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Spiritual Exercises

"A loose assemblage of sermons outside of the organized collections of Bernard's sermons treating themes of the life of desire, the true meaning of holiness, and the awakening of the spiritual senses in the search for God"--

During his twenty years as abbot of the Yorkshire monastery of Rievaulx, Aelred preached many sermons: to his own monks, in other monasteries, and at significant gatherings outside the cloister. In these thirty-one homilies on Isaiah chapters 13-16, together with an introductory Advent sermon, Aelred interprets the burdens that Isaiah prophesied against the nations according to their literal, allegorical, and moral senses. He sees these burdens as playing a role both in the history of the church and in the progress of the individual soul. This collection of homilies is an ambitious, unified work of a mature monk, synthesizing biblical exegesis, ascetical teaching, spiritual exhortation, and a theory of history.

Sermons for Advent and the Christmas Season

On Contemplating God, Prayer, Meditations

A scholar turned monk, Isaac combined the increasingly technical vocabulary of the cathedral schools with the spiritual tradition of the monastery. Dialectic is here combined with meditative reflection.

Exposition on the Song of Songs

Dialogue on the Soul

On Grace and Free Choice

A Cistercian Anthropology

Mirror of Charity

Treatises and Pastoral Prayer

The Herald of God's Loving-Kindness Books 1 and 2

The Steps of Humility and Pride

Sermons on the Song of Songs Volume 1

The Case for Citeaux

Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Five Books on Consideration: Advice to a Pope

Sermons on the Song of Songs Volume 2

Sermons on Conversion

The Golden Epistle

In Praise of the New Knighthood

Sermons on the Song of Songs Volume 4

Taking up Saint Bernard's unfinished sermon-commentary, Gilbert ruminates on verse 3:1-5:10 in forty-eight sermons, leaving the task to be finished by John of Ford.This volume contains sermons 33 through 48.To encounter a person who makes holiness attractive is an enviable experience. Such a person was Gilbert of Hoyland, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Swineshead in Lincolnshire, a friend of Aelred of Rievaulx, and the continuator of the sermons on the Song of Songs begun by Bernard of Clairvaux.When the great saint of Clairvaux died in 1153, his sermon commentary had reached only the first four verses of chapter three of the Canticle. Gilbert took up the task, but left the commentary unfinished at his death. It was brought to completion by another English abbot, John of Ford.Those who know and admire Bernard's eloquence and contemplative insight will enjoy making the acquaintance of his successors. While conscious of continuing Bernard's work and remaining true to his spirit, they infused their sermons with their own personalities and shared their own rich experiences of God. As Lawrence C. Braceland says in his introduction to this first English translation of Gilbert's work, 'Gilbert is an experience. He has found the Beloved.'

Cistercians and Cluniacs

The Art of Preaching

Sermons on the Song of Songs Volume 1