The impudence of the sinner displeases God as much as the modesty of the penitent gives him pleasure. Saint Bernard More Quotes by Saint Bernard More Quotes From Saint Bernard It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment. Saint Bernard You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters. Saint Bernard God removes the sin of the one who makes humble confession, and thereby the devil loses the sovereignty he had gained over the human heart. Saint Bernard devil humble god heart Humility is a good estate; founded thereon, the whole spiritual edifice grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Through humility, some have even possessed the gates of their enemies. For which of the virtues is so mighty to subdue the pride of demons and the tyranny of men? Saint Bernard temple good spiritual men Truly, love is delightful and pleasant food, supplying, as it does, rest to the weary, strength to the weak, and joy to the sorrowful. It in fact renders the yoke of truth easy and its burden light. Saint Bernard strength light food love The animal kingdom is destined by nature to serve, and that service is fulfilled in alleviating the temporal and physical needs of man; the animal spirit or soul is limited by time - it dies with the body. Saint Bernard man nature soul time Christian, learn from Christ how you ought to love Christ. Learn a love that is tender, wise, strong; love with tenderness, not passion, wisdom, not foolishness, and strength, lest you become weary and turn away from the love of the Lord. Saint Bernard passion strength wisdom love That heart alone is hard which does not shudder at itself for not feeling its hardness. Saint Bernard alone feeling hard heart I believe though I do not comprehend, and I hold by faith what I cannot grasp with the mind. Saint Bernard i-believe faith mind believe Charity never lacks what is her own, all that she needs for her own security. Not alone does she have it, she abounds with it. She wants this abundance for herself that she may share it with all; and she reserves enough for herself so that she disappoints nobody. For charity is perfect only when full. Saint Bernard nobody alone never charity Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you want is not a sceptre, but a hoe. The prophet does not rise to reign, but to root out the weeds. Saint Bernard rise you want work You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason he is to be loved. Saint Bernard loved me you god I was made a sinner by deriving my being from Adam; I am made just by being washed in the blood of Christ and not by Christ's 'words and example.' Saint Bernard words i-am being blood We seek for truth in ourselves; in our neighbours, and in its essential nature. We find it first in ourselves by severe self scrutiny, then in our neighbours by compassionate indulgence, and, finally, in its essential nature by that direct vision which belongs to the pure in heart. Saint Bernard vision nature truth heart There are people who go clad in tunics and have nothing to do with furs, who nevertheless are lacking in humility. Surely humility in furs is better than pride in tunics. Saint Bernard better pride humility people A man who prides himself on being better than his fellow-men thinks it a disgrace if he does not do something more than they do, whereby his superiority may be apparent. Saint Bernard something better being man For every benefit conferred, God is to be praised in his gifts. Otherwise when the time of judgment comes, that man will be punished as an ingrate who cannot say to God: 'Your statutes were my song in the land of exile.' Saint Bernard man god time song Even the holy men who lived before the coming of Christ understood that God had in mind plans of peace for the human race. Saint Bernard god mind men peace I myself, however wretched I may be, have been occasionally privileged to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and to the extent that his merciful love allowed, have embraced with all my heart, now one, now the other, of these feet. Saint Bernard myself feet heart love Sorrow for sin is indeed necessary, but it should not be an endless preoccupation. You must dwell also on the glad remembrance of God's loving-kindness; otherwise, sadness will harden the heart and lead it more deeply into despair. Saint Bernard you sadness god heart
