[Meditationes seu Contemplationes devotissimae]

Hence, that he sat in the temple in the midst of the doctors, hearing and questioning them, he did with provident disposition. Not that he, who knew nothing, might learn, but rather so that, being questioned, he might teach. For questioning and answering flow from one and the same fountain. Also, that by their responses he might show their blindness concerning the understanding of the divine law, and by the arguments of his own wondrous wisdom, he might confound their perfidy. Furthermore, that he sat in the temple, which is the place of doctrine, in the midst of the doctors, hearing and questioning them, does not lack mystery. Since he gave us the chief example of humility in this. For the very power of God, and the eternal wisdom of God, the Trinity—which says, "I, wisdom, dwell in counsels"—having clothed itself in man, deigned to come to hear men, so that men, even those endowed with the highest intellect, might learn the necessity of learning, where the form was granted, lest if those who refused to become disciples of the truth, they should become teachers of error. Therefore, take care, faithful soul, to imitate in your studies of the exercise of this humility the form of your Savior. Both because by the steps of humility one ascends to the heights of heaven, and God, who is exalted, is reached not by pride but by humility; and because to the humble, the exalted God grants grace, and to the little ones, through humility, his kindness reveals the hidden secrets of his divinity to the proud.