Daily Reflection Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

Today we celebrate Saint Bernard. Last year on his memorial the gospel ended with Jesus saying to his disciples “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out more laborers for the harvest.” This year has Jesus answering his disciples when they ask the following question. “Who can be saved?” Jesus says “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible."

We live in a world that is constantly pressuring us on how to keep up with others. Rarely is the pressure saying work harder to get into heaven. It is telling us to work harder to make the team, get into the school with name recognition, get a better car, a bigger house and greener grass. So much time is spent on inheriting the things of this world that we forget about the ever after. In the end God will not care about your alma mater or your fancy car he will care about what you did with the things you acquired. 

God gave us St. Bernard as a laborer for the harvest. For Bernard, life was a radical experience with the love of God; his was a life of fraternity, asceticism, and a daily encounter with the humanity of Christ. Love for Christ, he said, is the first step to genuine prayer. Our prayer is always directed to the Father and our works to be works of charity as a fruit of that genuine prayer. Jesus himself tells us at the end of this gospel that anyone who gives up things for the sake of his name will inherit eternal life. Let us follow Bernard's example and not only pray for a world that is full of laborers but that their labors will be directed by charity and help others inherit the kingdom of God.