LENTEN REFLECTION – 4 MARCH
Redeemed by His Blood
by Bernard of Clairvaux
To redeem a servant, the Father spares not His own Son, and the Son delivers Himself up most willingly. Both send the Holy Spirit and the Spirit Himself interceded for us with unspeakable groaning (Romans 8:26).
O hard, and hardened, and hard-hearted children of Adam! How can you remain unmoved by such great kindness, such blazing fire, so prodigious a flame of love and so ardent a lover, who paid such an extravagant price for a worthless piece of goods!
“Not with perishable things like gold and silver” did Jesus redeem us, but with his own “precious blood” (1 Peter 1:18-19) which flowed out liberally from the five parts of Jesus’ body.
What more should He have done that He did not do? He enlightened the blind, brought back the stragglers, reconciled the guilty and justified the ungodly.
Thirty-three years He was seen on earth. He lived among humans, He died for humans, He spoke concerning the Cherubim and Seraphim and all the angelic powers and they came to be (Psalm 33:9). When He wills it, all power is there with him (Wisdom 12:18).
What then does He who sought you with such concern now seek from you, if not that you walk mindfully with your God (Micah 6:8)? No one but the Holy Spirit enables us to this.
It is He who probes the depth of our hearts (1 Corinthians 2:10), He who discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
He does not allow the slightest amount of chaff to settle inside the dwelling of a heart which He possesses but consumes it in an instant with a fire of the most minute scrutiny.
He is the sweet and gentle Spirit who bends our will, or rather straightens and directs it more fully toward his own so that we may be able to understand His will truly, love it fervently, and fulfill it effectively.
AnaStpaul 