O Doctor Mellifluus

Fr Mark has a wonderful meditation on St Bernard and the liturgy of his feast-day:

Zeal, then, characterizes Saint Bernard. A burning passion for Christ and for the Bride of Christ, the Church, consumed him. In Chapter 72 of the Holy Rule, Saint Benedict distinguishes between two kinds of zeal. The first he calls “an evil zeal rooted in bitterness, which separates from God and leads to hell.” (RB 72:1). Evil zeal always leads to rancour and strife in a community. Good zeal “separates from vice and leads to God and to eternal life” (RB 72:2). The Holy Spirit infuses the grace of good zeal. It is gentle and sweet. It is warm and attractive. It inflames others but it doesn’t scorch them. It attracts souls by means of a gentle, steady radiance.
Burning and Shining
The Collect goes on to say that the grace of prophetic grace caused Saint Bernard to burn and shine in the Church. Here, there is an allusion to Saint John the Baptist. In the 5th Chapter of Saint John, Our Lord, speaking of the Baptist, says, “He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light” (Jn 5:35). Saint Bernard was, and remains even today, a burning and shining lamp in the Church. By burning, he enkindled others; by shining, he enlightened others.
Those who read Saint Bernard know that his fire has not been extinguished nor has his flame become less bright. When the Holy Spirit sets a heart aflame, nothing earthly can extinguish the blaze. “Love is strong as death,” says the Canticle, “the lamps thereof are fire and flames. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it” (Ct 8:6-7). Many waters and great floods have come and gone, assailing the Church and sweeping away the grandest monuments in their torrents. Still, after the nine centuries that separate us from Saint Bernard, his fire burns with the same intensity and his light is undimmed.

The whole thing is worth meditating upon.