2nd Aug 2021 - Focus

Some say, ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’. The first person recorded as saying this was Bernard of Clairvaux, the leading Cistercian of the twelfth century. He declared, ‘l’enfer estplein de bonnes volontés et désirs’ or ‘hell is full of good wishes and desires’. Waverley Abbey, near Farnham in Surrey, where I write EDWJ, was the first Cistercian monastery in England and I ruminate on his words every time I pray walking around its ruins.