In affectibus quae sit quaerenda utilitas
The Threefold Usefulness of the Affections
Having surveyed the distinction among the affections, Bernard identifies their threefold usefulness: to arouse desire for what ought to be loved, to help us hold onto love more gladly, and to carry out acts of love more fervently.
So then, having carefully considered what was said about the distinction among the affections, it is clear — unless I am mistaken — what benefit we should be looking for in them. That benefit is surely this: first, that through the affections themselves — as if by certain goads of love — we may be stirred up to desire the things that ought to be loved; second, that the sweetness infused by the affections themselves may help us hold on to love itself more gladly, and as a result more diligently; and third, that the very acts by which we strive toward the things we desire — the more warmly we feel them, the more joyfully we carry them out, and the more joyfully we carry them out, the more fervently we may exercise them.1
The Proper Place of Desire and Affection
Desire stirs affection but should rarely be followed by it; likewise, affection should sustain good works but must not override right order in arranging them.
Now desire itself certainly has the power to stir up affection; yet it ought very rarely to be followed by affection, as was shown above. In the same way, it is most useful for affection to be aroused toward the practice of good works, and for us to be sustained by affection within the works themselves; but to arrange the works according to affection rather than according to right order is a disorder.
Ordering Works by Reason, Not by Feeling
Works must be ordered according to reason rather than affection, since love rooted in reason resides in the will, while love rooted in affection is felt in the passions.
It remains, then, for us to say briefly — insofar as we are able — how the works themselves are to be ordered according to reason. For desire itself, when measured by reason, is uniform; yet in the case of love that springs from affection, it is felt in that affection, whereas in the case of love that springs from reason, it is reckoned to reside in the will alone.
Read the original Latin
His itaque, quae de affectuum distinctione dicta sunt, diligenter inspectis, patet, ni fallor, quae in illis sit quaerenda utilitas. Illa nimirum, ut in eorum desiderium, quae diligenda sunt, ipsis affectibus, quasi amoris quibusdam aculeis excitemur ; ut ipsum amorem, ipsorum affectuum infusa dulcedine suavius, ac proinde diligentius teneamus; ut actus ipsos, quibus ad desiderata tendimus, quanto affectuosius, tanto delectabilius; quanto autem delectabilius, tanto ferventius exerceamus. Ipsum sane desiderium etsi affectum excitare habet; rarissime tamen ipsum affectum sequi debet, sicut superius monstratum est. Similiter ad bonorum operum exercitia affectum excitari, in ipsis operibus ex affectu teneri, utilissimum est ; sed ipsa opera secundum affectum ordinare, praeter ordinem est. Restat igitur, ut quemadmodum ipsa sint opera secundum rationem ordinanda, pro modulo nostro paucis dicamus. Nam ipsum desiderium secundum rationem uniforme est, quod in eo tamen amore, qui ex affectu est, sentitur; in eo autem qui ex ratione, in sola voluntate computatur.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin contains a chain of four purpose clauses (ut…ut…ut…quanto…tanto…quanto…tanto) rendered here as a numbered sequence for readability while preserving the logical progression.
Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity) companion
Reorder one love at a time, daily
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