The Darkness And Understanding

Tenebrae eam non comprehendereunt. Item nota, quod est comprehensio triplex: per inclusionem vel per commensurationem; item per apertam visionem; item per fidei et caritatis adhaesionem. Primo modo nullae unquam tenebrae Deum comprehendunt, quia nulla unquam natura in aliquo statu potest Deo commensurari. Unde Damascenus: Infinitus est Deus et incomprehensibilis; et Ecclesiastici quadragesimo tertio: Ne laboretis, non enim comprehendetis. Primo modo et secundo non comprehendunt eum tenebrae miseriae, quia nullus miser Deum videt aperta visione; ad Philippenses tertio: Non me arbitror comprehendisse. Primo mdo et secundo et tertio non comprehendunt eum tenebrae culpae. Homo enim peccator nec Deum includit, quia creatura est; nec Deum videt, quia miser est; nec ei per fidem et caritatem adhaeret, quia peccator est. Unde hic dicitur, quod tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt; et ad Ephesdios tertio: In caritate radicati et fundati, ut possitis comprehendere cum omnibus sanctis; quia aliter non possetis scire; quae sit longitudo, scilicet aeternitatis, latitudo, scilicet immensitatis, sublimitas, scilicet maiestatis, et profundum, scilicet sapientiae et veritatis. Sanctus Bonaventura, Collationes In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput I Source: Here, p536-37

The darkness did not comprehend it. 1 It should be noted that understanding is threefold: by embracing or commensurability, by the plain sight, or by the adhesion of faith and love. By the first way no darkness understands God because no nature in any state is able to be commensurate with God. Whence the Damascene says: 'God is infinite and incomprehensible.' And in the forty third chapter of Ecclesiasticus: 'Do not labour, for you do not understand.' 2 By the first and second ways the darkness does not understand Him on account of wretchedness, because no wretch sees God with the plain sight. In the third chapter of Philippians 'I do not judge myself to have understood.' 3 By the first and the second and the third the darkness does not understand by fault. For man the sinner does not grasp God because He is a created thing, nor does he see God because he is wretched, nor does he adhere to Him by faith and love because he is sinner. Whence here it is said the the darkness did not comprehend it. And in the third chapter of Ephesians: 'In love rooted and established so that you are able to understand with all the saints.' Because it is not otherwise possible to know 'the length' that is of eternity, 'the depth' that is the immensity, 'the sublimity' that is majesty, and 'the depth', that is of wisdom and truth. 4 Saint Bonaventura, Observations On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 1 1 Jn 1.5 2 Sirach 43.34 3 Phil 3.13 4 Ephes 3.17-18