Morning And Night

Quamobrem ego, ut didici, benedicam Dominum in omni tempore, hoc est mane et vespere; non sicut ille qui confitebitur tibi cum benefeceris ei: non sicut illi, qui ad tempus credunt, et in tempore tentationis recedunt: sed dicam cum sanctis: Si bona suscepimus de manu Domini, mala autem quare non sustineamus? Et in mane quidem sicut pullus hirundinis, sic clamabo, in vespere autem meditabor ut columba: quatenus et cum gratiae matutinum arriserit, in modum hirundinis exsultans et clamitans gratias agam pro visitatione; et cum vespera ingruerit, non deerit sacrificium vespertinum, cum instar columbae gemens, lacrymas fundam in tribulatione. Sic enim deserviet tempus utrumque Deo, cum et ad vesperam demorabitur fletus, et ad matutinum laetitia. Moerens moerebo in vespera, quo laetus fruar matutino. Placet uterque Deo, et peccator compunctus, et justus devotus: cui e regione displicet tam ingratus justus, quam peccator securus. Aut certe sicut pullus hirundinis hac illacque discurrens, Marthae me officiis mancipabo, hilarem datorem me exhibens omni necessitatem patienti: et meditabor ut columba; gemendo utique quod obstat, dum quod restat intueor. Hoc autem faciam mane et vespere, hoc est prius et posterius, juxta quod in typum utriusque vitae dictum est a Laban: Non est consuetudinis ut minores ante tradamus ad nuptias. quanquam indifferenter de altera ad alteram transeatur. Quod significare Job puto, ubi ait: Si dormiero, dico: Quando surgam? et rursum exspectabo vesperam. Quiescens quippe in vespera contemplationis, mane desiderabat, quo surgeret ad actionem: rursumque negotiis fatigatus exspectabat vesperam, libenter repetens otia contemplationis. Sanctus Bernardus Clarae Vallensis, Sermo III, De Cantico Ezechiae Regis, Ego dixi in dimidio dierum meorum Source: Migne PL 183.548c-549a

Whence I, as I have taught, shall bless the Lord in every time, that is the morning and the evening, not as he who shall take joy in Him only when He shall give him goods, 1 not as those who for a time are faithful and in the time of trial they fall away, but I say with the saints: 'If we will receive good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil?' 2 And in the morning like the young of the swallow, so I shall cry out, and in the evening I shall meditate like the dove, and as much as with grace the morning shall smile upon me, in that way of the swallow I shall exalt and cry forth thanks for its coming, and when the evening shall loom, I shall not lack an evening sacrifice when as the weeping dove, I shall pour forth my tears in troubles. So both times serve God, when at evening weeping lingers, and in the morning there is joy. 3 Grieving I grieve in the evening, by which I shall joyfully enjoy the morning. Both please God, the penitent sinner, and the devout righteous man, Him to whom the ungrateful righteous man and the confident sinner is displeasing. Or certainly as the young of the swallow racing here and there, I shall take myself to the office of Martha, 4 and I shall show myself as a giver of joy in every needful trouble, and then I shall meditate like the dove, groaning as one pent, which rest I had looked forward to. This I shall do day and night, first and last, according to both types of life, as said by Laban: 'It is not the custom that the younger shall be led off to marriage.' 5 Yet without concern let one into the other pass. Which I think is what Job means when he says: 'If I shall sleep, I say: When shall I rise? And again I hope for the evening.' 6 Quiet in evening contemplation, he desires the morning, in which he shall rise to deeds, again exhausted with deeds he hopes for the evening, eagerly seeking the leisure of contemplation. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, from Sermon 3, On The Song of Hezekiah, 'I said in the midst of my days..' 1 Ps 48.19 2 Job 2.10 3 Ps 29.6 4 Lk 10.38-42 5 Gen 29.26 6 Job 7.4