Collation 3 - Collations on the Hexaemeron — Bonaventure
English Latin
300 On the Fullness of Understanding, Considered as the Key to Contemplation through the Understanding of the Uncreated, Incarnate and Inspired Word COLLATIO III DE PLENITUDINE INTELLECTUS, QUATENUS EST CLAVIS CONTEMPLATIONIS PER INTELLECTUM VERBI INCREATI, INCARNATI ET INSPIRATI
1. IN THE midst of the Church the Lord shall open his mouth, and shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding . Whatever is said of wisdom, must be said of understanding of which it was explained in the Collations on the Gifts that it is the rule of moral definition, the door to learned thought, and the key to heavenly contemplation. And such understanding is indeed a gift. A beginning must be made from understanding in order to reach wisdom. With the bread of life and understanding, the Lord shall feed him: and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink. First there must be food, not drink. Unless man is trained in the gift of understanding, he cannot proceed to the drink of wisdom, which makes a river flow in the soul, a river which the soul itself drinks, that shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up unto life everlasting . The gift of understanding is solid food, like bread which, as Blessed Francis used to say, is obtained through much labor. First the seed is sown, then it grows, then the grain is collected, then brought to the mill, then baked. There are many such steps. And so it is with the gift of understanding: to prepare understanding is a difficult task in itself. Likewise, wisdom is not obtained except by the man who thirsts. Hence, the Psalm: My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; and: As the hind longs for the running waters, so my soul longs for You, O God. 1. In medio Ecclesiae aperiet os eius, et adimplebit eum Dominus spiritu sapientiae et intellectus Dicto de sapientia, dicendum est de intellectu, de quo dicebatur in Collatione donorum , quod intellectus est regula circumspectionum moralium, ianua considerationum scientialium, clavis contemplationum caelestium. Et iste intellectus proprie est donum. -- Ab intellectu inchoandum est, et perveniendum ad sapientiam. Cibavit illum Dominus pane vitae et intellectus, et aqua sapientiae salutaris potavit illum . A cibo incipiendum est, non a potu. Nisi enim homo exerceatur in dono intellectus, non proficit in potu sapientiae, quae effundit flumina in animam, potata ab ipsa, et fit ei fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam . Donum intellectus est solidus cibus, ut panis, qui, ut dicebat beatus Franciscus, multis laboribus habetur. Primo semen seminatur, deinde crescit, deinde colligitur, deinde ad molendinum portatur, deinde coquitur, et multa talia. Et sic de dono intellectus; intellectum comparare difficile est per se. Sapientia similiter non habetur nisi a sitiente; unde in Psalmo: Sitivit anima mea ad Deum fortem vivum ; et: Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te Deus
A. Keys: Understanding the Word
2. And so, the key to contemplation is a threefold understanding: of the Uncreated Word by whom all things are brought forth; of the Incarnate Word by whom all things are restored; and of the Inspired Word by whom all things are revealed. For no one can have understanding unless he considers where things come from, how they are led back to their end, and how God shines forth in them. 2. Clavis ergo contemplationis est intellectus triplex, scilicet intellectus Verbi increati, per quod omnia producuntur; intellectus Verbi incarnati, per quod omnia reparantur; intellectus Verbi inspirati, per quod omnia revelantur. Nisi enim quis possit considerare de rebus, qualiter originantur, qualiter in finem reducuntur, et qualiter in eis refulget Deus; intelligentiam habere non potest.
3. Concerning a text from the Epistle to the Romans: For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen—His everlasting power also and divinity— being understood through the things that are made: God's everlasting power and His divinity are understood through their effect, since God is the Cause of all things, and all things are made by this power of His. And this is contrary to the theory of the philosophers who deny that things endowed with many forms can proceed from one and the same Being, that temporal things can proceed from the Eternal, possible things from the most Actual, changing things from the most Stable, composite things from the most Simple, lowly things from the supremely High: since the effect reflects the cause, and the opposite is true in these cases. 3. De primo ad Romanos: Invisibilia Dei a creatura mundi per ea quae facta sunt intellecta conspiciuntur, sempiterna quoque Virtus eius et Divinitas . Sempiterna virtus et Divinitas per effectum intelliguntur, quia Deus est causa omnium, et per virtutem eius omnia sunt facta ; quod est contra philosophos, qui negant, quod ab uno et eodem, semper manente eodem, sint multiformia, ab aeterno temporalia, ab actualissimo manent possibilia, a stabilissimo mutabilia, a simplicissimo composita, a sublimissimo infima; cum effectus sit similis causae, et causa haec sit contraria in his conditionibus.
1. First Key & Door: Uncreated Word
4. The door to all this is the understanding of the Uncreated Word who is the root of the understanding of all things; hence a man who does not have this door cannot go in. But philosophers consider impossible some things that are supremely true, for the door is closed to them. How these matters are to be understood is explained in the Epistle to the Hebrews: By faith we understand that the world was fashioned by the Word of God; and thus things visible were made out of things invisible. For it is impossible for the supreme Spirit not to understand itself; and since the understanding is equated with the one who understands, He understands whatever is and whatever can be: hence also the reason of understanding is equated to understanding itself, for it is its likeness. Now this likeness is the Word because, according to Augustine and Anselm, the likeness of the mind returning upon itself, which is at the fine point of intelligence, is the word. If then this likeness is equal, it follows that it is God, and, having originated from God, it represents the Originating One and whatever the Father is able to do: hence it represents many things. Again, since it represents the Father's power, it represents a power that is absolutely one; but "the more a power is one, the more it is infinite." Hence this likeness properly represents infinite things; and therefore it is necessary that many things proceed from one. If, then, you understand the Word, you understand all understandable things. But the Jew cannot understand this. And yet Scriptures say: God said, "Let there be light." And again, God said, that is, He begot the Word in whom He disposed all things, and, disposing them, made them. Hence Augustine writes in his "Confessions": "Whatever You make, you make through your Word coeternal with You, nor do you make anything by any other mode than by expressing it; and yet You do not eternally make what You eternally express." 4. Horum ostium est intellectus Verbi increati, qui est radix intelligentiae omnium; unde qui non habet hoc ostium, intrare non potest. Philosophi autem habent pro impossibili quae sunt summe vera, quia ostium est eis clausum. -- Quomodo autem haec intelligantur, dicitur ad Hebraeos: Fide intelligimus, aptata esse saecula Verbo Dei, ut ex invisibilibus visibilia fierent . Summum autem spiritum impossibile est se non intelligere; et cum intellectum aequetur intelligenti, intelligit quidquid est et quidquid potest: ergo et ratio intelligendi aequatur intellectui, quae similitudo eius est. Haec autem similitudo Verbum est, quia, secundum Augustinum et Anselmum, similitudo mentis convertentis se super se, quae in acie mentis est, verbum est. Si ergo haec similitudo aequalis est, ergo Deus est, et a Deo originata repraesentat originantem et quidquid Pater potest: ergo repraesentat multa. -- Item, cum virtutem Patris repraesentat, repraesentat virtutem mitissimam; sed «virtus, quanto magis unita, tanto magis infinita»: ergo illa similitudo infinita repraesentare habet; et ita necesse est, ut ab uno sint multa. Si igitur intelligis Verbum, intelligis omnia scibilia. Iudaeus hoc intelligere non potest; et tamen Scriptura dicit: Dixit Deus: fiat lux ; et iterum: Dixit Deus , hoc est Verbum genuit, in «quo omnia disposuit» et disponendo omnia facit. Unde Augustinus in libro Confessionum : «Verbo tuo tibi coaeterno facis quaecumque facis, nec alio modo quam dicendo facis, non tamen sempiterne facis quae sempiterne dicis».
5. Indeed, if oneness were able to know the sum total of its potencies, it would see and know all the numbers; and if the mathematical point were able to know the sum total of its potencies, it would know all the lines passing through the center. Oneness, however, is more of a principle than the mathematical point, for oneness is an essential part of number, while the point is a principle but not a part. And neither of these is an active principle. Hence, because the first intellect is an active principle, it is necessary that it dispose and express all things in the likeness of itself. 5. Si enim unitas posset cognoscere totum posse suum, videret et cognosceret omnes numeros; et si punctus cognosceret totum posse suum, cognosceret omnes lineas in centro; unitas tamen magis est principium quam punctus, quia unitas est pars essentialis numeri; punctus autem principium et non pars; nec aliquod istorum est principium activum. Igitur cum primus intellectus sit principium activum; necesse est, ut in similitudine sua omnia disponat, omnia exprimat.
a. Word Creates a Soul, is Not Changed, But in Eternity He is Saying It is to Be Created Now
6. Again, all temporal things proceed from an Eternal Being. For whatever proceeds from the Father does so in order, the one is the cause of the other, in nature and in time: therefore the Word so represents things that they are made to be. For as in my foresight or memory! there may be many future things, some more remote than others, and yet it does not follow that there is any change in me when these things occur: likewise there is no change in the Word. For when He creates a soul, He is not changed: in eternity He is saying that this soul is to be created now. By the very word He speaks in eternity, He creates now. If my will and my power coincided and I wanted a thing to occur only tomorrow, when it did occur, there would be no change in me; but there would be a change were I to pass from not wanting it to wanting it. 6. Item, ab aeterno sunt omnia temporalia. Quae enim a Patre procedunt ordinate procedunt, et unum est causa alterius, ordine naturae et ordine temporis; ergo Verbum sic repraesentat res, ut in esse producuntur. Sicut enim in providentia mea vel memoria possunt esse multa futura, et unum futurum magis distans quam aliud; nec propter hoc sequitur, quod cum eveniunt, sit mutatio in memoria mea; sic in Verbo non est mutatio. Cum enim creat animam hanc, non mutatur, quia ab aeterno dixit, animam hanc nunc creandam. Unde eodem dicto, quo ab aeterno dixit, nunc creat; sicut, si velle meum esset posse meum; si vellem modo, cras fieri rem, non esset mutatio in me, si fieret; sed esset, si de non volente fierem volens.
7. Once more, possible or material things are made by the most Actual. For the Father is understood to be the Principle producing from itself, the Principle producing from nothing, and the Principle producing from something material. And the Word expresses the Father as Principle producing from itself , and so He explains and represents the production of the Holy Spirit and His own, that is, the production of eternal things. He also expresses the Father as the Principle producing from nothing , and so He represents the production of aeviternal things, such as the angels and souls. He finally represents the Father as producing something out of something else , as is the case with material objects. But whatever comes from something else exists first in potency before it comes to being: hence the Word necessarily represents possible things. And so, possible things come about through the most actual, by necessity. 7. Item, ab actualissimo fiunt possibilia sive materialia. Pater enim intelligitur principium principians de se, principium principians de nihilo, principium principians de aliquo materiali. Et Verbum exprimit Patrem ut principium principians de se, et sic est explicans et repraesentans productionem Spiritus sancti et suam sive aeternorum. -- Exprimit etiam Patrem ut principiantem aliquid de nihilo, et sic repraesentat productionem aeviternorum, ut Angelorum et animarum. -- Repraesentat etiam ut principiantem aliquid de aliquo materiali; sed quod fit de aliquo prius est in potentia, quam fiat; necesse ergo est, ut repraesentet possibilia. Necessario ergo ab actualissimo fiunt possibilia.
b. Word is Truth
8. Furthermore, the Likeness or Word is Truth. What is truth by definition? "An adequation of the intellect with the object understood." I am speaking of that intellect which is the cause of the object, and not of my own intellect which is not its cause. This adequation is true when the object has quantity, quality, order, action, passion, time, place, and habit, according to the differences of the categories. For things are true when they exist either in fact or as universals, as they exist in Eternal Art or are expressed in it. A thing, then, is true in so far as it is adequated to the causing intellect. But because it is not perfectly adequated to the reason that expresses or represents it, every creature is a lie, as Augustine says. For the adequated thing is not its own adequation: hence it is necessary that the Word or Likeness or Reason be the Truth. And the truth of the creature consists in that, and both the highest and the lowest things are represented by the Word. And although an angel, in so far as he is a likeness of God and possesses nobler attributes, partakes in the Word in a larger measure than a worm, yet in the order of exemplarity, the principle "angel" is not nobler than the principle "worm": hence the principle "worm" expresses or represents the worm in the same way as the principle "angel" expresses and represents the angel, nor is there in this regard any superiority of the angel over the worm. For any creature is a mere shadow in regard to the Creator. 8. Et haec similitudo sive Verbum est veritas. Quid est veritas secundum definitionem? «Adaequatio intellectus et rei intellectae», illius intellectus, dico, qui est causa rei, non intellectus mei, quia non sum causa rei. -- Haec adaequatio vera est, quando res est tanta, talis, ordinem habens, agens, patiens, tunc, ubi, cum situm habet, secundum differentias praedicamentorum. Tunc enim res sunt verae, quando sunt in re vel in universo, sicut sunt in arte aeterna, vel sicut ibi exprimuntur. Res autem vera est, secundum quod adaequatur intellectui causanti. Quia vero perfecte non adaequatur rationi, quae exprimit eam vel repraesentat; ideo omnis creatura mendacium est, secundum Augustinum. Res autem adaequata non est sua adaequatio: ergo necessario est, ut Verbum vel similitudo vel ratio sit veritas; et ibi est veritas creaturae, et repraesentantur per Verbum ita infima, sicut suprema. Unde licet Angelus magis participet cum Verbo in conditionibus nobilibus, puta quoad imaginem Dei, quam vermiculus; in ratione tamen exemplaritatis non est nobilior ratio Angeli quam vermiculi; ita ratio vermiculi exprimit vel repraesentat vermiculum, ut ratio Angeli Angelum, nec secundum hoc nobilior Angelus vermiculo. Quaelibet autem creatura umbra est respectu Creatoris.
9. And so it is clear that possible things come forth from the most actual, changing things from the most stable, and the lowest things from the most sublime. And as the sun by shining brings forth a variety and number of colors, so out of this Word there comes forth a variety of things. Hence there is no understanding except through the Word. And this is the most noble key of the soul cleansed by faith, and it is needed because "the low sensitivity of our mind is not touched in such outstanding light, except when it is cleansed by the justifying power of faith." Hence all those who lack this faith have their hand cut off. Wherefore the Psalm says: He spoke, and they were made: He commanded, and they were created, etc. 9. Et sic patet, quod ab actualissimo sunt possibilia, a stabilissimo mutabilia, et a sublimissimo infima. Et sicut sol lucens facit varietatem et multiformitatem colorum, sic ab illo Verbo est varietas rerum. Unde non contingit intelligere nisi per Verbum. -- Et haec est clavis nobilissima animae purgatae per fidem, quae est necessaria, quia «mentis nostrae acies invalida in tam excellenti luce non figitur, nisi per iustitiam fidei emundetur». Unde omnes, qui non habent hanc fidem, manum habent amputatam. Unde in Psalmo: Quia ipse dixit, et facta sunt; ipse mandavit, et creata sunt , etc.
2. Second Key: Incarnate Word
10. The second key is the understanding of the Incarnate Word, through whom all things are restored. Hence in the last chapter of Luke: "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled that are written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." Then He opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. Who is speaking? The Word of God, of whom John writes in his first chapter: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, where He displayed two natures within a single Person. It follows that all things must be fulfilled that are written ... concerning Me. Hence, in the Epistle to the Romans: Christ is the consummation of the Law unto justice for everyone who believes. 10. Secunda clavis est intellectus Verbi incarnati, per quod omnia reparantur. Unde Lucae ultimo: Haec sunt verba quae locutus sum vobis, cum adhuc essem vobiscum; quoniam oportet impleri quae scripta sunt in Lege et Prophetis et Psalmis de me. Tunc aperuit illis sensum, ut intelligerent Scripturas . Quis loquitur? Verbum Dei, de quo Ioannis primo: Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis , ubi ostendit duas naturas in una persona. Sequitur: Oportet Scripturas impleri de me ; unde ad Romanos: Finis Legis est Christus ad iustitiam omni credenti .
11. As a sign of Him, there are the two Cherubim ... turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory. The two Cherubim are the two Testaments whose gaze is directed upon Christ. Then He opened their minds, when they understood the Scriptures, meaning that the book of Scriptures is understood precisely through that key, the Incarnate Word, the one eminently concerned with the works of restoration. For unless you understand the order and origin of restoration, you cannot understand Scriptures. Now, in the Apocalypse the name of the Restorer is the Word of God: And He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. Supposing I wanted to know how the Word of God can be the Restorer: Isaiah speaks of it: A child is bom to us, a son is given us; upon His shoulder dominion rests. They name Him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. 11. In designationem huius duo Cherubim, versis vultibus in propitiatorium, mutuo se respiciebant . Duo Cherubim duo testamenta sunt, quorum aspectus in Christum. Tunc aperuit illis sensum , quando intellexerunt Scripturas, id est, per hanc clavem Verbi incarnati liber Scripturae habet intelligi, eo quod est principaliter de operibus reparationis. Nisi enim intelligas ordinem et originem reparationis, Scripturam intelligere non potes. Nomen autem reparatoris est Verbum Dei; in Apocalypsi: Vestitus erat veste aspersa sanguine, et vocabatur nomen eius Verbum Dei . -- Sed vellem scire, quomodo Verbum Dei ut Reparator sit. De hoc Isaias: Parvulus natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis, cuius imperium super humerum eius, et vocabitur nomen eius: admirabilis, consiliarius, Deus, fortis, pater futuri saeculi, princeps pacis .
12. He it is who restored the hierarchy of heaven, and that below heaven which had totally fallen. Hence He must needs have touched both heaven and earth. This Hierarch had to be preeminent, endowed with awareness, acceptable to God, victorious, most generous, and just. 12. Iste reparavit hierarchiam caelestem et subcaelestem, quae tota corruerat. Ergo necesse fuit, ut tangeret caelum et terram. Iste hierarcha debuit esse praecelsus, sensatus, Deo acceptus, victoriosus, largifluus, iustus.
a. Preeminent
13. First, then, the only being able to save would have to be preeminent in power. Hence, in the Epistle to the Hebrews: God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the world; who, being the brightness of His glory and the image of His substance, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, has effected man's purgation from sin and taken His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much superior to the angels as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. From Him, indeed, miracles come forth, and hence it was necessary that He show the miracle of miracles in His own Person, that is, the plurality of natures: for He possesses corporeal, spiritual, and divine natures—the temporal, the aeviternal, and the eternal. Hence again it belongs to Him to bind the lowest with the highest. Sirach says: Behold the rainbow! Then bless its Maker. The rainbow has several natures and colors. As the sun goes down according to the ten divisions of the clock of Achaz, so does the Incarnate Word through the nine choirs of angels down to man, who is counted tenth. This is the greatest miracle, that God be man, that the first be the last; wherefore all miracles are related to this one; and all cry out: "Hosanna to the Son of David!" In this miracle, faith receives its strength. Hence Moses, after he had led the flock across the desert, saw a bush which, though on fire, was not consumed. "I must go over," he said, "to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned." And there he was enlightened. The spiny bush is the flesh liable to suffering; the flame is the soul of Christ full of light and of the fire of love; the light itself is the Godhead; the light joined to the bush by means of the flame is the Godhead joined to flesh by means of the spirit or soul. And so, in order that He be able to quicken the dead and to make sons of God out of mere men, He had to be preeminent, and that is what the word Wonder means. 13. Debuit primo esse praecelsus potentia, qui solus posset salvare. Unde ad Hebraeos: Multifariam multisque modis olim Deus loquens patribus in Prophetis, novissime diebus istis locutus est nobis in Filio, quem constituit heredem universorum, per quem fecit et saecula; usque: Tanto melior Angelis effectus, quanto differentius prae illis nomen hereditavit . -- Ab ipso enim procedunt miracula; et ideo necesse fuit, in ipso ostendi miraculum miraculorum, scilicet multiformitatem naturarum. Habet enim naturam corpoream, naturam spiritualem, naturam divinam; naturam temporalem, aeviternam, aeternam. Unde habet ligare infima supremis. In Ecclesiastico: Vide arcum et benedic qui fecit illum*. Arcus multiformitatem naturarum et colorum habet. Sicut enim sol descendit per decem gradus in horologio Achaz, sic Verbum incarnatum per novem ordines Angelorum usque ad hominem, qui decimus computatur. Hoc est maximum miraculum, ut quod Deus sit homo, primus sit novissimus; et ideo omnia miracula ad hoc miraculum respiciunt; unde omnia clamant: Hosanna Filio David . -- In hoc miraculo fides accipit vires suas. Unde Moyses, postquam minavit gregem ad interiora deserti, vidit rubum qui ardebat et non comburebatur; vadam, inquit, et videbo visionem hanc magnam etc.; ubi fuit illustratus. Rubus spinosa est passibilitas carnis; flamma, anima Christi plena luminibus et igne caritatis; lux, Divinitas; lux coniuncta rubo mediante flamma, Divinitas coniuncta carni mediante spiritu seu anima. Ut ergo possit de mortuis facere vivos, de hominibus filios Dei ; necesse est, ut sit praecisus; et hoc est quod dicit admirabilis.
b. Awareness
14. Next, it was necessary that our Hierarch be endowed with awareness , in regard to the threefold wisdom within Him: the innate, that is, the wisdom of angels and of the first man, the infused, and the eternal. Through the first, He knows all things which we are able to know by means of the proper disposition; through the second, He comprehends gloriously and infinitely, because to His wisdom there is no limit; through the third, He comprehends all things. For the One who was to restore the whole universe had to know the conditions of the whole universe. Hence, in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews: The Word of God is living and efficient. And later: All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we have to give account. Hence, it was necessary not only that He be powerful, but also that He be aware. 14. Item, necesse est, ut hierarcha noster sit sensatus iuxta triplicem sapientiam in eo, innatam scilicet, sicut fuit Angelis et primo homini, infusam, aeternam. Per primam scit omnia, quae nos possumus per habitum scire; per secundam comprehendit gloriose et infinite, quia sapientiae eius non est numerus per tertiam omnia. Qui enim reparare debuit totum mundum, necesse erat, ut sciret conditiones totius mundi; unde ad Hebraeos quarto: Vivus est sermo Dei et efficax ; sequitur: Omnia nuda et aperta sunt oculis eius, ad quem nobis sermo . Unde oportebat, non solum quod esset potens, sed etiam quod esset sensatus.
15. But if you ask, "What need was there for Him to have wisdom besides the divine?" I will answer: in order that He might have experience. As it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we have not a High Priest that cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but one tried as we are in all things except sin. For He stands both as our Advocate and our Judge; and He it is who was the best Counselor and the most wise: hence all other sages were nothing but figures and imitations of this Wise One. From Him come forth documents of the greatest certainty and celebrity by which we need to be taught; and that is why He is called Counselor. 15. Sed si dicas: quae necessitas fuit, ut haberet sapientiam aliam praeter divinam? respondeo: ut experiri posset; ad Hebraeos: Non habemus Pontificem, qui non possit compati infirmitatibus nostris; tentatum autem per omnia pro similitudine, absque peccato . Iste autem advocatus est pro nobis, et iudicat contra nos. Iste fuit optimus consiliarius et sapientissimus; unde omnes alii sapientes non fuerunt nisi quaedam figurae et simulacra istius sapientis. -- Ab isto procedunt documenta certissima et praeclara, quibus indigemus erudiri; ideo dicitur consiliarius.