Vigils Reading – Bl Eugene III

FROM THE TREATISE “ON CONSIDERATION”

By St Bernard of Clairvaux for Pope Eugenius III2

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It has occurred to me to write something which might edify, delight or

console you, Blessed Father Eugene. But I do not know the rules for writing a

formal yet intimate treatise. Two opposites, your majesty and my love, vie to

dictate my style. Love draws me on; majesty holds me back. But you graciously

intervene and request rather than command this treatise, although it would be

more fitting for you to command it. Since your majesty so admirably

condescends, why does my hesitancy persist? What if you have ascended the

throne? Even if you were to walk on the wings of the wind, you would not escape

my affection. Love knows no master. It recognizes a son even though he wear

the tiara. It is the nature of a lover to be suitably humble, willingly submissive,

freely compliant, respectful without duress.

This is not the way with others however; they are driven either by fear or

by greed. Such men bless openly, but harbor evil in their hearts. They flatter you

when you are present, yet fail you in time of need. But charity never fails. It is

true that I have been freed of maternal obligation toward you, but I am not

stripped of affection for you. You were once in my womb; you will not be drawn

from my heart so easily. Ascend to the heavens, descend to the depths, you will

not escape me. I will follow you wherever you go. I loved you when you were

poor in spirit; I shall love you still as father of the poor and the rich. If I know

you, you did not cease being poor in spirit when you became the father of the

poor. I am confident that this change has been thrust on you and was not of

your doing, that this promotion has not replaced your former state, but rather

has enhanced it. Therefore I will instruct you not as a teacher, but as a mother,

indeed as a lover. I may seem more the fool, but only to one who does not love,

to one who does not feel the force of love.

2 The Five Books On Consideration – St Bernard of Clairvaux – CF Series #37 – Cistercain

Publications – Kalamazoo, MI – 1976 – pg 23.5