Letter CCCLXXXIV. To the Monks of S. Bertin

[Formerly No. 343 5 the former No. 384 is now No. 273]. (Circa A. D. 115°)-

Bernard thanks them for their kindness towards his brethren, and assures them that God will repay them abundantly.

To his dear brethren, all the monks of the Abbey of S. Bertin, Brother Bernard, called Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes health, and that they may serve God with joyfulness.

I feel obliged to express to you my lively gratitude for your kindnesses. For since benefits received ought to beheld in everlasting remembrance, I am bound to be neither unmindful of, nor ungrateful for the many kind actions which you have done to my brethren, or rather to me.

What is laid out upon those who are mine, is laid out upon me; the bounty lavished upon my very bowels, is a bounty to me. I know in whom I have trusted, and am well assured: I know, I repeat, that you love me, not in word or in tongue merely, but in deed and in truth. The proof of your affection, and of the favour which my brethren have found in your eyes, is shown not by mere words, but in your actions: therefore it is the purer in the eyes of God, and the more agreeable in that of men, inasmuch as they come from disinterested goodness in the giver, and are beyond the deserving of those who receive them. For these, therefore, I return thanks to the whole of your community: for all these good deeds both I and my brethren are your debtors in all that we are, and to the extent of our powers. But lest it should appear a little thing to you to be accepted by men, by my God also you are accepted. For that which you have done to one of the least of His brethren, you have done unto Him (S. Matt, xxv. 40), and still more for that which is done not to one only, but to many of His.

For all these benefits little return is to be looked for from me, for I am needy and poor: but the Lord shall make return for me. He who is the rewarder of all good deeds shall reward you, because you have presented His poor with the blessings of sweetness, with an example of charity. I thank you then for your past gifts: and for the future I entreat that you would not desist from your good deeds. For from the seed of good works you will reap in God’s good time the harvest of peace and of glory; which may God vouchsafe to us also. Amen.