out against the Jewes; in this bloody sweat of Christ I see another use.”^73 The other
reference is to the repentant thief on the cross who was “of the Society of Jesus....
(though no Jesuite neither).”^74
Ambrose makes more direct references to Bernard’s usage of contemplation
than any other patristic or medieval person. Bernard’s teaching on contemplation is
rich and extensive. However, space limits this synopsis to only his most salient
points.^75 Casey summarizes Bernard’s understanding of “contemplation [as] a
penetrating moment of perception which conveys something of the beauty and
attractiveness of God which has the result of distracting the mind and the heart from
absolutely everything else.”^76 Even though Bernard stressed the necessity of clearly
differentiating between meditation and contemplation, there were occasions when the
distinction faded and terms overlapped.^77 While there was not the same emphasis
upon personal experience in the twelfth as the seventeenth-century Bernard speaks
with passionate autobiographical detail and delight.^78 Further, these experiences are
always a gift, the result of God’s grace.^79 Though he presents his own experiences he
cautions his readers that times of contemplation are rare and fleeting.^80
(^73) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus (^) , 560.
(^74) Ambrose, Ultima in Prima, Media, Ultima (1654), 208.
(^75) Much of the following section is summarized from John Sommerfeldt’s Spiritual
Teachings of Bernard, 215-50. Other studies that specifically focus on Bernard’s
understanding of contemplation are Butler, Western Mysticism, 95-110; Casey, Athirst
for God 76 , 289-96; and McGinn, Growth of Mysticism, 211-3, 221-3.
Casey, Athirst for God, 295. For the semantic range of terms used by Bernard to
express contemplation see McGinn, 77 Growth in Mysticism, 212.
78 Sommerfeldt, Spiritual Teachings of Bernard, 223-4, 228n36.^
79 Bernard, SCC 74.5-7. cf. McGinn, Growth of Mysticism, 496n152.^
(^80) Bernard Sommerfeldt, , SCC 23.15, cf. Spiritual Teachings of BernardSCC 85.13. , 234, 238-41.^