Tuesday of the Twentienth Week in Ordinary Time

Solemnity of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church (1090-1153)

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 64:1-6 The Election of Abbess or Abbot
Mass: Judges 6:11-24a; Resp Ps 85; Mt 19:23-30
For the Solemnity: Wis 7:7-10, 15-16 or Sirach 39:8-14; Ph 3:17-4:1; Mt 5:13-19 or Jn 17:20-26

Listen, my faithful children; open up your petals, like roses planted near running waters.

For commentary on two passages from the choices for today's Gospel, we turn to St Bernard of Clairvaux, celebrated with solemnity by Cistercians.

DO NOT THINK THAT I HAVE COME TO ABOLISH THE LAW OR THE PROPHETS. I HAVE COME NOT TO ABOLISH BUT TO FULFILL.

(Mt 5:17) 

NOW THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE, THAT THEY SHOULD KNOW YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND THE ONE WHOM YOU SENT JESUS CHRIST. 

(Jn 17:3)

You remember that you have agreed with me that no one is saved without self-knowledge, since it is the source of that humility on which salvation depends, and of the fear of the Lord that is as much the beginning of salvation as of wisdom. No one, I repeat, no one is saved without that knowledge … But what if you have no knowledge of God? Is hope of salvation compatible with ignorance about God? Surely not. For you cannot love what you do not know, nor possess what you do not love. Know yourself and you will have a wholesome fear of God; know him and you will also love him. In the first, wisdom has its beginning, in the second its crown, for "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and "love is the fulfilling of the law." 

(Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, 37, 1)

I love because I love; I love that I may love. Love is a great reality, and if it returns to its beginning and goes back to its origin, seeking its source again, it will always draw afresh from it, and thereby flow freely.

(Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, 83, 4)

And to further honor Bernard the Abbot, and all abbots and abbesses, what follows comes from today's reading from the Holy Rule, Ch 64 "The Election of an Abbot or Abbess":

In choosing an abbot or abbess, the guiding principle should always be that the one placed in office be the one selected by the whole community acting unanimously in the fear of God, or by some part of the community, no matter how small, which possesses sounder judgment. Goodness of life and wisdom in teaching must be the criteria for choosing the one to be made abbot or abbess, even if he or she is the last in community rank.

(RB 64:1-2)

SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, PRAY FOR US.