Author Archives: monks4christ

the Beautiful Motherhood of Mary

“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.”

“Go to this Mother of Mercy, and show her the wounds which thy sins have left on thy soul; then will she certainly entreat her Son, by the breast that gave him suck, to pardon thee all. And this divine Son, who loves her so tenderly, will most certainly grant her petition”

“Mary is that happy ark, in which those who take refuge will never suffer the shipwreck of eternal perdition”

St. Bernard of Clairveaux

Ding Dong Merrily on High

Christmas Songs . VID

Ding dong merrily on high,
In heav’n the bells are ringing:
Ding dong! verily the sky
Is riv’n with angel singing
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!

E’en so here below, below,
Let steeple bells be swungen,
And “Io, io, io!”
By priest and people sungen
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!

Pray you, dutifully prime
Your matin chime, ye ringers,
May you beautifully rhyme
Your eve’time song, ye singers
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!

Tidings of Peace and Joy

on the Lord’s Birthday

Great is this day’s solemn feast of the Lord’s birth dearly beloved. But the short day requires me to shorten my sermon. What wonder if we make our word short, when God the Father has made his Word short. ‘From everlasting to everlasting’ says the prophet, you are God and see he has become an infant a day old.

Why was it necessary that the Lord of majesty so empty himself, so humble himself, so abbreviate himself. Was it not that you might do likewise ? Already he is crying out by his example what later he will proclaim by his words: ‘Learn from me for i am meek and humble of heart.

Consequently i beg and earnestly entreat you not to allow so precious a model to be shown you in vain but be conformed to it and renewed in the spirit of your minds. Be zealous for humility which is the foundation and guardian of the virtues. Pursue it for it alone can save your souls.

Great are the works of the Lord says the prophet. ( Ps 111.110:2 ) Great are all his works. Three of his works proclaim his wonderful dealings with us: our primal creation, our present redemption and our future glorification. How each of this proclaims the greatness of your works o Lord!

Recognize your dignity O human being, recognize the glory of human constitution ! Along with the world you have a body. But you have something more sublime as well. Bound together and united within you are flesh and soul, one of them formed and the other ‘breathed in’. From the soul comes beauty, from the soul comes growth, from the soul clarity of vision and the sound of the voice. Divine love is what this union commends to me. Divine love is what i see written on the very page of my creation.

From the Sermons of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot