SR
← Sermones super Cantica Canticorum (Sermons on the Song of Songs)/Book 1 · Sermones super Cantica Canticorum
Chapter 63SermC.1.63

Sermo 63

Beyond the Letter

Bernard dismisses a fleshly reading of the Song's foxes and vineyards as unworthy of Scripture and urges a spiritual understanding.

Catch the little foxes for us that are tearing down the vineyards, because our vineyard is in bloom.✦ Clearly the journey to the vineyards wasn't pointless — the foxes tearing them down were found right there. The letter, on the one hand, says this. But the spirit — what does it say? First of all, then, we should completely set aside the common, ordinary meaning of the letter in this exposition — it's foolish and silly, and plainly unworthy of being accepted in Scripture so holy and so authoritative. Unless someone is so foolish and dull-witted as to consider it a great lesson from Scripture — on a level with the children of this world — to take care of earthly possessions, guarding and defending vineyards from attacking beasts, so that the fruit of the wine, which is luxury, doesn't happen to be lost, and at the same time the work and expense go to waste. That would be a terrible loss — that we should read a holy book with such zeal and reverence only to be taught by it to guard vineyards from foxes, so that if we're lazy about protecting them, our purses are emptied for nothing in cultivating them! You're not so unlearned, nor so completely lacking in spiritual grace, that you would read it in such a fleshly way.

The Soul's True Vineyard

In the Spirit, the preacher discovers spiritual vineyards and spiritual foxes, calling for greater vigilance over minds than over earthly fruits.

So let's pursue these things in the Spirit. There, truly, we find understanding that is sound indeed, and yet a sense still worthy of respect, and vineyards flourishing, and foxes demolishing them — in catching or removing which one labors more honorably and more fruitfully.1 Or do you doubt that far greater vigilance must be devoted to preserving minds than to fruits, and far more careful watch must be kept against those spiritual wickednesses than against catching those deceitful little foxes?2

The Wise Person's Vineyard

The wise person's life, mind, and conscience are vineyards to be cultivated, whereas the fool has no vineyard at all.

But now I must show you, from my own reflection, these spiritual vines — and no less, these foxes — It will be worth your while, sons, to see that each one looks after his own vineyard — when, as I'm speaking, he notices what he especially needs to guard against and what he needs to seek out for himself. For a wise person, their own life is their vineyard; their own mind is their vineyard; their own conscience is their vineyard. A wise person will leave nothing uncultivated or abandoned within themselves. Not so with a fool. You'll find everything neglected around them, everything lying abandoned, everything overgrown and foul. A fool has no vineyard. How can it be a vineyard where nothing is planted and nothing is worked on anywhere?

The Wasteland of the Fool

The fool's soul, stripped of virtue and grace, is a ruined wasteland rather than a living vineyard.

The fool's life is completely overgrown with thorns and thistles — and is it even a vineyard? It may have been one once, but it isn't anymore — it's been reduced to a wasteland. Where is the vine of virtue? Where is the cluster of good work? Where is the wine of spiritual joy? I passed by the field of a sluggard and the vineyard of a fool, and look — it was all filled with nettles, and thorns had covered its surface, and the stone wall had been torn down. You hear the wise one mocking the fool: that the gifts of nature and the gifts of grace he happened to have received through the washing of regeneration — as though it were that first vineyard of his, which God and no one else had planted — he reduced, through his own neglect, to something no longer a vineyard at all.3 After all, there can't be a vineyard where there's no life.

Life That Is Death

A fruitless life is effectively a living death, and the fool who lives uselessly is alive yet dead.

For the fool, in the very fact that he lives, I'd say he's living death rather than life. What kind of life is it when it's barren? A fruitless tree, turned to barrenness — isn't it judged to be dead? And its branches are dead. And he says, 'The hail has struck down their vineyards,' showing that their lives were stripped of fruit — lives condemned for their barrenness. So the fool, by the very fact that he lives uselessly, is alive yet dead.

The Just as Living Vineyard

The just person, who lives by faith and holds wisdom, is a living vineyard that never ceases to be fruitful.

And so it's fitting for the wise person alone to have — or rather, to be — a vineyard, since they have life.4 In the house of God there is a fruit-bearing tree, and through it, a living tree. And indeed, wisdom itself — the wisdom by which the wise person is named and truly is — is the tree of life for those who lay hold of her.5 How could the one who grasps her not live? They live — but from faith. The just person is surely wise, and the just person lives by faith.6 And if the soul of the just person is the seat of wisdom — and it truly is — then the one who is just is without a doubt wise. Therefore, whether you call that person just or wise, they will never live without a vineyard — because they will never stop living.

A Vineyard That Never Fails

The just person's whole life, speech, and conscience are God's vineyard, fruitful and enduring so that even their leaf will not fall.

This, then, is the wise person's vineyard — indeed, it is life itself. And the just person's vineyard is good — indeed, the just person is a good vineyard: one who has the vine's virtue, one who has the branch's activity, one who has the wine of the testimony of conscience, and one who has the tongue, the winepress of expression. In the end, as it says, 'This is our glory — the testimony of our conscience.'✦ Do you see how nothing is wasted in the life of the wise? Speech, thought, daily conduct — and whatever else flows from these — why shouldn't it all be God's cultivation, God's building, and the vineyard of the Lord of hosts?✦ And what could ever cause this person to perish, when even their leaf will not fall away?✦

Catching the Foxes with Love

The wise must guard against hidden detractors and flatterers, overcoming them not with force but with kindness, service, and prayer.

And yet, for such a vineyard there will never be a shortage of attacks, never a shortage of snares. Surely where resources are abundant, there are also many who consume them. The wise will be careful to guard their vineyard no less than to cultivate it, and won't allow it to be devoured by foxes. A hidden detractor is a worst fox, but a flattering sycophant is no less harmful. The wise will beware of them. They will make every effort, as far as it depends on them, to win over those who do such things — but to win them over through kindness and service, through helpful warnings, and through prayers for them to God. They won't stop heaping fiery coals on the head of the slanderer, and likewise on the flatterer, until, if it can be done, they take away envy from one and pretense from the other, fulfilling the bridegroom's command: 'Capture for us the little foxes that destroy the vineyards.'✦ Doesn't that person seem won over to you, who blushes with a flushed face, indeed ashamed of their own judgment, themselves a witness to their own confusion and regret — whether because they hated a most worthy person with love, or because they loved with word and tongue alone the one by whom they experienced being loved in deed and truth, even if only late?

Won Over for Christ

The preacher longs to capture opponents for Christ and to obey the Bridegroom's command, then signals a return to the main argument.

Clearly captured, and captured by the Lord, just as he himself stated by name: "Catch for us," he said.✦ If only I could capture all those who oppose me without cause in such a way that I might either restore them to Christ or win them for him! So let those who seek my soul be confounded and filled with dread; let those who wish me evil turn back and blush — so that I myself may be found obedient to the Bridegroom, and so that I too may catch the foxes, not for myself, but for him.✦✦ But let the discussion return to its starting point, so that the thread of the explanation may proceed in its proper order.

The Fruit of the Spirit

In the moral sense, the vineyards are spiritual persons whose inner life bears the fruit of the Spirit enumerated by Paul.

Catch the little foxes for us, the ones tearing down the vineyards.✦ This is a moral interpretation, and following the discipline of morals we have now shown that these spiritual vineyards are spiritual people—people whose whole inner life, when cultivated, sprouts, bears fruit, and brings forth the spirit of salvation, just as has been said about the kingdom of God. In the same way, we can say the same about these vineyards of the Lord of hosts, because they are within us.✦ Finally, in the Gospel it is read that the kingdom of God will be given to the nations that produce its fruit.✦ These are the ones Paul lists, saying: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faith, modesty, self-control, chastity.✦ These fruits are our progress. These are received by the Bridegroom, because he cares about us. Does God care about the thickets?✦ God, the Man, loves people, not trees, and he counts our progress as his own fruit.

The Bloom of New Growth

Time itself watches over spiritual growth, and since the vineyard has already bloomed, fruit quickly follows the flowers.

Time watches these things carefully, smiles on those who appear, and anxiously busies itself lest they perish for us, once they've shown themselves — or rather, lest they perish for itself: for it treats us as though it were its own self. And so, providing for itself to catch the little foxes that lie in wait, it orders them not to snatch away the new fruits for themselves.✦ Catch for us the little foxes, it says, that are demolishing the vineyards.✦ And as if someone should say: You're afraid too soon — the time for fruits hasn't come yet. Not so, it says. For our vineyard has already bloomed. After flowers there's no delay with fruits: even as those are falling, these break open at once, at once they begin to appear.

Novices and Their Flowers

Recent converts show the flower of a new way of life, pleasing in outward reform but still only at the stage of blossoms, not fruit.

This is a parable for the present time. Do you see those novices? They came recently; they recently converted. I can't say anything against them, because our vineyard has flourished — yes, it's blooming. In the meantime, what you see appearing in them is flower: the time of fruit hasn't yet come. Their new way of life is a flower; the fresh start of a reformed life is a flower. They've put on a disciplined bearing and a becoming composure of the whole body. They please me, I'll admit — what shows on the face. The outward person is certainly more careless, but the care of the body is in the clothes, speech rarer, expression more cheerful, gaze more modest, walk more mature.

The Cold That Kills First Fervor

The real danger for new flowers is not foxes but the cold north wind of anger and tepidity that can destroy early fervor.

But because these things have only just begun, they should be valued as flowers for the very newness of their beginning, and more for the hope of fruit than for the fruit itself. For you, little children, we don't fear the deceit of foxes, which are known to envy fruits more than flowers.✦ Your danger lies elsewhere. What I truly fear for the flowers is not that they'll be stolen away, but that they'll be scorched by the cold. I'm suspicious of the north wind, and of the morning frosts, which are known to destroy untimely flowers and snatch away the fruit. For anger spreads from the north wind, and your evil is born from it.✦ Who will endure the face of its cold?✦ If this cold ever pervades the soul — through that negligence of the soul, as is common, when the spirit grows drowsy — and then, God forbid, no one...7

The Descent of Tepidity

Once tepidity penetrates the soul, it extinguishes grace, slackens virtue, and can drive a religious person from the cloister into spiritual ruin.

Once it has broken through to the innermost parts of the soul, sunk into the depths of the heart and the recesses of the mind, it shakes the affections, seizes the paths of deliberation, disturbs the light of judgment — then the spirit adds freedom. Soon, as tends to happen in a feverish body, a certain rigidity of soul creeps in, vigor grows slack, a pretense of strength masks weariness, the dread of severity is kept in view, the fear of poverty torments, the soul is drawn inward, grace is withdrawn, the length of life drags on, reason is put to sleep, the spirit is extinguished, the newcomer's fervor grows cold, disdainful lukewarmness grows heavy, sisterly love grows chill, pleasure flatters, false security deceives, and habit calls the soul back. What more is there to say? The law is disregarded, what is right is cast off, divine law is outlawed, and the fear of the Lord is abandoned. Finally, hands are given to impudence. That reckless one presumes, that shameful one, that most base one — full of disgrace and confusion — leaps from the heights into the abyss, from the pavement into the sewer, from the throne into the drain, from heaven into the mud, from the cloister into the world, from paradise into hell. The beginning and origin of this plague — and either by what skill it may be avoided, or by what strength it may be overcome — it is not for this present time to show. That will come later. For now, let us pursue what has been begun.

The Blossoming Vineyard and the Bridegroom's Glory

Turning to the advanced, the preacher promises to explain the spiritual foxes more openly and closes with a doxology to Christ the Bridegroom.

The discourse must be turned back to those who are more advanced and stronger, to the vineyard that has now blossomed—which, indeed, has nothing to fear for its flowers from the cold, but its fruits aren't safe from the foxes. We must explain more openly what these foxes are spiritually, why they're called little, and why they're commanded above all to be caught, and not driven away or killed. We should also introduce the various kinds of these beasts, for the greater knowledge and caution of the listeners—not, certainly, in that style of discourse, so that we cater to distaste, but so that the eagerness of our devotion may be sustained in grace and in the confession of the glory of the great Bridegroom of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.✦8 Amen.

Read the original Latin

Capite nobis vulpes parvulas, quae demoliuntur vineas: nam vinea nostra floruit. Liquet quod non otiose ad vineas itum sit, quando ibi inventae sunt vulpes demolientes eas. Littera quidem istud. Spiritus autem quid? Ante omnia sane, ut communem et usitatum litterae sensum ab hac explanatione penitus respuamus, utpote ineptum et insulsum, indignumque plane, qui recipiatur in Scriptura tam sancta, tam authentica. Nisi quis forte ita vecors et animo stolidus sit, ut pro magno habeat didicisse ex ea, instar filiorum huius saeculi, curam gerere terrenarum possessionum, custodire et defensare vineas ab incursantibus bestiis, ne forte contingat amittere fructum vini, in quo est luxuria; simulque pereat opera et impensa. Grande scilicet damnum, ut propterea librum sanctum tanto studio et tanta cum veneratione legamus, quod docemur in eo a vulpibus vineas custodire, ne in excolendis illis frustra marsupia vacuentur, si in custodiendis pigri fuerimus! Non estis tam rudes, neque adeo spiritualis gratiae expertes, ut ita carnaliter sapiatis.

Ergo in spiritu ista quaeramus. Ibi sane invenimus, sano quidem intellectu, sensuque nihilominus digno, et vineas florentes, et vulpes demolientes, in quibus capiendis vel amovendis et honestius laboratur, et fructuosius. An vos dubitatis longe vigilantius insistendum mentibus servandis, quam frugibus; longe curiosius invigilandum cavendis propter illas spiritualibus nequitiis, quam capiendis propter istas fraudulentis vulpeculis?

Sed iam a me demonstrandae sunt spirituales istae tam vites, quam vulpes. Vestra intererit, filii, suae quemque vineae providere, cum me disputante adverterit, in quibus sibi et a quibus maxime sit cavendum. Viro sapienti sua vita vinea est, sua mens, sua conscientia. Nil quippe incultum desertumve in se sapiens derelinquet. Stultus non ita. Cuncta apud eum neglecta invenies, cuncta iacentia, cuncta inculta et sordida. Non est vinea stulto. Quomodo vinea, ubi nil plantatum, nil elaboratum uspiam paret?

Tota spinis silvescit et tribulis stulti vita: et vinea est? Etsi fuit, iam non est, redacta nimirum in solitudinem. Ubi vitis virtutis? ubi botrus boni operis? ubi vinum laetitiae spiritualis? Per agrum hominis pigri transivi, inquit, et per vineam viri stulti: et ecce totum repleverant urticae, et operuerant superficiem eius spinae, et maceria lapidum destructa erat. Audis sapientem irridentem stultum, quod bona naturae et dona gratiae, quae forte per lavacrum regenerationis acceperat, tanquam illam, quam plantavit Deus et non homo, primam suam vineam, in non vineam, negligendo redegit. Denique non potest vinea esse, ubi vita non est.

Nam stultus quod vivit, mortem potius, quam vitam esse censuerim. Quomodo vita cum sterilitate? Arborarida et in sterilitatem versa, nonne mortua iudicatur? Et sarmenta mortua sunt. Et occidit, inquit, in grandine vineas eorum; monstrans vita privatas, quae sterilitate damnatae sunt. Sic stultus eo ipso quod inutiliter vivit, vivens mortuus est.

Soli itaque convenit sapienti habere, vel potius esse vineam, qui vitam habet. Est lignum fructiferum in domo Dei, ac per hoc lignum vivens. Siquidem et ipsa sapientia, qua sapiens dicitur et est, lignum vitae est apprehendentibus eam. Quidni vivat apprehensor eius? Vivit, sed ex fide. Iustus nempe est sapiens, et iustus ex fide vivit. Et si anima iusti sedes est sapientiae, sicut est; profecto is sapiens, qui iustus. Is ergo sive iustum nomines, sive sapientem, nunquam absque vinea vivet, quia nunquam non vivet.

Hoc quippe est illi vinea quod vita. Et bona vinea iusti, imo bona vinea iustus, cui virtus vitis, cui actio palmes, cui vinum testimonium conscientiae, cui lingua torcular expressionis. Denique: Gloria nostra haec est, inquit, testimonium conscientiae nostrae. Vides apud sapientem vacare nihil? Sermo, cogitatio, conversatio, et si quid aliud est ex eo, quidni totum Dei agricultura, Dei aedificatio est, et vinea Domini sabaoth? Quid denique illi de se perire possit, quando et folium eius non defluet?

Caeterum, tali vineae nunquam infestationes, nunquam insidiae deerunt. Nempe ubi multae opes, multi sunt et qui comedunt eas. Sapiens erit sollicitus servare vineam suam non minus quam excolere, nec sinet eam vorari a vulpibus. Pessima vulpes occultus detractor, sed non minus nequam adulator blandus. Cavebit sapiens ab his. Dabit operam, sane quod in ipso est, capere illos qui talia agunt; sed capere beneficiis atque obsequiis, monitisque salutaribus, et orationibus pro eis ad Deum. Non cessabit istiusmodi carbones ignis congerere super caput maledici, et item super adulatoris, quousque, si fieri potest, et illi invidiam, et isti simulationem de corde tollat, faciens mandatum sponsi dicentis: Capite nobis vulpes parvulas quae demoliuntur vineas. An non tibi captus ille videtur, qui suffusus ora rubore, quippe proprium erubescens iudicium, ipse suae confusionis et poenitudinis testis est; sive quod oderit hominem amore dignissimum; sive quod dilexerit tantum verbo et lingua eum, a quo se diligi opere et veritate vel sero expertus est?

Captus plane, et captus Domino, secundum quod nominatim ipse expressit: Capite, inquiens, nobis. Utinam ego omnes adversantes mihi sine causa ita capere possim, ut Christo eos vel restituam, vel acquiram! Sic, sic confundantur et revereantur qui quaerunt animam meam, avertantur retrorsum et erubescant, qui volunt mihi mala: quatenus inveniar et ipse obediens sponso, ut capiam et ipse vulpes, non mihi, sed ipsi. Sed reflectatur sermo ad sui principium, ut suo ordine series explanationis procedat.

Capite nobis vulpes parvulas, quae demoliuntur vineas. Locus moralis est; et iuxta morum disciplinam nos iam ostendimus, spirituales has vineas nonnisi spirituales viros esse, quorum cum omnia interiora culta sint, omniaque germinantia, omnia fructificantia et parturientia spiritum salutis, quomodo de regno Dei dictum est; ita de his vineis Domini sabaoth aeque dicere possumus, quoniam intra nos sunt. Denique, in Evangelio legitur, datum iri gentibus regnum Dei facientibus fructus eius. Hi sunt quos Paulus enumerat, dicens: Fructus autem Spiritus est charitas, gaudium, pax, patientia, longanimitas, bonitas, benignitas, mansuetudo, fides, modestia, continentia, castitas. Fructus isti, profectus nostri. Hi accepti sponso, quia ipsi cura est de nobis. Num de virgultis cura est Deo? Homines, non arbores amat Homo Deus, et nostros profectus suos fructus reputat.

Tempus horum diligenter observat, arridet apparentibus, et sollicitus satagit ne pereant nobis, cum apparuerint; imo vero ne pereant sibi: se enim reputat tanquam nos. Ideoque providens capi sibi iubet insidiantes vulpeculas, ne novellos fructus ipsae praeripiant. Capite, inquit, nobis vulpes parvulas, quae demoliuntur vineas. Et quasi quis dicat: Praepropere times, nondum venit fructuum tempus: Non est ita, inquit: nam vinea nostra floruit. Post flores non est fructuum mora; adhuc illis cadentibus isti erumpunt illico, illico incipiunt apparere.

Parabola ista instantis est temporis. Videtis istos novitios? Nuper venerunt, nuper conversi sunt. Non possumus de ipsis dicere, quia vinea nostra floruit: floret enim. Interim, quod in eis apparere videtis, flos est: fructuum tempus nondum advenit. Flos novella conversatio est, flos formula recens vitae emendatioris est. Induerunt sibi faciem disciplinatam, et bonam totius corporis compositionem. Placent, fateor, quae in facie sunt: negligentior utique is qui foris apparet corporum cultus est vestium, sermo rarior, vultus hilarior, aspectus verecundior, incessus maturior.

Verum quia haec, noviter coepere, ipsa sui novitate flores censenda sunt, et spes fructuum, magis quam fructus. Vobis, filioli, non timemus a fraude vulpium, quae fructibus magis, quam floribus invidere noscuntur. Vestrum aliunde periculum est. Ustionem certe metuo floribus; non subreptionem, sed ustionem a frigore. Aquilo mihi suspectus est, et frigora matutina, quae intempestivos flores solent perdere, fructus praeripere. Iraque ab aquilone panditur vestrum malum. A facie frigoris eius quis sustinebit? Hoc frigus si semel animam (animae quidem, ut assolet, incuria spiritu dormitante) pervaserit, ac nemine deinde, quod absit!

inhibente ad interiora eius pervenerit, descenderit in viscera cordis et sinum mentis, concusserit affectiones, occupaverit consilii semitas, perturbaverit iudicii lumen, libertatem addixerit spiritus: mox, ut in corpore solet evenire febricitantibus, subit quidam animi rigor, et vigor lentescit, languor fingitur virium, horror austeritatis intenditur, timor sollicitat paupertatis, contrahitur animus, subtrahitur gratia, protrahitur longitudo vitae, sopitur ratio, spiritus exstinguitur, defervescit novitius fervor, ingravescit tepor fastidiosus, refrigescit fraterna charitas, blanditur voluptas, fallit securitas, revocat consuetudo. Quid plura? Dissimulatur lex, abdicatur ius, fas proscribitur derelinquitur timor Domini. Dantur postremo impudentiae manus; praesumitur ille temerarius, ille pudendus, ille turpissimus, plenus ille ignominia et confusione saltus de excelso in abyssum, de pavimento in sterquilinium, de solio in cloacam, de coelo in coenum, de claustro in saeculum, de paradiso in infernum. Principium et originem huius pestis, et vel qua arte vitetur, vel qua superetur virtute, non est huius temporis demonstrare: alias erit hoc; nunc coepta prosequamur.

Ad provectiores et firmiores sermo est retorquendus, ad vineam quae iam floruit, cui quidem etsi non est quod floribus formidet a frigore, sed non fructus securi sunt a vulpibus. Dicendum apertius quid sint spiritualiter hae vulpes, cur pusillae dicantur, cur iubeantur potissimum capi, et non abigi, vel occidi: etiam introducenda diversa genera harum bestiarum ad maiorem audientium notitiam et cautelam; non sane sermone isto, ut fastidio consulamus, et nostrae devotionis alacritas perpetuetur in gratia et confessione gloriae magni Ecclesiae Sponsi Domini nostri Iesu Christi, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
  2. ↩2Cor.1.12 — For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God—not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God—we conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
  3. ↩Isa.5.7 — For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is his delightful planting. He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
  4. ↩Ps.1.3 — He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither; and whatever he does prospers.
  5. ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
  6. ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
  7. ↩Ps.40.15 — Let those who seek my life to destroy it be put to shame and confusion together; let those who delight in my harm be driven back and humiliated.
  8. ↩Ps.70.3 — Let those who seek my life be put to shame and confounded; let those who delight in my harm be driven back and humiliated.
  9. ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
  10. ↩Luke.17.21 — nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.
  11. ↩Matt.21.43 — Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing its fruit.
  12. ↩Gal.5.22-Gal.5.23 — But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Gal.5.23 — gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
  13. ↩Jonah.4.10-Jonah.4.11 — Then the LORD said, 'You had compassion on the plant, though you did not labor over it or make it grow. It came into being in a night and perished in a night. Jonah.4.11 — And should I not have compassion on Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?'
  14. ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
  15. ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
  16. ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
  17. ↩Jer.1.14 — Then the LORD said to me: "Disaster will break out from the north upon all the inhabitants of the land.
  18. ↩Ps.147.17 — He hurls down ice like crumbs of bread; before His cold, who can stand?
  19. ↩Rom.9.5 — whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The final comparative pair 'honestius...et fructuosius' is rendered with 'more honorably and more fruitfully' to capture the adverbial force; the Latin leaves the predicate elliptically structured.
  2. 2 ↩'nequitiis' (wickednesses/wretchednesses) rendered as 'wickednesses' to capture the active spiritual threat; some witnesses favor 'miseries' or 'worthlessnesses', but the adversarial context favors a term with moral weight.
  3. 3 ↩The phrase 'lavacrum regenerationis' refers to baptism. The 'first vineyard' planted by God likely signifies the original state of grace given at baptism, which the fool has squandered through negligence.
  4. 4 ↩The Latin plays on habere vineam (have a vineyard) versus esse vineam (be a vineyard); the translation preserves that shift from possessing to being.
  5. 5 ↩Possible allusion to Proverbs 3:18 (sapientia lignum vitae) and Revelation 22:2. Awaiting final resolution.
  6. 6 ↩Possible allusion to Romans 1:17 (iustus ex fide vivit) and Galatians 3:11. Awaiting final resolution.
  7. 7 ↩The sentence breaks off abruptly with 'quod absit!' (God forbid!), leaving the consequence unstated. The parenthetical 'animae quidem, ut assolet, incuria spiritu dormitante' describes negligence occurring when the spirit is drowsy or spiritually asleep.
  8. 8 ↩The phrase 'non sane sermone isto' is elliptical. It likely contrasts the current plain, analytical discourse with a more ornate style that might cater to distaste (fastidio), ensuring the eagerness of devotion is sustained by clarity rather than stylistic flourish.

Sermones super Cantica Canticorum (Sermons on the Song of Songs) companion

Practice Bernard's method every morning

The free course teaches the method; the Chosen Portion app gives you a fresh historic portion to practice it on each day.

Bernard built his monks' devotion around a short daily portion of one text taken slowly; Chosen Portion serves the same daily-portion practice on your phone.

  • Learn Bernard's one-verse meditation method in 7 daily emails, about 5 minutes each
  • Get 7 curated excerpts from the actual sermons, in readable modern English
  • Finish with a repeatable 10-minute daily meditation routine you can run in the free app
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →