31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, Nov 2, 2025)
“Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”” (Luke 19:6)
“The soul seeks the Word, and when it finds Him, it is filled with joy beyond measure.”
‘IN MY LITTLE BED I sought him whom my soul loves.’ For what? … ‘It is good to me to cling to good, and to put my hope in the Lord’ (Ps 72:28). When you see a soul leaving everything and clinging to the Word with all her will and desire, living for the Word, ruling her life by the Word, conceiving by the Word what it will bring forth by him, so that she can say, ‘For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ (Phil 1:21), you know that the soul is the spouse and bride of the Word. The heart of the Bridegroom has faith in her, knowing her to be faithful, for she has rejected all things as dross to gain him (Phi 3:8). He knows her to be like him of whom it was said, ‘He is a chosen vessel for me’ (Act 9:15).…
But notice that in spiritual marriage there are two kinds of birth, and thus two kinds of offspring, though not opposite. For spiritual persons, like holy mothers, may bring souls to birth by preaching, or may give birth to spiritual insights by meditation. In this latter kind of birth, the soul leaves even its bodily senses and is separated from them, so that in her awareness of the Word she is now aware of herself. This happens when the mind is enraptured by the unutterable sweetness of the Word, so that it withdraws, or rather is transported, and escapes from itself to enjoy the Word. The soul is affected in one way when it is made fruitful by the Word, in another when it enjoys the Word: in the one it is considering the needs of its neighbor; in the other it is allured by the sweetness of the Word. A mother is happy in her child; a bride is even happier in her bridegroom’s embrace. The children are dear, they are pledge of his love, but his kisses give her greater pleasure. It is good to save many souls, but there is far more pleasure in going aside to be with the Word (2 Cor 5:13). But when does this happen, and for how long? It is sweet intercourse but lasts a short time and is experienced rarely! This is what I spoke of before, when I said that the final reason for the soul to seek the Word was to enjoy him in bliss….
Oh, whoever is curious to know what it means to enjoy the Word, make ready your mind, not your ear! The tongue does not teach this, grace does. It is hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed to children. Humility, my brothers, is a great virtue, great and sublime. It can attain to what it cannot learn; it is counted worthy to possess what it has not the power to possess; it is worthy to conceive by the Word and from the Word what it cannot itself explain in words. Why is this? Not because it deserves to do so, but because it pleases the Father of the Word, the Bridegroom of the soul, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God above all, blessed for ever. Amen.
– from St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s Sermon 85 –