Sermon 12 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
On the Precious Ointment of Piety; and on the Reverence to Be Shown by Subjects toward Their Prelates
1. I recall having set forth two ointments for you. One of contrition, embracing many sins; the other of devotion, containing many benefits: both salutary, but not both sweet. For the first is felt to be stinging, because the bitter remembrance of sins moves one to compunction and causes pain, while the second is soothing, the contemplation of divine goodness giving consolation and calming pain. But there is an ointment that far surpasses both of these: and this I would call the ointment of piety, because it is made from the needs of the poor, from the anxieties of the oppressed, from the troubles of the sorrowful, from the faults of those who transgress, and lastly from the miseries of all the wretched, even if they be enemies. These ingredients seem despicable; but the ointment that is compounded from them is above all aromatics. It is healing: for blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Mt 5:7). Therefore the many miseries collected and beheld with the eye of piety, these are the ingredients from which the best ointments are composed, worthy of the breasts of the bride, pleasing to the senses of the bridegroom. Happy the soul that has taken care to enrich and fatten itself with the collection of such aromatics, pouring upon them the oil of mercy and cooking them down with the fire of charity. Who, do you think, is the joyful man who shows mercy and lends (Ps 111:5), ready to feel compassion, prompt to help, judging it more blessed to give than to receive: easy to forgive, slow to grow angry, refusing utterly to take revenge, and in all things regarding the needs of his neighbors equally as his own? O whatever soul you are who is so disposed, so imbued with the dew of mercy, so overflowing with the bowels of piety, so making yourself all things to all, so becoming to yourself as a vessel that is destroyed, that you may be at hand everywhere and always to meet the needs of others and to aid them; so at last dead to yourself that you may live for all: you plainly and happily possess the third and best ointment, and your hands have dripped with the liquor of every sweetness. It shall not be dried up in the time of evil, nor shall the heat of persecution drink it up: but God shall always be mindful of all your sacrifice, and your holocaust shall be made fat.
2. There are men of wealth in the city of the Lord of hosts: I ask whether these ointments may be found among any of them. And the first to present himself to me, as he is wont to do everywhere, is Paul, the vessel of election, truly an aromatic vessel, a fragrant vessel, filled with every kind of spice-powder. For he was the good fragrance of Christ unto God in every place (2 Cor 2:15). Surely the breast that had been so moved by the care of all the churches was spreading far and wide the fragrance of great sweetness. See indeed what ingredients and what aromatics he had heaped up for himself. Every day, he says, I die, by your glory (1 Cor 15:31); and again: Who is made weak, and I am not weak? who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? (2 Cor 11:29). And with many such things, which are well known to you, that rich man abounded in compounding the best ointments. For it was fitting that the breasts which suckled the members of Christ should be fragrant with the finest and purest aromatics, those breasts of which Paul was assuredly the mother, giving birth again and again, until Christ should be formed in them (Gal 4:19), and the members be conformed to their head.
3. Hear also of another rich man, how he had at hand choice ingredients from which to compound the best ointments. The stranger, he says, did not remain outside. My door was open to the traveler (Job 31:32); likewise: I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I broke the jaws of the wicked, and snatched the prey from his teeth (Job 29:15-17). If I denied what the poor desired, and made the eyes of the widow wait. If I ate my morsel alone, and the orphan did not eat of it. If I despised him that was passing by because he had no garment, and the poor man without covering. If his sides did not bless me, and he was warmed with the fleece of my sheep (Job 31:16-20). With how great a fragrance, do we think, had this man sprinkled the earth with these works? Each work was a separate aromatic. With these he had filled his own conscience, so that he might temper for himself the stench of putrid flesh with the exhalation of inward sweetness.
4. Joseph, after he had made all Egypt run after him in the fragrance of his ointments, at last bestowed the same fragrance even upon those who had sold him. And indeed he brought forth words of reproach with an angry face; but tears burst forth from the richness of his heart (Gen 43:30; 45:2), not as tokens of anger but as betrayers of grace. Samuel mourned for Saul (1 Sam 4:35), who was seeking to kill him, and as his breast grew warm at the fire of charity, the fat of piety melted within him and flowed out through his eyes. On account, finally, of the good fragrance of his reputation that he had diffused on every side, Scripture reports of him that all from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord (1 Sam 3:20). What shall I say of Moses? With how great a fatness and richness had he too filled his inmost being? Not even that provoking house, in which he dwelt for a time, was ever able, in all its murmuring and fury, to extinguish the anointing of the spirit with which he had once been imbued, so as to prevent him from persisting in his meekness amid constant quarrels and daily disputes. Rightly did the Holy Spirit testify of him that he was the meekest of all men who dwelt upon the earth (Num 12:3). For with those who hated peace, he was peaceable (Ps 119:7), to such a degree that not only did he not grow angry at the ungrateful and rebellious people, but he even softened God's anger by his intercession, as it is written: He said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen one stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them (Ps 105:23). Finally: If you will forgive, he says, forgive; but if not, blot me out of your book which you have written (Ex 32:31-32). O man truly anointed with the anointing of mercy! He speaks plainly with the affection of a parent, whom no happiness can delight apart from the children she has brought forth. For example, if some rich man should say to a poor woman: Come to my banquet, but leave the infant you carry outside, because he cries and is a nuisance to us: would she do it? Would she not rather choose to fast than, having exposed her dear child, to dine alone with the rich man? So too it does not please Moses to be brought alone into the joy of his Lord, while the people remain outside; to whom, though restless and ungrateful, he clings with the role and affection alike of a mother. His bowels are in pain, but he judges the twisting more tolerable to himself than the tearing out.
5. What was more gentle than David, who mourned the death of the one who had always thirsted for his own? (2 Sam 1:11) What more kind, that he should be grieved at the departure of the one whom he himself was succeeding in the kingdom? But also at the death of his parricide son, how reluctantly did he admit consolation? (2 Sam 19:4) Such affection surely displayed a great abundance of the best ointment: and therefore he prayed with confidence, saying: Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness (Ps 131:1). Therefore all these men possessed the best ointments, with which they give forth the sweetest fragrance to this day throughout all the churches. And not they alone, but all who in this life have shown themselves so benevolent and beneficent, who have striven so to live humanely among men, that whatever grace they were seen to possess they did not keep for themselves but brought into the common good, counting themselves debtors alike to friends and enemies, to the wise and to the foolish. And since they had been useful to all, humble among all, they stood out above all as beloved of God and of men; whose fragrance is in blessing. As many, I say, as have gone before of such a kind, they were fragrant in their own times, and they are fragrant also today with the best ointments. You also, if you willingly impart to us your fellows the gift you have received from above; if you show yourself everywhere among us dutiful, affectionate, gracious, tractable, humble, you will have testimony from all that you too are fragrant with the best ointments. Everyone among you who not only patiently bears the infirmities of the brethren, both of body and of soul, but moreover, if it is permitted and if he is able, helps them with services, strengthens them with words of comfort, instructs them with counsel [another reading adds: and relieves them], and if he cannot do this on account of the rule, does not cease at least to comfort the sick with earnest prayers: everyone, I say, who does such things among you, spreads a thoroughly good fragrance among the brethren, and a fragrance from the best ointments. As balsam in the mouth, so is such a brother in the community; he is pointed out with the finger, and all say of him: This is the lover of the brethren and of the people of Israel; this is he who prays much for the people and for the whole holy city (2 Macc 15:14).
6. But let us return to the Gospel, and seek something that may perhaps pertain also to these ointments. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Salome, bought aromatics, that coming they might anoint Jesus (Mk 16:1). What are these ointments, so precious that they are prepared and purchased for the body of Christ, so copious that they suffice for the whole body? For neither of the two preceding ointments is read to have been either bought or made specially for the service of the Lord, or to have been poured over the whole body. But suddenly a woman is introduced, in one place kissing his feet and anointing them with ointment (Lk 7:38; Jn 12:3); in another place, either she herself or another, having an alabaster jar of ointment, and pouring it on his head (Mk 14:3). But now it says: they bought aromatics, that coming they might anoint Jesus. They buy not ointments but aromatics: and the anointing for the service of the Lord is not taken ready-made, but newly compounded; nor for anointing merely some part of the body, for example the feet or the head; but as it is written: That coming they might anoint Jesus; which is an embracing of the whole, not a designation of a part.
7. You also, if you put on the bowels of mercy, and show yourself generous and kind, not only to your parents or your relatives, or to those whom you hold as your benefactors, or whom you hope will benefit you: for even the pagans do this (Mt 5:47); but, following Paul's counsel, you strive to do good to all (Gal 6:10), so that for God's sake you consider that even to an enemy neither a bodily nor a spiritual service of humanity should be denied or withdrawn: it is established that you too abound in the best ointments, and that you have undertaken to anoint not only the head or the feet of the Lord, but as much as lies in you, the whole body, which is the Church. And perhaps for this reason the Lord Jesus did not wish the preparation made ready for him to be expended on his dead body, so that he might preserve it for the living one. For the Church lives, which eats the living bread that came down from heaven. She is the dearer body of Christ, for which, lest it should taste death, that other body was delivered unto death, as no Christian is unaware. He desires her to be anointed, her to be cherished; he wants her weak members to be relieved with more careful attentions. For her, therefore, he kept back the precious ointments, when, anticipating the hour and hastening the glory, he did not mock but rather instructed the devotion of the women. He refused to be anointed, but sparing, not spurning; not refusing the service, but reserving the profit. The profit, I say, not of this material and bodily ointment, but plainly of the spiritual one which was signified in it. In this, therefore, the Master of piety spared the best ointments of piety, which he altogether desired to be bestowed upon his needy members, both bodily and spiritually. After all, a little before, when ointment was poured upon his head, or even upon his feet, and that quite costly ointment, did he forbid it? On the contrary, he even opposed those who would forbid it. For to Simon who was indignant that he allowed himself to be touched by a sinful woman, he wove a long parable of reproof; and to others who complained of the waste of ointment he answered, saying: Why do you trouble this woman?
8. Sometimes I, to make a small digression, when I sat at the feet of Jesus in sorrow, and offered the sacrifice of a troubled spirit in remembrance of my sins; or perhaps at his head, if ever on rare occasion I stood and exulted in the remembrance of his benefits, I heard people saying: Why this waste? Complaining, that is, that I lived only for myself, who, as they supposed, could be of profit to many. And they said: For it could have been sold for much and given to the poor (Mt 26:8-10). But it is no good bargain for me, even if I should gain the whole world, to lose myself and bring about my own destruction. Whence, understanding that these words are those flies of which Scripture speaks, the dying flies which destroy the sweetness of the ointment (Eccl 10:1), I recalled that divine sentence: My people, those who call you blessed lead you into error (Isa 3:12). But let them hear the Lord excusing and answering on my behalf, they who accuse me as it were of idleness: Why, he says, are you troubling this woman? which is to say: You see the outward appearance, and therefore you judge according to appearances. This is not a man, as you suppose, who could put his hand to mighty deeds, but a woman. Why do you try to impose upon him a yoke for which I perceive him to be insufficient? He works a good work in me. Let him stand in the good, so long as he does not grow strong enough for the better. If at some time he shall have advanced from a woman into a man, and a perfect man, he will be able to be taken up also into a work of perfection.
9. Brothers, let us revere our bishops, but let us also dread their labors. If we weigh their labors, we shall not covet their honors. Let us recognize our unequal strength, and let it not please us to place soft and womanly shoulders beneath the burdens of men; and let us not scrutinize them, but honor them. For inhumanely do you criticize the works of those whose burdens you refuse to bear. Rashly does the woman spinning at home rebuke the man returning from battle. For I say, if one who is from the cloister should apprehend that one who works among the people sometimes conducts himself less strictly or less circumspectly, for example in speech, in food, in sleep, in laughter, in anger, in judgment; let him not leap at once to pass judgment, but let him remember that it is written: Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman who does good (Sir 42:14). For you indeed do well in being watchful over the keeping of yourself; but he who helps many does better, and more manfully. But if he cannot fulfill his duty without some iniquity, that is, without a certain unevenness in his life and conduct, remember that charity covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet 4:8). These things are said against the twofold temptation by which religious men are often incited by diabolical provocations either to covet the glory of bishops or to judge their failings rashly.
10. But let us return to the ointments of the bride. Do you see how this ointment of piety is to be preferred above the rest, about which alone it was not permitted that any waste be made? So far is there no waste of it, that not even the gift of a cup of cold water is left without reward (Mt 10:42). Good nonetheless is the ointment of contrition, which is made from the remembrance of sins, and is poured upon the feet of the Lord; because a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise (Ps 50:19). However, I judge far better that which is called the ointment of devotion, made from the remembrance of the benefits of God; seeing that it is reckoned worthy even of the head, so that God himself testifies of it: The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me (Ps 49:23). But the anointing of piety surpasses both, which is made from regard for the wretched, and is poured out over the entire body of Christ. The body, I say, not the one that was crucified, but the one that was acquired by his passion. It is truly the best ointment, in comparison with which he who says: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice (Mt 9:13), shows that he does not even look upon the others. I think, therefore, that the breasts of the bride are fragrant with this virtue above all the rest, she who desires to conform in all things to the will of the bridegroom. Did not Tabitha give forth the fragrance of mercy even in death? And therefore she quickly recovered from death (Acts 9:39-41), because the fragrance of life prevailed.
11. But hear a brief word on the present chapter. Whoever both inebriates with words and is fragrant with good deeds, let him consider it said to himself: Because your breasts are better than wine, fragrant with the best ointments (Song 1:1-2). And for these things who is sufficient? Who among us possesses even one of these fully and perfectly, so that he is not at times both more barren in speaking and more lukewarm in doing? But there is one who rightly and without doubt glories in this praise: the Church, assuredly, who from her universality never lacks both that with which she may inebriate and that with which she may be fragrant. For what is lacking to her in one, she has in another, according to the measure of the gift of Christ and the moderation of the Spirit, who distributes to each as he wills (Eph 4:7; 1 Cor 12:11). The Church is fragrant in those who make friends for themselves from the mammon of unrighteousness; she inebriates in the ministers of the word, who pour the wine of spiritual joy upon the earth and make it drunk and bring forth fruit in patience. She boldly and securely calls herself the bride, inasmuch as she truly has breasts better than wine and fragrant with the best ointments. And even if none of us may presume to claim this for himself, so that anyone should dare to call his soul the bride of the Lord; yet since we are of the Church, who rightly glories in this name and in the reality of the name, not without right do we claim a share in this glory. For what we all together possess fully and entirely, each one of us without contradiction shares in. Thanks be to you, Lord Jesus, who have deigned to unite us to your most dear Church, not only that we might be faithful, but that we might also be joined to you in the manner of a bride in joyful, chaste, and eternal embraces, we too with unveiled face beholding your glory, which is yours equally together with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.