As the ocean…is the source of all rivers and fountains, so is our Lord Jesus Christ the Well-Spring of all virtue and knowledge.
For who but the “King of Glory” can be the “Lord of Virtues”? And, according to the Canticle of Anna, the same Lord is “the God of knowledge”.
Purity of body, industry of the heart, rectitude of will – all flow from this Divine Fountain.
Yet not such graces only. Every intellectual endowment, every gift of eloquence, every pleasing disposition, must also be ascribed to the same Source.
Thence is derived every word of wisdom and all knowledge, from Him, namely, “in Whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden”.
What, I ask, are chaste thoughts, just judgments, holy desires, but so many rivulets from the Divine Spring?
Now, if the currents of natural water are ceaselessly pouring themselves back again into the sea through secret and subterranean channels, in order to return once more to us with unwearied service, for the satisfaction of our sight and supply of our necessities;
Why should not the spiritual streams, also, revert to their Source without interruption or diminution, so that they may revisit and irrigate anew the plains of our souls?
Therefore, let the rivers of grace flow back to the Fountain-Head, that they may again descend upon us.
Let the heavenly tide re-seek its Origin that the earth may be watered with a more generous inundation.
Do you ask how this is to be done? The Apostle tells you when he says, “In all things be giving thanks”.
Whatever wisdom, whatever virtue you believe yourselves to possess, attribute it all to Christ, Who is the Wisdom and the Knowledge of God.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153): Sermons on the Song of Songs, 13.
Thanks to the Enlarging the Heart Blog.
For who but the “King of Glory” can be the “Lord of Virtues”? And, according to the Canticle of Anna, the same Lord is “the God of knowledge”.
Purity of body, industry of the heart, rectitude of will – all flow from this Divine Fountain.
Yet not such graces only. Every intellectual endowment, every gift of eloquence, every pleasing disposition, must also be ascribed to the same Source.
Thence is derived every word of wisdom and all knowledge, from Him, namely, “in Whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden”.
What, I ask, are chaste thoughts, just judgments, holy desires, but so many rivulets from the Divine Spring?
Now, if the currents of natural water are ceaselessly pouring themselves back again into the sea through secret and subterranean channels, in order to return once more to us with unwearied service, for the satisfaction of our sight and supply of our necessities;
Why should not the spiritual streams, also, revert to their Source without interruption or diminution, so that they may revisit and irrigate anew the plains of our souls?
Therefore, let the rivers of grace flow back to the Fountain-Head, that they may again descend upon us.
Let the heavenly tide re-seek its Origin that the earth may be watered with a more generous inundation.
Do you ask how this is to be done? The Apostle tells you when he says, “In all things be giving thanks”.
Whatever wisdom, whatever virtue you believe yourselves to possess, attribute it all to Christ, Who is the Wisdom and the Knowledge of God.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153): Sermons on the Song of Songs, 13.
Thanks to the Enlarging the Heart Blog.
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