Friday 25 January 2013

St. Paul Conversion. Sermon of. St Bernard

At a time, St. Bernard's passage lends itself to poem form.
Caravaggio  1600/01
These were the words for the monks at the Clairvaux Chapter.


Friday, 25 January 2013
The Conversion of Saint Paul, apostle - Feast

Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and doctor of the Church 
1st Sermon for the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, 1, 6 ; PL 183, 359 

"Lord, what would you have me do?"
Rightly, beloved brethren,
is the conversion of “the teacher of the Gentiles” (1Tim 2,7)
a feast that all nations joyfully celebrate today.
Numerous indeed are the shoots that have sprung from this root:
once converted, Paul became the instrument of the whole world's conversion.
In former days, while he was still living in the flesh but not according to the flesh (cf. Rom 8,5f.),
he converted many to God by his preaching, and still today,
now that he is living a happier life in God,
he does not cease to work for our conversion by his example,
prayer and teaching...

This feast is a great source of blessings for those who celebrate it...
How can we despair, however great the enormity of our sins, when we hear that:
“Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord”
was suddenly transformed into “a chosen instrument”? (Acts 9,1.15)
Who could say from beneath the weight of their sins:
“I can't raise myself up to live a better life” when, on the very road that his heart,
thirsting with hatred, was leading him, this implacable persecutor
suddenly became a devoted preacher?
This conversion alone shows us on a splendid day
the greatness of God's mercy and power of his grace

Take good note, my brethren, of this perfect model of conversion:
“My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready...
What would you have me do?”
(Ps 57[56],8; Acts 9,6).
Brief words but how pregnant, alive, efficacious and worthy of being answered!
How few there are who share this disposition of perfect obedience
and have denied their wills to the extent that their own hearts
no longer belong to them.
How few there are who seek at every moment not what they themselves want
but what God wants and who are continually saying to him:
“Lord, what would you have me do?”



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