A Word from the Cistercian Fathers for July

I need truth that I may not be able to hide from the Word of God and grace that I may not wish to hide. Indeed, without both of these, his visitation would not be complete, for the stark reality of truth would be intolerable without grace, and the gladness of grace might appear intolerable without truth. Truth is biter unless seasoned with grace, and devotion without the restraining power of truth can be capricious and uncontrolled and even arrogant. How many have received grace without profit because they have not also accepted a tempering measure of truth? The fullness of grace, then, does not consist of grace alone. What use is it to know what you ought to do, if you are not given the will to do it? But what is the use of having the will if you have not the power? How many have I known who are the sadder for knowing the truth when they knew the demands of the truth and did not fulfill them?

Neither, then, is sufficient without the other. That is an understatement: neither has any value without the other.

Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, Sermon 74 (CF 40, pp. 92-94)