The first half (sermons 1-43) of the Commentary on the Song of Songs by St. Bernard of Clairvaux is now available on this website. Thanks to the Internet Archive and Br. Sean (a monk) for the text–the text of the Song of Songs Commentary here is identical to that on the Internet Archive, except for [...]
Archive for the ‘love’ Category
Only excerpts or summaries of the posts are shown on this page. Click on the title of a post to see the whole post.Commentary on the Song of Songs
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009A child is born to us
Thursday, December 25th, 2008"Puer natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis!" Today a child is born to us, a son is given us! These words upon the joyful Mass of Christmas day, in which we recall the birth of our Lord into the world, and into our hearts. The God who is above all stoops down in [...]
Predestination and hope in St. Paul
Friday, December 5th, 2008I've recently had the occasion, in working with a student on predestination, to consider once again the role of predestination in St. Paul's letter to the Romans. It seems to some that the doctrine of predestination is at best useless, and at worst a dangerous doctrine, which tends to produce either presumption or despair. There [...]
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit according to Thomas Aquinas
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:14) If you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. (Galatians 5:18) What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and what do they do? This post proposes an interpretation of St. Thomas Aquinas's teaching on "being [...]
Every saint is unique
Saturday, November 1st, 2008St. Catherine of Sienna in her Treatise of Divine Providence keeps to the teaching that the virtues are connected, i.e., that whoever has one virtue, must have all of them. Nevertheless she teaches that God gives to each person one particular virtue as principal: to one he gives principally love, to another justice, to another [...]
Levels of love of neighbor
Thursday, October 30th, 2008This is a summary of Aquinas's division of love of neighbor in his work On the Perfection of the Spiritual Life. His aim here is explaining the perfection of the religious state and the episcopal state. Necessary love of neighbor The basic commandments is "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." From these follows three [...]
Aquinas on Degrees of Love for God
Thursday, October 30th, 2008Three levels of love of God St. Thomas Aquinas, in his work On the Perfection of the Spiritual Life distinguishes three essential levels of love of God: (1) God's love for himself; (2) The love of the blessed saints and angels for God; (3) The love of those in grace and charity on earth. (1) [...]
Mercy of God
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008While sin itself is always bad, for the sinner who sincerely repents, and turns to God who forgives the sin, it can be the occasion of joy over the mercy and love of God that are revealed in his forgiveness of it. St. Thérèse of Lisieux apparently went so far as to say that the [...]
Proof of God's Love
Sunday, September 14th, 2008Today is the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, where the glory of God's love appears. Sometimes one is inclined to see only the dishonor and pain of the cross, and glory first in the Resurrection. But indeed, precisely while raised on the Cross, Christ reveals his glory, the glory of his love and [...]
My Vocation is Love!
Thursday, September 11th, 2008“O Jesus, my Love, finally I have found my vocation: my vocation is Love!… Yes, I have found my place in the Church, and it is you, O my God, who have given me this place… in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be Love!…. Thus I shall be all things: thus [...]
I am a Catholic seminarian and deacon in Vienna, and a teacher at the