Bernard of Clairvaux, was a French abbot and a major leader in the reform of Benedictine monasticism that caused the establishment of the Cistercian (Trappist) contemplative order. He  was known in his day for his teachings and sermons primarily on how to love God. He was the best known spiritual authority in Europe in the 12th century. Bernard’s writing was given high marks by the intellectuals; it was creative, passionate and focused, and concerns basically the human relationship to the Christian God. His was a most busy monk: he established over 60 monastic communities in 35 years. His writings on Love and monastic leadership helped him earn the title of Doctor of the Catholic Church and eventually Sainthood.

Born in 1090 of Burgundian land owning aristocracy, France was populated primarily by peasants at this time. Bernard grew up in a family of five brothers and one sister. His family life engendered in him a deep respect for mercy, justice, and loyal affection for others. Faith and morals were taken seriously. Both his parents were exceptional models of virtue. These family qualities greatly influenced his understanding of love.It is said that his mother, Aleth, exerted a virtuous influence upon Bernard only second to what Monica had done for Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century. Her death, in 1107, so affected Bernard that he claimed that this is when his “long path to complete conversion” began. He turned away from his literary education, ecclesiastical advancement, toward a life of renunciation and solitude.

Bernard sought the counsel of the abbot of Cîteaux, Stephen Harding, and decided to enter this struggling, small, new community that had been established by Robert of Molesmes in 1098 as an effort to restore Benedictinism to a more primitive and austere pattern of life. Bernard took his time in terminating his domestic affairs and in persuading his brothers and some 25 companions to join him. He entered a small Benedictine community in 1112, and from then until 1115 he cultivated his spiritual and theological studies. Bernard’s struggles with the flesh during this period may account for his early and rather consistent penchant for physical austerities. He was plagued most of his life by impaired health, which took the form of anemia, migraine, gastritis, hypertension, and an atrophied sense of taste.

He was appointed to lead a small group of monks to establish a monastery at Clairvaux. This appointment led to Bernard becoming the abbot of the monastery which housed his newly formed Cistercian order. He entered this small Benedictine community in 1112, and from then until 1115 he cultivated his spiritual and theological studies which influenced his legacy of writings and sermons on loving God on the borders of Burgundy and Champagne. Four brothers, an uncle, two cousins, an architect, and two seasoned monks under the leadership of Bernard endured extreme deprivations for well over a decade before Clairvaux was self-sufficient.

Meanwhile, as Bernard’s health worsened, his spirituality deepened. Under pressure from his ecclesiastical superiors and his friends, notably the bishop and scholar William of Champeaux, he retired to a hut near the monastery and to the discipline of a quack physician. It was here that his first writings evolved. They are characterized by repetition of references to the Church Fathers and by the use of analogues, etymologies, alliterations, and biblical symbols, and they are imbued with resonance and poetic genius. It was here, also, that he produced a small but complete treatise on Mariology (study of doctrines and dogmas concerning the Virgin Mary), “Praises of the Virgin Mother.” Bernard was to become a major champion of a moderate cult of the Virgin, though he did not support the notion of Mary’s Immaculate Conception.

Bernard of Clairvaux

The Point of God – pondering “great things come in small packages”, why the mystics see God as a point of nothingness or miniscule material/spirituality. Is this our path to understanding the “divine indwelling” with our finite minds?

“At the center of our being is a **point** of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak His name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our sonship. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely. I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is every- where.”

The third showing surprised Julian and made her think for many years. She saw in her understanding that Deity is a **point**, "by which I saw that He is in all things". For Julian, as for Isaiah, the Divine does all that is done.

“The widely accepted age of the universe, as estimated by general relativity, is 13.8 billion years. In the beginning, everything in existence is thought to have occupied a single infinitely dense **point**, or singularity. Only after this point began to expand in a "Big Bang" did the universe officially begin.” “The discoveries of twentieth–century science, especially Big Bang cosmology (“universalism” or cosmic wholeness) and evolution (nature's openness to the future), ushered in two new dimensions of life, wholeness and futurism. Contrary to the ancient Ptolemaic cosmos of order, stasis, and hierarchy, the Big Bang cosmos was now seen in its evolving capacity for greater wholeness and openness to consummation in the future.”

Many religious believers use the existence of DNA as a proof for God's existence. The logic goes something like this: DNA is information. The amount of information encapsulated in a single strand of human DNA (point) would fill 400 volumes the size of an Encyclopedia Britannica, and this information contains an exact blueprint for creating a human being. This information did not write itself. The creation of information requires intelligence. The creation of an encyclopedia requires an author - a creator. God is the creator of the information in DNA. So, do we all inherit this microscopic DNA from God which makes us heirs of Love?

“The seed of God is in us. Given an intelligent and hard-working farmer, it will thrive and grow up to God, whose seed it is; and accordingly its fruits will be God-nature. Pear seeds grow into pear trees, nut seeds into nut trees, and God-seed into God.”

The Omega Point is a spiritual belief and a scientific speculation that everything in the universe is fated to spiral towards a final **point** of "divine" unification. The term was coined by the French Jesuit Catholic priest Pierre **Teilhard de Chardin** (1881–1955).

The circled dot, an ancient symbol for the metaphysical Absolute. Early science, particularly geometry and astrology and astronomy, was connected to the divine for most medieval scholars, and many believed that there was something intrinsically "divine" or "perfect" that could be found in circles.   Research by Phil Stone, a seeker of God, September 2017

God is a Point

“Wherefore it pleases GOD that we seek him and worship him by intermediaries, understanding and recognizing that He is the goodness of all"

Givens; there exists a GOD that  is Love. He created the universe and its inhabitants with building blocks of love. GOD is a personal deity that created man and loves man. If man has difficulty in finding this invisible GOD, he should seek him through various spiritual ways: scripture, prayer, meditation, dreams, religions and the experience of mystics. As the evidence grows in the search for GOD, his joy can be shown through graces and blessings. This love is reciprocal as man loves this divine entity through all the time man is aware of GOD. One might conclude that the investigation of other religions and any mystical experiences helps to define GOD’s nature. GOD must like the diversity of religions and dogma as man investigates the nature of who GOD is. Put yourself in God’s shoes —You love someone who seeks you prior to locating you! This is flattering. GOD must appreciate the effort to find HIM

One might conclude that seeking is not a waste of time. This effort helps define where and when you find this invisible GOD. A simple definition is as follows: seek – to search with focus and intention. He is finding a worthwhile treasure with this type of seeking GOD revealed His love in a vision to a female spiritual companion in the seventeenth century in a town named Norwich, England. Her name was Julian and this profession was called anchoress. She was on her death bed when GOD revealed his love for mankind. Julian wrote a book called “Revelations of Divine Love” with sentences like ‘GOD loved us before he made us’. He told her that seeking was better than finding. She revealed that the greatest honor we can give almighty GOD is to live gladly because of the knowledge of HIS love. She inspired many in her time and today. My friend, Fr. William Meninger wrote a book she inspired – “The loving Search for God”.

God Loves the Seeker

In 1963 a young priest joined the Trappist order of monks and was assigned to Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer Massachusetts, 

 was the abbot in charge, This young priest was named Father William Meninger. As Abbot, Fr, Keating was concerned that he was unaware of any Christian meditation to offer to those seeking meditation as a way of prayer. Other religions had numerous meditations to offer. Fr. Keating directed this junior monk, Fr, William Meninger to research and find meditations that were Christian in nature.

William located a dusty little book in the monastery library called “The Cloud of Unknowing”. This discovery occurred in 1974 and it seemed to satisfy his search, He brought the book to Father Keating who was pleased. Both William and Thomas would soon find out that this dusty book would become the historical basis of their ensuing spiritual teachings like Centering Prayer. This video - 

 elaborates the early stages of Christian Meditation based on “The Cloud”. Having survived major heart and cancer problems, Fr. William felt an urgency to share his discovery with both fellow monks and lay people. He had been transferred to St. Benedicts Monastery in Snowmass Colorado, as was Fr. Keating.

Fr. William traveled by air from California to New York teaching contemplative prayer principles with stops in the mid Atlantic states where I met him. William stayed at my carriage house in Great Falls Virginia while teaching in the middle Atlantic states. He had a companion traveler and friend that stayed with him. Dan Dobbins was a practicing attorney from Florida that joined Fr, William on all his flights around North America. This was quite a sacrifice by Dan but Dan felt strongly that William’s message should be heard by as many as possible, I was the designated driver for William and Dan. I was responsible for his ground transportation to churches, universities,or auditoriums and setting him up for his talk. As a reminder, Dan joined him on his flying to the speaking destinations. William walked with a cane so Dan was quite a help. William was a most interesting spiritual teacher with talks on “the Cloud”, Centering Prayer, Forgiveness, Enneagram, mystics like John of the cross and also silent meditations. The Contemplative Outreach personnel assisted us in marketing William’s talks in the appropriate region. Fr. William felt an urgency to spread the contemplative message. Sadly he passed away on February 14, 2021. But his mission was accomplished.

Earlier, while driving with William he often spoke of the silent divine messages God delivered through the mystics like Julian of Norwich. A 16th century English mystic. He will be missed, His research and writings will be stored at Emory University, in Georgia. If one googles his name on Amazon books, all his books will be displayed. William will be remembered for his dedication, joy, humor and living life to its maximum. William has not stopped flying. While in heaven now, airplanes are not needed, he will be joining the angels in their flying. He will keep the title the flying monk. Fr. Keating will join Fr. William in heaven and fly also having recently passed too.

Articles

Bernard of Clairvaux

Jul 17th 2024

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God is a Point

Feb 12th 2022

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God Loves the Seeker

Oct 16th 2024

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The Flying Monk

Mar 9th 2024

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