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← Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity)/Book 2 · Speculum caritatis — Liber II
Chapter 6SpCar.2.6

Apostolica et prophetica auctoritate praemissa sententia confutatur.

Paul the Athlete of Christ

The apostle Paul is presented as the supreme model of ascetic endurance, whose sufferings, tears, and burning love for Christ prove that great tribulation does not extinguish spiritual consolation.

Let that most outstanding athlete step forward, then — that most faithful witness, that distinguished debater in whom Christ speaks — who dies daily for Christ, who endures every trial, who faces battles outside and fears within, who disciplines his own body and brings it into servitude, who does not eat his bread for free but toils in weariness night and day, whose hands supply necessities both for himself and for those who are with him — who, finally, under the standards of Jesus, in labor and hardship, in many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, strives as the fiercest soldier. Let him, I say, settle this question, and show whether such great trial, such extraordinary weariness, has withdrawn spiritual consolation.✦✦✦✦✦ Perhaps a head dried up by so many sleepless nights and labors, drained of every natural moisture, could not produce a single tear; and a heart withered by so many pressures drew no sweetness from anything spiritual. But I see him writing to certain people with great trial and anguish of heart, through many tears; I see him mourning for some who sinned beforehand and did not repent; I see him rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep; I hear him groaning because he does not want to be stripped, but to be clothed over.✦✦ What can I say about his spiritual sweetness, since at the taste of its most exquisite savor, he counts even what seemed gain to him as dung?✦ Provoked by wonderful sweetness, does he not yearn for the very embraces of Christ? 'I want,' he says, 'to be dissolved and to be with Christ' — for that is far better.✦ (Phil. 1.) Intoxicated by the wonderful love of Christ, does he not utterly renounce all glory — 'Except,' he says, 'in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ'?✦

The Serpent's Poison and the Apostolic Sword

Bernard exposes a false teaching that lures the simple away from apostolic poverty by promising greater divine sweetness in comfort, and he calls on Paul's own authority to strike it down.

(Gal. vi.) Surely it was with the fervor of overflowing love that he was stirred up to pronounce a curse on those who do not love the Lord Jesus: "If anyone," he says, "does not love our Lord Jesus Christ, let that person be accursed — Maran Atha!"✦ (1 Cor. xvi). Let Paul himself, however, tell us whether he was left without consolation in his own tribulation, and let him make clear what we are to hope for in our tribulation. And so let him pierce through that serpent's head — the one that instills this harmful poison into human minds — with the apostle's own sword. For these are the words of the one who crawls on his belly, who eats dust, who sleeps in the shade in damp places, who pursues the business of the belly and of lust under the outward show of holiness.✦ For this is how he thinks he can more easily frighten simple souls away from apostolic poverty and evangelical purity — by making them believe that a greater measure of divine sweetness and grace awaits them in a more comfortable life.

God Who Comforts in Every Tribulation

Citing 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, Bernard shows that divine consolation is promised not to the comfortable but to those in every tribulation, so that they in turn may comfort others.

If they would believe it more holy to prefer faces dripping with tears — amid feasts and wines, amid royal dishes and elaborate banquets, amid idle conversations and nightly drinking bouts — than to prefer faces pale with fasting, amid labor and hardship, amid many sleepless nights, amid hunger and thirst, amid cold and nakedness, and the mortification of one's own will, amid daily weariness, amid contempt of the world and disdain for the flesh — if they would prefer tear-stained faces to dry ones… Let Paul, then, tell us whether that devoted comforter would leave his own followers without consolation in their present tribulation — and let him, by his own authority, strike down the heresy of Jovinianus now sprouting up once more. Yet this heresy is more pernicious than that of Jovinianus appears to be — for while Jovinianus merely equated feasts with abstinence, this one actually puts feasting above it. So let those who place greater consolation in divine sweetness found in the softness of the flesh than in tribulation hear Paul speaking: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who comforts us in every tribulation we face (2 Cor.✦ 1). Whether we are worn down by fasting, or afflicted by sleepless nights, or ground down by labor — blessed is God, who comforts us in every tribulation we face. And if we are overwhelmed with stones, or bound with chains, or beaten with rods, or endure the hardships of prison — blessed is God, who comforts us in every tribulation we face.✦ Let the world rage, let the world fume — let it pursue us with hatreds, attack us with curses, plunder our possessions, tarnish our reputation: blessed is God, who comforts us in every tribulation we face. So that we too, he says, may be able to comfort those who are in every kind of distress (ibid.).✦ .

Sufferings and Consolations Matched

Paul's teaching that Christ's sufferings and consolations abound together is shown to be fulfilled in monastic discipline—abstinence, vigils, obedience, and the Rule of Benedict—so that sharing in Christ's sufferings leads to sharing in His kingdom.

And here he promises his consolation not to those who live in riches and pleasures, but to those who are in every kind of tribulation. And leaving nothing out, he added: Since the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also through Christ does our consolation abound.✦ What could be clearer? This is clearly what we said a little while ago — namely, that these two things are to be matched equally: outward sufferings and inward consolations. Who then is so dull, so presumptuous, that against the most manifest truth and apostolic authority — relying on natural reasoning — he would have the audacity, in shameless vanity, to claim that sharing in the sufferings of Christ is contrary to the Spirit, and that it diminishes the grace of spiritual sweetness?1 To share in the sufferings of Christ is to submit to regular disciplines: to mortify the flesh through abstinence, vigils, and labors; to subject one's own will under another's judgment; to prefer nothing above obedience; and — to put it briefly — to carry out our profession, which was made according to the Rule of the blessed Benedict. That is, to participate in the sufferings of Christ, with that same lawgiver as our witness, who says: 'And so, persevering in the monastery to the end, let us through patience share in the sufferings of Christ, so that we may deserve to be partakers of his kingdom.'2 The Apostle himself also knew this, for he says: 'Knowing that just as you are partners in sufferings, so you will also be partners in consolation' (2 Cor. 1:7).✦ 1).

The Outer Self Wasting, the Inner Self Renewed

Drawing on 2 Corinthians 4:16–17, Proverbs 31, and the Psalms, Bernard teaches that divine consolation is poured out on those who mourn and labor, not on the idle, and that present light affliction produces eternal glory.

But how necessary the affliction of our outer self is, we can learn most clearly from the Apostle himself, who puts it this way: "Even though our outer self is wasting away, yet the one who is our inner self is being renewed."✦ For what is present in our case — momentary and light as our tribulation is — is producing in us, beyond measure and in surpassing greatness, the weight of eternal glory.✦ 2 Cor. 4. Finally, Solomon declares in mystical language those on whom divine consolation is to be poured out, saying: "Give strong drink to those who are mourning, and wine to those whose spirit is bitter. Let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their pain no more."✦ Prov. 31. Plainly, in these words he promises that wine which gladdens the heart of man — not to those given to idleness and dissipation, not to those who spend their days in laughter and empty talk, but to those whose spirit is bitter — and promises that strong drink which is made from new and old fruits, which the bride preserves in the delights of the bridegroom — not to those feasting and drinking, but to those mourning because of the hardships of this life, and laboring in poverty and pain.✦ "Let them drink," he says, "and forget their poverty" — asserting that the greatness of their labor must be diminished by divine consolation.✦ To this statement the Psalmist agrees most clearly: "According to the multitude of my pains within me," he says, "your consolations have gladdened my soul."

Endure and Do Not Grow Weary

The chapter closes with an exhortation to persevere on the narrow road, trusting that the consolations of God will gladden the soul in proportion to the hardships borne for Christ.

93. So no one should shrink from that steep road which leads to life, and no one should take up again, out of anxious unhappiness, the easier way they once threw aside; but as our Lawgiver says, let the one who endures not grow weary, and not turn away, knowing that in proportion to the many hardships they bear for Christ, the consolations will gladden that person's soul.✦✦

Read the original Latin

Accedat ergo ille athleta fortissimus, testis fidelissimus, disputator egregius, in quo Christus loquitur, qui pro Christo quotidie moritur, qui omnem tribulationem patitur, cui foris pugnae, intus timores, qui castigat corpus suum et in servitutem redigit, qui non gratis panem suum manducat, sed in fatigatione nocte ac die operatur, cujus manus et sibi, et qui cum eo sunt, necessaria subministrant: qui denique in labore et aerumna, in vigiliis multis, in fame et siti, in frigore et nuditate, sub signis Jesu acerrimus miles insudat: ille, inquam, hanc dirimat quaestionem, et utrum tanta tribulatio, tam mira fatigatio, consolationem vel subtraxerit spiritualem, ostendat. Forte caput tot vigiliis et laboribus, ab omni humore naturali siccatum, nullam producere lacrymam praevalebat; et cor ob tot pressuras marcidum, nihil spiritualis dulcedinis hauriebat. Sed video eum scribentem quibusdam, cum multa tribulatione et angustia cordis, per multas lacrymas; video eum lugentem quosdam, qui ante peccaverunt, et non egerunt poenitentiam; video eum gaudere cum gaudentibus, flere cum flentibus; audio ingemiscentem, eo quod nolit exspoliari, sed supervestiri. De spirituali ejus dulcedine quid dicam, cum ad ejus suavissimum gustum, etiam quae sibi lucra videbantur arbitratur ut stercora? Nonne mira dulcedine provocatus, ad ipsos Christi gestit amplexus, Cupio, inquiens, dissolvi, et esse cum Christo, multo enim melius? (Philip. i.) Nonne mira Christi dilectione debriatus, omnem gloriam prorsus abjurat, Nisi, inquit, in cruce Domini mei Jesu Christi?

(Gal. vi.) Nonne fervore nimiae charitatis excitus anathematizat non amantes Dominum Jesum, Si quis, inquit, non amat Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, anathema sit, Maran Atha! (I Cor. xvi). Ipse tamen dicat, utrum sine consolatione in sua sit tribulatione relictus, et quid in nostra tribulatione nobis sperandum sit, manifestet; sicque serpentinum caput, quod virus hoc noxium humanis instillat sensibus, apostolico mucrone confodiat. Ipsius namque sunt haec, qui super ventrem repit, qui terram comedit, qui sub umbra dormit in locis humentibus, qui negotium ventris et libidinis, sub colore agitat sanctitatis. Sic enim facilius simplices quosque ab apostolica paupertate et evangelica puritate aestimat exterrendos, si majorem divinae dulcedinis gratiam, in remissiori vita sibi aestiment adfuturam.

Si sanctius credent inter epulas et vina, inter regalia fercula et apparata convivia, inter otiosas confabulationes et nocturnas potationes, madentia lacrymis ora praeferre, quam in labore et aerumna, in vigiliis multis, in fame et siti, in frigore et nuditate, et propriae voluntatis mortificatione, in diurna fatigatione, in mundi contemptu, et carnis despectu, pallentia ora siccis praeferre obtutibus. Dicat ergo Paulus utrum suos in praesenti tribulatione, pius ille consolator sine consolatione relinquat, et haeresim Joviniani iterum pullulantem, sua auctoritate praeoccupet. Perniciosior tamen haec haeresis, quam Joviniani videtur, nam cum illa epulas abstinentiae aequavit, ista praeponit. Ergo qui majorem divinae dulcedinis consolationem, in carnis suavitate quam tribulatione constituunt, Paulum audiant dicentem: Benedictus Deus, et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Pater misericordiarum, et Deus totius consolationis, qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra (II Cor. i). Sive ergo jejuniis maceremur, sive afficiamur vigiliis, sive laboribus atteramur, benedictus Deus, qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra, et si lapidibus obruamur, et si vinculis astringamur, et si caedamur virgis, et si carceris toleremus angustias, benedictus Deus, qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra. Fremat mundus, saeviat mundus, insectetur odiis, aggrediatur maledictis, diripiat substantiam, commaculet famam: benedictus Deus, qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra: Ut possimus, inquit, et ipsi consolari eos, qui in omni pressura sunt (ibid.) .

Et hic non his qui in divitiis et deliciis, sed his, qui in omni pressura sunt, suam consolationem promittit. Et nihil quaestioni relinquens, adjecit: Quoniam sicut abundant passiones Christi in nobis, ita et per Christum abundat consolatio nostra. Quid manifestius? Hoc est plane, quod paulo ante diximus, duo scilicet haec coaequari, exteriores passiones et interiores consolationes. Quis est ergo tam hebes, tam praesumptuosus, ut contra manifestissimam veritatem et apostolicam auctoritatem, physicis rationibus innitens, communicationem passionum Christi contrariam esse spiritui, et spiritualis dulcedinis imminuere gratiam, impudenti vanitate affirmet? Communicare passionibus Christi est regularibus disciplinis subdi, carnem per abstinentiam, vigilias, et labores mortificare, alieno judicio suam subdere voluntatem, nihil obedientiae praeferre, et ut brevi multa complectar, professionem nostram, quae secundum Regulam beati Benedicti facta est, exsequi, hoc est, passionibus Christi participare, teste eodem legislatore nostro, qui ait: « Et ita in monasterio usque ad finem perseverantes, passionibus Christi per patientiam participemus ut regni ejus mereamur esse consortes. » Hoc ipsum et Apostolus: Scientes, inquit, quoniam sicut socii passionum estis; sic eritis et consolationis (II Cor. i).

Quam sit autem necessaria exterioris hominis afflictio, manifestissime perdocemur, eodem Apostolo ita pronuntiante: Etsi exterior homo noster corrumpitur, tamen is qui interior est, renovatur. Id enim quod in praesenti est, momentaneum et leve tribulationis nostrae, supra modum in sublimitate aeternum gloriae pondus operatur in nobis (II Cor. iv). Denique Salomon quibus divina consolatio sit infundenda, mysticis verbis declarat, dicens: Date siceram maerentibus, et vinum his, qui amaro animo sunt, Bibant et obliviscantur egestatis suae, et doloris non recordentur amplius (Prov. xxxi). Aperte his verbis vinum illud quod laetificat cor hominis, non otio dissolutis, non diem in cachinnis et fabulis expendentibus, sed his qui amaro sunt animo, repromittit, siceramque illam, quae de pomis novis et veteribus, quae in sponsi deliciis sponsa conservat, conficitur, non epulantibus et potantibus, sed propter angustias hujus vitae maerentibus, et egestate et dolore laborantibus, pronuntiat esse donandam. Bibant, inquit, et obliviscantur egestatis suae, laboris videlicet magnitudinem divina consolatione asserens minuendam. Cui sententiae apertissime concinit Psalmista: Secundum multitudinem, inquiens, dolorum meorum in corde meo, consolationes tuae laetificaverunt animam meam (Psal.

xciii). Nemo ergo arduam illam viam, quae ducit ad vitam, exhorreat, nemo remissiorem, quam semel abjecit, timida infelicitate repetat; sed sicut ait noster legislator, sustinens non lassescat, nec discedat: sciens quia secundum multitudinem laborum quos tolerat pro Christo, consolationes laetificabunt animam illius.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Cor.15.31 — I face death every day—I swear it, brothers, by the boasting I have in you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  2. ↩2Cor.7.5 — For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—fights without, fears within.
  3. ↩1Cor.9.27 — But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, so that after preaching to others, I myself might not be disqualified.
  4. ↩2Cor.11.27 — in toil and hardship, in sleepless nights many times, in hunger and thirst, in fastings many times, in cold and nakedness
  5. ↩Eph.6.10-Eph.6.17 — Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Eph.6.11 — Put on the full armor of God, so that you are able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Eph.6.12 — For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Eph.6.13 — Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand firm in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Eph.6.14 — Stand firm, then, having fastened the belt of truth around your waist and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Eph.6.15 — and having shod your feet with the readiness of the gospel of peace Eph.6.16 — In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Eph.6.17 — And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
  6. ↩Rom.12.15 — Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
  7. ↩2Cor.5.2-2Cor.5.4 — Indeed, in this body we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. 2Cor.5.3 — since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 2Cor.5.4 — For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan under the weight of it — because we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
  8. ↩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.
  9. ↩Phil.1.23 — But I am hard-pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for it is far better;
  10. ↩Gal.6.14 — But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
  11. ↩1Cor.16.22 — If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be accursed. Maranatha.
  12. ↩Gen.3.14 — And the LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above every animal of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
  13. ↩2Cor.1.3-2Cor.1.4 — Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 2Cor.1.4 — who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
  14. ↩2Cor.1.3-2Cor.1.4 — Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 2Cor.1.4 — who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
  15. ↩2Cor.1.4 — who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
  16. ↩2Cor.1.5 — For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
  17. ↩2Cor.1.7 — And our hope for you is sure, because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
  18. ↩2Cor.4.16 — Therefore we do not lose heart; even though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
  19. ↩2Cor.4.17 — For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,
  20. ↩Prov.31.6-Prov.31.7 — Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to the bitter of soul. Prov.31.7 — Let him drink and forget his poverty, and let him remember his misery no more.
  21. ↩Prov.31.6-Prov.31.7 — Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to the bitter of soul. Prov.31.7 — Let him drink and forget his poverty, and let him remember his misery no more.
  22. ↩Prov.31.7 — Let him drink and forget his poverty, and let him remember his misery no more.
  23. ↩Matt.7.14 — Because the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
  24. ↩Heb.12.2-Heb.12.3;Gal.6.9 — fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb.12.3 — For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against yourselves, so that you may not grow weary, being exhausted in your souls. Gal.6.9 — And let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give up.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩physicis rationibus rendered as 'natural reasoning' — the contrast is between human/natural argument and revealed/apostolic authority.
  2. 2 ↩The embedded quotation from the Rule of Benedict (or a paraphrase thereof) is treated as a candidate scripture/allusion pending Moses resolution.

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