Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor- Memoria
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Saint Bernard, Abbot, Doctor
Today we celebrate the Memoria of Saint Bernard, Abbot, Doctor of the Church.
Reading something about Saint Bernard, it says that he was a man of great holiness and wisdom, and although he often had a very poor health, he was active in many of the great public debates of the time, as he travelled round to restore peace and unity in places where division had arisen in the church. It is said that he opposed the luxurious lives of some of the clergy and defended the truth.
The entrance antiphon of today’s mass spoke about the divine wisdom with which Saint Bernard witnessed to the Gospel. It says, “filled by the Lord with a Spirit of Understanding, blessed Bernard ministered streams of clear teaching to the people of God”. As a pastor and shepherd of souls St Bernard relied on the wisdom that God gives and thus was able to give sound teaching that transformed lives. I suppose this is the sort of Pastors or shepherd of souls we need today and not those who, in their quest for the world’s approval, entertains us with interesting but vain theological ideas. His wisdom and the transformative power in his preaching flows from his faithfulness to God’s word. And this is what today’s first reading from Ecclesiasticus 15;1-6 meant when is says that “whoever fears the Lord will act like this. And however grasps the law will obtain wisdom. And this wisdom will not allow the person to fall nor be put to shame. He will find happiness and a crown of joy and inherit an everlasting name”.
This is very much true in the life of St. Bernard. Having suffered and carried the yoke of righteousness here on earth, he is now crowned with an everlasting joy and happiness. In today’s Gospel from John 17, the Lord prayed for us that we may be where he is and see his glory. St Bernard, having persevered in righteousness, now shared in the glory of our God beholding.
We need pastor and Christians like St Bernard whose words of teaching were fuelled and empowered by his lifestyles. In his life of poverty Saint Bernard left everything and followed Christ because he knew that the Gospel is true. That everyone who has left houses, brother, sisters, father and mother, children and land will be repaid hundred times over and inherit eternal life. In fact, the opening prayer of today’s mass says that St Bernard was a man consumed with Zeal for God’s house and was like a light shining and burning in the church. I supposed the question we may ask ourselves as we celebrate this memoria is, are we consumed with zeal for the things of God? or am I rather only good in calling people fanatics because of their passion for the things pertaining to faith?
Let us therefore seek for that wisdom that come from the Lord, that wisdom that leads us to everlasting happiness and joy. Let us do this by embracing God’s word, obeying his commands as the first reading invites us. May we join our voices with the responsorial psalm of today and pray, O Lord, teach me your statutes. In our struggles against sins and our weaknesses, psalm 119;9-14 asked, how can the young remain sinless? It answered and said, by obeying your word. By treasuring the promises of God in our hearts that we may not sin against you our God. May God grant us the zeal for the things of God, as we seek him through obedience to his word, may he grant us the wisdom that keeps us from error and leads us to the everlasting joy and happiness.
Let us pray
Eternal Father, fill you people with you Zeal and wisdom that after we have persevered in righteousness, we will be crowned like St Bernard with the crown of joy and the everlasting happiness. Through Christ Our Lord. St Bernard ------Pray for us
The Lord be with you
May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Go in the Peace of Christ.