Though I Do Not Comprehend

The Necessary Climb

AGNUS DEI

So I Beg For Help

'I can scarcely contain my tears, so ashamed am I 

of the lukewarmness and lethargy of the present times.'

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Painting: Wilhelm Bernatzik,Vision of St Bernard (cropped), in US public domain due to age

This Name is Medicine

'Does one of us feel sad? Let the Name of Jesus come into his heart...  and where is the man who, terrified and trembling before impending peril, has not been suddenly filled with courage and rid of fear by calling on the strength of that Name? Where is the man who, tossed on the rolling seas of doubt, did not quickly find certitude by recourse to the clarity of Jesus' Name? Was ever a man so discouraged, so beaten down by afflictions, to whom the sound of this Name did not bring new resolve? In short, for all the ills and disorders to which flesh is heir, this Name is medicine.'

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Learning from Trees

'The trees and the stones will teach you what you will never learn from the masters.'

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Painting:  Winslow Homer, 1894, in US public domain due to age

Jesus, To Me.....

 
'Jesus to me 
     is 
honey 
     in the mouth, 
music
     in the ear, 
a song 
     in the heart.'

       St. Bernard










Painting: Edmund Charles Tarbell, 
in US public domain due to age (PD-US)

What Will Faith Not Find?

You are good, Lord,
to the soul that seeks You.
Make me seek You with desire,
follow You with deeds,
find You through faith.
What is there that faith will not find?
It reaches inaccessible realities,
discovers the unknown,
embraces the immeasurable,
takes possession of the eternal,
and finally, in a certain manner,
contains eternity itself
with its vast expanse.'

St. Bernard





Painting: Szinyei Merse, Poppies in the Field, 1902;
in US public domain due to age

God is the Cause of Loving God

'God is the cause of loving God....

He Himself creates the longing.

He Himself fulfills the desire....

Kindly, He leads the way.

He repays us justly.

He is our sweet hope.

He is riches to all who call upon Him.  

There is nothing better than Himself.  

He gave Himself in merit.  

He keeps Himself to be our reward.'

St. Bernard of Clairvaux


Painting:  El Greco, St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata