavenly

wisdom, of which it is written, 'My cup shall be

full.' Now indeed she is refreshed with the

abundance of the house of God, where all selfish,

carking care is done away, and where, for ever

safe, she drinks the fruit of the vine, new and

pure, with Christ in the Kingdom of His Father

(Matt. 26.29).

It is Wisdom who spreads this threefold supper

where all the repast is love; Wisdom who feeds

the toilers, who gives drink to those who rest,

who floods with rapture those that reign with

Christ. Even as at an earthly banquet custom and

nature serve meat first and then wine, so here.

Before death, while we are still in mortal flesh,

we eat the labors of our hands, we swallow with

an effort the food so gained; but after death, we

shall begin eagerly to drink in the spiritual life

and finally, reunited to our bodies, and rejoicing

in fullness of delight, we shall be refreshed with

immortality. This is what the Bridegroom means

when He saith: 'Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink

abundantly, O beloved.' Eat before death; begin

to drink after death; drink abundantly after the

resurrection. Rightly are they called beloved who

have drunk abundantly of love; rightly do they

drink abundantly who are worthy to be brought

to the marriage supper of the Lamb, eating and

drinking at His table in His Kingdom (Rev. 19.9;

Luke 22.30). At that supper, He shall present to

Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or

wrinkle, or any such thing (Eph. 5.27). Then

truly shall He refresh His beloved; then He shall

give them drink of His pleasures, as out of the

river (Ps. 36.8). While the Bridegroom clasps the

Bride in tender, pure embrace, then the rivers of

the flood thereof shall make glad the city of God

(Ps. 46.4). And this refers to the Son of God

Himself, who will come forth and serve them,

even as He hath promised; so that in that day the

righteous shall be glad and rejoice before God:

they shall also be merry and joyful (Ps. 68.3).

Here indeed is appeasement without weariness:

here never-quenched thirst for knowledge,

without distress; here eternal and infinite desire

which knows no want; here, finally, is that sober

inebriation which comes not from drinking new

wine but from enjoying God (Acts 2.13). The

fourth degree of love is attained for ever when

we love God only and supremely, when we do

not even love ourselves except for God's sake; so

that He Himself is the reward of them that love

Him, the everlasting reward of an everlasting

love.

Chapter XII. Of love: out of a letter

to the Carthusians

I remember writing a letter to the holy

Carthusian brethren, wherein I discussed these

degrees of love, and spoke of charity in other

words, although not in another sense, than here.

It may be well to repeat a portion of that letter,

since it is easier to copy than to dictate anew.

To love our neighbor's welfare as much as our

• own: that is true and sincere charity out of a pure

heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith

unfeigned (I Tim. 1.5). Whosoever loves his own

prosperity only is proved thereby not to love

good for its own sake, since he loves it on his

• own account. And so he cannot sing with the

psalmist, 'O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is

gracious' (Ps. 118.1). Such a man would praise

God, not because He is goodness, but because

He has been good to him: he could take to

himself the reproach of the same writer, 'So long

as Thou doest well unto him, he will speak good

• of Thee' (Ps. 49.18, Vulg.). One praises God

because He is mighty, another because He is

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

17

gracious, yet another solely because He is

essential goodness. The first is a slave and fears

for himself; the second is greedy, desiring further

benefits; but the third is a son who honors his

Father. He who fears, he who profits, are both

concerned about self-interest. Only in the son is

that charity which seeketh not her own (I Cor.

13.5). Wherefore I take this saying, 'The law of

the Lord is an undefiled law, converting the soul'

(Ps. 19.7) to be of charity; because charity alone

is able to turn the soul away from love of self

and of the world to pure love of God. Neither

fear nor self-interest can convert the soul. They

may change the appearance, perhaps even the

conduct, but never the object of supreme desire.

Sometimes a slave may do God's work; but

because he does not toil voluntarily, he remains

in bondage. So a mercenary may serve God, but

because he puts a price on his service, he is

enchained by his own greediness. For where

there is self-interest there is isolation; and such

isolation is like the dark corner of a room where

dust and rust befoul. Fear is the motive which

constrains the slave; greed binds the selfish man,

by which he is tempted when he is drawn away

by his own lust and enticed (James 1.14). But

neither fear nor self-interest is undefiled, nor can

they convert the soul. Only charity can convert

the soul, freeing it from unworthy motives.

Next, I call it undefined because it never keeps

back anything of its own for itself. When a man

boasts of nothing as his very own, surely all that

he has is God's; and what is God's cannot be

unclean. The undefiled law of the Lord is that

love which bids men seek not their own, but

every man another's wealth. It is called the law

• of the Lord as much because He lives in

accordance with it as because no man has it

except by gift from Him. Nor is it improper to

say that even God lives by law, when that law is

the law of love. For what preserves the glorious

and ineffable Unity of the blessed Trinity, except

love? Charity, the law of the Lord, joins the

Three Persons into the unity of the Godhead and

unites the holy Trinity in the bond of peace. Do

not suppose me to imply that charity exists as an

accidental quality of Deity; for whatever could

be conceived of as wanting in the divine Nature

is not God. No, it is the very substance of the

Godhead; and my assertion is neither novel nor

extraordinary, since St. John says, 'God is love' (I

John 4.8). One may therefore say with truth that

love is at once God and the gift of God, essential

love imparting the quality of love. Where the

word refers to the Giver, it is the name of His

very being; where the gift is meant, it is the name

• of a quality. Love is the eternal law whereby the

universe was created and is ruled. Since all

things are ordered in measure and number and

weight, and nothing is left outside the realm of

law, that universal law cannot itself be without a

law, which is itself. So love though it did not

create itself, does surely govern itself by its own

decree.

Chapter XIII. Of the law of self-will

and desire, of slaves and hirelings

Furthermore, the slave and the hireling have a

law, not from the Lord, but of their own

contriving; the one does not love God, the other

loves something else more than God. They have

a law of their own, not of God, I say; yet it is

subject to the law of the Lord. For though they

can make laws for themselves, they cannot

supplant the changeless order of the eternal law.

Each man is a law unto himself, when he sets up

his will against the universal law, perversely

striving to rival his Creator, to be wholly

independent, making his will his only law. What

a heavy and burdensome yoke upon all the sons

• of Adam, bowing down our necks, so that our

life draweth nigh unto hell. 'O wretched man that

I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this

death?' (Rom. 7.24). I am weighed down, I am

almost overwhelmed, so that 'If the Lord had not

helped me, it had not failed but my soul had been

put to silence' (Ps. 94.17). Job was groaning

under this load when he lamented: 'Why hast

Thou set me as a mark against Thee, so that I am

a burden to myself?' (Job 7.20). He was a burden

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

18

to himself through the law which was of his own

devising: yet he could not escape God's law, for

he was set as a mark against God. The eternal

law of righteousness ordains that he who will not

submit to God's sweet rule shall suffer the bitter

tyranny of self: but he who wears the easy yoke

and light burden of love (Matt. 11.30) will

escape the intolerable weight of his own selfwill.

Wondrously and justly does that eternal law

retain rebels in subjection, so that they are unable

to escape. They are subject to God's power, yet

deprived of happiness with Him, unable to dwell

with God in light and rest and glory everlasting.

O Lord my God, 'why dost Thou not pardon my

transgression and take away mine iniquity?' (Job

7.21). Then freed from the weight of my own

will, I can breathe easily under the light burden

• of love. I shall not be coerced by fear, nor allured

by mercenary desires; for I shall be led by the

Spirit of God, that free Spirit whereby Thy sons

are led, which beareth witness with my spirit that

I am among the children of God (Rom. 8.16). So

shall I be under that law which is Thine; and as

Thou art, so shall I be in the world. Whosoever

do what the apostle bids, 'Owe no man anything,

but to love one another' (Rom. 13.8), are

doubtless even in this life conformed to God's

likeness: they are neither slaves nor hirelings but

sons.

Chapter XIV. Of the law of the love

• of sons

Now the children have their law, even though it

is written, 'The law is not made for a righteous

man' (I Tim. 1.9). For it must be remembered

that there is one law having to do with the spirit

• of servitude, given to fear, and another with the

spirit of liberty, given in tenderness. The

children are not constrained by the first, yet they

could not exist without the second: even as St.

Paul writes, 'Ye have not received the spirit of

bondage again to fear; but ye have received the

spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father'

(Rom. 8.15). And again to show that that same

righteous man was not under the law, he says:

'To them that are under the law, I became as

under the law, that I might gain them that are

under the law; to them that are without law, as

without law (being not without law to God, but

under the law to Christ)' (I Cor. 9.20f). So it is

rightly said, not that the righteous do not have a

law, but, 'The law is not made for a righteous

man', that is, it is not imposed on rebels but

freely given to those willingly obedient, by Him

whose goodness established it. Wherefore the

Lord saith meekly: 'Take My yoke upon you',

which may be paraphrased thus: 'I do not force it

• on you, if you are reluctant; but if you will you

may bear it. Otherwise it will be weariness, not

rest, that you shall find for your souls.'

Love is a good and pleasant law; it is not only

easy to bear, but it makes the laws of slaves and

hirelings tolerable; not destroying but

completing them; as the Lord saith: 'I am not

come to destroy the law, but to fulfill' (Matt.

5.17). It tempers the fear of the slave, it regulates

the desires of the hireling, it mitigates the

severity of each. Love is never without fear, but

it is godly fear. Love is never without desire, but

it is lawful desire. So love perfects the law of

service by infusing devotion; it perfects the law

• of wages by restraining covetousness. Devotion

mixed with fear does not destroy it, but purges it.

Then the burden of fear which was intolerable

while it was only servile, becomes tolerable; and

the fear itself remains ever pure and filial. For

though we read: 'Perfect love casteth out fear' (I

John 4.18), we understand by that the suffering

which is never absent from servile fear, the cause

being put for the effect, as often elsewhere. So,

too, self-interest is restrained within due bounds

when love supervenes; for then it rejects evil

things altogether, prefers better things to those

merely good, and cares for the good only on

account of the better. In like manner, by God's

grace, it will come about that man will love his

body and all things pertaining to his body, for the

sake of his soul. He will love his soul for God's

sake; and he will love God for Himself alone.

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

19

Chapter XV. Of the four degrees of

love, and of the blessed state of the

heavenly fatherland

Nevertheless, since we are carnal and are born of

the lust of the flesh, it must be that our desire and

• our love shall have its beginning in the flesh. But

rightly guided by the grace of God through these

degrees, it will have its consummation in the

spirit: for that was not first which is spiritual but

that which is natural; and afterward that which is

spiritual (I Cor. 15.46). And we must bear the

image of the earthy first, before we can bear the

image of the heavenly. At first, man loves

himself for his own sake. That is the flesh, which

can appreciate nothing beyond itself. Next, he

perceives that he cannot exist by himself, and so

begins by faith to seek after God, and to love

Him as something necessary to his own welfare.

That is the second degree, to love God, not for

God's sake, but selfishly. But when he has

learned to worship God and to seek Him aright,

meditating on God, reading God's Word, praying

and obeying His commandments, he comes

gradually to know what God is, and finds Him

altogether lovely. So, having tasted and seen

how gracious the Lord is (Ps. 34.8), he advances

to the third degree, when he loves God, not

merely as his benefactor but as God. Surely he

must remain long in this state; and I know not

whether it would be possible to make further

progress in this life to that fourth degree and

perfect condition wherein man loves himself

solely for God's sake. Let any who have attained

so far bear record; I confess it seems beyond my

powers. Doubtless it will be reached when the

good and faithful servant shall have entered into

the joy of his Lord (Matt. 25.21), and been

satisfied with the plenteousness of God's house

(Ps. 36.8). For then in wondrous wise he will

forget himself and as if delivered from self, he

will grow wholly God's. Joined unto the Lord, he

will then be one spirit with Him (I Cor. 6.17).

This was what the prophet meant, I think, when

he said: ' I will go forth in the strength of the

Lord God: and will make mention of Thy

righteousness only' (Ps. 71.16). Surely he knew

that when he should go forth in the spiritual

strength of the Lord, he would have been freed

from the infirmities of the flesh, and would have

nothing carnal to think of, but would be wholly

filled in his spirit with the righteousness of the

Lord.

In that day the members of Christ can say of

themselves what St. Paul testified concerning

their Head: 'Yea, though we have known Christ

after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him

no more' (II Cor. 5.16). None shall thereafter

know himself after the flesh; for 'flesh and blood

cannot inherit the Kingdom of God' (I Cor.

15.50). Not that there will be no true substance

• of the flesh, but all carnal needs will be taken

away, and the love of the flesh will be swallowed

up in the love of the spirit, so that our weak

human affections will be made divinely strong.

Then the net of charity which as it is drawn

through the great and wide sea doth not cease to

gather every kind of fish, will be drawn to the

shore; and the bad will be cast away, while only

the good will be kept (Matt. 13.48). In this life

the net of all-including love gathers every kind

• of fish into its wide folds, becoming all things to

all men, sharing adversity or prosperity, rejoicing

with them that do rejoice, and weeping with

them that weep (Rom. 12.15). But when the net

is drawn to shore, whatever causes pain will be

rejected, like the bad fish, while only what is

pleasant and joyous will be kept. Do you not

recall how St. Paul said: 'Who is weak and I am

not weak? Who is offended and I burn not?' And

yet weakness and offense were far from him. So

too he bewailed many which had sinned already

and had not repented, though he was neither the

sinner nor the penitent. But there is a city made

glad by the rivers of the flood of grace (Ps. 46.4),

and whose gates the Lord loveth more than all

the dwellings of Jacob (Ps. 87.2). In it is no place

for lamentation over those condemned to

everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his

angels (Matt. 25.41). In these earthly dwellings,

though men may rejoice, yet they have still other

On Loving God By St. Bernard of Clairvaux

20

battles to fight, other mortal perils to undergo.

But in the heavenly Fatherland no sorrow nor

sadness can enter: as it is written, 'The habitation

• of all rejoicing ones is in Thee' (Ps. 87. 7, Vulg.);

and again, 'Everlasting joy shall be unto them'

(Isa. 61.7). Nor could they recall things piteous,

for then they will make mention of God's

righteousness only. Accordingly, there will be no

need for the exercise of compassion, for no

misery will be there to inspire pity.

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