Memorial of Blessed Guerric of Igny

What encouragement or wisdom can we find in today’s celebration of Blessed Guerric of Igny?  This second abbot of Igny, was a late vocation who entered Clairvaux at age 45, just like our Br. Philip who is 45. Thirteen years later Guerric replaceed the first abbot of Igny who said, “I’m quitting!”, packed his bags and returned to Clairvaux.  So, Bernard  sent dependable old Guerric who didn’t want to be an abbot because, he thought he had nothing to give.  But the 54 sermons that have come down to us merit calling him one of the four evangelists of Citeaux along with St. Bernard, St. Aelred, and William of St. Thierry.

One thing saddened Guerric, and caused him deep humiliation.  Because of illness and old age he was forced to keep to his bed, and to be absent from community prayer and work much of the time. But that didn’t prevent him from teaching others to be faithful to the practices of our way of life.  He writes, “I think it is most important not to let restlessness or a slight indisposition keep us away from the divine office, private prayer, holy reading, our everyday tasks, and the rule of silence.”

In his Christmas Sermons Guerric writes about the spirit of sadness and pessimism.  The root of this evil is a feeling that God hasn’t been good to us, that one has a right to be downcast.  Guerric doesn’t flash out with thunder and lightning against the slothful and negligent.  Instead, he uses irony when he writes, “…thanks be to God for giving us victory without a battle, pardon without repentance, righteousness without right conduct, holiness without striving, for letting us wallow in the delights of the flesh and of the spirit at the same time.”   Then, giving us a little push he writes, “In you, brethren, we look with confidence for something better and more conducive to your salvation.” 

Abbot Robert Barnes sums up Guerric’s life in these words: “He is a monk we may claim as a model, who obeyed what he was told to do and who did it faithfully, a good man, a wise abbot, an encouragement to us all.”