The Daily Pilgrimage

Good Morning, Pilgrim

Receive this day from God.

Pentecost does not end when the octave passes. Its fruit must remain in the soul: public confession of truth, docility to apostolic doctrine, courage before false authority, and charity strong enough to resist error without bitterness.

Offer prayer, work, suffering, and sacrifice in reparation for personal ingratitude and for faithful reception of Marian truth.

Formation in True Devotion - Day 262: Review and Deepening: Formation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary

“If I knew that my guilty blood could serve in engraving upon any one's heart the truths which I am writing in honour of my true Mother and sovereign Mistress, I would use my blood instead of ink to form the letters, in the hope to find some good souls who, by their fidelity to the practice which I teach, shall compensate to my dear Mother and Mistress for the losses which she has suffered through my ingratitude and infidelities.”
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 112

Ora — Begin with Prayer

Offer the day before spending it

Prayer gives the day its right beginning and its right end. Before work, conversation, news, or distraction claims the mind, adore the Blessed Trinity and offer every prayer, work, joy, suffering, and temptation to Jesus through Mary. Ask your Guardian Angel for help, and place the souls and needs entrusted to you beneath God's will.

Begin simply. Make the Morning Offering through the hands of Our Lady. Pray the Three Hail Marys for purity and final perseverance, ask your Guardian Angel to govern the senses and imagination, and name the soul or intention for which today's prayers and sacrifices will be offered. Do not rush these acts merely because they are familiar; let them place the whole day beneath God before the world begins to claim it.

O Lord, keep me near Thy Cross when comfort, acceptance, and ease invite me elsewhere. Let fidelity be stronger than the desire to belong.

Quote of the Day

“We are to love God for Himself, because nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Today's Full Breviary Sermon or Proper Lesson

The Doctor whose learning was kindled by God.

Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Bernard, Abbot, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church

The complete appointed Breviary sermon or proper lessons verified for this observance are printed below. Where a Common supplies additional material, it is identified distinctly rather than presented as the proper text.

Roman Breviary, Proper lessons for St. Bernard

“His teaching was rather given him of God.”

• The Breviary honors St. Bernard as abbot of Clairvaux, Doctor, preacher, writer, and servant of the Church in times of public difficulty.
• His lessons join contemplation and action: he governed monastic life, wrote with extraordinary light, counseled rulers, assisted Pope Innocent II, and labored against schism—the public rupture of ecclesiastical unity.
• St. Bernard shows that doctrine becomes fruitful when it is joined to prayer, humility, reform of life, and obedient service to the Church.

Let St. Bernard correct both cold study and restless action. Catholic speech should rise from prayer, and public zeal should be purified by humility before God.

Walk with the Church

The Church has already begun praying. Enter her prayer.

Today the Roman year keeps St. Bernard, Abbot and Doctor. Receive the observance as the Church gives it: first understand what is commemorated, then let its doctrine and worship shape the day.

Roman Martyrology

August 20

In the territory of Langres, the demise of St. Bernard, first abbot of Clairvaux, illustrious for virtues, learning, and miracles. He was declared Doctor of the universal church by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius VIII. — In Judea, the holy prophet Samuel, whose sacred relics (as is related by St. Jerome), were taken to Constantinople by the emperor Arcadius, and deposited near Septimus. — The same day, St. Lucius, senator, who was converted to the faith, on seeing the constancy of Theodore, bishop of Gyrene, during his martyrdom. He also converted the governor Dignian, with whom he set out for Cyprus, where, seeing other Christians crowned for the confession of the Lord, he offered himself voluntarily, and merited the same crown of martyrdom, by having his head struck off. — In Thrace, in the time of the governor Apellian, thirtyseven holy martyrs, who had their hands and feet cut off for the faith of Christ, and were cast into a burning furnace. — Also, the holy martyrs Severus, and the centurion Memnon, who, suffering the same kind of death, went victoriously to heaven. — At Cordova, during the persecution of the Arabs, the holy martyrs Leovigildus and Christopher, monks, who were thrust into prison for the defence of the Christian faith, and soon after, by being beheaded and cast into the fire, obtained the palm of martyrdom. — At Rome, blessed Porphyry, a man of God, who instructed the holy martyr Agapitus in the faith and doctrine of Christ. — In the island of Noirmoutiers, St. Philibert, abbot. — At Chinon, St. Maxinms, confessor, disciple of the blessed bishop Martin. — On Mount Senario, in the diocese of Florence, blessed Manetius, confessor, one of the seven founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, wrho breathed his last whilst reciting hymns in her honor.

Learn from Today's Saint or Feast

St. Bernard

Abbot, Doctor, preacher, and lover of the Word made flesh.

St. Bernard entered Citeaux and became abbot of Clairvaux, giving the Church a luminous witness of monastic reform, preaching, counsel, doctrine, and ardent love for Our Lord and Our Lady.

Princes, bishops, monks, and ordinary souls sought his counsel, yet his strength rose from contemplation. He teaches that holy eloquence must come from prayer and return souls to God.

Let St. Bernard teach you to love doctrine as something sung before God, not merely argued before men.