Sermon 32 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
How Christ Is Received by the Holy Soul as a Bridegroom, and by the Weak Soul as a Physician. Likewise on the Difference of Thoughts, Whence They Arise.
1. "Show me where you pasture, where you lie down at midday" (Song 1:6). Here we are, from here we proceed. But before this vision and address begins to be treated, I think the other visions that preceded it should be briefly recapitulated, how they may be spiritually fitted to us according to the desires and merits of each, so that, having grasped those -- if indeed this be granted -- a readier understanding may shine forth in the discussion of this one also. But this is most difficult. For even if those words by which the visions or likenesses themselves are described seem to sound of bodies and bodily things, nevertheless the things ministered to us in them are spiritual, and on that account their causes and reasons must also be sought in the spirit. And who is fit to investigate and comprehend so many affections and advances of the soul, to which this so manifold grace from the presence of the Bridegroom is dispensed? Yet if we enter into ourselves, and the Holy Spirit deigns to show us in his light what he does not disdain to work continually in us by his operation, I think we shall not remain altogether without understanding in these things. For I am confident that we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may know the things that have been given to us by God (1 Cor 2:12).
2. Therefore if for any of us it is good to cling to God, as with the holy Prophet (Ps 72:28), and -- to speak more plainly -- if anyone among us is so a man of desire that he longs to be dissolved and to be with Christ, and longs vehemently, and thirsts ardently, and meditates unceasingly: he will assuredly receive the Word in no other way than in the form of a bridegroom at the time of visitation, at that hour, namely, when he feels himself clasped inwardly by certain arms of wisdom, and thence infused with the sweetness of holy love. For the desire of his heart will be granted to him, even while he is still a pilgrim in the body, yet in part, and that for a time, and a brief time. For when, after vigils and prayers and much labor and a shower of tears, the sought-for one is present, suddenly, while he is thought to be held, he slips away; and again, to the one weeping and pursuing, he comes to meet, and allows himself to be grasped, but by no means to be retained, while suddenly once more he flies away, as it were, from the hands. And if the devoted soul persists with prayers and weeping, he will return again, and will not defraud her of the will of her lips; but again he will presently disappear, and will not be seen, unless he is sought again with the whole desire. Thus therefore, even in this body, there can be frequent joy from the presence of the Bridegroom, but not fullness; because although the visitation gladdens, the alternation troubles. And the beloved must needs endure this so long, until once the burden of the bodily mass has been laid down, she herself too flies away, lifted on the wings of her desires, freely making her way through the fields of contemplation, and with unencumbered mind following the Beloved wherever he goes.
3. Nor yet even in his passing will he be thus present to every soul, but only to that one whom great devotion, and vehement desire, and the sweetest affection prove to be a bride, and worthy, one to whom the Word, coming with the grace of visitation, will put on beauty, taking the form of a bridegroom. For he who is not yet found so disposed, but rather struck with compunction at the remembrance of his deeds, speaking in the bitterness of his soul says to God: "Do not condemn me" (Job 10:2); or perhaps is even still perilously tempted, drawn away and enticed by his own concupiscence: such a one does not seek a bridegroom, but a physician; and therefore he will receive not kisses indeed or embraces, but only remedies for his wounds, in oil certainly and ointments. Do we not often feel thus, and experience this when praying, we who are daily still tempted by our present transgressions, bitten by past ones? From how great a bitterness you have frequently delivered me by your coming, O good Jesus! How often, after anxious weeping, unspeakable groans and sobs, have you anointed my wounded conscience with the ointment of your mercy, and poured over it the oil of gladness! How often has prayer, which received me nearly despairing, restored me exulting and confident of pardon! Those who are similarly affected, behold, these know that the Lord Jesus is truly a physician, who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds (Ps 146:3). Those who have not experienced this, let them believe the very same one who says: "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good tidings to the meek, to heal the broken-hearted" (Isa 61:2; Lk 4:17, 21). If they still doubt, let them come and prove it, and so learn in themselves what this means: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (Mt 9:13). But let us see the rest also.
4. There are those who, wearied in spiritual pursuits and turned to lukewarmness, and placed in a certain failing of spirit, walk the ways of the Lord in sadness; with dry and weary heart they approach whatever tasks are enjoined, they frequently murmur; they complain of long days, long nights, speaking with holy Job: "If I lie down, I say: When shall I rise? and again I shall wait for evening" (Job 7:4). Therefore when it happens that one suffers something of this sort, if the Lord in mercy draws near to us on the way in which we walk, and he who is from heaven begins to speak of heaven, and indeed to sing for us something pleasing from the songs of Zion, to narrate also of the city of God, of the peace of that city, of the eternity of that peace, of the state of that eternity: I tell you, the glad narration will be as a vehicle for the drowsy and sluggish soul, so as to drive away all weariness from the mind of the hearer, and fatigue from the body. Or does he seem to you to suffer or to ask for something other, who says: "My soul has drowsed from weariness, strengthen me in your words"? And when he has obtained this, will he not cry out: "How I have loved your law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day"? (Ps 118:97, 28.) For there are certain words of the Word-Bridegroom to us: our meditations on him and his glory, his elegance, his power, his majesty. And not only this, but also when with eager mind we turn over his testimonies and the judgments of his mouth, and meditate on his law day and night; let us know for certain that the Bridegroom is present and is addressing us, so that we may not be wearied by labors, being delighted by his discourses.
5. You therefore, when you feel such things being turned over in your mind, do not think it is your own thought, but recognize him speaking, who says through the prophet: "It is I who speak righteousness" (Isa 63:1). For the thoughts of our mind are most similar to the words of Truth speaking within us; nor does anyone easily discern what the heart gives birth to within, and what it hears, unless he prudently attends to the Lord speaking in the Gospel: "from the heart proceed evil thoughts" (Mt 15:19); and that: "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" (Mt 9:4). And: "He who speaks a lie, speaks from his own" (Jn 8:44). But the Apostle says: "Not that we are sufficient to think anything from ourselves as from ourselves" (that is to say, anything good); "but our sufficiency is from God" (2 Cor 3:5). When therefore we turn over evil things in our heart, it is our own thought; if good things, it is the word of God. The former our heart speaks, the latter it hears. "I will hear," he says, "what the Lord God may speak in me, for he will speak peace upon his people" (Ps 84:9). And so peace, piety, righteousness -- God speaks these in us; nor do we think such things from ourselves, but we hear them within us. But murders, adulteries, thefts, blasphemies, and things like these, proceed from the heart (Mt 15:19): nor do we hear them, but we speak them. For "the fool has said in his heart: There is no God" (Ps 13:1). And "therefore the wicked man has provoked God, because he said in his heart: He will not require it" (Ps 9:13). But there is besides something that is indeed perceived in the heart, yet is not a word of the heart. For it does not go out from the heart, as does our own thought, nor is it that which we have said comes to the heart, namely the word of the Word, since it is evil. But it is sent in by opposing powers, just as there are "sendings through evil angels"; such as, for example, was that which we read the devil put into the heart, that Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, should betray the Lord (Jn 13:2).
6. But who is so watchful and diligent an observer of his own inward motions, whether occurring in himself or from himself, as to clearly distinguish, amid all the illicit feelings of his heart, between a disease of the mind and a bite of the serpent? I think this possible to no mortal, unless one who, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, has received that special gift which the Apostle, among the other charisms he enumerates, names the discernment of spirits (1 Cor 12:10). For however much anyone, according to Solomon, may guard his heart with all custody (Prov 4:23), and observe with the most vigilant attention everything that moves within him; even if he has had perhaps long-continued practice and frequent experience in these matters, he will nevertheless not be able to discern or distinguish purely within himself the one from the other: the evil that is inborn, and the evil that is sown. For "who can understand his offenses?" Nor does it much matter for us to know whence evil is in us, provided we know that it is in us: we must rather watch and pray, wherever it may come from, lest we consent. For the prophet prays against both evils, saying: "From my hidden faults cleanse me, O Lord, and from those of others spare your servant" (Ps 18:13-14). And I cannot hand on to you what I have not received. But I have not received, I confess, a means to assign a sure distinguishing mark between the offspring of the heart and the seed of the enemy. For both are evil, both from evil; both are in the heart, but not both from the heart. This whole matter is certain to me within myself, even if it is uncertain what I attribute to the heart and what to the enemy. And this indeed, as I have said, is without peril.
7. But indeed there is a case where one errs perilously, nay damnably, and there a sure rule is rightly set down for us, lest what belongs to God in us we give to ourselves, thinking a visitation of the Word to be our own thought. Therefore as far as good is distant from evil, so far are these two from each other: since neither does evil come from the Word, nor will good proceed from the heart, unless what it has perhaps first conceived from the Word; because "a good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree good fruit" (Mt 7:18). But I believe enough has been said about what belongs to God and what belongs to us in our heart; nor superfluously, as I judge, but so that the enemies of grace may know that without grace the human heart does not suffice even for thinking the good, but its sufficiency is from God; that it is the voice of God, the good that is thought, not an offspring of the heart. You therefore, if you hear his voice, no longer be ignorant whence it comes or where it goes; knowing that it goes out from God and goes to the heart. See to it, moreover, that the word which goes forth from the mouth of God does not return to him empty, but prospers and accomplishes all the things for which he sent it, so that you too may say: "The grace of God in me has not been in vain" (1 Cor 15:10). Happy the mind to which the Word is an inseparable companion, everywhere making himself affable, by whose unceasing sweetness of eloquence she is delighted and vindicates herself from the troubles and vices of the flesh at every hour, redeeming the time from the evil days (Eph 5:16). She will not be wearied, she will not be troubled; because, as Scripture says: "No sadness will befall the just man, whatever may happen to him" (Prov 12:21).
8. Now indeed I think the form of the great Paterfamilias, or of regal majesty, appears to those who, approaching the deep heart, made more magnanimous by the greater liberty of spirit and purity of conscience, are accustomed to dare greater things, restless indeed and curious to penetrate more secret places, and to grasp more sublime things, and to attempt more perfect things, not only of the senses but also of the virtues. For these, by the greatness of their faith, are found worthy to be led into all fullness; nor is there anything at all in all the storerooms of wisdom from which the Lord God of knowledge should judge that the eager seekers of truth, who are not conscious of vanity, ought to be barred. Such was Moses, who dared to say to God: "If I have found grace in your eyes, show me yourself" (Exod 33:13, 18). Such was Philip, who begged that the Father be shown to himself and his fellow disciples (Jn 14:8): such also Thomas, who, unless he touched the wound and the pierced side with his own hand, refused to believe (Jn 20:25). A small faith, but descending in a marvelous way from greatness of soul. Such also was David, who himself too said to God: "My heart has said to you: My face has sought you; your face, O Lord, I will seek" (Ps 26:8). Such therefore dare great things, because they are great: and what they dare, they obtain, according to the word of promise addressed to them, which is of this kind: "Every place upon which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours" (Deut 11:24). For great faith deserves great things; and to the extent you have stretched forth the foot of confidence in the good things of the Lord, to that extent you shall possess.
9. And so to Moses God speaks mouth to mouth; and openly, not through riddles and figures, does he merit to see the Lord, whereas to other prophets he says he appears only in a vision and speaks through a dream (Num 12:6-8). To Philip also, according to the petition of his heart, the Father was shown in the Son, in this undoubtedly: that he immediately heard: "Philip, he who sees me sees the Father also; and, Because I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" (Jn 14:9-10). But Thomas too, according to the desire of his heart, offered himself to be touched (Jn 20:27), and did not defraud him of the will of his lips. What of David? Does he not also indicate that he is not altogether defrauded of his wish, when he says he will not give sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his eyelids, until he finds a place for the Lord? (Ps 131:4-5.) Therefore to such great spirits the great Bridegroom will come to meet them, and he will magnify his doing with them, sending forth his light and his truth, and leading them and bringing them to his holy mountain and to his tabernacles, so that one who is of this sort may say: "He who is mighty has done great things for me" (Lk 1:49). His eyes will see the King in his beauty (Isa 33:17); going before him to the lovely places of the desert, to the flowers of roses and the lilies of the valleys, to the pleasant places of gardens, the waters of fountains, to the delights of cellars and the fragrances of spices, and finally to the very secrets of the bedchamber.
10. These are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden with the Bridegroom, these are the pastures of life prepared for the refreshment of holy souls. Blessed is the man who has filled his desire from them. Let him be admonished of this one thing only, that he should not wish to have alone what can suffice for many. For perhaps on account of this, after all these things, the Bridegroom is described as appearing like a shepherd, so that the attainer of so many gifts may thereby be admonished of pasturing the flock of the simpler ones, who of course are as unable to grasp these things by themselves as sheep dare not go out to pasture without a shepherd. And so the bride, wisely perceiving this very thing, asks that it be shown to her where he himself pastures and lies down under the noonday heat, prepared (as indeed is given to be understood from this) to be pastured and to pasture with him and under him. For she does not think it safe to drive the flock far from the chief Shepherd, especially on account of the attacks of wolves, most of all those who come to us in sheep's clothing: and therefore she is anxious to pasture in the same pastures equally with him, and to lie down in the same shady places. And she sets forth the reason: "Lest I begin," she says, "to wander after the flocks of your companions." These are they who wish to be seen as friends of the Bridegroom, and are not: and since it is their care to pasture their own flocks, not his, they nevertheless lie in wait on every side and say: "Behold, here is Christ, behold, there he is" (Mk 13:21), in order to lead many astray and draw them away from Christ's flocks and join them to their own. This for the text of the letter. Now as for the spiritual sense which lies hidden therein, await it under another beginning of a sermon, whatever it may be that the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God over all things, blessed forever, may deign in his mercy to impart to me for you as you pray. Amen.
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.