Tuesday, December 16 : Saint Bernard

The first degree of contemplation, my beloved, is that we constantly consider what the Lord wants, what pleases him, what is pleasing to him. In many things we all offend him, our lack of simplicity offends the righteousness of his will, and this prevents us from uniting, from attaching ourselves to him. Let us therefore humble ourselves under the mighty hand of the most high God and hasten to expose all our misery before the eyes of his mercy, saying: “Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed, save me and I will be saved” (Jer 17:14), and again: “Have mercy on me, Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you” (Ps 40:5). When the eye of the heart is purified by these kinds of thoughts, we no longer live with a heart full of bitterness but in the delights found in the Spirit of God. Already we no longer consider what God’s will is for us, but what the nature of this will is. God wants life, and absolutely nothing is more useful and profitable than to submit to his will. And this is why the eagerness we put into wanting to preserve our life, let us also put it, as far as possible, into not deviating from the path leading to His will.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team