Office Of Readings | Friday, Lent Week 1 | From The Mirror Of Love By Saint Aelred, Abbot

Office Of Readings | Friday, Lent Week 1 | From The Mirror Of Love By Saint Aelred, Abbot

‘Christ, the model of brotherly love.’

Who Was Saint Aelred Of Rievaulx?

Saint Aelred of Rievaulx presents the highest expression of Christian love: the love of one’s enemies. His reflection is deeply rooted in the Gospel, particularly in Christ’s own example on the cross, where Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” For Aelred, this moment encapsulates the essence of divine love—self-giving, patient, and without retaliation. Aelred was a 12th-century Cistercian monk and abbot of Rievaulx Abbey, known for his writings on Christian friendship and love. His spirituality was deeply influenced by Saint Augustine, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and the monastic tradition, particularly in its focus on the imitation of Christ. This reading is a reflection of Aelred’s broader theological vision, where love is not merely an emotion but a profound act of spiritual transformation, a means of becoming Christ-like.

Aelred emphasizes Christ’s willingness to endure humiliation and suffering without anger or resistance. Jesus allows himself to be spat upon, blindfolded, scourged, and crowned with thorns—acts of extreme cruelty—yet Christ responds with silence and peace. He is mocked and crucified, yet he prays for his persecutors. Jesus offers not only forgiveness but also an excuse for the actions of those who tormented him: “they do not know what they are doing.” This extraordinary response defies human instinct, which seeks justice and retribution. Aelred sees in Christ’s attitude the perfect model for the Christian life—one that transforms suffering into love. Aelred’s words echo the call of Isaiah, where the Suffering Servant is “like a lamb led to the slaughter, silent before his shearers.” Aelred invites the reader not just to admire Christ’s patience, but to embody it in their own struggles.

Aelred’s theology of love is drawn from both Augustinian and Cistercian thought. Like Augustine, Aelred sees love as the ultimate path to God, and like Bernard of Clairvaux, he understands love as an active response to divine grace. Aelred extends this concept to love for one’s enemies, arguing that true love must be universal because if love excludes enemies, it remains incomplete. Forgiveness is not weakness but strength, overcoming hatred by transforming the heart. The fire of divine love must not grow cold, for resentment and injury should never diminish the Christian’s ability to love. This idea resonates with Saint Paul’s exhortation to bless persecutors and overcome evil with good. Aelred presents this not as an idealistic aspiration but as an essential mark of Christian holiness.

Aelred’s words challenge believers to examine their own attitudes toward forgiveness and reconciliation. Many individuals struggle with resentment, past wounds, and a sense of justice, yet Aelred reminds Christians that true spiritual freedom comes not from revenge but from the ability to love as Christ loved. His teaching is especially relevant in a world marked by division, hostility, and conflict. To live this teaching requires a conscious decision to forgive, even when forgiveness feels undeserved, a focus on Christ’s example, keeping one’s spiritual eyes on Jesus’ patience and gentleness, and a heart open to grace, allowing God to soften any areas hardened by pain.

For Aelred, Christian perfection is found in imitating Christ’s love on the cross. To love one’s enemies is to participate in the very life of God, for as the Apostle John declares, “God is love.” This reading encapsulates Aelred’s monastic and theological vision, in which love is not merely a virtue but the summation of Christian perfection. Love, when extended even to one’s enemies, makes a person like Christ. Love is the path to holiness, the fire that purifies the soul, and the mark of a true disciple. In this reflection, Aelred does not offer abstract philosophy but a deeply practical and demanding call to live as Christ lived.

From The Mirror Of Love By Saint Aelred, Abbot

The perfection of brotherly love lies in the love of one’s enemies. We can find no greater inspiration for this than grateful remembrance of the wonderful patience of Christ. He who is more fair than all the sons of men offered his fair face to be spat upon by sinful men; he allowed those eyes that rule the universe to be blindfolded by wicked men; he bared his back to the scourges; he submitted that head which strikes terror in principalities and powers to the sharpness of the thorns; he gave himself up to be mocked and reviled, and at the end endured the cross, the nails, the lance, the gall, the vinegar, remaining always gentle, meek and full of peace.

In short, he was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before the shearers he kept silent, and did not open his mouth.

Who could listen to that wonderful prayer, so full of warmth, of love, of unshakeable serenity – Father, forgive them – and hesitate to embrace his enemies with overflowing love? Father, he says, forgive them. Is any gentleness, any love, lacking in this prayer?

Yet he put into it something more. It was not enough to pray for them: he wanted also to make excuses for them. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. They are great sinners, yes, but they have little judgement; therefore, Father, forgive them. They are nailing me to the cross, but they do not know who it is that they are nailing to the cross: if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory; therefore, Father, forgive them. They think it is a lawbreaker, an impostor claiming to be God, a seducer of the people. I have hidden my face from them, and they do not recognise my glory; therefore, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

If someone wishes to love himself he must not allow himself to be corrupted by indulging his sinful nature. If he wishes to resist the promptings of his sinful nature he must enlarge the whole horizon of his love to contemplate the loving gentleness of the humanity of the Lord. Further, if he wishes to savour the joy of brotherly love with greater perfection and delight, he must extend even to his enemies the embrace of true love.

But if he wishes to prevent this fire of divine love from growing cold because of injuries received, let him keep the eyes of his soul always fixed on the serene patience of his beloved Lord and Saviour.