Sermon 49 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
How Charity Is Ordered Through Discretion, So That All the Members of the Church, That Is, the Elect, May Be Bound Together With One Another.
1. "The king has brought me into the wine cellar, he has ordered charity in me" (Song 2:4). As indeed the letter of the proposed chapter seems to sound, after having enjoyed a sweet and quite familiar conversation with the beloved according to her desires, when he departed the bride returns to the young maidens, so refreshed and inflamed by the sight and speech of him that she appeared like one drunk. And as though they were astonished at the novelty and seeking the cause, she replied that it was not at all strange if she burned with wine, who had entered into the wine cellar. And according to the letter it is so. According to the spirit also she does not deny being drunk, but with love, not with wine, except that love is wine. "The king has brought me into the wine cellar." When the bridegroom is present and the bride directs her speech to him, then he is called bridegroom or beloved, or "him whom my soul loves," she says; but speaking of him to the young maidens, she names him king. Why is this? I believe it is because it befits the bride, loving and beloved, to use more familiarly the names of love, as pertains to herself, while the young maidens, as those needing discipline, must be pressed by the reverential word of majesty.
2. "The king has brought me into the wine cellar." What this wine cellar may be, I pass over saying, because I recall having already said it. Nevertheless, if the discourse is referred to the Church, when the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, were thought by the people to be drunk with new wine, then Peter, standing as it were the friend of the bridegroom on behalf of the bride, in the midst of them said: "These are not, as you suppose, drunk" (Acts 2:15). Observe meanwhile that he did not deny them to be drunk altogether, but drunk as they were supposed by those people. For they were drunk, but with the Holy Spirit, not with new wine. And as though they were testifying to the people that they had indeed been brought into the wine cellar, Peter again said on behalf of all: "But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 'And it shall be in the last days, says the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams'" (Acts 2:16-17). Does not that house seem to you to have been a wine cellar, in which the disciples were gathered together, when suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting (Acts 2:2), and fulfilled the prophecy of Joel! And could not each one of them, going out inebriated from the abundance of that house, and given to drink from the torrent of so great pleasure, deservedly say: "The king has brought me into the wine cellar"?
3. But you also, if with your spirit gathered, with a sober mind and free from cares, you should enter alone into the house of prayer, and standing before God at one of the altars, you should touch the gate of heaven with the hand of holy desire, and being presented to the choirs of saints, your devotion penetrating (since indeed the prayer of the just penetrates the heavens), in their very presence you should, pitiable as you are, bewail the miseries and calamities which you suffer; with frequent sighs and unutterable groanings you should reveal your necessity, entreat for mercy; if, I say, you should do this, I am confident in him who said, "Ask, and you shall receive" (Mt 7:7), that if you persevere knocking, you shall not go out empty. But when you have returned to us full of grace and charity, and, fervent in spirit, you cannot conceal the gift received, which you will communicate without envy; and you shall be to all, in the grace that has been given to you, not only pleasing but perhaps even to be wondered at; you too will be able to declare truthfully that "the king has brought me into the wine cellar." Only be careful to glory not in yourself but in the Lord. Nor would I say that every gift, even a spiritual one, comes from the wine cellar, since there are also other cellars or storerooms in the possession of the bridegroom, having different gifts and charisms stored within them, according to the riches of his glory: concerning which cellars I recall having disputed more at length elsewhere (above, Sermon 23). "Are not these things stored up with me," he says, "and sealed in my treasuries?" (Deut 32:34). Therefore, according to the diversity of cellars, there are divisions of graces, and to each one the Spirit is manifested for profit. And although to one indeed is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another prophecy, to another the grace of healings, to another kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of speeches, and other similar things to others (1 Cor 12:7-11), nevertheless none of these will be able to say on account of such things that he was brought into the wine cellar. For these are taken from other cellars or treasuries.
4. But if anyone by praying should obtain to go out of his mind into that divine mystery, from which he may soon return burning most vehemently with divine love, and aflame with zeal for justice, and exceedingly fervent in all spiritual pursuits and duties, so that he can say, "My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditations a fire blazes forth" (Ps 38:4): this one plainly, when from the abundance of charity he begins to belch forth the good and wholesome drunkenness of the wine of gladness, shall not undeservedly be said to have entered the wine cellar. For since there are two ecstasies of blessed contemplation, one in the intellect and the other in the affections, one in light and the other in fervor, one in recognition and the other in devotion: surely a pious affection, and a breast warm with love, and the infusion of holy devotion, and also a vehement spirit filled with zeal, are plainly brought back from nowhere else than from the wine cellar. And to whomever it is given to rise from prayer with an abundance of these things, he can speak in truth that "the king has brought me into the wine cellar."
5. There follows: "He has ordered charity in me." This was altogether necessary. For zeal without knowledge is indeed unbearable. Where therefore there is vehement zeal, there especially is discretion necessary, which is the ordering of charity. Indeed, zeal without knowledge is always found to be less effective and less useful; and very often it is even felt to be very harmful. Therefore, the more fervent the zeal, and the more vehement the spirit, and the more lavish the charity, the more need there is of watchful knowledge, which may restrain zeal, temper the spirit, and order charity. Therefore indeed, lest on account of the impetuousness of the spirit which she seems to have brought back from the wine cellar, the bride should be feared, especially by the young maidens, as excessive and unbearable, she adds that she has equally received what belongs to discretion, that is, the order of charity. For discretion sets order upon every virtue; order gives measure and beauty, and even perpetuity. Indeed he says: "By your ordering the day perseveres" (Ps 118:91), calling virtue the day. Discretion, therefore, is not so much a virtue as a certain governess and charioteer of the virtues, and an orderer of the affections, and a teacher of conduct. Take this away, and virtue will become vice, and natural affection itself will be turned rather into disturbance and the destruction of nature. "He has ordered charity in me." But this was done when in the Church he gave some indeed as apostles, some as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, for the perfection of the saints (Eph 4:11-12). But it is necessary that charity bind all these together and temper them into the unity of the body of Christ, which it will by no means be able to do at all if it itself has not been ordered. For if each one is carried by his own impulse according to the spirit he has received, and has flown indiscriminately to whatever things he wishes, as he is moved, and not by the judgment of reason; since no one will be content with the office assigned to him, but all will attempt all things equally with indiscriminate administration, there will plainly be not unity but rather confusion.
6. "He has ordered charity in me." Would that the Lord Jesus might also order in me the little bit of charity he has given, so that I may be concerned for all things that are his, yet that what has been established to be most especially of my own calling or office, I may take care of before all things; but in such a way that what comes first is so arranged that nevertheless I am more moved toward many things that do not specially pertain to me. For not always will what must be taken care of first also be loved more, since often what comes first in solicitude is less in usefulness, and on that account ought to be less also in affection. Frequently therefore what is put first because of duty is put behind in judgment; and what truth judges should be put first, the order of charity demands should be embraced more dearly. Is it not the case, for example, that by the duty enjoined upon me the care of all of you rests upon me? Now whatever I should perhaps prefer to this work, so as to be less vigilant in carrying it out worthily and usefully to the best of my abilities, even if I may seem to do this perhaps out of charity, nevertheless the reason of order does not consent. But if I attend to this care before all things, as I ought, yet do not rejoice more at the greater gains of God which I perhaps discover are being accomplished through another, it is clear that I hold the order of charity in part, but by no means entirely. But if I show myself both more solicitous toward that which especially rests upon me, and no less more moved toward that which is greater, on both counts I am found to have attained the order of charity, and there is no reason why I too cannot say that "he has ordered charity in me."
7. But if you say it is difficult for anyone to rejoice more in the great good of another than in his own small good, you will certainly perceive from this the excellence of grace in the bride, and that it is not for just any soul to say "he has ordered charity in me." Why have the faces of some of you fallen just now at this discourse? For deep sighs bear witness to the sadness of your souls and the dejection of your consciences. Doubtless, measuring ourselves by ourselves, some of us perceive from the experience of our own imperfection how rare a virtue it is not to envy the virtue of another, much less to rejoice at it, much less even for each one to rejoice so much more than at his own virtue as he has perceived himself to be surpassed in virtue. There is still a little light in us, brothers, as many of us as feel thus about ourselves. Let us walk while we have the light, lest the darkness overtake us (Jn 12:35). To walk is to make progress. The Apostle was walking, who said: "I do not consider that I have comprehended"; and he adds: "But one thing, forgetting what lies behind, I stretch forward to what lies ahead" (Phil 3:13). What is "but one thing"? "But one thing," he says, has as it were remained to me for a remedy, for hope, for consolation. What is that? "Forgetting what lies behind, I stretch forward to what lies ahead." Great confidence! Because the great vessel of election, refusing to be called perfect, confesses his progress. For me, who am not walking but sitting, there is the danger of being overtaken by the darkness of death. And who is sitting, except he who does not care to make progress? Beware of this, and if you have been forestalled by death, you shall be in refreshment. You will say to God: "Your eyes have seen my imperfection, and in your book nevertheless," he says, "all shall be written." Who are "all"? Surely those who are found in the desire of making progress. For there follows: "Days shall be formed, and no one in them" (Ps 138:16); supply: shall perish. Understand "days" as those making progress, who, if they have been forestalled by death, are to be perfected in what they lack. They shall be formed, and no one in them shall be left unformed.
8. "And how," you say, "can I make progress, who envy a brother who is making progress?" If you grieve that you envy, you feel it but do not consent to it. It is a passion, to be healed in due time, not an action to be condemned. Only do not settle there, meditating wickedness on your bed, namely devising how to foster the disease, satisfy the plague, persecute the innocent one by slandering, suppressing, perverting, and impeding the good things done by him and those yet to be done. Otherwise, it does not harm one who is walking and stretching himself toward better things, that it is no longer he himself who works this, but sin that dwells in him (Rom 7:20). There is therefore no condemnation for him who does not yield his members as weapons of iniquity, not the tongue for slandering, nor any other part of the body for hurting or harming in any way; but rather is confounded at being so badly disposed, and strives to expel the vice ingrown from long habit by confessing, weeping, and praying; and when he does not prevail, he is found to be gentler toward all on that account, and more humble in his own eyes. What man of sound judgment would condemn one who has learned from the Lord to be meek and humble of heart? (Mt 11:29). Far be it that an imitator of the Savior should be found devoid of salvation, of the Bridegroom of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is over all things God blessed forever! Amen.
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.