Letter CCCLXXII. To P., Bishop of Palencia, in Spain

(Circa A.D. 1147.)

Bernard praises him for his humility, and particularly for his love of reading.¹²

To his venerable lord and very dear father P., by the grace of God Bishop of Palencia, BERNARD, called Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes health, and prays that the Lord may prevent him with the blessings of sweetness.

Who will give me the wings of a dove that I may take my flight to repose within the odour of your sanctity? Your saintly life and the purity of your character have filled me with the odour of your sweetness, which seems to me, as it were, the odour of a fertile field which the Lord hath blessed. In it my soul is truly filled with marrow and fatness, and in such is the life of my spirit. For how can it be otherwise, when I hear of a man of lofty character and yet humble, full of cares and business, and yet peaceful, and trembling at the Word of the Lord. O rare bird upon the earth, humility conjoined with high station, and a tranquil mind in the midst of the hurry of business! You have made to rejoice, my lord, the soul of your servant; may the merciful Lord make yours also rejoice with the joy of His people. I have rejoiced with great joy on hearing such things as I had not expected reported of you. For my brethren, the bearers of your letter, reported to me your zeal in mortifying the flesh and reducing it to subjection, your habit of meditation, your love of reading, the gentleness of your manners, your kindness to all, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Hut do not think, my dear lather, that in speaking these words I intend to celebrate your praises. The word of blame spoken by the Prophet is before my mind: Those who praise thee, my people, they deceive thee.³ I am unwilling, though a sinner, to pour upon your head the oil of sinful praise: but rather the oil of joy which proceeds from a pure heart and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Nor am I a trafficker in this oil; 1 have only too little with which to anoint myself for the arena of this world; but I cannot pass over in silence the virtues which are to the praise of Christ. Let not the •creature, but the Creator be praised. Let Him who gives, not he who has received, be exalted: not he who plants nor he who waters are to be praised, for they are nothing, but He who gives the increase, that is God. I, then, will praise the hand which is stretched out to give, not that stretched out to receive: the praise of the*Lord, and not of His servant shall come out of my mouth. Do thou, then, my dear father, recognize, if you are wise, or rather because you are wise, that the grace which is in you does not come⁴ from yourself, but descends from the Father of Lights, since every good gift and every perfect gift is from above (S. James i. 17). I know that there are certain persons who-have, as it were, a wise unwillingness to know the gifts which they have received from the Lord, so that they be not puffed up with pride nor fall into the snare of the devil. But it seems to me that I ought to know what I have-received, in order that I may know what is wanting to me,, and that I ought to know with the Apostle the things which have been bestowed upon me by God, in order that I may not be ignorant what I ought still to desire and pray fcr. For he who has received something and knows it not, is exposed to the double danger of being ungrateful for what he has received, and careless in preserving it. For how can any one render gratitude to a benefactor if he does not know that he has received anything from him? Or how will he be careful to guard that which he is not aware that he has received? Take away from me, O Lord, the blame of that ungrateful people of whom it is said: They forgat what He had done and the wonderful works that He had showed for them (Psalm Ixxviii. 12). A benefit received, therefore, even according to the wise of this world, is to be graven deep in the tablets of the memory. It behoves us, then, that we should know how to take care of the gifts, which we have received, and so that the grace of God in us may not be in vain: and that it may remain in us always, let us always render thanks to the Lord our God. I think it may be added, not unusefully, that you should proceed by three steps to the obtaining of grace and salvation: humility, faith, and fear. For humility is that quality to which grace is given, faith that in which it is received, fear that in which it is preserved. If we should wish to ascend to the throne of grace without the use of these three, I fear that it would be said to us, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep (S. John iv. n). Let us, then, in order to drink of the water of wisdom, have the rope of humility i⁵ and let this humility be in mouth, in heart, and in action: which threefold cord is not easily broken. Let us have faith, as it were, for a water jar, and let it be great, so that much grace may be received in it: and let fear be, as it were, its cover, lest the water of wisdom be defiled with the impurities of vainglory: for it is written, Every open -vessel which hath no covering bound upon it shall be unclean (Num. xix. 15). Your devotion to reading also, in which you embrace not only the writings of great men, but also, the trifles which I have penned, calls for some mention from me: so that you may perceive what joy your kindly feeling has given to my heart.

Footnotes

1. A new Letter; the former No. 372 is now No. 319. ↩

2. This was Peter: his name is found subscribed to the act of donation of the Abbey of Espina, made by Sanchia to S. Bernard (Manriquez under the year 1 147, c. xviii. n. 3). ↩

3. Isaiah ix. 16, Vulg'., but quoted probably from memory. The exact words ↩

4. are: And there it'ill ie those who praise the people in order In seduce ihcin, and those who are praised shall be given to destruction. — [E.] ↩

5. Hcercditatis: but surely we ought to read humilitatis, as in the next sentence. — [E.] ↩