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Love Without Measure

Updated: Jan 25

I was wandering through a book shop today and found a real gem. A book called 'Love Without Measure' by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Born in 1090, he was venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the famous Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Monastic Order. He left many writings, which included his famous treatises on humility, on love, on compassion, and on Grace. He was a man of genius, extraordinary vision, and Faith. His timeless words reach across the centuries...


"The measure of love is love without measure" Bernard of Clairvaux


In these extracts from his writings, we may learn to love without measure. A love that is like sunlight, not only giving light but also warmth, enabling a person to endure and to rejoice. Love unites. It is a lifetime's work. St Bernard saw the relationship that we have with Christ as love. He was soaked in the mysteries of Christ and the doctrine of St Paul. He explains that Jesus brings a message of becoming a child of God, to be one's true Self, a call to love. It is a return to love. This message is heard only with the ears of the heart.


Bernard wrote that we need humility. We also need to recognise our spiritual weakness and the love and power that God is offering us. Then, we must go further, accepting our dependence and place our lives in God's love and care. This is humility in action; it demands a reorientation of our self-love, a return of love to its source. It is love that is at the heart of our return to God. Step 3 in 12 step theory is strongly reminiscent of this, "To make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him", which demonstrates how influential and pervasive Bernard's teachings were, and how they still have such an impact on so many who seek a spiritual approach to life today, regardless of our conception of God.


Bernard talks about Christ our Saviour, who came into this world for one purpose, that living here in us with us and for us, he might illumine our darkness, lighten our labours, and guard us from all dangers. The spiritual path involves realising that, as it states in Luke 17:21, "The Kingdom of God is Within You" and that it involves giving birth to our saviour, and that saviour is us. It is only with this formula that we may harness the power of the divine as Real Personal Power and yet remain humble. This does not require religious belief, but it does require spiritual Faith. Bernard states "That (Jesus) may not only come to us, but that he may dwell in us by Faith to Enlighten our blindness. That he may remain with us by Grace to assist our utter powerlessness, and stand by us with his power to protect and defend our fragility. If he remains with us surely we can do all things in him who strengthens us. If he is for us who can be against us?... Then it was that the Son of God said 'Here am I.'... As he came once on Earth in visible flesh... So he comes daily in a hidden spiritual way to save each individual soul...


It is not necessary for you to cross the seas, nor to pierce the clouds, nor to climb mountains to meet your God. It is not a lengthy road that is set before you; you have only to enter into yourself to find him. For his word is very near you; it is on your lips and in your heart.


For all the riches of the world, and whatever else it possesses which the human heart can desire, all this is little, indeed it is nothing at all in comparison with the honour of being sought after by God."


Love is the golden thread running through all Bernard's teachings. "It is man's whole reason for existing and until he begins to love God he does not really begin to live... To love without measure with a self-giving love that never withdraws itself. Love is a great reality returning to its source, seeking the fountainhead so as to draw afresh and flow ever more freely."


"Love is sufficient for itself; it gives pleasure to itself and for its own sake. It is its own merit and its own reward. Love needs no cause beyond itself... It is its own purpose. I love because I love; I love that I may love. Love is a great reality; and if it returns to its beginning and goes back to its origin, seeking its source again, it will always draw afresh from it and thereby flow freely."


In 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran, which is in my 'Suggested Reading List' he goes all in by painting a portrait that shows just how sacred and transformative unconditional love can be. He breaks free from societal norms and personal desires by showing love as a timeless eternal force that not only lifts you but can set you free. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” - Proverbs 29:18.


Namaste.


Sending you love, light, and blessings brothers.


Olly



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