Vigils Reading

CONCERNING THE TRIPLE LOVE OF GOD

A sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux6 ◊◊◊

Love not the world nor the things which are in the world. For all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father…Whoever therefore will be a friend of this world becomes an enemy of God… Blessed Gregory explains that love itself is knowledge. Love therefore is triple, love that excludes that triple worldly passion that is not from the Father. And besides, three times, I believe, Peter was asked by Christ, Do you love me, do you love me, do you love me? Perhaps this love about which the Law teaches is also triple: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole strength. That is, you shall love sweetly or affectionately, you shall love prudently, you shall love bravely…

Did he not make himself somehow foolish, he who has delivered his soul unto death and has borne the sins of many…? Was he not drunk with the wine of charity and unmindful of himself, against the advice of Peter, who said, “Take care for yourself”?… What is more, we have said that this mystery certainly reaches to the heart’s affectionate love… Therefore this love counteracts concupiscence of the flesh. For how could carnal sweetness compare to the genuine sweetness of Christ’s passion?

However, this sweetness can be deceptive if it lacks prudence. And besides, poison in the honey can be avoided only with difficulty. In that case, prudence must be present, by which we can diligently investigate interior mysteries, so that we may be ready always to satisfy everyone who asks for a

reason… Indeed this earnest soul cannot be curious about worldly matters, saying with the prophet, O how have I loved your Law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day.

The third way is so that each of us loves bravely: to the extent that we cannot be deceived, so also we cannot be compelled; thus we are prepared to suffer all things for the sake of justice. For everyone knows that the King of heaven did not seek earthly rule and honors, but rejected them instead…

And so it was that Peter was questioned about these three types of love, for earlier he had been found wanting… Though he loved Christ sweetly, as it were, he said, Far be it from you, for he loved foolishly. So he also deserved to hear, Get behind me, Satan, because you understand not the things that are of God… But on the night in which the Lord was to be handed over, both sweetly and wisely was Peter loving when he said, Lord, I am ready to go with you both into prison and to death. But he was not loving bravely, because “He that is fallen low did never firmly stand.” The power from on high had not yet come, which, once accepted, Peter did not refuse, but using his liberated voice, he said, You be the judge whether we ought to obey God rather than human beings.

Is it not fitting that Peter, who was put in charge of feeding the flock, was asked to give an account of his love? For one who is intoxicated and burning with the wine of charity should lead others, unmindful of himself, so that he seeks not things that are his own but rather things that are Jesus Christ’s. And note that when Peter was asked if he loved more than these others, he only answered that he loved. He was upset, for he dared not assert what he had rashly said before. And perhaps for that reason he was deeply grieved, for he had said before, Even if all shall be scandalized in you, yet not I