Vigils Reading

THE MANNER OF KEEPING

THE LENTEN OBSERVANCE

From a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux

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I beseech you, most dearly beloved, to enter with all possible fervor upon

this Lenten time, which is commended to us not only by the law of abstinence,

but also and much more by the mystery it contains. Oh, with what devotion

should we observe what has been transmitted to us as an inheritance from the

righteous Moses who, by a special privilege granted to no other prophet, spoke

to the Lord face to face. With what eagerness should we embrace a practice

commended to us by the example of Elias, who was taken up to heaven in a fiery

chariot. We are encouraged to undertake this fast by the example of Moses and

Elias, who, illustrious though they may be, are still our fellow-servants. But

much greater encouragement should be given in the example of our Lord Jesus

Christ Who also fasted for forty days. What kind of monk, or even what kind of

Christian, would one be who would submit only with reluctance to an

observance given to us by Christ?… We ought to imitate His example with all the

more fervor knowing that He fasted not for His own sake but for ours…

They are clearly in error who suppose that these few days are sufficient for

the practice of penance, since it is obvious that the whole period of our earthly

life is ordered for no other purpose. “Seek the Lord,” says the prophet, and not

only during forty days, but “while He may be found”. “Call upon Him while He is

near”… Therefore since the Lord is near during all this time of mercy, “seek

Him,” most dearly beloved, “seek Him while He may be found; call upon Him

while He is near.”

Nevertheless we ought to seek Him with greater ardor during these forty

days of Lent, which is not only a part, but the most sacred part of the whole

season of mercy. If, then, at other times we have allowed our zeal to grow slack,

it is fitting that our hearts should now be warmed with a renewal of spiritual

fervor. If the stomach alone has sinned, let the stomach alone fast, and that

suffices. But if the other members have sinned also, why should they not be

made to fast as well as the stomach? Therefore let the “eye which has wasted the

soul” be made to fast. Let the ear, too, be made to fast, and the tongue, and the

hand, and even the soul herself. Let the eye fast from curious looks, so that,

wholesomely humbled, it may now be kept in penitential restraint. Let the ear

fast from news and idle tales and from all that is vain and worthless with regard

to salvation. Let the tongue fast from detraction and murmuring, from

unprofitable, vain and frivolous words, and – because of the great importance of

silence – sometimes even from words that seem necessary. Let the hand fast

from every work not sanctioned by obedience.

But above all, let the soul fast from vice and the following of her own will.

For without this kind of fasting, all the rest will have no value in the eyes of God.

For we read in the prophet Isaiah that when the people said to the Lord: “Why

have we fasted and you have not regarded?”, they received this answer: “Behold

in the day of your fast your own will is found.”