Vigils Reading
HOLINESS BEFITS
YOUR HOUSE, OH LORD
From a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux
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“Our bed is covered with flowers; the beams of our houses are of cedar,
the paneling of cypress.” She is singing her marriage-song, describing in
beautiful language the marriage bed and bridal suite. She invites the
bridegroom to repose: for the better thing is to remain at ease and be with
Christ; but necessity drives one forth to help those who are to be saved. So now
when she feels that the opportunity presents itself, she announces that the
bridal suite has been furnished, and pointing to the bed with her finger she
invited, as I have said, the Beloved to rest there. Like the disciples on the way to
Emmaus she cannot contain the ardor in her heart, but entices him to be the
guest of her soul, compels him to spend the night with her. With Peter she says:
“Lord it is good for us to be here.“
Let us now seek the spiritual content of these words. And indeed in the
Church the ‘bed’ where one reposes is, in my opinion, the cloisters and
monasteries, where one lives undisturbed by the cares of the world and the
anxieties of life. This bed is seen to be adorned with flowers when the conduct
and life of the brothers brightly reflect the examples and rules of the Fathers, as
if strewn with sweet smelling flowers. By ‘houses’ understand the ordinary
communities of Christians.
Those who enjoy high office, the Christian leaders of both orders, strongly
bind them together with laws justly imposed, as beams bind the walls, lest living
by their own law and will, they should fall apart from each other like tilting walls
and tottering fences, and thus the whole building fall to the ground and be
destroyed. The paneling however, which is firmly attached to the beams, and
impressively adds to the beauty of the house, seems to me to designate the
courteous and disciplined behavior of a well-trained clergy, who carry out their
duties correctly. For how shall the clerical orders stand and fulfill their duties
unless they are sustained, as by beams, by the beneficence and munificence of
those who govern and protect by their power?…
The cedar, an incorruptible and fragrant wood of great height,
sufficiently indicates the qualities of the men who ought to be selected for the
role of beams. Hence it is necessary that those who are appointed over others
should be strong and reliable, tenacious in hope, their mind directed to
supernatural truths, radiating everywhere the good odor of their faith and
conduct. With the Apostle they can say: We are the incense offered by Christ to
God in every place. The cypress too, a wood that is equally incorruptible and
fragrant, shows that every cleric ought to be of unblemished life and faith, that
he may be seen as an ornamental paneling for the beauty of the house. For it is
written: “Holiness befits your house, O Lord, for evermore,” which expresses
both the beauty of virtue and the constancy of unfailing grace.