"The winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth"; signifying that summer has come back with Him who dissolves icy death into the spring of a new life and says, "Behold, I make all things new." His Body sown in the grave has blossomed in the Resurrection; and in like manner our valleys and fields which were barren or frozen, as if dead, glow with reviving life and warmth.
The Father of Christ who makes all things new, is well pleased with the freshness of those flowers and fruits, and the beauty of the field which breathes forth such heavenly fragrance; and He says in benediction, "See, the smell of My Son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed." Blessed to overflowing, indeed, since of His fullness have all we received.
But the Bride may come when she pleases and gather flowers and fruits therewith to adorn the inmost recesses of her conscience; that the Bridegroom when He comes may find the chamber of her heart fragrant with perfume. So it behoves us, if we would have Christ for a frequent guest, to fill our hearts with faithful meditations on the mercy He showed in dying for us, and on His mighty power in rising again from the dead.
Lines from On Loving God by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
Photograph of Abbey woodlands and pond by Brother Casimir.