Preparing A Path

Sed et si corripuerit me justus in misericordia, et increpaverit me, idipsum sentiam, sciens quia aemulatio justi et benevolentia iter faciunt ei qui ascendit super occasum. Bonus occasus, cum ad correptionem justi stat homo, et corruit vitium, et Dominus ascendit super illud, conculcans hoc pedibus, et conterens ne resurgat. Non ergo contemnenda increpatio justi, quae ruina peccati, cordis sanitas est, nec non et Dei via ad animam. Sed nec ullus omnino sermo, qui aedificet ad pietatem, ad virtutes, ad mores optimos, negligenter est audiendus; quoniam et illic iter quo ostenditur salutare Dei. Quod si sermo gratus venit et placitus, quatenus pulso fastidio cum desiderio audiatur, jam non modo venire Sponsus, sed et accelerare, id est cum desiderio venire, credendus est. Illius namque desiderium tuum creat; et quod tu ejus properas sermonem admittere, inde est quod ipse festinat intrare; non enim nos eum, sed ipse, inquit, prior dilexit nos. Jam si etiam ignitum eloquium sentis, atque ex eo conscientiam uri in recordatione peccati; recordare tunc de quo Scriptura dicit, quia ignis ante ipsum praecedet, et ipsum prope esse non dubites. Denique juxta est Dominus his qui tribulato sunt corde. Si vero non solum compungeris in sermone illo, sed et converteris totus ad Dominum, jurans et statuens custodire judicia justitiae ejus, etiam adesse ipsum jam noveris, praesertim si te inardescere sentias amore ejus. Etenim utrumque de illo legis, et ignem videlicet ante ipsum praecedere, et ipsum nihilominus ignem esse. Moyses siquidem de illo dicit quia ignis consumens est. Differunt autem, quod is qui praemittitur ignis ardorem habet, sed non amorem: coquens, sed non excoquens, movens, nec promovens. Tantum ad excitandum praemittitur et praeparandum, simulque ad commonendum quid ex te sis, quo dulcius sapiat postmodum quod ex Deo mox eris. At vero ignis qui Deus est, consumit quidem, sed non affligit, ardet suaviter, desolatur feliciter. Est enim vere carbo desolatorius, sed qui sic in vitia exerceat vim ignis, ut in anima vicem exhibeat unctionis. Ergo in virtute qua immutaris, et in amore quo inflammaris, Dominum praesentem intellige. Nam dextera Domini facit virtutem. Non autem fit haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi, nisi in fervore spiritus, et in charitate non ficta, ita ut dicat qui hujusmodi est: Concaluit cor meum intra me, et in meditatione mea exardescit ignis. Sanctus Bernardus Clarae Vallensis, Sermones In Cantica, Sermo LVII, De visitationibus Domini observandis; quibus indiciis vel signis eae deprehendi possint Source: Migne PL 183.1052d-1053c

But if a good man shall correct me in mercy and cry out against me, 1 I should feel the same, knowing that such zeal and kindness makes a way for Him who ascends over the dusk. 2 The setting is good when the correction of a righteous man lifts up a man in the casting down of his fault and the Lord rises up over him, trampling it down with His feet and crushing it lest it revive. Therefore the correction of a righteous man should not be scorned, for it ruins sin, it is the health of the heart, and indeed prepares a path for God to the soul. No word that fortifies piety, virtue and the best conduct, should be heard negligently, since it is the path that reveals God's salvation. 3 For if the word which comes is agreeable and pleasing, and as much as aversion is driven off, it is heard eagerly, one should believe that the bridegroom is not merely coming but running in His eagerness. For His desire creates yours, and because you are quick to admit His word, He himself makes haste to enter, for He first loved us and not we him, as it is said. 4 Again if you should hear a fiery discourse and it burns your conscience with the remembrance of sin, then recall that Scripture says: 'Fire goes before Him,' 5 and you will not doubt that He is near. And then: 'The Lord is near to those who are troubled in heart.' 6 If you are not only struck by remorse by this speech, but if you also turn completely to God, vowing and keeping watch that you guard His upright judgements, you should know that He Himself is already present, and certainly if you feel yourself burning with love for Him. For we read of Him that indeed fire goes before Him and also that He himself is a fire. For Moses speaking of Him says that He is a consuming fire. 7 And these two are different, that which comes before has heat but not love, it burns but does not melt, it moves without bearing away. It is sent before only to rouse and prepare you, to remind you of what you are, which will make sweeter what you will soon become because of God. But the fire that is God consumes but does not afflict, it burns sweetly, its desolation is its joy. For it is a burning coal applied to the vices so that it may then apply its salve to the soul. Therefore understand that in the virtue by which you are changed and in the love by which you are enflamed the Lord is present. For the right hand of the Lord works virtue. 8 But there is no change of the right hand of the most High 9 unless in the fervour of the spirit and in love unfeigned, of the sort that allows us to say, 'My heart burned within me, and a fire flamed up in my meditation.' 10 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons On The Song Of Songs, from Sermon 57, On Observing Visitations of the Lord, and the Indications and Signs of it that it is possible to grasp 1 Ps 140.5 2 Ps 67.5 3 Ps 49.23 4 1 Jn 4.10 5 Ps 95.3 6 Ps 33.19 7 Deut 4.24 8 Ps 117.16 9 Ps 76.11 10 Ps 38.4