“A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armor of faith, just as his body is protected by the armor of steel. He is thus doubly armed and need fear neither demons nor men.” St. Bernard de Clairvaux (Circa 1135)
This snapshot of an original Templar Knight was penned by the man who, more than any other, created the beliefs, customs, and historic reality of the Templars. These extraordinary individuals existed almost a full millennia before our time and they left us a remarkable legacy worth remembering.
Yet our legacy is worth far more than merely remembering. As we have discovered, much more so than most others, is that the Templars of lore are recreated in our lives as Templars of today. By logical extension, this signifies that the Knights Templar were so exceptional and significant in the human story that they are worth our spending substantial slices of our lives and limited resources in the 21st century!
What is it about the Templar life that is worth all that time (that each of us has so precious little remaining) and resources that the average person must carefully manage and conserve? Here is the single bullet point list of why we do what we do as modern Templars and why it is important to carry forth into the future:
The treasure of Templarism is found in the continuous, never ceasing Worship of God through our Kingdom committed lives that have been made resolutely humble by Jesus’ Cross of Redemption and Sacrifice.
Our forefather Templars were cloistered Cistercian monks – people of constant contemplation of the eternal wonder of Calvary. As Templars of today, we too share this primary preoccupation – without the ascetic vows – in our modern lives. Therefore, we as modern Templars, are obliged to carry forth this resolve into our own time or risk merely playing Templar games.
Jesus remains our core Priority – just as He was for our forefathers – for the Templar life in our time is still all about Christ. Everything else is only a minor detail. And that is worth a day – or a life – of constant remembrance.
By that single overwhelming truth, the differences between the Templar of antiquity and the modern Templar are, after all, only minor details, because our primary occupation is precisely the same as theirs. For, we each work diligently so that Christ must increase as we must decrease, for this immutable creed is etched upon our lives and is the sole kernel of energy that drives the Templar experience:
“Non nobis domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.”
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name we give glory.
Or, as the verse intends,
“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
but unto Thy Name, and by our lives, we give You all glory.”