Complete Works, Vol. XXXIV

is what He is, not because He is from it, but because from Him, and through Him, and in Him are all things original: "ex ipso, et per ipsum, et in ipso sunt omnia" (Romans 11:36). For our intelligence is to that inaccessible light original: "lucem inaccessibilem" (cf. 1 Timothy 6:16) much less than the sight of an owl or a bat is to the light: whence it is said in Psalm 17:11 original: "Psalmo xviii, 11": He flew upon the wings of the winds, that is, above even the angelic intelligences.

Is God comprehended, and how?

Nevertheless, God is comprehended in some way through faith while on the journey i.e., in this earthly life. Augustine says: "The weak edge of the human mind is not fixed in such excellent light, unless it be cleansed through the justice of faith." To the same point, Bernard says: "God is in irrational creatures in such a way that He is not grasped by them. Yet He can be grasped by all rational beings through the knowledge of faith, but He is grasped by the good alone through love original: "Ita Deus est in irrationalibus creaturis, ut non capiatur ab ipsis. A rationalibus tamen capi potest omnibus per fidei cognitionem, sed a bonis tantum capitur per amorem" (S. Bernard, Homily 3 on "Missus est")." Let us say, therefore, that we can know of God what He is not, not what He is. Augustine says: "We understand God as good without quality, great without quantity, creator without need, presiding without position, containing all things without habit or circumference, everywhere whole without place, eternal without time, making mutable things without change of Himself, and suffering nothing."

God is also comprehended through the vision i.e., the beatific vision according to the dignity of merits in the fatherland i.e., heaven. Augustine says: "We shall see the essence of your majesty, and each one more The more purely one has lived here, the more clearly one will see God. clearly, the more purely one has lived here." There is an example in the sea, which offers itself to the sight, and yet according to its circumference, it cannot be seen in its entirety: this is due both to the breadth of the sea and to the disproportion of our own sight to such a surface.

This, therefore, must be held: that on the journey we can know that God is, and in the fatherland, how He is; yet never, neither here nor there, what He is. Bodily sight is hindered in three ways: namely, by darkness, by false light, and by turning away

from the visible object. In the same way, spiritual sight is hindered regarding the knowledge of God. First, by the darkness of sin or error. 1 John 2:11: He who hates his brother, that is, he who commits sin, is in darkness. 2 Corinthians 3:15: To this day, when Moses is read, a veil is placed upon their heart. Second, by false light: this happens when someone measures eternal things according to natural ones. An example is found in rotten wood, which seems to have a certain light at night, but when the day comes, it is nothing. Third, by turning away from a visible or knowable thing: this is when someone, having spurned the immutable good, adheres to mutable things; for the eyes of such people, since they are sick, light is hateful, while to the pure, it is most lovable.

God is known interiorly and exteriorly. God is known interiorly and exteriorly, and how? Interiorly in two ways: sometimes through inspiration, which is given to few. The Apostle, 2 Corinthians 12:2: I know a man in Christ, etc.: and sometimes through reasoning, by which method many philosophers have had knowledge of God. Romans 1:20: The invisible things of God, etc. God is also known exteriorly in two ways: namely, through creatures. The Apostle says: We see now through a mirror original: "per speculum" (1 Corinthians 13:12), namely of creatures, which are currently a mirror of the creator in the present; thus, conversely, God Himself will be the mirror of creatures in the future, in which we shall see all things that will pertain to our joy. Likewise, through the teaching of the Apostle: Faith from hearing original: "Fides ex auditu" (Romans 10:17). Just as a living thing is known sometimes by hearing, sometimes by sight, and sometimes by taste, so God is known in a certain way by hearing. For those who hear the word of God and believe through it know God; theologians, who read God in the Scriptures, know Him by sight; and philosophers, who contemplate Him in creatures, also know Him by sight; the good alone know Him by taste.