Homily of St Bernard

Throughout the twenty centuries of Christianity, writers and preachers have been falling over each other trying to do justice to Mary, the Mother of God. Perhaps the most successful in this regard is St Bernard of Clairvaux. He was a Cistercian monk and he had an enormous impact on the Europe of his day. Here, though, we see his tender side, as he addresses our blessed Mother. Appropriately for this stage of Advent, he turns to the moment when the Word became flesh, when Mary said Yes to what God was asking of her.