August 20 St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Madonna and Child

Fontenay Abbey, France,

founded by St. Bernard, 1141 "The Violet of Humility

The lily of chastity

and the rose of charity" -- St. Bernard

St. Bernard describes Mary under the title of Mystical Rose:

"Eve was a thorn, wounding, bringing death to all; in Mary we see a rose, soothing everybody's hurts, giving the destiny of salvation back to all. Mary was a rose, white for maidenhood, red for love; white in body, red in soul; white in her seeking after virtue, red in treading down vice; white in cleansing her affections, red in mortifying her flesh; white in her love of God, red in compassion for her neighbor"

Gardens, Fontenay Abbey

Gaze At the Star!

O man, whoever you are, carried along by the tide of this world, tossed adrift among its storms and tempests, never take your eyes from the light of this star. When the winds of temptation are unleashed upon you, when you are washed up on the reefs of adversity, fix your eyes on the star, and call to Mary! If you are tossed on the waves of pride, ambition or jealousy, look at the star and cry out for Mary! If anger or greed or the beguiling charms of the flesh rock the vessel of your soul, gaze at Mary. When, racked by the enormity of your sins, ashamed that your conscience is sullied or in terror of the threat of judgment, you are swallowed up by the abyss of sorrow or plunged into the depths of despair, think of Mary. When you are in danger, distress or desperate situations, call for Mary, cry out to Mary! Oh, that her name may never leave your lips, may never leave your heart; never cease to imitate her life so that you may obtain the favor of her prayers. (...) And your own experience will show you the rightness of calling out that word: the name of the virgin was Mary! St Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) Excerpt from his second homily "Super Missus"

Flower of the Day

Daffodil

Represents Mary's Star

215. Matt 2:9. . . . and behold the star which they had seen in the East went before them until it came and stood over where the child was. Literal sense.

The” star” was a luminous object in the atmosphere, and it came close above the house in which the divine child was (Ambrose in the Catena, p. 74). Allegorical sense.

The star of the Magi, the star of Bethlehem, is a figure of Jesus, who arose out of Jacob through the Blessed Virgin Mary. Jesus says: I am the root and stock of David, the bright and morning star (Rev 22:16).

And it also represents the Virgin Mary, who is the Star of the Sea (St. Bernard of Clairvaux).

The star leads the way to Jesus and to salvation, and the way is Jesus (cf. Ambrose, ibid.). “. . . and nations that knew you not shall run to you” (Isa 55:5).

The star is a figure of the light of grace in Jesus, and the house is a figure of the Church, while Herod is a figure of the Devil. Whoever turns to the Devil loses the light of grace, but, when he turns away from the Devil, he regains this light leading to Jesus in the Church (cf. Remigius in the Catena, p. 75).

Tropologically, the star of the Magi prefigures the light of faith and divine inspiration leading those who are sincerely searching for Jesus to a knowledge of the truth and to higher levels of goodness and holiness.

Anagogically, the star represents the destiny of those who lead others to truth and holiness: But they that are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and they that instruct many to justice like stars for ever and ever (Dan 12:3). “He who has a taste for the things that are above . . . is in a sense a heavenly light.

And while he preserves the brightness of a holy life, he shows to many the way to the Lord like a star” (Leo the Great, Sermon 3 “On the Epiphany,” quoted in Cornelius, p. 77A).

Ave Maria!