Aug 20 – Memorial for St. Bernard, abbot, doctor
St. Bernard (1090-1153) founded and led a monastery which had over 700 monks and 160 daughter houses. He revised and reformed the Cistercians, and was advisor to, and admonisher of, King Louis the Fat and King Louis the Young, and spiritual advisor to Pope Eugenius III, who had originally been one of his monks. Every morning, Bernard would ask himself, “Why have I come here?”, and then remind himself of his main duty – to lead a holy life.
Jgs 9:6-15
Mt 20:1-16
“Why be envious because I am generous?”
Some time in the 12th Century, a young but learned Cistercian monk published an enlightening sermon entitled, ‘On Loving God’. The subject was straightforward; the monk was St Bernard.
In his sermon, St Bernard spoke about the evolution of our love for God, the journey of which was broken down into four stages: man loves self for self’s sake, man loves God for self’s sake, man loves God for God’s sake, and finally, man loves self for God’s sake. Interestingly enough, it examines the theme of self-interest in love.
Being human, it is our nature to put ourselves first. “What’s in it for me?” is an oft-asked question. As we know, that’s not what love is — it is not selfish. Yet, we can’t help ourselves! That is not to say that we are all so bad. Perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to love someone beyond ourselves, not for what we can get out of the relationship, but because we are genuinely very fond of that person for who he/she is. Then there are a lucky few who might have experienced a love so deep, that we become one with that person and self-interest fades away.
Jesus was trying to explain the same thing with the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. The landowner had promised a day’s wage to the first group of labourers; and, as the day wore on, he hired more labourers with the same promise of a daily wage. Come the end of the day, when the landowner handed out the wages, the first group were unhappy when they found out that everyone received the same pay, regardless of what time they started. The Gospel says, “they thought that they would receive more” for working longer hours. The landowner reminded them that they had agreed to the wage, and he had not cheated them in any way. Then, he called them out for being jealous of his generosity to the others.
The first group had classic “what’s in it for me” mentality. They wanted their agreed wage, plus bonus and benefits. They thought that just because they got in earlier, they were superior. If it was that easy, our ancestors would be saints before us, having believed in God a lot longer. They would have a larger share of heaven than us. If that was the case, no one would need to work for God’s love. But God is saying, there are no rooms in heaven, everyone has the same space. Everyone has the same promise of going to heaven. There are no favourites.
God loves us immeasurably. We are a Stage 4 to Him. He doesn’t ask what’s in it for Him. He is only after our hearts. Isn’t that just so wonderful, realizing that someone loves us so deep that He wants to be one with us? That warm glow of love – God wants us to swim in it, not just wrap ourselves in it. It does not matter to Him when we began our love journey with Him, He just wants to love us and wants us to love Him in return — in the same unselfish and immeasurable way.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Annette Soo)
Prayer: Lord, You taught us that love is not self-seeking, nor is it envious. Love does not keep records of wrongdoings. We pray that we will remove self-interests in our love with others and most importantly, with You. Let us trust, hope and persevere always in Your love.
Thanksgiving: Heavenly Father, how wonderful it is to be loved by you! How wonderful to know that there are no favourites because — we are ALL your favourites!
OXYGEN 
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