Comments for To Burn and to Shine at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 6 out of 6 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Wed, 22 May 2013 07:05:12 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/to-burn-and-to-shine.html#comment-2969 Chesterton's quote works both ways: we should not judge ourselves by Medieval standards. Today, I give thanks that I can live in peace with Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and, yes, even avowed atheists, all people who would have been burned at the stake for heresy in Bernard's time. So what is our calling, as American Catholics, in the age of al-Qaeda? Give up our identity or plan for another crusade? I believe in neither extreme. We are invited to follow Christ and "love thy neighbor as thyself." - Bradley Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:40:52 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/to-burn-and-to-shine.html#comment-2968 Well, I quoted Chesterton about not judging and made clear my admiration for Bernard, so as to make clear he wasn't a jihadi. In a short column, "context" is tough, but the quote is a direct quote (and there are lots of others like it). But -- again -- I wasn't saying Bernard was a modern Sayyid Qutb. Quite the opposite. - Brad Miner Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:51:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/to-burn-and-to-shine.html#comment-2967 Mr. Miner's out-of-context citation of Bernard\'s quip that a "Christian glories in the death of the pagan" does a disservice to both Bernard and the Catholic religion. I encourage readers to read the letter in its entirety, or at least a significant excerpt. Bernard is VERY different from a jihadist for whom infidel victims are spiritual brownie points. The saint distinguishes between just and unjust wars. Killing is only justified in the former. - Eric Giunta Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:38:10 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/to-burn-and-to-shine.html#comment-2966 What a wonderful quote from St. Bernard about Our Lady! When was the last time you ever saw anything like it in the Catholic press or a Catholic blog? Yet we need this kind of thing badly. It reminds me of a piece of advice a Cistercian monk gave me many years ago, that when you are looking for spiritual reading you only need to go to the S drawer of the card catalog...and find books by or about saints. Today, St. Bernard. Wonderful! And tomorrow? Please sir, give me more! - Lee Gilbert Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:37:33 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/to-burn-and-to-shine.html#comment-2965 Maybe we cannot see the evil that seeks to destory Christian civilization as St. Bernard saw it because we lack the historical perspective in which he lived. In his day there was no notion that two contrary cultures could survive side by side, especially when one sought the complete destruction of the other. This should give us pause to consider whether our own world view is any better. As Chesterton would say, we may be guilty of chronological snobbery. - Blake Helgoth Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:06:22 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/to-burn-and-to-shine.html#comment-2962 Hearing of Bernard of Clairvaux, I cannot help thinking of his contemporary Peter Abelard although not a saint, I don't think he was really a heretic even though condemned as one at the time. Bernard was unhesitatingly faithful to doctrine, while Peter, the great logician, was forever questioning in his "yes and no" method. Bernard and he were opponents and make for interesting notes in Scholastic times. The story of the time would not be complete without the love story of Abelard and Heloise. - Willie Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:41:58 +0100