Sermon LXXII. On the Spiritual Lights and Shadows, Days and Nights

"My Beloved to me, and I to Him Who feedeth among the lilies till the day break and the shadows retire."

"My Beloved to me, and I to Him Who feedeth among the lilies, till the day break and the shadows retire." Only the two last clauses of this text remain to be discussed. But at the very outset I find myself confronted with a difficulty regarding them. With which of the foregoing are they to be connected? For they can make sense in two different relations. I may either treat the relative clause, "Who feedeth among the lihes," as a parenthesis, and read, "My Beloved to Me, and I to Him, till the day break and the shadows retire"; or I may consider the temporal clauses as depending on the relative, so that the sentence will run, "My Beloved to me, and I to Him, Who feedeth among the lilies till the day break and the shadows retire." Taken in either way, the words yield an intelligible and an appropriate meaning. There is this difference, however: in the first connexion, the word "till" has to be understood in an inclusive sense; in the second, in an exclusive. For even though the Bridegroom should cease to feed among the lilies when the day breaks, surely He will not likewise cease to attend to His Bride nor His Bride to Him. God forbid. Throughout eternity they will continue to regard each other only \'ith greater delight, because with greater intensity and with greater intensity because with greater perfection of liberty. Therefore, according to the first way of construing, the word "till" must here be taken in the same signification in which St. Matthew employs it, where he says that "he (Joseph) knew her (Mary) not till she brought forth her first-born Son"-which, as is clear, cannot be understood in an exclusive sense. We find the same word used with the same meamng in one of the psalms, "Our eyes are unto the Lord our God, until He have mercy on us." Surely the Psalmist does not intend to imply that we shall turn our eyes away from the Lord as soon as He begins to show mercy. The Saviour Himself also makes use of a similar expression in the same inclusive sense, when He says to His apostles, "Behold I am with you aU days even to the consummation of the world. For He does not mean that He will thereafter be no longer with them. Thus, I say, the word" till "has to be taken if we choose to connect it immediately with the first part of the verse." My Beloved to me, and I to Him "But it must be understood exclusively if we would rather refer it to the relative clause, ' ' Who f eedeth among the lilies." Yet even in this case it may we appear no easy task to explain how the Beloved will cease to feed among the lilies when the day breaks For if the day here in question is the day of the general resurrection, does it not seem as if He would then take all the greater delight in feeding among the lUies, for the reason that He would find them in much greater abundance? These remarks are enough on the subject of the literal sequence.

Observe now, my brethren, that after the resurrection, although His whole kingdom shall then shine with lilies, and although the Bridegroom Himself will dwell and take His delight among them, nevertheless it cannot be said with truth that He will any longer feed among them, as He was wont to do in the aforetime. For where then shall you find the sinners whom Christ may incorporate and assimilate to Himself, grinding and masticating them with the teeth of sharp discipline (if I may be allowed the expression), that is to say, by affliction of the flesh and compunction of heart? Neither will He, Who is the Word of God and the Bridegroom of souls, seek nourishment for Himself there in the acts and the works of obedience, where nothing shall be found but universal repose, uninterrupted love and contemplation. His food indeed is to do the will of His Father. But this is true only of the present life, not also of the future. Wherefore should He do what has already been accomplished? Now it is certain that the will of God shall then have been accomplished and made perfect. For then it shall be the joy of all the saints to "prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God." And surely after perfection has been reached, nothing more can remain to be done. Thenceforward the will of God shall be a source of enjoyment, not a duty to be fulfilled; a delight to be experienced, not a task to be accomplished; a fountain of life, not a rule of conduct. Is not this the will which, taught by Christ Himself, we ask with most earnest entreaty should "be done on earth as it is in heaven," where even now its fruits give enjoyment and its fulfilment no fatigue? Therefore the Word and Bridegroom can there find no works to feed on, where all work must necessarily cease, and where wisdom is more abundantly communicated to all. For it is written, "He that is less in action shall receive wisdom."

But now let us see if what I have been saying, namely, that the Bridegroom will no longer feed among the lilies after the general resurrection, can also be maintained consistently with the view of those according to ;v*rom to feed among the lilies means to take delight in the beauty of the virtues. I have referred to this interpretation amongst others in the preceding sermon. Are we therefore to suppose that then there shall be no virtues at all? Or that the Bridegroom will take no pleasure in them? It would be the height of absurdity to entertain either belief. But consider whether His future mode of delighting in the virtues may not be different from His present. That He will truly delight in them cannot be doubted; but perhaps it will be in some way more analogous to drinking than to eating. Certainly in this life and in this body, no human virtue can be found so thoroughly defecated, none so sweet and pure, as to be fit for the Bridegroom to drink. But He "Who will have all men to be saved," overlooks many imperfections, and the virtue which He cannot as yet swallow down with ease, so to speak, and as it were by the act of drinking, He grinds and chews with method and labour, if even thus He may obtain from it some little relish. A time will come when that virtue shall be perfectly purified, when it shall not require to be pressed between the teeth and laboriously masticated, when it shall not give Him Who partakes of it the trouble of grinding it, but shall rather delight without wearying Him; because He shall drink it as liquid, not eat it like solid food. Indeed He Himself tells us this in the Gospel, when He says, "I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the kingdom of My Father." Observe how He makes no mention of eating in that kingdom. The Psalmist also refers to His drinking, comparing Him to "a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine." But neither does he say anything about His eating. The Spouse, therefore, conscious of this mystery, after discovering and proclaiming that her Beloved feeds among the lilies, appoints, or rather acknowledges and announces as already appointed, the limit of the period during which He will vouchsafe so to feed, in the words, "until the day break and the shadows retire." That is to say, she is well aware that thereafter her Beloved will delight in the virtues rather by drinking than by eating them. This is likewise the custom with men who are wont to take drink after solid food. Therefore the Bridegroom, Who feeds on our virtues as on edibles in the present life, will drink of them in the life to come, and with the greater delight, because with greater security. He will then be able to swallow down with facility what He cannot take now without first dissolving it by a process of diligent and toilsome manducation.

We have next to apply our minds to a consideration of the day and the shadows mentioned by the Spouse. What is that day? What are these shadows? Why is the day said to "aspire"?¹ By what power are the shadows made to incline? For she says, with deliberate explicitness, "Till the day aspire and the shadows be inclined." And not alone explicitly, but singularly also, because, unless I am deceived, this is the only place where you will find the day represented as aspiring. To aspire is to breathe towards. Now winds are said to breathe, but never days. Man also breathes, and so do all the irrational animals; indeed it is by the uninterrupted alternation of inhaling and exhaling the air that they preserve their lives. And how does this motion of the air in respiration differ from wind? The Holy Spirit likewise breathes; and the very name of spirit is derived from the act of breathing {spiritus, spirans). But in what sense can a day be said to breathe, since it is neither a wind, nor an animal, nor a spirit? And yet the Spouse speaks of it not only as breathing, but-which is more significant-as breathing towards something, that is aspiring Not less unusual is the expression, IM the shadows be indined." For at the rise of this corporeal and visible sun above us, the shadows are anmhilated rather than inclined. Consequently we have to seek for the objects referred to here outside the material universe. And if we succeed in discovering a spiritual day and spiritual shadows, then perhaps the aspiring of the former and the inclining of the latter shall become more clearly intelligible. Now if there be anyone who regards as something corporeal that day whereof the Psalmist sings, "Better is one day in Thy courts above thousands," I know not what such a person would call incorporeal. There is also a day of evil import, that, namely, which was cursed by the Prophets, Job and Jeremias. But God forbid that we should believe it to be one of the days "which the Lord hath made "! It must therefore be a spiritual day.

To come now to the shadow, who doubts that it was a spiritual shadow which overshadowed Mary at the moment when she conceived the Saviour? And who doubts that it is of a spiritual shadow the Prophet Jeremias is speaking where he says, "A Spirit before our face (is) Christ the Lord, under His shadow we shall hve among the gentiles"? But in my opinion the Spouse in this place designates by the name of shadows the "opposing powers," who are not only shadows but even darkness, nay, "the princes of this darkness,'^ as they are called by the Apostle; and with these wicked angels are included those of our own race who adhere to them, the sons, not of the day, nor of the light, but of the night and the darkness. For, as is evident, these shadows shall not entirely vanish away immediately that the day aspires or breaks, just as we see the corporeal shadows not only departing but utterly annihilated before the face of the rising corporeal sun. But if the spiritual shadows shall not be reduced in the same way to nothingness, they shaU certainly be brought to a condition more miserable than nothingness. They shall continue in existence, but as" inclined,"that is to say as broken and beaten." He will incline himself and faU, when he shall have power over the poor,"says the Royal Prophet, speaking no doubt of the prince of darkness. Therefore their nature shall not be destroyed, but they shall lose their capacity for evil; their substance shall remain, but their power shall pass away with the power of darkness. They shaU be" taken away lest they should see the glory

II. of God "They shall be preserved from annihilation, but only to burn for ever in the fires of hell. Surely these spiritual shadows shall then be inclined when the mighty shall be put down from their seats and made a footstool for the just. And these things, my brethren, "must shortly come to pass." We are now in "the last hour"; "the night is passed and the day is at hand." And when the day shall aspire the night must expire. That night is the devil; that night is the "angel of Satan "who transformeth himself into an angel of light"; that might is Antichrist, "whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the Spirit of His Mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." As for the day. what can that be but the Lord Himself? Yes. He is mamfestly the Day bright and "aspiring." Who by the Spmt of His Mouth shall put the shadows to flight, and shall destroy the diabolical spectres "with the brightness of His coming "But some of you may prefer to take the word "incline "more simply, and to suppose that the inch-nation of the shadows means their annihilation. According to this view, lest it should be thought that we are not taking account of every interpretation-according to this view, I say, the shadows should be considered as'designating the figures and mysteries of Holy Scnpture also the specious utterances, and the verbal quibbling, and the involved arguments of the sophists because by all these things, as by shadows, the light of truth is at present prevented from shining fully upon our souls. For now "we know in part and we prophesy in part but when that which is perfect shall come, that which is in part shall be done away.'

I should now have said enough on the verse under discussion, had the Spouse represented the day as "breathing "and not as "breathing towards," that is, as "aspiring." But on account of such addition, small though it be, I think it necessary to offer some further remarks, which may help to explain her selection of the word "aspiring." For I confess that it has long been my conviction, that, in the text of Sacred Scripture, so holy and precious, not a single jot or tittle is without its special significance. With regard to the expression *' aspiring," we use it whenever we want to signify a particularly ardent desire of someone for something. For example, we say that such a person aspires to such an honour or to such a dignity. In this place, therefore, the word is employed to indicate the marvellous abundance and vehemence of the Spirit reserved for that future day,² when not alone our minds but our bodies too, though in a different manner, shall be spirituaHsed; and when such of us as may be found worthy, "shall be filled with the plenty of God's house," and allowed to "drink of the torrent of His pleasure."

Here is another interpretation. Already the "day of sanctification hath shone" for the holy angels, breathing and wafting to them, by the constant flux of a perpetual motion, the mellifluous secrets of the Eternal Godhead. For, as the Psalmist says, "The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful." He refers to that city which in another place he thus addresses, "The dwelling in thee is, as it were, of all rejoicing." But when the same "day of sanctification" f shall also breathe upon us who dwell here below and shall expand its bosom, so to speak, in order to admit the children of earth, may it not then be described not only as breathing but even as breathing with labour, that is to say, as gasping or aspiring? Or again, to begin at a higher point and with a wider scope, we may consider that the inspiring day was made for us when, having "formed man of the slime of the earth," the Creator "breathed (inspiravit) into his face the breath of life" But alas! the devil, as an envious night, invaded with a simulated brightness that first day of inspiration and innocence; and promising a more resplendent light of knowledge, dimmed on a sudden the li-^ht of God with the darkness of evil counsel, and overcast the very dawn of our existence with the black cloud of woful prevarication. Alas for our first parents ' "They have not known nor understood; they walked in darkness," says the Psalmist, "and put darkness for light and light for darkness," adds the Prophet Isaias. For the woman ate of the fruit, which the serpent offered her but which God hath forbidden her she also gave it to her husband. Then a new day, as it were, began to dawn upon them, and immediately "the eyes of them both were opened." Thus was formed the conspiring day, bringing to a close the inspiring day, and introducing in its place the expiring day For the serpent's craft and the woman's persuasiveness and her husband's weakness met and conspired together "against the Lord and against His Christ." Hence They, viz., the Father and the Son, said to Each Other, "Behold Adam is become as one I of Us" because to the injury of Them Both he had consented to the sinners that flattered him. It is in this conspiring day, my brethren, that we have all been born. For we all bear branded upon our souls the impress of that primeval conspiracy. Eve is still living in our flesh; and by means of the concupiscence inherited from her, the serpent, with tireless solicitude, endeavours to make us participants in his own rebellion. It is because of this that holy men have cursed the conspiring day (as I have already mentioned), praying that it would be short and be quickly changed into darkness; because it is a day of contention and contradiction, during which "the flesh lusteth (unceasingly) against the spirit," and the "law of our members" is found "contradicting the law of our minds" with a constant and unwearying opposition. Thus the conspiring day has become an expiring day. From that time forward it could be asked, "Who is the man that shall live and not see death?" Others may think that this universality of death is exclusively an effect of anger. But to me it seems to be also and equally ascribable to mercy, lest otherwise the elect, for whose sake all things are done, should be unable to endure the bitterness of long-continued contradiction. For they also are led captive under the law of sin, which reigns in their members; although they abhor the dishonourable servitude and the depressing strife, and submit to them most unwillingly.

Let us, then, my brethren, make haste to the day of respiration and reanimation, after that ancient and evil day of conspiracy and expiration, because "the days of man are short." Let the resipring day receive us, before the suspiring night swallows us up, and involves us in the eternal gloom of the "exterior darkness." Do you ask me in what this respiration consists? I answer that we begin to respire in a spiritual sense when the spirit in its turn begins to lust against the flesh. To fight against the flesh is to respire. You are respiring when "by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh." You have respired when you "have crucified your flesh with the vices and concupiscences." "I chastise my body," says the Apostle, "and bring it into subjection; lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway." These, my brethren, are the words of one who was respiring, rather of one who had respired long before. "Go, and do thou in like manner," I say to each one of you, that you may prove yourselves to have respired, and that you may know that the inspiring day has again begun to shine upon you. Nor shall the night of death be able to conquer this returning day, because it shall shine even amidst the darkness "and the darkness (shall) not comprehend it." And so far am I from thinking that the "light of life "shall be extinguished with fife itself, that I beUeve to none more truly than to the dead who have died in this light, may be applied the words of the Psalmist, "And night shall be my light in my pleasures." Why should not the soul be able to see more distinctly when she has put aside the cloud or rather the filth of the flesh which now obstructs her vision? Certainly, once her material bonds are broken, she shall be "free amongst the dead" and seeing amongst the blind. Of old, as we read, when every eye was darkened "in all the land of Egypt," the people who had by faith the vision of God, that is to say, the people of Israel, were alone able to distinguish objects clearly in the midst of the gloom, for "wheresoever the children of

359 Israel dwelt there was light." In the same way, amidst the dense shades of death and amongst the sons of darkness, the just shall shine with greater glory and shall see with keener sight, because they shall have passed out of the shadow of the body. On the other hand, they who have not respired before death, who have not sought the light of the inspiring day, on whom the Suft of Justice hath never arisen, they shall pass from darkness into denser darkness. Hence, they who in this life abide in darkness shall abide in deeper darkness in the life to come; and they who live here in light shall hereafter live in greater light.

Of this intensification both of light and darkness in the world to come we may understand, and not unreasonably, the words of the Lord, where He says, "To every one that hath shall be given and he shall abound; and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken from him." So it is. Those who see shall obtain after death an increase of light, whereas those who do not see shall even lose the little light they may seem to possess. For in proportion as the vision of the former grows more and more clear, the blindness of the latter becomes darker and darker, until those are received into the aspiring day and these swallowed up in the suspiring night. Thus the last end for both shall be either the extreme of brightness or the extreme of darkness. When this consummation has been reached no more light shall remain to be taken from the one class, who shall be altogether empty; nor can any more be added to the other class, who shall be completely full; except indeed that the latter shall still have hope to receive in some way or other even more than a plenitude, according to the promise made to them. For the Lord has said, "Good measure, and pressed down, and shaken together and running over, shall they give into your bosom." Is it not evident to you that a measure which runs over must be more than full? But you will feel no surprise to hear of a measure being more than full, if you remember what is said in Exodus, "The Lord shall reign for ever and beyond" (in aeternum et ultra). Such therefore shall be the superabundance of the aspiring day. It shall add to the measure, full and abounding, of the inspiring day, "working for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory," so that the excess of glory superadded shall overflow to our bodies. This appears to be the reason why that day is called not a breathing (spirans) day, but rather an aspiring day, the Holy Ghost wishing to signify by the addition of the prefix ad (ad-spirans=aspirans) what "aspiration" superadds to "spiration" or "inspiration." For those whom the inspiring day interiorly enlightens, are exteriorly adorned by the aspiring day, and vested with the "robe of glory"³

I have now, I hope, said enough to explain what is meant by the expression "till the day aspire." And if you wish to know, this aspiring day is nothing else but He Whom "we look for, the Saviour, Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the Body of His glory." He is also the inspiring day, according to the operation vhereby He causes us to respire in the light which He infuses; so that we may become in Him a respiring day, whilst our "inward man is renewed from day to day," "renewed in the Spirit of his mind" "to the image of Him Who created him," becoming thus day of His day, and light of His light. Already, my brethren, two of the good days have dawned for us, I mean the day of inspiration, which represents the life infused into us by God at the beginning, and the day of respiration, which signifies the restoration of the spiritual life of the soul by grace and holiness; whilst the third day still remains, namely the aspiring day, which shall break upon us in the glory of the general resurrection. In this way, therefore, we shall most certainly see fulfilled in the body sometime what has been already accomplished in the Head. I speak of that "great mystery of godliness," and the prediction of the Prophet, "He will revive us after two days; on the third He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord" the same "on Whom the angels desire to look," the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is over all things God, blessed for ever. Amen.

Footnotes

1. "Donec aspiret dies et inclinentur umbrae." The Douay Version has, "Till the day break and the shadows retire." But such a rendering makes this whole sermon unintelligible. I have consequently taken the liberty to translate "aspiret" and "inclinentur" in a manner more in harmony with St. Bernard's context.—(Translator.) ↩

2. The holy Preacher is here assigning two reasons why the day ot the general resurrection may be called an aspiring day. namely that It IS a day for our desires or aspirations, and that the Spirit wiU then breathe upon us in an especial way.— (Translator.) ↩

3. In this sermon the Saint distinguishes five mystical days, viz., dies inspirans, dies conspirans, dies expirans, dies respirans, dies aspirans. The first symbolises man in the state of innocence in which he was created; the second, man rebelling against his Creator; the third, man in his fallen state; the fourth, man as restored to grace; the fifth, man as glorified in soul and body. To these spiritual days are added the "nox suspirans" of those who, missing the "dies respirans" and the "dies aspirans" shall live eternally in the night of sighs and darkness.—(Translator.) ↩