+YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH St Bernard, 2021
These words of the gospel are in every way appropriate for this Solemnity of St Bernard. If there was any Christian in the 12thcentury that seasoned the time, served as a light to the Church and the world, it is he. As a mover of human hearts there are few to compare with him. So influential was he that on entering Citeaux at the age of 22, thirty-one other young Burgundian noblemen, including some of his brothers and an uncle accompanied him. His extensive influence and writings have left us with a person that no one can easily comprehend or describe. To this day, no one has attempted a comprehensive biography. From an early age he allowed the love of Christ to take such hold of him that he might become the salt of the earth, a lamp giving light to all in the house!
He has blessed us with the “spirit of Wisdom” that came to him because he preferred her to scepter and throne. One may dip into any of his writings and quickly find priceless gems. In his Letters we find how he prized above all “a pure heart and unfeigned faith which leads us to love our neighbors’ good as well as our own… Charity alone,” St Bernard goes on to say, “can turn the heart from love of self and the world and direct it to God alone. Neither fear nor love of self can turn the soul to God; they may sometimes change or influence the actions of a person, but they will never change his or her heart.” The love that so deeply moved him, it alone can transform men or women into who we really want to be.
When he was asked in 1115, only three years after his entry into monastic life by St Stephen Harding, then abbot of Citeaux, to find a site for a new foundation, with twelve other monks, Bernard founded Clairvaux which quickly became a the source of new foundations in France, England and Ireland. As his reputation grew he soon became an advisor to any number of Bishops and other leading ecclesiastics. Set on a lampstand, Bernard gave light to all in the Church and in the whole of the society of his day. One sees how God used Bernard in countless ways just as God has used our own Fr Louis or Thomas Merton, to touch innumerable lives through his writing in our own time.
But then, what do these scripture texts say to us gathered here this morning? Might St Bernard remind us all, whether monk or layperson, that we too are the salt of the earth, a city set on a mountain to give light to our world. We too, are called as he was, to let our light shine before others so that they may see our good deeds and glorify our heavenly Father. We too are wonderfully gifted with the same Scriptures that set his life afire. So how is it that we might allow them to inflame us as well? Monastic life is in a new phase of its history today, not unlike that of the founders of Citeaux who were called to a more authentic living of the Rule of St Benedict. While certainly our observance touches the lives of many who come here, might there be room for a more authentic witnesses of our life for our time, especially as we prepare for our 175th anniversary of founding? Our society is thirsting for the spiritual felt to be all the more helpful for our world today.
There is an urgency to live by the Spirit of Jesus, let his own life and love fill our hearts. We can almost hear Bernard telling us in those words St. Paul to the Philippians: Your “citizenship is in heaven and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ… My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown…stand firm in the Lord..” It is in knowing our wonderful dignity as persons made in God’s very own image and likeness that we become fully alive. For it is then that we are ready to follow Jesus in his very own humility, selflessness and compassion for others, becoming inflamed with Divine love. To do so is to discover our real nature, experience a happiness and joy beyond words and that no one can take from us.
To do so is to be one with the Eucharist we are about to celebrate at this altar. To do so, is to truly eat Christ’s Body and to drink his Blood, abide in him even as he abides in us. To savor this gift transforms everything we do for then it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. We become with Him, the light and life of the world as Bernard was in his own time. May we fully realize the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us so as to share even now, in God’s own glory.
Wisdom 7:7-10, 15-16; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Matthew 5:13-16