20 August 2019 - Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church - Tuesday of the 20th week of Ordinary Time - Psalm 85

    As I reflected on the readings today, the message of peace in the psalm stood out to me. The psalm states that God proclaims peace, that peace and justice, kindness and truth shall all meet.  Very poetic words, and a very lofty ideal to strive toward if we really look at what the words have to say.

     As we talk about peace, we celebrate St Bernard of Clairvaux on his feast day.  He was an Abbot in the Cistercian monastic order from France in the 12th Century.  It is told that Bernard joined the monastic life at the age of 16, bringing along five of his brothers in a group that included more than 30 family and friends, all of them joining the monastery together. Bernard is considered the most influential theologian and Church leader from his era in Church history.  He is considered by many theologians and Church historians as the last of the Church Fathers. His theological and spiritual influences are considered so significant that he was named as a Doctor of the Church. Among him many contributions to the Church, Bernard founded many monasteries and he healed a schism that was forming in the Church in his day.  In obedience to the pope, he was sent throughout Europe to gather support for the Second Crusade in the Holy Land.  Through Bernard’s eloquent appeals, a massive European army was assembled, so success in this Crusade seem all but assured, but the project ended in disaster, so much so that responsibility that Bernard felt haunted him until the time of his death.  Perhaps Bernard wondered if his efforts in advocating for a Holy Crusade violated the peace and justice that we hear advocated in today’s psalm.  Bernard’s legacy still remains with us today.  The Trappist monasteries that exist in the world today are in the tradition of the Cistercian monastic order that Bernard helped spread throughout the world.  And his love of Mary, his theology which saw Mary as an important guide and intercessor in our faith, is still felt today with the great love of Mary that is so prevalent in our Catholic faithful.