A Hard Saying

Legimus in Evangelio, quod praedicante aliquando Salvatore et sub mysterio edendi corporis sui discipulos ad communicandum passionibus suis admonente. dixerint quidam: Durus est hic sermo; et ex hoc jam non fuerint cum eo. Interrogati vero discipuli an et ipsi vellent abire: Domine, inquiunt, ad quem ibimus? verba vitae aeternae habes. Ita dico vobis, fratres, usque hodie quibusdam manifestum est quoniam verba quae loquitur Jesus, spiritus et vita sunt; et propterea sequuntur illum: aliis dura videntur, et miseram alibi quaerunt consolationem. Sapientia siquidem in plateis clamitat, in lata videlicet et spatiosa via quae ducit ad mortem, ut revocet ambulantes per eam. Denique Quadraginta annis, inquit, proximus fui generationi huic, et dixi: Semper hi errant corde. Habes et in alio Psalmo: Semel locutus est Deus. Semel utique, quia semper. Una enim, et non interpolata, sed continua et perpetua locutio est. Revocat autem peccatores ad cor, de cordis errore redarguit, pro eo quod ibi habitet ipse, ibique loquatur, faciens nimirum quod docuit per prophetam dicentem: Loquamini ad cor Jerusalem. Nam Babylon, quoniam terra est, nec potest sustinere universos sermones ejus; elongatur a corde, et in carne magis ambulat, tanquam mortua a corde, imo tanquam columba seducta non habens cor. Vult enim laetari cum malefecerit, et exsultare in rebus pessimis: audiensque vocem Domini hujus modi gaudia nullatenus approbantem, sed detestantem, sed arguentem, sed condemnantem, fugit, et abscondit se in similitudine praevaricatoris Adae. Sed heu me! quam vile operimentum quaeris, misera anima! quam inutile quaeris operimentum! Folia enim sunt quae intexis; folia, inquam, quae nil tibi caloris praebeant, nil habeant soliditatis. Orto denique sole arescent, et ventus urens disperget illa; tu vero nuda et misera remanebis. Tunc ergo nihil opertum quod non reveletur, quoniam veniet Dominus, qui et illuminabit abscondita tenebrarum, et manifestabit consilia cordium. Non erit jam quo lateas, misera. Frustra dices montibus: Cadite super nos: et collibus: Operite nos; quoniam nudam et apertam oportebit te stare ante tribunal Christi, ut audias vocem judicii, quae vocem consilii contempsisti. Ecce enim quid loquitur Deus: Agite, inquit, poenitentiam: et dissimulant multi, et continent aures suas, et dicunt: Durus est hic sermo, Non sic impii, non sic dissimulare poteritis, cum sonabit asperum illud verbum, et auditio mala: Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum. Sanctus Bernardus Clarae Vallensis, Sermones De Diversis, Sermo V, De verbis Habacuc, Super custodiam meam stabo.' Source: Migne PL 183.554b-555a

We read in the Gospel that at a certain time during the preaching of the Saviour, beneath the mystery of the eating of His body He warned His disciples about the sharing of His sufferings, and some said, 'This is a hard saying,' and from that point on did not accompany Him. Then He asked His disciples if they wished to go away and they said, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.' 1 Thus I say to you, brothers, to whom even today it is manifest that the words that Jesus spoke are spirit and life, and because of which they follow him, that to others they appear hard and they seek some their wretched comfort elsewhere. Certainly wisdom cries out in the streets, on the broad and wide way that leads to death, so that it might recall those who walk on it. 'For forty years,' He says, 'I was near to this people and their hearts were always straying.' 2 And in another Psalm you have, 'God has spoken once.' 3 Once because always. For His speech is one and not interrupted, and it is continuous and perpetual. He recalls sinners to the heart, he disputes with the heart that strays, so that He might dwell there. He speaks everywhere, certainly doing what He taught through the prophet, saying, 'Speak to the heart of Jerusalem.' 4 For Babylon, which is the earth, is not able to sustain all His words, it is distant in its heart, and it walks much more in the flesh, since it is dead from the heart, and as a snared dove it has no heart. It wishes for there to be rejoicing when it does evil, and for there to be exultation in the worst sort of things, and when it hears the voice of the Lord it does not joyfully approve it but detests it, and it disputes it and it condemns it, and it flees and hides itself just like that prevaricator Adam. But alas for me. What a vile covering you seek, wretched soul. How useless is the cover your seek. They are interwoven leaves, leaves, I say, that cannot provide any warmth, nor do they have any firmness. Soon the rising sun shall scorch them and a burning wind will scatter them, and you shall be naked and wretched. There is nothing covered that shall not be exposed when the Lord comes, He who shall bring light to all the hidden things of the darkness, and expose all the thoughts of the heart. There shall be nowhere to hide, wretched one. In vain you shall say to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us,' 5 because you shall stand naked and exposed before the tribunal of Christ and you shall hear the voice of the judge which you have scorned as the voice of counsel. Behold how God says, 'Repent,' 6 and many dismiss it and close up their ears and say, 'This is a hard saying.' Not so wicked ones, you shall not be able to dismiss it when you hear that bitter word, so evil to hear, 'Go, wicked ones, into the eternal fire.' 7 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Various Sermons, from Sermon 5, On the Words of Habakkuk, 'I will stand on my watch.' 1 John 6.61-69 2 Ps 94.10 3 Ps 61.12 4 Isaiah 40.2 5 Hosea 8.10 6 Mt 3.2 7 Mt 25.41