Sermon 73 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
How Christ Will Come to Judge in Human Form, So That He May Appear Gentle to the Elect; and How He Is Less Than the Angels, and Yet More Sublime Than They.
1. "Return; be like, my beloved, to a roe or to a young hart of the stags" (Song 2:17). What? Just now he goes, and now you call him back? What sudden thing has emerged in so short a time? Has she forgotten something? Indeed she has forgotten everything that is not he, herself as well. For although she is not devoid of reason, she is nevertheless not at this moment, as it seems, in possession of reason. Nor does any sense of modesty at all appear in her feelings, which she perhaps has in her character. Intemperate love does this. For it is love that, triumphing over and captivating every sense of shame, the measure of propriety, and the counsel of deliberation, produces a certain neglect and a certain carelessness of all modesty and timeliness. For see now how she demands that he return, though he has scarcely yet begun to go. She even asks him to hasten, and indeed to run like some wild creature of the forests running swiftly, namely a roe, or a young hart of the stags. This is the tenor of the letter, and this is the portion of the Jews.
2. But I, just as I have received from the Lord, will search out for myself the spirit and the life in the deep bosom of the sacred eloquence; and this is my portion, who believe in Christ. Why should I not draw out a sweet and saving feast of the spirit from the barren and tasteless letter, as grain from the chaff, a kernel from the shell, marrow from the bone? I have nothing to do with this letter which, when tasted, savors of flesh, and when swallowed, brings death; but indeed what is hidden in it is from the Holy Spirit. Moreover the Spirit speaks mysteries, as the Apostle testifies (1 Cor 14:2); but Israel holds the very veil of the mystery in place of the veiled mystery. Why, unless because the veil is still placed over his heart? Thus what the letter sounds is his; what it signifies is mine; and through this, his is the ministry of death in the letter, mine is life in the spirit. For the spirit is what gives life (Jn 6:64): for it gives understanding. Is not understanding life? "Give me understanding, and I shall live," the Prophet says to the Lord. Understanding does not remain outside, does not cling to the surface, does not, like a blind man, feel about the exterior; but it searches the depths, accustomed to snatch from thence with all eagerness the most precious spoils of truth and to carry them off for itself, and to say with the Prophet to the Lord: "I will rejoice over your words, as one who finds great spoils" (Ps 118:144, 162). For thus the kingdom of truth suffers violence, and the violent seize it (Mt 11:12). But that elder brother, who coming from the field held the figure of the old and earthly people, who, taught to love the threshing for the sake of the earthly inheritance, groans anxiously with worn brow under the heavy yoke of the law, and bears the burden of the day and the heat. He, I say, because he had no understanding, stands outside even now, and does not wish, even when invited by the father, to enter the house of the feast, defrauding himself until now of participation in the music, and the dancing, and the fatted calf (Lk 15:25-30). Wretched is he who refuses to experience how good it is and how pleasant for brothers to dwell in unity. And let these things be said for the distinction between the portion of the Church and the portion of the Synagogue, so that the blindness of the latter may become more manifest from the prudence of the former, and the happiness of the former may stand out from the pitiable foolishness of the latter.
3. Now let us examine the words of the bride, and let us attempt so to express the chaste affections of holy love, that nothing devoid of reason, nothing unbecoming or importunate may appear to have remained at all in the sacred eloquence. And if that hour should come to mind, when the Lord Jesus (for he is the bridegroom) was passing from this world to the Father (Jn 13:1), and at the same time what his own domestic Church was then bearing in her soul, a new bride indeed, when she perceived herself deserted, as it were a desolate widow bereft of her sole hope — I speak of the apostles, who having left all things had followed him, and had remained with him in his trials; if, I say, we shall have considered these things, not undeservedly nor incongruously, I think, will she seem to have been as much sorrowful over his departure as anxious about his return, especially being so affected and so left. And so for one who loved and was in need, this same double reason was cause to urge her beloved, that since he could not be persuaded not to go and ascend where he was before, he should at least hasten again the promised coming. For the fact that she wishes and asks that he be like wild creatures, and such wild creatures as seem to be swifter in running, is an indication of a desiring soul, for which nothing is hastened enough. Does she not ask this daily, when she says in prayer: "Your kingdom come" (Mt 6:10)?
4. Yet beyond the agility, I think there is expressed no less pointedly also the weakness, and indeed of sex in the roe, and of age in the young hart. She wishes therefore, as it seems to me, that even if he comes with power, he should nevertheless not appear in the form of God in judgment; but rather in that form in which not only was he born, but was born a little child for us, and that from the weaker feminine sex alone. Why this? Namely so that by both weak images he may be admonished to grow gentle on the day of wrath, and may remember in judgment to exalt mercy above judgment. For if he should observe iniquities, even of the elect, who shall endure? (Ps 129:3.) The stars are not pure in his sight, and in his angels he has found crookedness (Job 4:18). Hear, finally, what a saint and an elect one says to God: "You," he says, "have forgiven the wickedness of my sin. For this shall every holy one pray to you in a suitable time" (Ps 31:5-6). Therefore even the saints have need to pray for their sins, that they may be saved by mercy, not trusting in their own justice. For all have sinned, and all need mercy. Therefore, so that when he shall have been angered he may remember mercy, he is asked by her to appear in the garment of mercy, that of which the Apostle says: "And being found in fashion as a man" (Phil 2:7).
5. Necessarily indeed. For if even with this tempering there will be such equity in the judgment, such ferocity in the judge, such sublimity in the majesty, such strangeness in the very face of things, that according to the prophet the day of his coming cannot be thought upon (Mal 3:2): what, do you think, would it be, if that consuming fire (I speak of the omnipotent God) had come in that magnitude of his divinity, in might, in purity, to show his power against a leaf that is carried by the wind, and to pursue a dry straw? (Job 13:25.) "And he is a man," he says, "and who shall see him? And who shall stand to behold him?" (Mal 3:2). How much more would no one among men endure God showing himself to us without the man, as one inaccessible in brightness, unattainable in loftiness, incomprehensible in majesty? But now "when his anger shall burn for a brief time" (Ps 2:13), how welcome, on account of the sons of grace, will appear a certain gentle vision of the man, truly a firmament of faith, a strength of hope, an increase of confidence: that grace and mercy will be upon his saints, and regard upon his elect (Wis 4:15). Finally, the Father God himself gave to the Son the power of judgment, and not because he is his Son, but because he is the Son of Man (Jn 5:27). O truly Father of mercies! He wills that men be judged through a man, so that in so great a trepidation and perturbation of the wicked, the likeness of nature may furnish confidence to the elect. Holy David had foretold this once, both praying and prophesying: "O God," he said, "give your judgment to the king, and your justice to the son of the king" (Ps 71:2). Nor does the promise made through the angels disagree with this, who when he had been taken up spoke thus to the apostles: "This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven shall so come, just as you have seen him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11), that is, in this very form and substance of body.
6. It is clear from all these things that the bride has in herself divine counsel, and is by no means ignorant of the mystery of the heavenly will, she who, under the shadow of weak and feeble creatures, announces the weaker, or rather inferior, nature (for it will then no longer be weak) to be exhibited in the judgment, both with the affection of one who prays and with the spirit of one who prophesies; so that he who will move heaven and earth by his power, girded with might against the senseless, may nevertheless appear gentle and mild, and as though wholly unarmed, for the sake of the elect. Here this too can be added, that for distinguishing the one group from the other, he will need in a certain way both the leaps of a young hart and the eyes of a roe; so that he may be able to see and discern in so great a multitude and in so great a tumult upon whom he ought to leap and whom he ought to leap over, lest it happen that the just be trampled in place of the impious, when in his wrath he shall shatter the peoples. For as regards the impious, it is necessary that the prophecy of David be fulfilled, indeed the word of the Lord speaking through his mouth: "I will crush them like dust before the face of the wind, like the mud of the streets I will destroy them" (Ps 17:43); and likewise another word, which he had foretold through another prophet, will be recognized as fulfilled then, when returning to the angels he will say: "I have trampled them in my fury, and trodden them down in my wrath" (Isa 63:3).
7. But if to anyone it seems rather to be understood in such a way that our young hart ought to leap over the wicked, and to leap upon the good, I do not contend: only let him consider that the leaps will be arranged for the discrimination of the good and the wicked. For even by me, if I remember rightly, it was said thus in another sermon, where this same passage is found placed elsewhere above by the author, and expounded by me no less (see above, Sermon 54). But there, according to the dispensation of grace, which in the present life is given to some and not given to others, by the just judgment of God indeed, but a hidden one, this young hart was said to leap and to leap over; but here, according to the final and varied retribution of merits. And perhaps the end of this passage, which I had almost forgotten, may seem to support this meaning. For saying, "Be like, my beloved, to a roe and to a young hart of the stags," she adds, "upon the mountains of Bethel." For in the house of God, which is what Bethel means, there are no evil mountains. Wherefore the young hart, leaping upon them, does not trample but gladdens them, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled which says: "The mountains and the hills shall sing praises before God" (Isa 55:12). And indeed there are mountains which, according to the Gospel, faith compared to a mustard seed removes (Mt 17:19), but they are not mountains of Bethel. For whichever ones are of Bethel, faith does not remove them but cultivates them.
8. But if principalities and powers, and no less also the other hosts of the blessed Spirits, and the virtues of the heavens are mountains of Bethel, so that we may understand it said of these: "His foundations are in the holy mountains" (Ps 86:1), surely this young hart is not base and contemptible, who was seen to appear above such excellent mountains, "being made so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they" (Heb 1:4). For what of it, if we read in the psalm that he was made less than the angels? (Ps 8:6.) For not on that account is he not better, because he is less; nor have the Apostle and the Prophet spoken contradictory things, since they have the same Spirit. For if it was of condescension that he was made less, not of necessity, then nothing at all is thereby prejudiced against his goodness, but rather ascribed to it. Finally, the Prophet declared him made less, not lesser, exalting grace and repelling injury. For nature refuses being lesser, and the cause excuses being made less. For he was made less because he himself willed it: he was made less by his own will and by our necessity. To be made less in this way was to have mercy. What kind of loss is this? Surely whatever seemed to have been lost to his majesty accrued to his piety. Although neither did the Apostle keep silent about this great mystery of great piety, but says: "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor" (Heb 2:9).
9. And let these things be said on account of the name and likeness of the young hart, so that we might fit it to the bridegroom, according to the word of the bride, without injury to his majesty. What am I saying, without injury to his majesty, when not even his weakness has remained unhonored? He is a young hart, he is a little one; he is also said to be like a roe, as though made of a woman: yet upon the mountains of Bethel, yet made higher than the heavens (Heb 7:26). He does not say: "Higher than the heavens being or existing," but "higher than the heavens made": lest anyone think it said of that nature, in which he is who is. But also where he is declared superior to the angels, he is likewise said to have been made better, and is not called remaining or existing better. From which it appears that not only in that which he is from eternity, but also in that which he was made in time, he claims for himself all eminence above every principality and power, and above every creature, as the firstborn of all creation. And so "the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Cor 1:25). This indeed the Apostle says. But to me one does not seem to err, if he should say that even to the wisdom and strength of angels the same foolishness and weakness of God is to be preferred. Thus therefore the present passage will be fittingly applied to the universal Church.
10. But now as to what pertains singularly to the one soul (for even one soul, if she loves God sweetly, wisely, and vehemently, is a bride), each spiritual person can observe in himself what his own experience may answer to him from these things. But I, whatever that is which has been given me to experience of this kind in myself, shall not be afraid to speak of it openly. For even if it will perhaps seem vile and contemptible when heard, it is no concern of mine; because he who is spiritual will not despise me, and he who is less so will not understand me. Yet if I shall have reserved this for another sermon, perhaps there will not be lacking those who may be edified by those things which the Lord, entreated in the meantime, will inspire — the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is over all things God blessed forever. Amen.
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.