21/08/2026
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๐๐๐๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ก | ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐
We can know so much about God, speak beautifully about God, and even spend our lives serving God. But perhaps the more important question is: Do we truly love Him?
Born in France in 1090, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux had almost everything a young man could desire. He came from a well-to-do family, was intelligent, educated, eloquent, and could have pursued a comfortable life.
But something inside Bernard wanted more.
At around twenty years old, he chose instead the silence and austerity of the Cistercian monastery of Cรฎteaux. And he did not go alone. His conviction was so powerful that relatives and companions followed him into religious life. Eventually, Bernard was sent with twelve monks to establish a new monastery in a remote valley that would become Clairvaux, the โValley of Light.โ
Bernard wanted to give everything to God.
And when we say everything, Bernard took it seriously.
Perhaps, at first, too seriously.
As a young abbot, he demanded an extremely austere life from himself and his monks. Their food could be painfully simple, their discipline rigorous, their life demanding. Bernard pushed his own body so severely that his health deteriorated. Then something happened.
The man who wanted to become holy had to learn that holiness was not simply about being hard on himself.
Illness humbled him.
Bernard began to understand human weakness differently. He became more considerate of the needs of his monks.
And maybe that is one of the โuntoldโ lessons of his life.
Sometimes we think becoming holy means becoming stronger and stronger.
But sometimes God makes us holy by allowing us to discover that we are weak.
Sometimes we ask God to change the people around us, change our circumstances, remove our difficulties.
But what if God is saying:
โAnak, ikaw muna ang babaguhin Ko.โ
Bernard allowed himself to be changed.
And perhaps that is why God could entrust him with so much.
The monk who wanted silence eventually found himself advising popes and kings, defending the faith, reconciling conflicts, preaching throughout Europe, and becoming one of the greatest spiritual teachers of his age.
Yet behind all that influence was a physically fragile man.
For much of his adult life, Bernard suffered serious health problems. Eating could be difficult. Walking exhausted him. At times he was so weak that ordinary monastic work was beyond his strength.
Still, he served.
Still, he wrote.
Still, he prayed.
Still, he allowed God to use what remained of his strength.
Ay, kaya pala saint siya.
Not because he was never weak.
But because even his weakness became something he offered to God.
And Bernard's holiness was not confined inside monastery walls.
During the Crusading period, violence was being stirred against Jewish communities in parts of Europe. Bernard strongly opposed such persecution and intervened to stop it.
Because what would be the point of defending the name of Christ while refusing to see the dignity of the person in front of you?
That question remains painfully relevant today.
We can defend our faith.
We can serve in church.
We can know Scripture.
We can pray the Rosary.
We can receive Jesus in the Eucharist.
But if all these do not make us more compassionate, forgiving, patient, and loving, ano ang nabago sa atin?
Bernard understood that Christianity cannot remain only in the mind.
His great works, including On Loving God and his Sermons on the Song of Songs, continually return us to one thing:
LOVE.
To love God not merely because He blesses us.
Not merely because He answers our prayers.
Not only when following Him is convenient.
But simply because God is worthy of being loved.
To love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.
And from that love comes the command Jesus gives us:
โLove one another as I have loved you.โ
Bernard also possessed an extraordinarily tender devotion to Mama Mary.
But for Bernard, Mama Mary was never the destination.
She was the one who pointed him toward Jesus.
Per Mariam ad Iesum.
Through Mary to Jesus.
In moments of danger, doubt, and difficulty, Bernard encouraged Christians to remember Mary and call upon her.
Why?
Because Mama Mary's life teaches us what complete surrender looks like.
She did not understand everything that would happen after her fiat.
She simply trusted.
She stayed.
She loved.
And she continually leads us to her Son.
Maybe this is also why Bernard loved Mama Mary so deeply. His own life taught him that holiness is not having everything figured out. It is allowing God to lead you, correct you, humble you, and sometimes bring you somewhere very different from where you originally wanted to go.
Bernard wanted contemplation.
God gave him mission.
Bernard wanted strength.
God allowed weakness.
Bernard wanted to give everything to God.
And God taught him that giving everything also meant allowing himself to be transformed.
So today, Saint Bernard leaves us with a question:
If I say that I love God, can that love be seen in my life?
it be seen in how I speak about people?In how I forgive?
In how I treat someone difficult?
In how I serve when nobody notices?
In how I respond when God does not give me what I want?
In how I remain faithful when following Him becomes uncomfortable?
Because maybe sainthood does not begin with doing extraordinary things.
Maybe it begins with the ordinary decision to tell Jesus every day:
โLord, change me.โ
Change what is proud in me.
Soften what has become hard.
Purify what is selfish.
Use even my weaknesses.
Teach me to love You not only with my words, but with my life. And when I do not know how, let Mama Mary take me by the hand and lead me again to You.
Saint Bernard reminds us that we do not have to become perfect before God can use us. We simply have to keep allowing Him to form us.
Until our knowledge becomes faith.
Our faith becomes surrender.
Our surrender becomes service.
And our service becomes love.
Because in the end, perhaps the measure of a life well lived is not simply how much we knew about God, but how deeply we learned to love Him and one another.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us.
Mama Mary, lead us always to Jesus.
Jesus, teach us to love as You have loved us.
Jesus, we trust in You.
