Solemnity of St Bernard: Parish Patronal Feast Day
Celebrating our Patron today is a wonderful gift to share with others, especially when you consider the type of Saint he was. He was very practical, prayerful, intelligent, wise, had humour and was a peace maker who tried to bring all elements of Church and Civil life together. Popes and princes used him as a confidante and the poor always considered him a brother. He was faithful to his Cistercian calling and set up monasteries across Europe; he promoted great devotion to our Blessed Lady and is said to have composed “The memorare prayer” and was determined that the people understood the full meaning of “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”. Today we give thanks for a great patron and invoke his prayers. Here is a sample of his writings:
“Love is sufficient of itself, it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in its practice. I love because I love: I love that I may love. Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal it may be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.”