James Finley reflects on the teachings of the twelfth-century mystic and monastic reformer Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most prolific commentators on the Song of Songs:
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) was the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux. He was so enamored of the Song of Songsthat he wrote eighty-six sermons about it over the last twenty years of his life. He went line by line. He thought of it as the supreme text of all Scripture because of its nuptial theme—the ultimate union of incarnate love. It’s personal for me because I lived in a Cistercian monastery with Thomas Merton, where I was steeped in this union and love mysticism.
The Cistercians were founded as a reform of the Benedictine monasteries. They felt the need to get back to the heart of Benedict’s Rule, which is also the heart of the gospel. In the opening sentences of the Rule of Saint Benedict, he said, “Listen, my child, to the words of the master, and if today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.” The master is Christ, so we’ve got to listen to hear the voice of Jesus calling to us in our hearts.
Through his sermons on the Song of Songs, Bernard was trying to help us understand what it means to obey God on a deep level. Basically, to obey God is to interiorly accept that the infinite presence of God is an ongoing self-donating act that is presencing itself and giving its very presence away as the gift of our very presence. Love is the fullness of presence. Infinite love is giving itself to us as the gift and the miracle of the immediacy of our very presence in our nothingness without God. To see that and to accept it is to obey God. Bernard is trying to reestablish the radicality of this infinite love, which is infinitely in love with us in our brokenness. He used the Song of Songs to do that because it’s a song about being in love. It’s romantic, sexual, erotic, mystical, and marital love. [1]
Bernard of Clairvaux comments on the opening lines of the Song of Songs:
Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth (1:1). Who speaks? The bride. Who is she? The soul thirsting for God…. If one is a servant he is in dread of his lord’s face. If one is a hireling he hopes for pay from his lord’s hand. If one is a disciple he gives ear to his teacher. If one is a son he honors his father. But the soul who begs a kiss, is in love. Among the gifts of nature this affection of love holds first place, especially when it makes haste to return to its Origin, which is God. Words cannot be found so sweet as to express the sweet affections of the Word and the soul for each other, except bride and Bridegroom. [2]
References:
[1] James Finley, “A Love Mystic and His Text,” Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations (CAC Publishing, 2026).
[2] Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Bernard on the Love of God, trans. Terence L. Connolly (Spiritual Book Associates, 1937), 77–78.
Image credit and inspiration: Kim MacKinnon, untitled (detail), 2018, photo, Canada, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Gazing lovingly upon the moon reminds us of the loving gaze of the soul toward God and God’s loving gaze in return.
Story from Our Community:
Today I am feeling oppressed by the sense that my life is out of control and that I am drifting into depression. I’ve been here before and find that what it takes to see me through is trust that God can help me find my way and come out the other side with an awareness of God’s grace. It encourages me to trust and obey. I’m not sure where today will lead but I know from past times that a way is found and that it is God who was making it happen.
—Don M.
