Eventually, Hilda’s kindness and tenacity won through. The phrase ‘Whisperer’ has found its way into cultural references as a synonym for a person who brings peace to disturbed cats, dogs and even people with a TV show according to Wikipedia was called the ‘Couple Whisperer’!!
Interestingly, John Paul I refers to the dynamics of St Paul’s conversion in ‘equine’ terms:
‘God waits for him on the way to Damascus: ‘Paul’, he says to him, ‘don’t take it into your head to rear up, to kick, like a restive horse. I am that Jesus whom you are persecuting. I need you. You must change!’ Paul surrendered, he changed, leading a completely different life.’ (General Audience, 13th September 1978).
He did bring back many fraught people from the brink of tragedy. He as able to do this because he, too, struggled with his own human frailties Ask the question have you ever heard of ‘St Bernard’ and most people immediately conjure up associations of mountain rescue dogs and ski slopes. Bernard of Clairveaux, however, did not have a breed named after him. Nevertheless, he did bring back many fraught people from the brink of tragedy. He was able to do this because he, too, struggled with his own human frailties: a highly strung, impulsive nature and long-term health problems which influenced his very short-fuse. His weaknesses were continually transformed into being a tower of tenderness, friendship and compassion for others because of his identification with the teaching of Jesus Christ.
‘Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart’ (Mt 11:29).
Bernard immerses himself in the teaching of St Paul (Hebrews, 2:18) that Jesus identified himself with the full range of human emotions ‘from the inside’ because of his incarnation by becoming fully human as well as being fully divine. Jesus, though he did not sin, ‘learned by his own experience to be merciful and suffer with us in our sufferings and temptations’ (Evans, Classics in Western Spirituality, p.108).
Bernard encourages us to ‘step’ into the mind of our neighbours and try to understand them. To hate the sinful behaviour where it shows itself but love the sinner because we are sinners too. In other words, as Atticus Finch, the defence attorney in ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ puts it to ‘walk around in the skin of another person’ before judging them not with indignation but with mercy.
Bernard found himself able to relate to all kinds of people because his spiritual insights meant that he could ‘Read the Book’, as he put it, of their human experience. He encouraged his monks to become more ‘literate’ about what happened to them on a day to day basis, using scripture and theology. He urged others to practice true humility and by so doing pointed out that, primarily, he was talking to himself as well. Bernard’s playful, yet sharp, humour leads him to remark:
‘A sheep might as well come to a goat for wool as you to me for guidance.’
Nevertheless, he disliked any form of false humility which manifested itself in being deferential when in fact a person, however important, needed to be openly challenged. Bernard took legitimate pride in ensuring that Bishops who came on visitation were made to reflect that pomp and ceremony should take second place to the real treasures he had to present to them, namely, the poor of Christ.
Pope Benedict XVI in one of his addresses spoke of Bernard’s impulsiveness. He could be irritated in a flash but had a strong sense of justice. This showed itself quite dramatically, at times, as a ‘reckless’ love. He once rescued a murderer at the last minute from the gallows and made the man a member of his community instantly. Bernard’s explanation was that he intuitively believed, as soon as he saw him, that the man had a vocation. The great mystic could equally dive head-long into human need whenever it presented itself and yet be deeply recollected.
Bernard encourages us to ‘step’ into the mind of our neighbours and try to understand them. To hate the sinful behaviour where it shows itself but love the sinner because we are sinners tooOn one memorable occasion he rode past the wonders of Lake Geneva without noticing it was there! But Bernard was never preoccupied with himself. He knew that God’s goodness and mercy was within the reach of everyone no matter what they had done. Pope Benedict XVI also remarks that the saint warned of ‘the dangers of excessive activity’ whatever a person’s occupation, including being the Pope or a Bishop. This is because, by leaving nothing for ourselves to ourselves, a ‘hardness of heart’ and ‘a loss of understanding’ will be the fruits.
Fostering a contemplative attitude of active compassion for the faults of others made Bernard able to be honest enough to face his own. God whispered into his restless heart to puncture its pride and re-inflate it with the humility of grace for Bernard to whisper to others.
