The Solemnity of St. Bernard of Clairvaux 2017 It is a special blessing when the feast day of a parish s patron saint falls on a Sunday, as it avails us the opportunity to join as a parish family to honour the saint who was chosen to be the principle intercessor and patron of our faith community. We are blessed to have both Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Bernard of Clairvaux as the two patrons of our Parish. This past Tuesday, we honoured Our Lady s triumphant Assumption into heavenly glory and today we honour the prolific St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Since St. Bernard lived more than 900 years ago, it is understandable that many of us may not be familiar with his life and ministry. Allow me to spent this homily sharing a little about his life, spiritual writings and enduring legacy in the life of our Church. St Bernard has often been called the last of the Church Fathers. The reason for this title is that he represents the closing of one chapter of the Church s history and the opening of a new one. The Church Fathers were those distinguished theologians and pastors of
the first 1000 years of Christianity, whose commentaries on Sacred Scripture, theological explorations into the mysteries of the Christian faith and courageous witness of living the Gospel helped to shape the Catholic Church in her first millennium. With St. Bernard, we encounter a man who embodied the same holiness and wisdom of the Church Fathers of old but who also offered guidance and instruction to the Church that was soon to become the spiritual and temporal leader of Christendom and who would in the coming centuries bring the Gospel to all corners of the earth. St. Bernard certainly did not seek to become among the most prolific and influential churchmen of his day. Born in 1090 to a noble French family, St Bernard did not seek a life of privilege or luxury, but like the one described in today s reading from the Book of Wisdom I prayed, and understanding was given me; I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to sceptres and thrones, and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison to her (Wis 7:7-8). The heavenly wisdom that St.
Bernard sought was a life of prayer in solitude and severe poverty in the rugged forests of NE France, in a valley known as the valley of bitterness, but that in time would be known as Clairvaux, or the valley of light. Accompanied by 30 young men, some of them his own brothers, St. Bernard and his companions sought to revive the ancient discipline and asceticism of the Rule of St. Benedict, living and working as monks based on the ancient maxim of St. Benedict of ora et labora, that is, prayer and work. Together they cleared forests, drained swamps and constructed a majestic monastery that would soon see hundreds of men seek to live a life of poverty, obedience and chastity for the Glory of God and sanctification of the Church. St. Bernard was concerned his monastery would become wealthy like many others in Europe, leading the monks to idleness and a life of luxury and comfort and so he worked diligently to maintain a life of poverty and holiness within the monastery walls.
While his only desire was to live and die hidden in the monastery of Clairvaux, God had other plans for the young abbot. In time, St. Bernard would become an advisor to numerous popes, would engage in fierce theological debates with known heretics and dissenters against the teaching of the Church, and was even given the difficult task of preaching the Second Crusade. While the Crusades now generate an unfavourable reaction in the modern mind, St. Bernard saw the Crusades as first and foremost a way to defend the persecuted Christians of the Holy Land from the attacks of the Turkish empire, who routinely killed pilgrims who made the peaceful journey to Jerusalem and other holy sites of Christ s life. He hoped that the Crusade would be a way to grant protection to vulnerable pilgrims and assure that Jerusalem would be a safe haven for all who sought to pray in the city of Our Lord. It was with great dismay and anguish that he witness the Crusade he preached to quickly dissolve into an opportunity for greedy nobles in Europe to claim more land and titles for
themselves in the Holy Land. When the Crusade ended in defeat and claimed the lives of countless Christians, both crusaders and pilgrims, he boldly proclaimed that God has allowed the Crusade to fail as a punishment for the greed of Christians and their indifference to the sufferings of those in the Holy Land and back home in Christendom. St. Bernard is also remembered for his profound writings on both the Bible and the Blessed Virgin Mary. He wrote extensive commentaries on many of the books of the Bible, offering spiritual meditations to Christian men and women, many of whom were unable to read and relied on the preaching of individuals like St. Bernard to be nourished by the Holy Word of God. St Bernard was one of those chosen heralds of the Gospel that St. Paul spoke of in today s Second Reading as a man who spoke God s wisdom, hidden and secret, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. (1 Cor 2:7).
He knew that God had blessed him with the capacity to delve into the hidden depths of the Sacred Scriptures and that he must share this knowledge with others, thus becoming one who was salt of the earth and light of the world, not hiding his wisdom and understanding under a bushel basket, but allowing it to be a light for all to see and to generously share what God had so graciously given to him (Mt 5:13-15). When St. Bernard died in 1156, he had established 343 monasteries and left a treasury of spiritual and theological writings that continue to be studied and read by Christians. We can take an opportunity today to thank God for allowing St. Bernard to be the patron saint of our parish and that his prayers will inspire us to imitate his life of holiness and service to those most in need. Because our parish is also dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, I will leave you with some words of praise that St. Bernard offered to the Virgin Mary, asking her to continue to watch over our parish and draw us closer to her Son, Jesus Christ.
If the winds of temptation blow, if you stumble when confronted by temptation; look to the star of the sea by calling out to Mary. If the waves of pride, ambition or envy tug at your heart, call on Mary as well. If anger, avarice or impurity imperil the course of your soul s journey, look to Mary. If you are disturbed by the memory of your sins, confused with the ugliness of your conscience, fearful in the face of judgement, or you begin to sink into the bottomless pit of sadness or into the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In every danger, moment of anguish or doubt, invoke Mary. May her name be ever on your lips and engraved on your heart too. Never stray from the example of her virtue, so that you may always gain her help as an intercessor. You will not soon swerve from the path if you follow her, nor will you soon despair if you beseech her. You will never be lost if you think about her. With her taking you by the hand, you will not stay down in the case of a fall. With her protection, you will have nothing at all to fear. You will not lose strength, for she is your guide. You will reach safe haven happily, if you count on her as your most intimate helpers. Cor Mariae Dulcissimum, iter para tutum, O most sweet heart of Mary, prepare for us a safe path to Jesus. 1 1 St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Homily on the Blessed Virgin Mary, 2.