Office for Vocations

A Reading on St Bernard and His Entrance to Monastic Life 2
From the Vita Prima by William of Saint-Thierry

When the time came for Bernard to fulfill his vow and achieve his plans, with
his brothers and spiritual children he took leave of his father’s dwelling…At that
time Citeaux was still a novelty and just a little flock living under venerable Stephen,
their abbot. They were beginning to grow dejected because of the lack of vocations,
and their hopes for future numbers were fading…But now, all of a sudden, God
visited them and made them joyful again. It was so unexpected, so sudden. It was
as if their house had received this reply from the Holy Spirit: Shout for joy, you
barren woman who bore no children! Break into cries of joy and gladness, you
who were never in labor! For the sons of the forsaken one are more in number
than the sons of the wedded one, and afterward you will see your children’s
children unto many generations.

In the year 1113 from the Lord’s Incarnation, and thirteen years from the
founding of Citeaux, Bernard, the servant of God, who was about twenty-two years
old, entered Citeaux with more than thirty companions and submitted himself to
the sweet yoke of Christ under Abbot Stephen…He had the intention of dying from
the hearts and memory of mankind, with the hope of disappearing like a lost vase.

But God had other ideas and was making him ready as a chosen vessel, not
only to strengthen and expand the monastic order but to carry his name before
kings and Gentiles to the ends of the earth. Of course he did not apply this teaching
to himself or even think about it; rather he had in his heart the need to be constant
in following his vocation, so that he constantly said in his heart and even often on
his lips, “Bernard, Bernard, what have you come for?”…

From the first day of his conversion right up to the present time, he was
known to have only one thing in his thoughts, namely, to have a mother’s love for
every soul. Indeed, there was a sort of conflict in his heart between his holy desires
and his holy humility. At one moment he confesses that he is dejected that his
efforts cannot show any results, but afterward his burning ardor makes him forget
himself, and he admits that he finds no other consolation than the salvation of
many souls. In the end, charity gives birth to confidence, yet humility keeps it in
place.
And so it happened that on one occasion he rose early for Vigils. Then after
Vigils there was a long interval before Lauds in the morning, and he went outside.
He walked around close by and was praying to God that his prayers and those of his
brothers might be acceptable, for he was, as I have said, filled with the desire for
spiritual fruitfulness. All of a sudden, while he was standing there, he closed his
eyes in prayer and saw on all sides a great multitude of men in diverse clothing and
different walks of life coming down from the hills close by into the valley below; so
many were they that the valley could not contain them. What this meant is clear to
everyone. The man of God was so encouraged by this wonderful vision that he
exhorted his brothers never to despair of God’s mercy.

2 William of Saint-Thierry. The First Life of Bernard of Clairvaux. CF 76. Trans. Hilary Costello, OCSO.
Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2015. 20-22, 29-30.