Varden preaches to curia on St. Bernard

St. Bernard, master of conversion.
Bishop Eric Varden is the pride of all Cistercians this week, as he preaches the Lenten retreat to the Roman Curia. There have not been many Cistercians to do so, if any, but Varden knows that one very famous Cistercian gave a papal retreat of sorts. His name was Bernard of Clairvaux, and his papal exhortation is the famous De Consideratione. 
In it, Bernard criticizes (the Cistercian) Pope Eugene III for his overloaded schedule, for moving away from apostolic works toward hearing too much litigation. The risk of high office is always the distortion of that office into something else and the moral disfiguration of the office holder. Bernard, indeed a monastic father to Eugene if not the far senior novice master that armchair historians sometimes seek to make him, recalls Eugene to the essence of his religious commitment. 
Bernard recommends leisure. Perhaps Bishop Varden will need to be less strident on this point than if he were preaching to Pope Francis, who was said to never take a day off, much less go on vacation. Pope Leo XIV, on the other hand, goes to the gym and plays tennis regulary. More power to him!