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Chapter 58MedVC.1.58

Ex tribus causis contemplator reducit se ad activam

When Contemplation Must Yield to Love of Neighbor

The author introduces the teaching that a contemplative person may rightly set aside contemplation for the sake of others' spiritual good, drawing on Bernard's commentary on the Song of Songs.

Likewise, on the point that faith without works is dead.✦ Although this has been touched on several times above — that the contemplative person ought to devote himself to God alone and set aside other things — you should know this is generally true, but not always. For there are three reasons why the contemplative person separates himself for a time from delightful contemplation and withdraws into the active life. One reason is the gain of souls, as you have seen above — how the contemplative life precedes the second, the active part — drawn from sermons 18 and 57 of Bernard on the Song of Songs. The same Bernard also says: 'Rise, my friend, my bride, and come.'✦ The bridegroom commends his great love by repeating the words of love: for repetition is the expression of affection. And that he again urges his beloved to the labor of the vineyards shows how solicitous he is for the salvation of souls. For you have already heard that the vineyards are souls.

Bernard Testifies: The Bride Responds to the Bridegroom's Call

A block of material drawn from Bernard in which the bride, aware of the bridegroom's zeal for souls, goes out to labor and then returns to contemplation, and a second reason—pastoral duty—is introduced.

"And a little later: 'The bride, however — never, as I remember, have I named her in this whole work until now, except only when one goes to the vineyards, when the wine of charity is approached.' "Thus far Bernard." Knowing, then, that the bride is aware of the bridegroom's will — his zeal for the salvation of souls — she goes out for a time, namely when it is necessary for her to labor, and afterward she returns to her contemplation.✦ Another cause for interrupting contemplation is the demands of an impending duty. s. For when a prelate has to attend to the needs of those under his care, he then sets aside contemplation. Concerning which the same Bernard, speaking about himself to his monks — who at times troubled him excessively — says this: 'Rarely is an hour granted me for resting from those who come upon me.' And he adds: 'I refrain, lest I give more occasion for impatience — ' — "Suppl."

The Pastor Pours Himself Out for the Weak

Bernard speaks from personal experience of willingly sacrificing his own rest and spiritual leisure so as not to give scandal to the weak or withhold help from those in need.

to himself. pours himself out. anywhere. Lest I seem to give milk that is thin and weak to those who are little ones — for the weak of the Lord are those who believe in him — I will not allow them to suffer scandal on my account.✦ I will not use this authority for myself; rather, let them use me as they wish, so long as they are saved. They'll spare me if they haven't held back; and I'll rest all the more in that, if they haven't been afraid to disturb me for their own needs. I'll accommodate them as long as I'm able, and in them I'll serve my God, for as long as I remain in genuine love.✦ I will not seek what is my own, nor will I consider what is useful to me.✦

Joy in Fruitful Ministry Outweighs the Cost of Lost Contemplation

Bernard testifies that witnessing the moral and spiritual transformation of his hearers more than compensates for the loss of contemplative rest, even counting spiritual exercises as losses for their sake.

This I pray — that my ministry to them may become acceptable and fruitful, and that perhaps from this I may find help in the day of trouble: mercy in the eyes of their Father. The same author, speaking to both causes concerning [prfediclis — uncertain], says: 'I speak to you from my own experience, which I have tested.' If I've at times found that some of you have made progress from my admonitions, then — I confess — it hasn't displeased me to have taken the trouble of speaking at the cost of my own leisure and rest. For when, for example, after a sermon someone who was angry is found changed into a gentle person, a proud person into a humble one, a timid person into a courageous one — and further, the gentle, the humble, and the strong are each recognized to have grown in their own grace and to have become better than themselves — but also those who were perhaps lukewarm and languishing in their spiritual pursuits, sluggish and drowsy, seem to have been rekindled by the fiery eloquence of the Lord and to have awakened; and those who, having abandoned the fountain of wisdom, had dug for themselves cisterns of their own will, unable to hold water — these, buried in heart and dry, murmured at every task imposed on them, having in themselves no moisture of devotion — these, I say, when from the dew of the word and the rain [of grace?] which God set apart for his own inheritance, they are proven to have been refreshed in the works of obedience, having become willing and devoted in all things — there is no reason, I tell you, for any sadness to steal in, as if on account of the interrupted pursuit of delightful contemplation, when I am surrounded by the flowers and fruits of devotion.✦✦ Patiently I am torn away from the embraces of barren Rachel, so that from Leah the fruits of your progress may abound for me. It won't at all displease me to have given up my rest for the labor of speaking, when I see my seed sprouting in you and the harvest of your justice increasing. For love, which doesn't seek its own interests, persuaded me long ago and easily to prefer your benefit to any of my own desires. To pray, to read, to write, to [raeditari — uncertain], to [cl quts — uncertain] — these are the gains of spiritual study; these I have counted as losses for your sake.✦

When the Bridegroom Withdraws: The Soul's Lament and Return to Action

The third reason for leaving contemplation is the Bridegroom's absence: the soul languishes, seeks him through prayer and the angels, and then returns to active works as a means of drawing near to him again.

"So far Bernard." The third reason for the interruption of contemplation is when the Bridegroom withdraws in his own way and the soul does not feel its usual consolations: for the Bridegroom goes and returns according to his own will, as you have had in chapter 35, How the Lord flees when the crowd gathers, etc. When, therefore, he withdraws, the soul languishes from longing for him, and with all its effort calls him back, saying with the bride in the Song of Songs: 'Return, my beloved.'✦ If he doesn't even then return, it calls upon the companions of the Bridegroom, that is, the angels, for its help, and says: 'I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that if you see my beloved, you report to him, because I languish with love.'✦ But if he doesn't even thus deign to return, the soul, knowing the Bridegroom's will, turns back to active life, so that it may thereby, as it were, break through to the Bridegroom. For it isn't fitting for a contemplative to be idle. The bride, therefore, then says: 'Surround me with flowers, crowd around me with apples, because I languish with love.'✦ On this Bernard says: 'Let faith flourish; understand fruit as deed.'

Faith, the Flower, and the Fruit of Good Works

The author develops Bernard's metaphor: faith is the flower that must precede the fruit of good works, and the soul finds consolation in faithful action when contemplation is withdrawn, as Martha and Mary are sisters in one household.

And this won't seem inconsistent to you, I think, if you consider how, just as the flower necessarily comes before the fruit, so too must good work be preceded by faith. Indeed, without faith it's impossible to please God — Paul testifies to this, and even more, Christ himself teaches it: 'Whatever is not from faith is also sin.'✦ So neither does fruit come without a flower, nor good work without faith; but faith without works is dead — just as, equally, a flower appears to no purpose when no fruit follows it.✦ Therefore from good works rooted in genuine faith, the soul accustomed to rest receives consolation, whenever the light of contemplation is withdrawn from it, as it normally is. For who — I don't say continuously, but at least for some time while they remain in this body — enjoys the light of contemplation? But as often as it falls from the contemplative life, just as often does it take itself up in the active life, assuredly because from that nearer place it will more familiarly return to the same state, since these two are companions under one leader and dwell together as equals: Martha is indeed the sister of Mary.✦ Nor does it [the soul] suffer, even if it falls from the light of contemplation. Li, ii. 2.

Editorial Notes on Faith Rooted in Works

Marginal or scribal annotations listing additional authorities and textual variants concerning faith and works.

"Hillel," chapter 11, verse 5. "James, chapter 11, verse 10. adds: whatever. But in work it will be rooted; it will receive. may he enjoy.

Return to Good Works and the Contemplative's Unwilling Departure

The chapter concludes by warning against sin and idleness, affirming that good works are themselves light, summarizing the three reasons for the contemplative's temporary return to the active life under divine dispensation, and closing the treatise on contemplation with a final exhortation.

He must take care, however, not to fall in any way into the darkness of sin or the sloth of idleness, but rather keep himself steadfastly in the light of good action. So that you may also know that works are light: 'Let your light shine,' he says, 'before men.' There is no doubt that this was said about works that men could see.✦ Thus far Bernard. These, then, are the three reasons on account of which the contemplative withdraws from pleasant contemplation and retreats into the active life — though unwilling in this last regard — by divine dispensation nonetheless. And in each of them you could have observed from the authorities of Bernard that he does this for a time and then returns to contemplation. Hence these very things serve as proof that the contemplative life is preferred to the active. Come now — thanks be to God — we are finished with the treatise on contemplation. The material is rich and very useful, in which you will be able to learn not only about contemplation itself, but about many other things as well, and virtually about the whole practice of spiritual exercise. Therefore strive to love it attentively and to fulfill it diligently in practice. And yet do not believe that I have reported to you everything in the aforesaid treatise that Bernard treats on the subject — but let what has been said suffice for you, and so on.

Read the original Latin

Item de eo quod fldes sine operibus mortua est. Quamvis autem pluries supra tactum sit, quod contemplator soli Deo vacare debet, ac caetera omittere; scias generaliter esse verum, sed non semper. Nam tribus ex causis a jucunda contempIaUone se ad tempus separat, et se recipit in activam. Una causa est, propter lucrum animarum, ut habuisU supra ^: Quomodo contemplativa prcBcedit secundam partem activce, ex sermonibus xviii et lvii Bernardi super Cantica. Dicit etiam idem Bernardus ': " Surge, amica mea, sponsa mea, et veni. Commendat sponsus multam dilecUonem suam iterando amoris voces: nam iteratio, affectionis expressio est. Et quod rursum ad laborem vinearum dilectam sollicitat, ostendit quam sit de animarum salute soIUcitus. Nam vineas, animas esse jam audistis.

" Et paulo post: " Sponsam tamen nunquam, ut memini, in toto hoc opere adhuc nominavi, nisi modo cum ad vineas itur, cum vino charitatis appropinquatur. " Hucusque Bernardus. Sciens ergo sponsa voluntatem sponsi zelantis animarum salutem, exit ad tempus, videlicet cum est necessarium ad ipsam operandam, et postea redit ad ipsam contemplationem. Alia causa intermiltendae contemplationis est ratione officii imminenti. s. Nam cum praelatus subditorum necessitatibus intendere habet, omittit tunc contemplationem. De quo idem Bernardus de se ipso loquens ad monachos suos, qui quandoque nimium infestabant eum, sic dicit **: " Rarasatis mihi ad feriandum a supervenientibus conceditur hora, " Et subdit: " Supersedeo, ne magis impatientiae exemversus fin. — " Suppl.

sibi. in se fundit. uusquami. lac conte plati subtr plum videar dare infirmis; pusilli enim Domini sunt in eum credentcs: non patiar ut ex mc scandalum patiautur. Non utar hac potestate, magis autem ipsi me utantur, ut libet, tantum ut salvi fiant. Parcentmihi, si non pcpercerint; et in eo potius requiescam, si non me inquielare timuerint pro necessitatibus suis. Geram eis morem, quoad potero, et in ipsis serviam Deo meo, quamdiu fuero in charitate non ficta. Non quteram quae mea sunt; nec quod mihi est utile, judicabo.

Hoc sokim deprecor, ut fiat acceptum eis fructuosumque ministerium meum, si forte mihi ex hoc iuveniam in die mala misericordiam in oculis patris eorum. " Idem, ad utramque causam de prfediclis, sic ait ': " Loquor vobis experimentum meum, quod expertus sum. Si quando sane comperi profecisse aliquos veslrum ex meis monitis, tunc non piguit, fateor, curam prfetulisse sermonis proprio otio et quieti. Cum enim, verbi gratia, post sermonem iracundus quispiam reperitur mutatus in mitem, superbus in humilem, pusillanimis in fortem, porro mitis, humifis, fortis in sua quisque gratia excrevisse, et se ipso melior factus esse cognoscitur; sed et qui forte tepebant, et languebant circa spirituale studium torpentes et dormitantes, ad ignitum eloquium Domini referbuisse et evigilasse videntur; et qui, deserto fonte sapientiae, foderant sibi propricE voluntatis cisternas, non valentes aquas continere, proptereaque ad omne injunctum gravati corde arido murmurabant, nullum in se habentes devotionis humorem: hi, inquam, cum de rore verbi et pluvia vohmtaria, quam segregavit Deus hajreditati suae, reftoruisse probantur in opera obedientiae, facti in omnibus voluntarii et devoti; non est, dico vobis, unde subeat meutem quasi pro intermisso studio jucundcE contemplationis tristitia, cum taUbus fuero circumdatus floribus atque fructibus pietalis. Patienter avellor ab infoecundae Rachel amplexibus, ut de Lia mihi exuberent fructus profectuum vestrorum. Minime prorsus pigebit me intermissae quietis pro cura sermonis, cum video in vobis germinare semen meum, atque augeri incremenla frugum justitiae vestrae. Charitas enim, quae ^ non qucerit qucs sua sunt, id mihi jara dudum facile persuasit, nil scilicet desiderabilium meorura vestris praeferre utihtatibus. Orare, legere, scribere, raeditari, cl quts sunt aha spirituaUs studii lucra, haec arbilratus sum propter vos detrimenta.

" Hucusque Bernardus. Tertia causa intermittendae contemplationis est, quando, more suo recedente Sponso, nou sentit anima solitas consolationes: vadit enini, et redit Sponsus pro suo velle, prout habuisti in capite xxxv ^, Quomodo Dominus fugit quando turba;, etc. Cum igitur recedit, anima languet ex desiderio ejus, et toto conatu suo revocat eum, dicens cum sponsa in Canticis'': Revertere, dilecfe mi. Si nec tunc redit, invocat sodales Sponsi, id est, angelos in aiixilium suum, et dicit ": Adjuro vos, fiHce Hierusalem, ut si videritis dilectum meum, nuntieiis ei, quia amore langueo. Si vero nec sic redire dignatur, anima sciens voluntatem Spousi reducit se in activam, ut vel sic fractificet Sponso. Non enim decet contemplatorem esse desidiosum. Dicit igitur tunc sponsa ^: Fulcite rne floribus, stipate me malis, quia amore langueo. De hoc sic ait Bernardus "^: " Fidem floreia, fructum actum intelhge.

Nec incongrue, ut opinor, id tibi videbitur, si advertas quomodo, instarfloris necessario praecedentis fructum, bonum quoque opus fide oporteat praeveniri. Ahoquin * sine fide im-possibile est placere Deo, Paulo attestante, magis autem aeque ipso docente ^: Omne quod non est ex fide, etiam peccatum est. Itaque nec sine flore fructus, nec sine fide opus bonum: sed et '" fides sine operibus mortua est; sicut inutiliter quoque flos apparet, ubi non sequitur fructus. Igitur ex bonis operibus in fide non ficta radicatis, recipit consolalionem mens assueta quieti, quoties sibi lux, ut assolet, contemplationis subtrahitur. Quis enim, non dico continue, sed vel aliquandiu dum in hoc corpore manet, lumine contemplationis fruitur At quoties, ut dixi, corruit a contemplativa, toties in activam se recipit, inde nimirum, tanquam e vicino, famiharius reditura in idipsum, quoniam sunt iiivicem contubernales hae duce, et cohabitant pariter: est quippe soror Mariae Martha. Neque enim, etsi a contemplationis lumine cadit, patiserm. Li, ii. 2.

— " Ilel/"-. , xi, 5. — " Jac, 11, iO. (") add. qic. Uein opere. radicabitur; recipiet. fruatur.

tur tamen ullatenus se incidere in tenebras peccati, seu ignaviam otii, sane in luce bonae operationis se retinens. Ut scias etiam opera lucem esse: Luceat lux vestra, inquit', coram hominibus: quod non est dubium de operibus fuisse dictum, quee homines poterant intueri. " Hucusque Bernardus. Hae suntigitur tres causaa, propter quas contemplator a jucunda contemplatione recedit, et se recipit in activam, quamvis invitus in hac uitima, ex dispensatione tamen divina: et in qualibet earum advertere potuisti ex auctoritalibus Bernardi, quod ad tempus hoc lacit, et redit ad contemplationem. Unde haic ipsa sunt in argumentum, quod contemplativa praefertur activae. Eia, Deo gratias, expediti sumus de tractatu contemplationis: copiosa materia est, et utilis valde, in qua non solum de ipsa contemplatione, sed de multis aliis, et quasi de toto studio spiritualis exercitii poteris edoceri. Igitur eam attente diligere, et diligenter opere adimplere coneris; nec tamen credas me tibi omnia in praedicto tractatu retulisse, quae Bernardus inde tractat: sed sufficiant tibi quee dicta sunt, etc

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Jas.2.26 — For just as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
  2. ↩Song.2.10 — My beloved answered and said to me, 'Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come away.'
  3. ↩Song.2.10 — My beloved answered and said to me, 'Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come away.'
  4. ↩Matt.18.6;Mark.9.42 — But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Mark.9.42 — And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in me] to stumble, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he had been thrown into the sea.
  5. ↩2Cor.6.6;Rom.12.9 — in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, Rom.12.9 — Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
  6. ↩Phil.2.4 — Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
  7. ↩Jer.2.13 — For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold the water.
  8. ↩Deut.32.2 — May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as showers upon fresh grass, and as raindrops upon tender plants.
  9. ↩Phil.3.7-Phil.3.8 — But whatever was gain to me, these things I have counted as loss on account of Christ. Phil.3.8 — But more than that—indeed, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost everything and consider it all rubbish, so that I may gain Christ.
  10. ↩Song.2.17 — Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether.
  11. ↩Song.5.8;Song.5.8 — I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love. Song.5.8 — I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love.
  12. ↩Song.2.5;Song.2.5 — Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. Song.2.5 — Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.
  13. ↩Rom.14.23 — But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not act from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.
  14. ↩Jas.2.26 — For just as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
  15. ↩Luke.10.38-Luke.10.42 — Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. Luke.10.39 — She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his word. Luke.10.40 — But Martha was distracted by much service. She came up and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." Luke.10.41 — But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.' Luke.10.42 — Few things are needed, or only one. For Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
  16. ↩Matt.5.16 — In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.

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