Below is a key understanding of the mysticism of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the Doctor Mellifluus, on that remedy of sanctify as explicated by Thomas Merton:
False contemplation can be attained by the prudence of the flesh, but true mysticism is a gift that is granted only to those who are extremely little and poor in their own eyes, and who have learned, as Bernard himself did, to live not for themselves but for others. Such things are only learned supernaturally from the Holy Spirit ...
First ... every man should aspire to perfect union with God, at least in heaven. The fact that we are made in God's image should lead us to do this without any fear. The perfection of love, indeed, demands that we cast out all fear and seek the mercy of God with perfect confidence ...
...(S)ince God Himself is love, nothing can give Him greater honor than our love. Consequently nothing could be more meritorious than this pure love by which we abandon all and live for God alone. What does love merit? More love. For charity is at once the merit and the reward ...
Turning to our own world, the Holy Father (Pius XII) laments the fact this charity has grown cold. The love of God is not known. The doctrine of this divine union has been forgotten by those who lose themselves in the cares and business of increasingly active lives. They have forgotten the meaning of contemplation and of that charity which is fed not by human enthusiasm and the inspirations of natural ambition but by God Himself in prayer and sacrifice.
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