Bernard Of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux was born in 1090 into an aristocratic French household. His family’s relative affluence afforded him an extensive education in Latin grammar and rhetoric, which was designed to equip him for the religious order. In his youth, Bernard was drawn to a new style of monastic practice (the Cistercian Order) that based its daily actions on the teachings of Benedict’s Rule. After Bernard became the abbot of a monastic foundation at Clairvaux in 1115, he performed an integral role in founding and facilitating 68 different local monasteries. While performing various roles as abbot of Clairvaux, Bernard also wrote extensively on theological and spiritual doctrines. In his work On Loving God, Bernard channels his full intellectual …show more content…
More specifically, Bernard asserts that every word of scripture holds profound significance that can afford the reader a greater understanding of God’s love and ultimate message. Surprisingly, he also contends that the most obscure and seemingly banal passages of scripture can provide the greatest reward to those who seek to understand their deeper significance. In this respect, Bernard champions an intuitive form of spirituality that allows the reader to interpret scripture freely in order to apply it to their personal journeys. In my opinion, this approach to reading scripture is both spiritually innovative and intellectually fruitful. As a rather intuitive individual, I enjoy analyzing pieces of scripture that seem ordinary or irrelevant and finding “hidden” truths that I can apply to my own life. This is a prime example of the concept that anything can hold spiritual significance if the individual designates it as such. Finally, Bernard argues that the human propensity to desire is a gift from God. Although most human beings abuse this gift by pursuing temporal pleasures, Bernard argues that ultimate satisfaction can only come through a wholehearted desire to experience God’s love. As human beings, we are constantly pulled in convergent directions by our rapacious proclivity for earthly desires. Therefore, I often find it difficult to denounce my external cravings in favor of pursuing God’s transformative love. Although denouncing earthly pleasures is an extremely arduous task, God never promised that following Him would be easy in any way, shape, or form. Keeping this fact in mind, I am able to experience profound joy in my struggle by acknowledging the spiritual rewards that await those who endure. While the works of Bernard of Clairvaux offer a wealth of pertinent spiritual knowledge, I found his writing style to be particularly