Day 1
St. Bernard, you have said:
“Neither fear nor self-interest can convert the soul.
They may change the appearance,
perhaps even the conduct,
but never the object of supreme desire…
Fear is the motive which constrains the slave;
greed binds the selfish man,
by which he is tempted
when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed [James 1:14].
But neither fear nor self-interest is undefiled,
nor can they convert the soul.
Only charity can convert the soul,
freeing it from unworthy motives.”
DAILY PRAYERS
St. Bernard you have given us this prayer
and with you we pray:
(The Memorare)
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that any one who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help,
and sought thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired with this confidence,
I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of virgins, my Mother,
to thee I come,
before thee I stand sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate!
despise not my petitions,
but, in thy mercy, hear and answer me.
Amen.
O God, who made of the Abbot Saint Bernard
a man consumed with zeal for Your House
and a light shining and burning in Your Church,
grant, through his intercession,
that we may be on fire with the same spirit
and walk always as children of light.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Day 2
St. Bernard you have said:
“The man who is wise, therefore,
will see his life as more like a reservoir than a canal.
The canal simultaneously pours out what it receives;
the reservoir retains the water till it is filled,
then discharges the overflow without loss to itself…
Today there are many in the Church who act like canals,
the reservoirs are far too rare…
You too must learn to await this fullness
before pouring out your gifts,
do not try to be more generous than God.”
Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
Day 3
St. Bernard you have said:
“Righteousness is the natural and essential food of the soul,
which can no more be satisfied by earthly treasures
than the hunger of the body can be satisfied by air.
If you should see a starving man standing
with mouth open to the wind,
inhaling draughts of air
as if in hope of gratifying his hunger,
you would think him lunatic.
But it is no less foolish to imagine that the soul
can be satisfied with worldly things
which only inflate it without feeding it.”
Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
Day 4
St. Bernard you have said:
“Ignorance is brutal, arrogance is devilish.
Pride only, the chief of all iniquities,
can make us treat gifts
as if they were rightful attributes of our nature,
and, while receiving benefits,
rob our Benefactor of His due glory.”
“Let your prayer for temporal blessings
be strictly limited to things absolutely necessary.”
Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
Day 5
St. Bernard you have said:
“Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts,
Thou fount of life,
thou Light of men,
From the best bliss that earth imparts
We turn unfilled to Thee again.
We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still:
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead,
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.
O Jesus, ever with us stay,
Make all our moments calm and bright;
Chase the dark night of sin away,
Shed o’er the world Thy holy light.”
Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
Day 6
St. Bernard you have said:
“Let no one believe that he has received the Divine kiss,
if he knows the truth without loving it
or loves it without understanding it.
But blessed is that kiss whereby
not only is God recognized but also the Father is loved;
for there is never full knowledge without perfect love.”
Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
Day 7
St. Bernard you have said:
“It was love that motivated His self-emptying,
that led Him to become a little lower than angels,
to be subject to parents,
to bow His head beneath the Baptist’s hands,
to endure the weakness of the flesh,
and to submit to death even upon the cross”
Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
Day 8
St. Bernard you have said:
“Many appear full of mildness and sweetness
as long as everything goes their own way;
but the moment any contradiction or adversity arises,
they are in a flame,
and begin to rage like a burning mountain.
Such people as these are like red-hot coals hidden under ashes.
This is not the mildness which Our Lord undertook
to teach us in order to make us like unto Himself.”
“If anyone makes himself his own master in the spiritual life,
he makes himself scholar to a fool.”
Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
Day 9
St. Bernard you have said:
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“Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son
by the great praise we lavish on the Mother;
for the more she is honored,
the greater is the glory of her Son.
There can be no doubt
that whatever we say in praise of the Mother
gives equal praise to the Son.
O Blessed Mary,
whoever loves you honors God;
whoever serves you pleases God;
whoever invokes your holy name with a pure heart
will infallibly receive the object of his petition.“
Repeat the “Daily Prayers” in Day 1 above.
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