Jesus, what made You so small? LOVE!
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXJesus, what made You so small? LOVE!
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXthere are four degrees of love: 1) Love of self for self’s sake. 2) Love of God for self’s sake. 3) Love of God for God’s own sake. 4) Love of self for God’s sake.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXProstrate, see Thy cross I grasp,And Thy pierced feet I clasp;Gracious Jesus, spurn me not;On me, with compassion fraught.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXAnd thus communicates, without loss to itself, its superabundant water. In the Church at the present day, we have many canals, few reservoirs.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXIngratitude is the soul’s enemy… Ingratitude is a burning wind that dries up the source of love, the dew of mercy, the streams of grace.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXTrue love does not demand a reward, but it deserves one.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXDeath is the gate of life.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXPride only, the chief of all iniquities, can make us treat gifts as if they were rightful attributes of our nature, and, while receiving benefits, rob our Benefactor of His due glory.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXThe more I contemplate God, the more God looks on me. The more I pray to him, the more he thinks of me too.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXHe rightly reads scripture who turns words into deeds.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXA pretext is never lacking to him who would break with a friend.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXLet us then cast ourselves at the feet of this good Mother, and embracing them let us not depart until she blesses us, and accepts us for her children.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXAnd truly, O man, if you concentrate hard on the state you are in it will be surprising if you have time for anything else.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXI know by myself how incomprehensible God is, seeing I cannot comprehend the parts of my own being.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXWhen God forgives a sinner who humbly confesses his sin, the devil loses his dominion over the heart he had taken.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUXThe measure of love is love without measure.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX