The Third International Lay Cistercian Meeting was held in Clairvaux, France, from June 1 to 7, 2005. Attending the gathering was the abbot general of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, Abbot Bernardo Olivera. Before his election as abbot general of the Order in 1990, Abbot Bernardo was the abbot of Our Lady of the Angels at Azul in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Below is the homily given by Abbot General Bernardo at the Clairvaux meeting on June 5, 2005.
“It Is Mercy I Desire and Not Sacrifices (Matt 9:13)”
Homily by Abbot General Bernardo Olivera, OCSO
at the Third International Lay Cistercian Meeting in Clairvaux, France (June 1-7, 2005)
Sunday, June 5, 2005 – Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Abbot General
Bernardo Olivera, OCSO |
The message that the Lord has prepared for us on this Sunday is well-defined and precise. The Good News which is proclaimed to us here today is: “it is mercy I desire and not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13).
The Pharisees criticized Jesus because He has shown Himself as merciful and shown mercy towards those who collaborated with the oppressors (the publicans) and towards the immoral and those who are willing to be dishonest because of their work (the sinners). Jesus recalls the words of the Prophet Hosea, “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). Love is also given authority by Jesus in relation to shriveled-up ritualism or narrow rigorous “observance.” In its place the Savior gives a radical and revolutionary teaching; in a world where Cult was placed at the highest level of values, Jesus inverts the order and affirms the absolute supremacy of merciful love.
We cannot think that this is an isolated word of the Master. We find the same words at the heart of His program and His teaching: “Blessed are the merciful for the mill receive mercy” (Mt 5:7); “…the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith." (Mt 23:23); “Be mercifully just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36).
These affirmations are illustrated by the comparisons or by the parables He uses. There is the Prodigal Son (Lk 15); there is the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37); there is the banquet of the rich man and poor Lazarus (Lk 16:19-30); there is the heartless servant (Mt 18:23-35); and the scene of the final judgment (Mt 25:31-46). The witness of His own life and the choices that Jesus made support this teaching.
We cannot be surprised if the authentic monastic tradition—that which always puts the Gospel above the traditions and persons before institutions—councils: “Never lose hope in God’s mercy” (Rule of St. Benedict 4:74) and “that the Abbot must always let mercy triumph over judgment so that he too may win mercy” (RB 64:10).
Love and mercy have a central place in Cistercian Spirituality. Bernard of Clairvaux is a qualified witness of this truth. The love from the depths of your being between the brothers is the same as the heart of the cenobitic communion. Mercy summarizes the many manifestations of love for the neighbor. This particular form of love, which takes root in the depths of one’s being, is affective and effective, and gathers into itself the emotion and the deed. Merciful love implies:
- Desire the good of your neighbor; selflessness
- Do good and share the good things with your neighbor: charity, service, solidarity.
- To experience good and to do the good: graciousness, compassion, gentleness, affability, meekness and friendliness
- To present him good and to be good with others: thoughtfulness, friendliness.
From the other side. Saint Bernard also teaches: they discover to commiserate with the neediness of their neighbor in the measure that they have accepted their own neediness (The Degrees of Humility, 6). That is to say that being merciful with oneself is a positive way of self-knowledge together with self-acceptance. These two realities are found at the base both of our life in the Spirit and of all solidly founded Spirituality.
The importance the Cistercians give to the merciful love can be clearly seen in this impressive remark of Bernard:
We are transformed because we are conformed… you are merciful as your Father is merciful. Such is the beauty that the Spouse desires to see in the features of his bride, when he says to the Church: Show me your face. (Sermon on the Canticle, 62, 5).
Mercy is a love from the depths of your being; we can say in a sense that the Mercy of God is the feminine manifestation of His Divine Love.
Let us unite our voices to those of all the Cistercians, monks and nuns, lay-men and lay-women, who inspired by the Spirit, sing each day: Hail Mary, Queen and Mother of Mercy, our Life, our Sweetness and our Hope, we greet you!