About Brother Bernard's Gift of Contemplation

How much grace God gave to the poor men who followed the Gospel and who voluntarily gave up all things for the love of God was manifested by Brother Bernard of Quintavalle who, after he had taken the habit of St. Francis, was very frequently rapt in God by the contemplation of heavenly things.

Thus one time it happened that while he was attending Mass in  a church and his whole mind was on God, he became so absorbed and rapt in contemplation that during the Elevation of the Body of Christ he was not at all aware of it and did not kneel down when the others knelt, and he did not draw his cowl back as did the others who were there, but he stayed motionless, without blinking his eyes, gazing straight ahead, from morning until noon.

But after none he came back to himself and went through the Place shouting in a voice filled with wonder: "Oh, Brothers! Oh, Brothers! Oh, Brothers! There is no man in all this country, no matter how great and noble he is, who, if he were promised a very beautiful palace full of gold, would not willingly carry a sack full of the most filthy manure in order to obtain that very noble treasure!"

Saint Francis of Assisi

Little Flowers of Saint Francis - 28