Bernard of Clairvaux: Abundant opportunity

In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. Titus 2:7-8

“Ever since I learnt your wish, though I have been turning the matter over in my mind, I cannot easily venture to decide what temper of mind suggested it. For you may in this thing have a zeal towards God, so that your purpose may be excusable. But how such a wish as yours can be fulfilled consistently with prudence I entirely fail to see. “Why so?” you ask. “Is it not wise for me to flee from wealth and the throng of cities, and from the good cheer and pleasure of life? Shall I not keep my purity more safely in the desert, where I can live in peace with just a few, or even alone, and please Him alone to whom I have pledged myself?” By no means. If one would live in an evil manner, the desert brings abundant opportunity: the wood a protecting shade, and solitude silence. The evil that no one sees, no one reproves. Where no critic is feared, there the tempter gains easier access, there wickedness is more readily committed. It is otherwise in a convent. If you do anything good no one prevents you, but if you would do evil you are hindered by many obstacles. If you yield to temptation, it is at once known to many, and is reproved and corrected. So, on the other hand, when you are seen to do anything good, all admire, revere, and copy it. You see, then, my daughter, that in a convent a larger renown awaits your good deeds, and a more speedy rebuke your faults, because there are others there to whom you may set an example by good deeds and whom you will offend by evil.”

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) in “Letter LIII” in Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 146.

Bernard emerges a key figure in the founding of the Cisterian 0rder of monks, a reformed group that spun off from the Benedictines, whom we highlighted yesterday. Like the Benedictines, the Cisterians focused on prayer and work with an extra emphasis charity and self-sufficiency. Whether male or female, they chose to live their lives for God cloistered in community and aimed collectively and caring for each other and blessing outsiders rather than living scattered in a city.

Today’s post comes from a letter between a young woman and Bernard, who served as the abbot (the head of the abbey of monks). In it we discover the idea of abundance in Bernard’s thinking.

This particular young woman seeks Bernard’s advice. She’s thinking of leaving the convent. Ironically, Bernard notes that people have abundant opportunity live for themselves anywhere, whether out in the city or in the cloister. From there, he highlights the value and function of the community. Therein, others set an example for you and can be impacted by the good that you do, while they (as your brothers or sisters) stand ready to rebuke your faults and help you follow Jesus.

Consider the modern applications. When we participate a small group in a community believers such as a local church, our good deeds can influence others more greatly. Furthermore, we have accountability to stay on track ourselves. Are you part of such a community? Like the Cisterians, we must pray and work with the aim of caring for our own needs and ministering to others. If we set an example for one another and remind each other to live this way, together we show the world the Christian faith.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”John 14:12-14

“Brigid became an abbess but she was also a shepherdess, too. Not only did she tend her sheep on the rolling green hills, but she continued to tend the poor, giving freely from her stores and pantry as she had always done. And her community grew in numbers, until both monks and nuns lived under the abbess’ care in Kildare until thousands filled the place offering joyous praise to the Holy Trinity.

But one convent could not contain all of the Irish women who wanted to follow Brigid’s example. So she prayed for abundance again and again, and Christ favored each request. Brigid founded countless communities of nuns, until the convents reached from sea to sea across the green expanse of Ireland.

She found the chieftain in a desperate state, raving so that even servants feared him. As Brigid sat by his bed, silently braiding the rushes that covered the floor he became calm and asked, “What are you making?” “This is a cross,” the abbess said, “which I make in honor of the Virgin’s Son who died for us upon a cross of wood.”

The sick man listened to Brigid’s words of faith, of how Christ gave His life to save mankind, to save both the rich and the poor, the old and the new. And on that day the chief was baptized and died – one more saint added to heaven because of the work and faithful of Saint Brigid, the Abbess of Kildare.”

Brigid of Kildare (c. 450-525) in The Life of Saint Brigid: Abbess of Kildare, by Jane G. Meyer (Chesterton: Conciliar Press, 2009).

Brigid is believed to have been the daughter of a pagan Scottish king and a Christian Pictish slave known for her generous spirit and compassionate heart for the poor. She founded the double monastery in Kildare for monks (men) and nuns (women) where the perpetual fire burns as a symbol of hospitality, constant devotion to God and the poor. Brigid’s story inspires me today to pray for abundance. Care to join me on this Lord’s day?

Father in heaven, for those are lost, we pray for their souls to find abundant life in Jesus Christ. For those who are hungry that we know, supply us abundant resources to feed them. For those who are hurting, give us an abundance of love and mercy to minister to them. For those who are sick, provide an abundance of grace and strength to care for them. And for those who are poor, teach us to share what we have. Hear our prayer for abundance and grant these requests by your Holy Spirit we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“I and the Father are one.” John 10:30

Today’s post is admittedly long so let me put it in context so you will appreciate it. It connects the generous life with the nature of our generous, Triune God, and basically explains why we exist. Hilary (310-367), the bishop of Poitiers, France, was widely known as the “Athanasius of the West” for joining Athanasius in refuting the “Arian controversy.” When Arius of Alexandria (and others) worked to dismantle the relationship between God the Father and Jesus, Athanasius and Hilary, among others, refuted them.

In the opening sections of his treatise On the Trinity 1.1-2, Hilary basically sets the stage for the general notion that the Persons of the Trinity are one. They work and exhibit generosity between one another and towards humanity to show us how to live and function. Why does that matter when it comes to generosity? We learn that the aim of life is not “leisure combined with wealth.” People are not “born only to gratify their greed” but to “progress toward immortality.”

“1. When I was seeking an employment adequate to the powers of human life and righteous in itself, whether prompted by nature or suggested by the researches of the wise, whereby I might attain to some result worthy of that divine gift of understanding which has been given us, many things occurred to me which in general esteem were thought to render life both useful and desirable. And especially that which now, as always in the past, is regarded as most to be desired, leisure combined with wealth, came before my mind. The one without the other seemed rather a source of evil than an opportunity for good, for leisure in poverty is felt to be almost an exile from life itself, while wealth possessed amid anxiety is in itself an affliction, rendered the worse by the deeper humiliation which he must suffer who loses, after possessing, the things that most are wished and sought. And yet, though these two embrace the highest and best of the luxuries of life, they seem not far removed from the normal pleasures of the beasts which, as they roam through shady places rich in herbage, enjoy at once their safety from toil and the abundance of their food. For if this be regarded as the best and most perfect conduct of the life of man, it results that one object is common, though the range of feelings differ, to us and the whole unreasoning animal world, since all of them, in that bounteous provision and absolute leisure which nature bestows, have full scope for enjoyment without anxiety for possession.

2. I believe that the mass of mankind have spurned from themselves and censured in others this acquiescence in a thoughtless, animal life, for no other reason than that nature herself has taught them that it is unworthy of humanity to hold themselves born only to gratify their greed and their sloth, and ushered into life for no high aim of glorious deed or fair accomplishment, and that this very life was granted without the power of progress towards immortality; a life, indeed, which then we should confidently assert did not deserve to be regarded as a gift of God, since, racked by pain and laden with trouble, it wastes itself upon itself from the blank mind of infancy to the wanderings of age. I believe that men, prompted by nature herself, have raised themselves through teaching and practice to the virtues which we name patience and temperance and forbearance, under the conviction that right living means right action and right thought, and that Immortal God has not given life only to end in death; for none can believe that the Giver of good has bestowed the pleasant sense of life in order that it may be overcast by the gloomy fear of dying.”

Friends, we live on this round ball called earth not to live animal lives but for a greater purpose: to live for the eternal, to progress towards immortality. We do this when we realize that all of life is a gift that we do not deserve, and that God the Father is the Giver of all gifts (James 1:17). The Father is one with Christ (John 10:30), and has imparted to us His Spirit to produce the fruit of generosity in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). When we bring these pieces together, we enter the proverbial gate of life in His economy (like the gate in this photo on our drizzly walk yesterday evening). That’s why God, in Christ, came to earth, to be the gift and teach us how to live so that we, like Him, might be gifts to the world, empowered by His Spirit. Our time is not to be spent worrying about dying. We are here to help people discover how to live. That’s what generosity is all about.

I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness — the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:25-27

“Thus if any one of these three men – the world, holy Scripture, and the one who is ourselves – wishes to have a life and condition that is pleasing and acceptable to God let him do what is best and noblest of all. And let him as best he can take care of the soul which is immortal, divine, and in process of deification through the virtues, and let him disdain the flesh which is subject to corruption and death and able to soil the soul’s dignity by it’s carelessness.

“For,” it is said, “the body burdens the soul and its earthen dwelling crushes the thoughtful mind.” And again, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit and the spirit against the flesh.” And again, “He who sows in his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh.” And let him be moved to do spiritual battle through knowledge against the incorporeal and intellectual powers and leave aside present and visible things, “for visible things are passing but invisible things are eternal,” and it is in these through the abundant habit of peace that God rests.

And let him through an informed study of holy Scripture wisely get past its letter and rise up to the Holy Spirit in whom are found the fullness of all goodness and the treasures of knowledge and the secrets of wisdom. If anyone is show to be interiorly worthy he will find God himself engraved on the tablets of his heart through the grace of the Spirit and with face unveiled will see as in a mirror the glory of God once he has removed the veil of the letter.”

Maximus the Confessor (c. 580 – 662) Christian monk, theologian, and scholar in The Church’s Mystagogy (Mahwah: Paulist, 1985) 197.

Don’t trip over the language here. This is good stuff. Terms like “deification” simply refer to spiritual growth. He’s basically guiding us on a pathway to “take care of the soul.”

Maximus was a monk and mystic (think: scholar and spiritual director) who urged people to feed their souls with the holy Scriptures. As Soulcare Anchoress my wife serves in a similar fashion.

This feeding must not stop with head knowledge. It must be applied. We must focus on the things of God, not the things of this world, and in so doing we experience the abundant habit of peace.

As the week draws to a close, join me in taking some time to examine your week, and I will do the same as I got home from Dallas late last night. Ask yourself these questions with me.

Did I experience peace this week? Am I nurturing a thoughtful mind or sowing to the flesh? Do I experience God in my informed study? Is the power of the Holy Spirit at work in my life?

Our abundantly generous God offers us the fullness of all goodness and treasures of knowledge and the secrets of wisdom, but only if we turn from what the world offers and intentionally seek after Him.

When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. John 6:12-13

“What is greater and more remarkable and especially edifying to us is this: Notice how by this miracle [the feeding of the 5,000] He makes us quite eager in our desire to show hospitality with great joy. He all but cries out to us by His deeds that the things of God will not fail the one who shares and rejoices in the way of love for others and wants to fulfill what is written: “Break your bread with the one who hungers” [Isaiah 58:7].

We find that the disciples at the beginning were seized by hesitation about this. But since they had such a disposition, the Savior gave them an abundant harvest of fragments. By this He teaches us as well that when we spend a little bit for the glory of God, we will receive more abundant grace in return according to Christ’s statement, “A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing will be put into your lap” [Luke 6:38].

Therefore, we must not hesitate to share out of love for our brothers [and sisters], but we must progress to a noble boldness and put hesitation and fear, which persuade us to be inhospitable, as far away from us as possible. Being conformed in hope by faith in the power of God to multiply even small amounts, let us open our hearts to those in need according to the command of the law. “You will surely open your heart,” it says, “to the needy brother among you” [Deuteronomy 15:11].”

Cyril of Alexandria (c.378–444) in his Commentary on John (ACCS 1; Downers Grove: IVP, 2013) 187. As bishop of Alexandria, Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist [good guy] in the Christological controversies of the late 4th and early 5th centuries. He was a key voice in the Council of Ephesus in 431, which deposed Nestorius as Archbishop of Constantinople. Cyril is widely referred to as a “Pillar of Faith” and “Seal of all the Fathers”.

Cyril’s Commentary on John provides Christ-followers with a rich treasure trove of insights into the early church mindset on abundance and generosity. In the quietness of my hotel room in Dallas (pictured above at sunrise yesterday), this phrase struck me: “We must not hesitate to share out of love.” A host of factors can cause us to become “seized by hesitation.” The only thing that releases us from that captivity is reflection on the abundance of God’s provision and love to us in Jesus Christ.

Father in heaven, thank you for the abundant life we enjoy in Jesus Christ. Thank you that in you we have enough. Help gather the abundance harvest of fragments and share them with love. Make it so by your Holy Spirit. Amen!

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” Matthew 19:17

“One cannot be always faring well or always ill, for every one’s life is made up of contraries. But if by God’s grace your help should stand by us steadily, we will bear the abundance of annoyances, in the hope of begin always a sharer in your goodness. May you, then, never cease bestowing on us such favors, that by them you may refresh us, and prepare for yourself in ampler measure the reward promised to them that keep the commandments.”

Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-395) in Letter 14 “To the Bishop of Melitene in Saint Gregory of Nyssa: Collection (London: Aeterna, 2016) 511. He’s the third of the three Cappadocian Fathers. The first was his older brother, Basil of Caesarea (a.k.a. Basil the Great) and the second was their mutual friend, Gregory of Nazianzus.

I managed to read about a dozen of Gregory’s letters online. This one dripped with gratitude. It was written to a fellow minister who had blessed Gregory both materially and spiritually through the ups and downs of service to Christ.

Know anyone like that? I can think of a number of generous people who the minute they hear I have a need, they jump to my aid. Their support inspires me to endure an “abundance of annoyances” because I know they always have my back.

That’s also, at least in part, why I come to gatherings like the CLA Outcomes Conference. I come to encourage others and be encouraged by long-time friends and fellow Christ-followers. Do you have people in your life that you generously encourage?

As we continue to explore “abundance” in church history in the forty days from the resurrection of Jesus to his ascension, my charge to you today is to support richly anyone you know who is willing to endure an “abundance of annoyances” for Christ.

Reach out to them. Ask them if there is anything they need, and then dig deeply to assist them. Your aid will inspire them to stay the course in helping people understand and follow the commandments of Christ despite hardships and difficulty!

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Matthew 6:7

“Let us rise and go to our fathers, and say unto them, “We anathematize the Arian heresy, and we acknowledge the Nicene Council:” for against this is their quarrel. Who then, with ever so little understanding, will bear them any longer? Who, on hearing in every Council some things taken away and others added, but comprehends their treachery and secret depravity against Christ? Who on seeing them embodying to so great a length both their profession of faith, and their own exculpation, but sees that they are giving sentence against themselves, and studiously writing much which may likely by an officious display and abundance of words to seduce the simple and huge what they are in point of heresy? But as the heathen, as the Lord said, using vain words in their prayers, are nothing profited.”

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296-373) in “History of Arian Opinions” 2.19 in Saint Athanasius of Alexandria Selection: 5 Books (London: Aeterna, 2016) 274-275. Athanasius is the fourth of the Four Doctors of the Eastern Church to explore on the topic of abundance.

As expected, the theme of abundance in the thinking of Athanasius targets the tact of the heretics that he dedicated his life to battle. They use an “abundance of words to seduce the simple.” He calls them to embrace the outcome of the Nicene Council, which we know as the Nicene Creed (A.D. 325), which reads as follows:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven; He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and to life in the world to come. Amen.

I am researching the early church councils as I will teach on the councils in the Scriptures today at the CLA conference in Dallas. I will share material from a manuscript of a forthcoming ECFA Press book. It specifically sets forth a biblical perspective on board governance and reports how the early church councils followed the pattern of the Jerusalem Council.

Often, I feel like I can identify with Athanasius. What irks me most (and likely irked him too) is “treachery and secret depravity against Christ.” The treachery is that people who seem to be “close” to Christ act like they think they know better than to obey His teachings on money. They rationalize disobedience to some points, and in so doing, lead many to a counterfeit faith.

Many went astray in the times of Athanasius and many are going astray today. My generosity (and yours) comes into view as helping people align their lives with the teachings of Jesus on money. Sadly, some will follow, and some won’t. As others before me have noted: those who pick and choose which teachings of Jesus to obey, believe not in Him but in themselves.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48

“Let us put into practice the supreme and first law of God who sends rain on the just and on the sinners and makes His sun rise upon all alike. To all the earth’s creatures He has spread out land in spacious expanse and springs and rivers and forests; to the winged species He has given air, and to the creatures of the deep, water, and the basic requisites for life to all without stint, subject to no power, restricted by no law, isolated by no boundaries.

On the contrary, He has set out the same necessities amply for all to share yet, for all that, in no way in short supply, thus both bestowing honor by the impartiality of His gift upon the equality of honor within the natural world and displaying the abundance of His own goodness. Yet men squirrel away gold and silver and quantities of soft and superfluous clothes and glittering jewels and similar items that bear the stamp of war and dissension and of the first act of rebellion, and then in their folly arch their brows and refuse to show compassion towards the unfortunate among their kinsmen. They are neither willing to help them with basic necessities out of their superfluity — what perversity! What stupidity!”

Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329-390) in Oration 14.25 in The Fathers of the Church: St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Washington D.C.: CUOA, 2003). Gregory of Nazianzus is the third of the Four Doctors of the Eastern Church that we explore on the topic of abundance. He’s also the second of the three Cappadocian Fathers.

What an expression! Gregory calls out those who “squirrel” away for themselves what God intends for enjoyment and sharing, like the rain and sunshine and everything else He supplies. Though culture says to do it, it represents a perversity of God’s design for all He supplies. To follow His instructions is to be “perfect” or consistent with His commands. Don’t exhibit “stupidity.” Enjoy and share “the abundance of His goodness.”

Today I fly to Dallas to speak at the CLA Outcomes Conference in multiple settings and to attend many sessions as a learner. If you are going too, I hope to see you there!

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:16-21

“‘What shall I do?’ says the rich man in the parable. Who would not pity a man so beset? Pitiable for his abundance, wretched for his good things present, more wretched still on account of what awaits him. His land brings him not produce, but sighs. He does not lay up for himself fruits, but care, and sorrow, and grievous anxiety. He laments like the poor. Is it not the very same thing that the poverty-stricken man says? What shall I do? Where shall I find food or raiment? What shall I do? You might well have said, I will fill the soul of the hungry. I will open my barns and summon all who are in need. I will imitate Joseph, and cry with a loud voice, All you in want of bread, come to me, and each one take his fill from the gracious gifts of God, as if from a common fountain.

Soul, thou hast much goods laid up: eat, drink, and be merry. What madness! If thou hadst a swine’s soul, what else wouldst thou say to it but this. How thankful oughtest thou be to the Bountiful one, how joyful for the honour given thee, that thou dost not crowd the door of other men, but others occupy thine! But now thou art morose, and avoidest meeting the poor, lest, perhaps, thou be compelled to give something. One reply alone thou knowest how to give: I cannot, I will not give. I am poor. Yes, truly poor thou art, and in need of all things. Poor in love, poor in kindness, poor in faith toward God, poor in eternal hope.”

Basil of Caesarea (c. 329-379) in Hom. in illud Lucæ, destruam horrea as recounted in St. Basil the Great compiled by Richard Travers Smith (London: SPCK, 1879). He is also known as Basil the Great, the second of the Four Doctors of the Eastern Church that we explore on the topic of abundance. He’s also one of the three Cappadocian Fathers.

When we see a wealthy man, we don’t often describe him as “pitiable for his [or her] abundance.” That’s precisely his [or her] situation, especially in light of the messages the world tells them.

Last week, a seminary administrator who meets regularly with wealthy givers commented, “The biggest obstacle to generosity I come across is the notion that people with wealth are filled with fear and say they never have enough money.” Or as Basil puts it, they are troubled with “care, and sorrow, and grievous anxiety.” Fear not only hinders generous giving and renders them poor toward God, the result is that they are “poor in love, poor in kindness, poor in faith toward God, poor in eternal hope.” Basil is right. It’s madness indeed!

So why is the rich person “pitiable for his [or her] abundance?” When a person has wealth they are fooled into thinking it sustains them. Every generation faces this. Only God sustains us!