Collations on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Conference VIII: The Gift of Understanding

ConfeRenCe VIII: THe gIfT of UnDeRsTanDIng 1. “I will bless the Lord who has given me understanding.”1 “A wise person who listens will become wiser, and the person who understands has a sound rudder.”2 In the second text Solomon shows that it is useful to hear the word of God. The reason is that a person who understands profits from hearing the word of God, and the same is true of one who does not understand. Therefore, both the wise and the simple should go to hear the word of God. It is clear that the wise profit from hearing the word of God when it says that the “wise person who listens to wisdom becomes wiser.” Similarly that the simple profit from hearing the word of God is clear from what is said in Psalm 118:130: “The declaration of your words illumines, and gives understanding to the little ones.” Here a person is called a little one because of the limited range of his knowledge. Thus, a person who knows little is said to be small-minded; and similarly a person who knows many things is said to have a broad understanding. Also a person is called a little one even if he knows much and has a broad understanding, yet conducts himself in a humble way. As it is said in Matthew 11:25: “You have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them to the little ones,” that is, to the humble. Nothing darkens the understanding about matters that pertain to God as much as does 1 See Ps 15:7. 2 See Prov 1:5. Collations on the seven Gifts of the holy spirit 164 presumption. All of us praise humility and find fault with presumption. Yet few are free of presumption. Richard of Saint Victor says: “In arguing against pride a person frequently becomes proud.”3 Behold how the bold liar deceives many.4 Only one who knows the consciences of human beings can enlighten human hearts. As we begin, let us ask God, etc. 2. “I will bless the Lord,” etc. This brief word comes from David himself as he explains to us through the Holy Spirit the very gift of understanding that is given to us by the Holy Spirit.5 He explains this gift to us from the perspective of the humble gratitude of the one receiving it, and from the lavish generosity of the one giving it. The humble gratitude of the recipient is noted when he says: “I will bless the Lord.” The lavish generosity of the one giving it is noted in the next words: “Who has given me understanding.”This gift demands that a person be grateful to God. It also brings it about that a person comes to know himself in a new way, together with the gift and the source of the gift. In recognizing the source of the gift, a person sees himself anew, and then gives thanks. And then he blesses God and traces the beauty of the gift back to the author of the gift, praising the giver and not oppos3 See c. 46 of De praeparatione animi ad contemplationem, liber dictus Benjamin Minor in PL 196:34C. Bonaventure’s citation is not verbatim. See also Richard of St. Victor: The Twelve Patriarchs, The Mystical Ark, Book Three of the Trinity. Translation and Introduction by Grover A. Zinn. The Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist, 1979), 103: “Often while they serve the advantage of neighbors in the office of preaching, while they dispute strongly against pride, it comes to pass that often they are proud.” In this edition Benjamin Minor is called The Twelve Patriarchs. 4 Cf. John 8:44: “… when he (the devil) tells a lie, he speaks from his very nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” 5 For the technical explanation of “understanding” see Book III, d. 35, q. 3 of Bonaventure’s Sentence Commentary in Opera Omnia 3:777-79. understandinG 165 ing him. We prepare ourselves to receive this gift in three ways; first, by a holy life; second, by compliant meekness; and third, by the captivity of understanding,6 that we may bless the author of this gift. 3. First, I say that we dispose ourselves to receive this gift of understanding through holiness of life. Isaiah 28:9 states: “To whom will...