“God’s concern is mine. Nothing that concerns Him is foreign to me.” (St Bernard of Clairvaux).
These are the words of a soul aflame with love, who has already come very close to our Heavenly Father and whom He has filled with His love. The intimacy between St Bernard and our Father is palpable, and we recognise this profound relationship in another beautiful sentence in which he invites his brothers to draw near to the Father. In this loving invitation, which we will hear next, we see how he had made God’s cause his own, because we know very well that our Father longs ardently for all people to be close to Him, to know Him, to honour Him and to love Him. Then He will be able to give them all that He has in store for them.
“Felicitous, however, is this kiss of participation that enables us not only to know God but to love the Father, who is never fully known until he is perfectly loved. Are there not surely some among you who at certain times perceive deep within their hearts the Spirit of the Son exclaiming: “Abba, Father”? Let that man who feels that he is moved by the same Spirit as the Son, let him know that he too is loved by the Father. Whoever he be let him be of good heart, let his confidence never waver.”
When we are united in love with our Father, it will be His love that burns within us. All our Father’s desires will become our own cause and we will begin to do everything with our eyes fixed on Him and to examine it again and again in His light. The Holy Spirit who cries out in us “Abba, beloved Father” will make us understand His will. Jesus calls His disciples friends: “I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn 15:15).
A love has been awakened that will never be extinguished, but will always grow. Already here, during our earthly life, this love for God is our greatest joy and our true home. How much more will it be when we see our Father in eternity!