De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae
Knocking at the Door of a Dying Soul
The abbot resolves to knock persistently with communal prayer on behalf of a brother who is spiritually dead, calling upon the Savior to restore him.
In the same way, if it should happen — God forbid — that one of our brothers dies, not in body but in soul, I will knock, as long as he is still among us, and I, a sinner of whatever sort, will knock with my own prayers and with the prayers of the brothers, and I will call upon the Savior.✦
When Intercession Falters
If the brother cannot be saved, the abbot's confident prayer gives way to groaning, as the dead soul becomes intolerable to the living and is carried out.
If he comes back to life, we will have gained a brother. But if we don't deserve to be heard — since by now he won't be able to tolerate the living or be tolerated by the living, but will begin to be carried out — I always groan faithfully, yet I no longer pray with such confidence.
Trembling Hope and the Psalms of the Poor
The abbot, unable to pray openly for the dead, cries out in anxious repetition, quoting the Psalms about God hearing the desire of the poor and questioning whether wonders can be worked for the dead.
I don't dare say openly, 'Come, Lord, raise up our dead one.' Yet with a heart suspended in anxiety, trembling within, I don't stop crying out: 'If perhaps, if perhaps, if perhaps the Lord will hear the desire of the poor, the preparation of their hearts his ear will hear' — and that other word: 'Will you work wonders for the dead, or will the physicians raise them up and confess to you?'
The Four-Day Corpse and the Silence of the Grave
The abbot evokes the image of Lazarus dead four days, asking whether mercy and truth can be spoken of in destruction.
And concerning the one dead four days: 'Will anyone in the grave tell of your mercy, and your truth in destruction?'✦✦
The Savior Moved by Tears
Yet the Savior may come unexpectedly, moved by the tears of the living rather than the prayers of the dead, and restore even one who is already buried.
Meanwhile the Savior can, if he wishes, come to meet us unexpectedly and suddenly, and moved by the tears of those carrying the dead — not by the prayers of the dead — restore life to the living, or at least call back one who is already buried.✦✦
The Eighth Step and the Death of Confession
The abbot defines the spiritually dead as one defending his own sins on the eighth step, from whom confession has perished as from one who no longer exists.
I would call someone dead, however, who — defending his own sins — has now fallen to the eighth step. For confession perishes from the dead person, as from one who no longer exists.
Expulsion and the Freedom to Sin
After the tenth step, the person is cast out of the monastery into the freedom to sin, having passed beyond the community's reach.
After the tenth step indeed — which is the third from the eighth — the person is now carried headlong into the freedom to sin, when they are expelled from the community of the monastery.
Buried by One's Own Habit
Having passed through the fourth step beyond expulsion, the person is rightly called a four-day corpse, buried by the very habit they wear.
But once they have passed through the fourth step, they are now rightly called a four-day corpse, as they fall into the fifth step and are buried by their own habit.
Read the original Latin
Simili etiam forma si contigerit, quod Deus avertat, aliquem de nostris fratribus, non in corpore, sed in anima mori, quamdiu adhuc inter nos erit, pulsabo et ego meis qualiscumque peccator, pulsabo et fratrum precibus Salvatorem. Si revixerit, lucrati erimus fratrem, sin vero non mereamur exaudiri, ubi iam vel tolerare vivos, vel tolerari a vivis non poterit, sed incipiet efferri, semper quidem fideliter gemo, sed iam non ita fiducialiter oro. Non aperte audeo dicere: "veni, Domine, suscita mortuum nostrum"; corde tamen suspenso tremulus intus clamare non cesso: "Si forte, si forte, si forte desiderium pauperum exaudiet Dominus, praeparationem cordis eorum audiet auris eius", et illud: Numquid mortuis facies mirabilia, aut medici suscitabunt, et confitebuntur tibi? Et de quatriduano: Numquid narrabit aliquis in sepulcro misericordiam tuam, et veritatem tuam in perditione? Potest interim Salvator, si vult, improvise et insperate occurrere nobis, lacrimisque portantium motus, non precibus, mortui vitam reddere vivis, aut certe iam sepultum revocare mortuis.
Mortuum autem dixerim illum, qui sua peccata defendens, in octavum iam corruit gradum. A mortuo enim, tamquam qui non est, perit confessio. Post decimum vero, quo tertius est ab octavo, iam effertur in libertatem peccandi, quando expellitur a consortio monasterii. At postquam quartum transierit, iam recte quatriduanus dicitur, dum in quintum decidens per consuetudinem sepelitur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.3.20 — Look, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them and eat with them, and they with me.
- ↩Ps.87.6;Ps.89.5-Ps.89.6 — When the LORD records the peoples, "This one was born there." Selah Ps.89.5 — Forever I will establish your seed, and I will build your throne for generation to generation. Selah. Ps.89.6 — And the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, and your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
- ↩John.11.17 — So when Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
- ↩John.11.33-John.11.35 — When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled himself. John.11.34 — And he said, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to him, 'Lord, come and see.' John.11.35 — Jesus wept.
- ↩Luke.7.13 — And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, 'Do not weep.'
De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae (On the Steps of Humility and Pride) companion
Humility is climbed one day at a time
Take the next step each morning with a free daily devotional in Chosen Portion.
Bernard frames humility as a ladder climbed by small repeated acts; Chosen Portion turns that into practice with one daily devotional step at a time.
- A daily 10-minute portion focused on one virtue at a time
- Re-take the 12-step self-check monthly and see real movement
- Historic texts like Bernard's, one readable portion per day