Sermon 76 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
On the Glory of the Bridegroom, in Which, Coequal with the Father, He Sits at the Right Hand of His Glory: and How Good Pastors Ought to Be Solicitous, Vigilant, and Discerning in Feeding the Souls Committed to Them.
1. "Through the streets and squares I will seek him whom my soul loves" (Song 3:2). Still she understands as a little one. I think she supposed that he, having gone forth from the tomb, would have immediately gone into public, so that as usual he might teach the peoples, and heal the sick, and manifest his glory in Israel, if perhaps they would receive him rising from the dead, who had promised they would receive him descending from the cross. But he had completed the work which the Father had given him to do: which indeed she ought to have understood from the voice of him hanging on the cross, that voice, namely, by which, about to expire forthwith, he said: "It is finished" (Jn 19:30). There was no reason now that he should again entrust himself to the crowds, who were not even so perhaps going to believe in him. And he was hastening to the Father, who would say to him: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool" (Ps 109:1). For more powerfully and more divinely, when he shall have been lifted up from the earth, he will draw all things to himself. But she thought he was to be sought through the streets and squares, eager for enjoyment but ignorant of the mystery. Again therefore, frustrated, she returns saying: "I sought him, and I did not find him"; so that the word which he spoke might be fulfilled: "Because I go to the Father, and you will no longer see me" (Jn 16:16).
2. Perhaps she says: How then will they believe in him whom they will not see? As if faith were from sight, and not rather from hearing. What great thing is it to believe what you have seen? And not to deny the trust of your own eyes, what praise does it merit? But if what we do not see we hope for, we await it through patience; and patience is merit. "Blessed, indeed, are those who have not seen, and have believed" (Jn 20:29). Therefore, so that the merit of faith may not be emptied, let him withdraw himself from sight, giving place to virtue. Moreover, it is time that he now betake himself into his own. You ask, into what that is his own? Into the right hand of the Father. For he will not consider it robbery to be equal with God, since he is in the form of God (Phil 2:6). Therefore let this be the place of the Only-Begotten; in which all his injury may be seen to be repelled. Let him sit alongside, not below, so that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. In this the equality of majesty will appear, if you look up to him as neither inferior to the Father nor posterior. But she meanwhile notices none of these things: but as if drunk with love, running here and there, she seeks with her eyes him whom the eye no longer touches, but faith. For she does not think that Christ must enter into his glory in any other way, unless first, with the glory of the resurrection becoming publicly known to the world, impiety is confounded, the faithful exult, the disciples glory, the peoples are converted, and at last he himself is glorified by all, since from the presence of him rising the truth of him who had foretold these things would have become clear to all. You are mistaken, O bride. Indeed these things must come to pass, but in their own time.
3. But now, in the meantime, see whether perhaps it is more worthy and more consonant with heavenly justice: if what is holy is not given to dogs, and pearls to swine; if rather, according to the Scripture, the ungodly is taken away so that he may not see the glory of God (Isa 26:10); if faith is not defrauded of its merit, which is then indeed known to be more proven when what is not seen is believed; if that which is hidden from the unworthy is kept in the possession of faith for those who are worthy, so that those who are in filth may be filthy still, and the just may be justified yet more (Rev 22:11), if they do not slumber from weariness. Let the heavens and the heavens of heavens waste away and be confounded from their expectation, if the Father almighty himself is not any longer frustrated of the desire of his heart; if the Only-Begotten is not, beyond this, in any way delayed from entering into his glory, which thing alone is most unworthy. How greatly do you think the glory of mortals, however great, is to be esteemed, that it should hold him back even for a little from that glory which has been prepared for him by his Father from eternity? Add to this that by no reason is it fitting that the petition of the Son himself be drawn out any longer. You ask what petition I mean? That one, namely, in which he says: "Father, glorify your Son." Which, however, I sense he asked not as a suppliant, but as one with foreknowledge. Freely is that asked for which is in the power of the one asking to receive. Therefore the petition of the Son is dispensatory, not necessary, since he grants together with the Father whatever he has received from the Father.
4. Here also this must be said, that not only does the Father glorify the Son, but the Son also glorifies the Father: lest anyone should say the Son is less than the Father, as one who is glorified by the Father, since he himself also glorifies the Father, the Son saying: "Father, glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." But perhaps you still think the Son should be considered subordinate, because he seems, as if without glory, to receive glory from the Father, which he then pours back upon the Father. Hear that it is not so: "Glorify me," he says, "Father, with the glory which I had, before the world was made, with you" (Jn 17:1, 5). If therefore the glory of the Son is not posterior, inasmuch as it is from eternity, the Father and the Son glorify each other on equal terms. And if this is so, where is the primacy of the Father? Equality indeed exists where coeternity exists. And equality to such a degree that the glory of both is one, just as they themselves are one. Whence it seems to me that in saying again: "Father, glorify your name," he is asking nothing other than that he himself be glorified, in whom and through whom the name of the Father would without doubt be glorified: and he received the response from the Father: "I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again" (Jn 12:28). Which response of the Father was itself no small glorification of the Son. For the rest, he is known to have been glorified more abundantly at the streams of the Jordan, and more augustly, both by the testimony of John, and by the designation of the dove, and by the voice of the Father saying: "This is my beloved Son" (Mt 3:14, 16, 17). But also on the mountain before three disciples he was no less most magnificently glorified, both by that same voice again descending upon him from heaven, and by that wondrous and surpassing transfiguration of his body, and also by the attestation of the two prophets who appeared there speaking with him (Mt 17:2, 5).
5. It remains therefore that, according to the promise of the Father, he be glorified once more, and that will be the fullness of glory, to which nothing more can be added. But where will that blessing be given? Not, as she suspected, in the squares or streets, unless perhaps in those of which it is said: "Your streets, O Jerusalem, shall be paved with pure gold, and through all your lanes alleluia shall be sung" (Tob 13:22). In these the Son truly received from the Father that glory, to which no equal can be found, not even in the heavenly places. For to which of the angels was it ever said: "Sit at my right hand"? (Heb 1:13.) Not only, moreover, from among the angels, but not even from among the other higher orders of the blessed was anyone at all found fit for attaining this surpassingly excellent glory. To absolutely none of them was that singular voice of glory uttered, to none was it given to experience within himself the efficacy of that voice. Whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, they indeed desire to look upon him, but they do not presume to compare themselves to him. Therefore to my Lord singularly by the Lord it was both said and given to sit at the right hand of his glory, inasmuch as in coequal glory, in consubstantial essence, by like generation, in majesty not unequal, in eternity not posterior. There, there, he who seeks him will find him, and will see his glory: not a glory as of one among the rest, but plainly the glory as of the Only-Begotten from the Father (Jn 1:14).
6. What will you do, O bride? Do you think you can follow him there? Or do you dare or are you able to thrust yourself into so holy a mystery and so mysterious a sanctuary, that you might behold the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son? Not at all. Where he is, you cannot come now, but you will come afterward. Go on, nevertheless, follow, seek; and let not that inaccessible glory or sublimity deter you from seeking or cause you to despair of finding. If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes (Mk 9:22). "The word is near, in your mouth and in your heart" (Rom 10:8). Believe, and you have found. For to believe is to have found. The faithful know that Christ dwells through faith in their hearts (Eph 3:17). What is nearer than that? Seek therefore in confidence, seek devoutly. "The Lord is good to the soul that seeks him" (Lam 3:25). Seek by desires, follow by deeds, find by faith. What does faith not find? It reaches things inaccessible, discovers things unknown, comprehends things immeasurable, apprehends things most remote; indeed it in a certain way encloses eternity itself within its own most vast embrace. I will say confidently: the eternal and blessed Trinity, which I do not comprehend, I believe; and by faith I hold what I do not grasp with my mind.
7. But someone says: How will she believe without a preacher, since faith is from hearing, and hearing through the word of preaching? (Rom 10:14, 17.) God will provide for this. And behold, already at hand are those who may instruct and form the new bride, who is to be wed to the heavenly Bridegroom, in what is fitting, and teach her the faith, and hand on to her the pattern of piety and religion. For hear what she adds: "The watchmen who guard the city found me." For who are these watchmen? Those, surely, whom the Savior in the Gospel pronounces blessed, if, when he comes, he finds them watching (Lk 12:37). How good are these watchmen, who while we sleep keep vigil for us, as those who will render an account for our souls! How good are these guardians, who, watchful in spirit and spending the night in prayers, shrewdly scout out the ambushes of the enemy, anticipate the counsels of the wicked, detect their snares, elude their traps, scatter their nets, frustrate their machinations! These are lovers of the brethren and of the Christian people, who pray much for the people and for the whole holy city. These are they who, greatly solicitous for the Lord's sheep committed to them, give their heart to watching from early morning for the Lord who made them, and pray in the sight of the Most High. And they watch, and they pray, knowing their own insufficiency in guarding the city, and that unless the Lord guards the city, in vain does he watch who guards it (Ps 126:1).
8. Moreover, since the Lord so commands: "Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation" (Mk 14:38); it is clear that without this twofold exercise of the faithful, and the zeal of the watchmen, neither the city, nor the bride, nor the sheep can be secure. You ask for the difference among these? They are one. The city on account of its gathering together, the bride on account of her love, the sheep on account of their meekness. Do you wish to know that the bride is the same as the city? "I saw," he says, "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev 21:2). Likewise this will clearly appear to you also regarding the sheep, if you recall how that first guardian (I speak of Peter), when the sheep were first committed to him, was at the same time attentively admonished regarding love. Which a wise creditor would by no means have done with so great care, unless he felt himself to be the bridegroom, his own inmost conscience testifying this to him. Hear these things, friends of the bridegroom, if indeed you are friends. But I have said too little, friends: they must be the closest of friends, who are endowed with the privilege of so great a familiarity. Not idly was it repeated so many times: "Peter, do you love me?" (Jn 21:15-17), in the commissioning of the sheep. And indeed I think it was signified in the same way as if Jesus had said to him: Unless your conscience bears testimony to you that you love me, and greatly and perfectly love me, that is, more than your possessions, more than your own, more even than yourself, so that this number of my repeated questioning may be fulfilled, by no means take up this charge, nor involve yourself with my sheep, for whom assuredly my blood was shed. A terrible word, and one that could shake even the fearless hearts of any tyrants.
9. Therefore attend to yourselves, all of you who have been allotted the work of this ministry; attend, I say, to yourselves, and to the precious deposit which has been entrusted to you. It is a city: be vigilant for its custody and concord. It is a bride: attend to her adornment. They are sheep: see to their pasture. And these three will perhaps not unfittingly be said to pertain to that threefold questioning of the Lord. Moreover, the custody of the city, to be sufficient, will be threefold: from the violence of tyrants, from the fraud of heretics, from the temptations of demons. The adornment of the bride consists in good works, and morals, and orders. But the pasture of the sheep is commonly in the meadows of the Scriptures, as in the inheritance of the Lord; but there is a distinction among them. For there are commandments, which are imposed upon hard and carnal souls from the law of life and discipline: and there are the herbs of dispensations, which are set before the weak and fainthearted out of regard for mercy: and there are the solid and strong things of counsels, which are proposed from the depths of wisdom to the sound, and to those who have their senses trained for the discernment of good and evil. For to the little ones, as to little lambs, the milk of exhortation is given as drink, not as food. For these purposes good and solicitous pastors do not cease to fatten the flock with good and joyful examples, and their own rather than those of others. For if with others' examples and not their own, it is a disgrace to them, and the flock does not so profit. For if, for example, I who seem among you to bear the care of a pastor, should set before you the meekness of Moses, the patience of Job, the mercy of Samuel, the holiness of David, and whatever such examples of good men there be, being myself harsh and impatient, and unmerciful and not at all holy: the word, as I fear, will turn out less savory, and you will receive it less eagerly. But this I leave to heavenly goodness, that what is lacking to you from us, it may itself supply; and what is amiss, it may itself correct. Now a good pastor will also take care of this, that according to the Gospel he may be found to have salt in himself (Mk 9:49); knowing that a word seasoned with salt will profit for salvation as much as it pleases for grace. Let these things in the meantime be said concerning the custody of the city, and the adornment of the bride, and also the pasture of the sheep.
10. I wish, however, to designate these same things yet a little more expressly, on account of those who, while they gape too eagerly after honors, too little prudently place themselves under heavy burdens and expose themselves to dangers: that they may know for what purpose they came, as it is written: "Friend, for what purpose have you come?" (Mt 26:50). Unless I am mistaken, for the custody of the city alone, so that it may be provided for sufficiently, there is need of a man who is strong, spiritual, and faithful: strong for repelling injuries, spiritual for detecting ambushes, faithful in that he does not seek his own interests. Furthermore, for the honoring or correcting of morals, which indeed pertains to the adornment of the bride, who does not clearly recognize that the discipline of censure will be absolutely necessary, with much diligence indeed? Therefore everyone upon whom this work falls must burn with that zeal by which, being inflamed, that foremost champion of the bride of the Lord used to say: "I am jealous for you with a divine jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor 11:2). Now how will an ignorant pastor lead the Lord's flocks out into the pastures of divine eloquence? But even if he is learned indeed, yet is not good, there is reason to fear lest he may not so much nourish with abundant teaching as he harms with a barren life. And so this burden, too, is scarcely taken up in this regard without knowledge as well as a praiseworthy life. But behold, what we do not praise: an end is imposed where there was no end. We are called away into another matter, and one to which it is unworthy that this should yield. I am distressed on every side, and which I should bear more painfully I do not know: to be torn from this, or to be stretched out into that — except that either one of the two is more troublesome than both together. O servitude! O necessity! Not what I will, this do I do, but what I hate, that I do. Mark, however, where we leave off, so that as soon as it is free to return to this, we may forthwith begin from there, in the name of the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God blessed above all things forever. Amen.
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.