Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercian Abbot, Doctor of the Church "Doctor Mellifluus" (1090-1153)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 64:1-6 The Election of an Abbot

Mass: Ezk 43:1-7ab; Resp Ps 85; Mt 23:1-12

For the Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: Wisdom 7:7-10, 15-16 or Sirach 39:8-14; Resp Ps 19 or 37; Ph 3:17-4:1; Mt 5:13-19 or Jn 17:20-26

The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

HEART OF MARY, SEAT OF MERCY,

PRAY FOR US.

Therefore I prayed, and prudence was given me; 

I pleaded and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.

(Wisdom 7:7)

The "Doctor Mellifluus," "the last of the Fathers, but certainly not inferior to the earlier ones," was remarkable for such qualities of nature and of mind, and so enriched by God with heavenly gifts, that in the changing and often stormy times in which he lived, he seemed to dominate by his holiness, wisdom and most prudent counsel.

(Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Doctor Mellifluus the Last of the Fathers, May 24, 1953)

How fitting and right it is that as we commemorate the great Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Benedict writes on the election of the abbot, "Goodness of life and wisdom in teaching must be the criteria for choosing the one to be made abbot ..." (Rule of Saint Benedict, 64:2). Saint Bernard knew that God "is the guide of Wisdom and the director of the wise, for both we and our words are in His hand, as well as prudence and knowledge of crafts" (Wisdom 7:16). Therefore, Pope Pius XII could write: Saint Bernard's "teaching was drawn, almost exclusively, from the pages of Sacred Scripture and from the Fathers, which he had at hand day and night in his profound meditations" (Doctor Mellifluus). 

We end with two quotations from Saint Bernard, the first I am unable to find a source for at the moment, the second from a letter of his. In God we trust. 😊

You will find something more in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.

(Saint Bernard of Clairvaux)

We wear ourselves with our scribbling to each other, but is the spirit ever weary of loving? We find rest in those we love, and we provide a resting place in ourselves for those we love.

(Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, The Letters of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Letter 90)  

SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: For Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, from Saint Bernard Catholic Parish, Eureka, CA.

© Gertrude Feick 2022