Page:HalfHoursWithTheSaints.djvu/89



"Behold a  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a  son,  and  his  name  shall  be  called Emmanuel." — Isaias vii. 14.

[St. Bernard was  one  of  the  most  influential  ecclesiastics  of  the Middle Ages,  He  was  born  at  Fontaines,  in  Burgundy,  A.D.  1091. In the year  11 13,  he  became  a  monk  at  Citeaux,  and  at  the  early  age  of twenty-four,  was  elected  Abbot  of  Clairvaux. At that  time  Clairvaux was a  savage  desert,  but  St. Bernard made  it  teem  with  fertility. He wished that  his  monks,  while  serving  God,  should  also  be  useful  to man,  and  he  prescribed  that  each  of  them  in  his  turn,  and  according to his  capacity,  should  attend  to  manual  labour  and  study.

St Bernard  was  called  the  honeyed  teacher,  and  his  writings  were styled a  stream  from  Paradise.

He died  in  the  year  1153,  and  was  canonised  by  Alexander  III. A.D. 1174.]

I HAVE  often  thought  of,  and  meditated  on,  the  holy  eagerness of  the  patriarchs  who  so  sighed  for  the  coming  of  the Messiah; and  I  felt  confused,  and  was,  moreover,  so  penetrated with  grief,  that  I  could  scarcely  refrain  from  weeping, so  much  was  I  ashamed  to  see  the  tepidity  and  indifference of  these  unhappy  days.

For who  amongst  us  is  filled  with  so  much  joy  in  the fulfilment of  this  mystery,  as  did  the  saints  of  the  Old Testament, at  the  promises  which  so  called  forth  their longing desires?