Sermon 86 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
On the Caution and Modesty of the Bride Seeking the Word; and on the Commendation of Modesty.
1. There is no reason why it should now be asked of me why the soul seeks the Word: this has been sufficiently and more than sufficiently made known above. Come, let us pursue the remaining matters of the present chapter, at least those which pertain to morals. Here first observe the modesty of the bride, than which I know not whether anything more pleasing can be observed in the morals of men. This I wish first of all to take up in a certain way in our hands, and as it were to pluck a certain beautiful flower from this place, and set it before our young men. Not because it should not also be retained with all zeal in a more advanced age, for it is certainly the ornament of all ages; but because the grace of tender modesty shines forth more fully and more beautifully in a more tender age. What is more lovable than a modest youth? How beautiful is this, and how splendid a gem of morals in the life and countenance of a youth! How true and by no means doubtful a messenger of good hope, an indicator of good disposition! It is a rod of discipline for him, which, hanging over shameful affections, restrains the motions of a slippery age and checks its frivolous acts and curbs its insolent ones. What is so much a fugitive from foul speech, and from all baseness thereafter? It is the sister of continence. No sign is equally manifest of dove-like simplicity: and therefore also a witness of innocence. It is a lamp of the chaste mind, shining perpetually, so that nothing base or unbecoming may attempt to remain in it which it does not immediately expose. Thus, an expunger of evils and a champion of innate purity, it is the special glory of conscience, the guardian of reputation, the adornment of life, the seat of virtue, the first-fruits of the virtues, the praise of nature, and the badge of all that is honorable. That very blush of the cheeks, which perhaps shame has brought on, how much grace and beauty it is accustomed to bring to a suffused countenance!
2. To such a degree is modesty a natural good of the soul, that even those who do not fear to act wickedly are nevertheless ashamed to be seen doing so, as the Lord says: "Everyone who does evil hates the light" (Jn 3:20). But also those who sleep, sleep by night; and those who are drunk, are drunk by night (1 Thess 5:7): hiding in darkness the works of darkness, works indeed worthy of hiding places. There is a difference, however, in that the hidden things of disgrace, which the modesty of these men blushes not to have but to expose, the modesty of the bride does not at all cover, but spits out, but drives away. Therefore the Wise Man says: "There is a shame that brings sin, and there is a shame that brings glory" (Sir 4:25). The bride seeks the Word modestly indeed, because in bed, because by night; but this modesty has glory, not sin. She seeks this for the purification of conscience, she seeks it for testimony, so that she may say: "This is my glory, the testimony of my conscience" (2 Cor 1:12). "In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves" (Song 3:1). Modesty, if you observe, is marked for you both by place and by time. What is so friendly to a modest soul as secrecy? Moreover, both the night and the bed hold secrecy. Finally, those wishing to pray are commanded to enter their chamber (Mt 6:6), certainly for the sake of secrecy. This indeed is for caution, lest before those who are praying human praise steal the fruit of prayer and frustrate its effect. But you are taught modesty no less by this saying. What is so proper to modesty as to avoid one's own praises, to avoid boasting? It is clear that with purpose the Son and master [or, minister] of modesty enjoined upon those praying to seek secrecy. What is so unbecoming, especially for a youth, as a display of holiness? And yet from this age above all a fitting and timely beginning of religion is rightly taken, as Jeremiah says: "It is good for a man if he has borne the yoke from his youth" (Lam 3:27). A good commendation of the prayer that is to follow, if you send modesty ahead, saying: "I am young and despised; I have not forgotten your justifications" (Ps 118:141).
3. Not only must one observe the place, but also the time, he who wishes to pray for himself. A time of rest is more convenient and apt; but especially when nocturnal slumber imposes a deep silence, then plainly prayer goes forth more free and more pure. "Rise up in the night," it says, "at the beginning of your watches, and pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord your God" (Lam 2:19). How securely does prayer ascend by night, with God alone as witness, and the holy angel who receives it to present it at the heavenly altar! How pleasing and luminous, colored with the blush of modesty! How serene and peaceful, disturbed by no clamor or noise! How clean, finally, and sincere, sprinkled with no dust of earthly anxiety, tempted by no praise or flattery of an onlooker! For this reason therefore the bride, no less modestly than cautiously, sought both the secrecy of the bed and of the night, wishing to pray, that is, to seek the Word. For it is one and the same thing. Otherwise, you do not pray rightly, if in praying you seek something other than the Word, or something which you do not seek on account of the Word, since in him are all things. In him are the remedies of wounds, in him the supplies of necessities, in him the mending of defects, in him the abundance of advances, in him, finally, whatever it is expedient for men to receive or to have, whatever is fitting, whatever is needful. Without reason therefore is anything else sought from the Word, since he himself is all things. For even if we seem to ask for these temporal things when it is necessary, if the Word is the cause, as indeed is worthy, we are certainly not seeking those things but rather this, on whose account we ask for the others. Those know this who have been accustomed to direct every use of these things toward meriting the Word.
4. Let it not be tedious, however, to scrutinize still further the secrets of this bed and this time, in case perhaps something spiritual may lie hidden in them which it may profit to bring to light. And if it pleases to understand by the name of bed the figuring of human infirmity, and by the nocturnal darkness the equally human ignorance; the consequence is fitting and sufficiently congruent, that the Word, the power of God and the wisdom of God, should be sought more urgently against both of these original evils. For what is more fitting than that strength should be opposed to infirmity, wisdom to ignorance? And lest any doubt concerning this interpretation remain in the hearts of the simpler ones, let them hear what the holy Prophet says concerning these matters: "The Lord will bring him help upon his bed of pain; you have turned all his bedding in his infirmity" (Ps 40:4). And that indeed concerning the bed. Now concerning the night of ignorance, what is more manifest than what he says likewise in another psalm: "They knew not, neither did they understand; they walk in darkness" (Ps 81:5), assuredly expressing that very ignorance of the entire human race in which they were born. This is, as I think, that darkness from which the blessed Apostle both confesses himself to have been born and glories in having been rescued, saying: "Who has delivered us from the power of darkness" (Col 1:13). Whence also he used to say: "We are not children of the night nor of darkness" (1 Thess 5:5); and likewise to all the elect: "Walk," he says, "as children of light" (Eph 5:8).
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.