{"id":2749,"date":"2022-07-05T05:02:21","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T10:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/?p=2749"},"modified":"2022-07-15T10:28:37","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T15:28:37","slug":"the-martyr-remains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/2022\/07\/05\/the-martyr-remains\/","title":{"rendered":"The Martyr Remains"},"content":{"rendered":"

“[The psalmist] says next: the back of his back is like pale gold.\u00a0 Better pale gold than glittering brass: ‘the foolishness of God is wiser than men.’ Gold is the Word, gold is wisdom.\u00a0 This gold discolored itself, concealing the form of God and displaying the form of a servant.\u00a0 It also discolored the Church, which says: ‘Do not gaze at me because I am swarthy, because the sun has scorched me.’ So then, her back is like pale gold, because she did blush at the swarthiness of the cross, she was not terrified by the bitterness of the passion, she did not flee from the ugliness of the wounds.\u00a0 She even takes joy in them, and hopes that her last end may bear their likeness.\u00a0 \u00a0Accordingly she hears [the words]: ‘My dove in the clefts of the rock’, because all her affections are preoccupied with the wounds of Christ<\/strong>; she abides in them by constant meditation.\u00a0 From this comes endurance for martyrdom, from this her immense trust in the Most High.\u00a0 The martyr need not be afraid of raising his bloodless and bruised face to him by whose wounds he is healed, to present to him a glorious likeness of his death.”*<\/p>\n

Here we read one of Bernard of Clairvaux’s beautifully written sermons on the Song of Songs.\u00a0 He followed (and expanded) the traditional monastic exegesis of this ancient love poem as a depiction of the mystical union between the Christian and Christ.\u00a0 He adds a discussion of martyrdom in this sermon.\u00a0 Notice the martyr draws strength from meditation on the wounds of Christ.\u00a0 The martyr’s heart focuses on the ugliness and torture of the cross but this strengthens the martyr’s resolve.\u00a0 In this way, the martyr perseveres to the end.\u00a0 Bernard concludes:<\/p>\n

“While gazing on the Lord’s wounds he will indeed not feel his own.\u00a0 The martyr remains jubilant and triumphant though his whole body is mangled; even while the steel is gashing his sides he looks around with courage and elation at the holy blood pouring from his flesh.\u00a0 Where then is the soul of the martyr? In a safe place, of course; in the rock, or course; in the heart of Jesus, of course, in the wounds open for it to enter.”**\u00a0<\/p>\n

How does the martyr do this?\u00a0 Love.\u00a0 The bodily and emotional pain are present, but the martyr rejects them for the love of Christ.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

*Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon 61. III. 7, trans. Kilian Walsh, On the Song of Songs<\/em> III\u00a0 (Kalamazoo 1979), p. 146. [Emphasis added]<\/p>\n

**Idem, Sermon 61.III.8, p. 147.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“[The psalmist] says next: the back of his back is like pale gold.\u00a0 Better pale gold than glittering brass: ‘the foolishness of God is wiser than men.’ Gold is the Word, gold is wisdom.\u00a0 This gold discolored itself, concealing the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,101,52,134,60,8,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-bernard-of-clairvaux","category-cross","category-gospel","category-love","category-martyrdom","category-medieval","category-theology","post_format-post-format-quote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2749"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2912,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749\/revisions\/2912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.cune.edu\/matthewphillips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}