213th Meditation
“Someone says to me: ‘I seek to understand in order to believe’. I reply: ‘Believe in order to understand’.” (St. Augustine).
Not everything is accessible to our understanding. Particularly faith is revealed to us first of all through the supernatural light of the Holy Spirit, rather than through the efforts of reason. Our intellect needs divine light in order to penetrate more deeply into the mysteries of faith. In this context, we are reminded of the words that Jesus, filled with joy in the Holy Spirit, exclaimed: “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children” (Lk 10:21).
St. Augustine, being both a deep believer and a great thinker, understood this well. He had studied many things and yet it was not through study that he found faith. Rather, it was a word of Scripture that he read at a certain moment, and through it, the Lord opened the eyes of his understanding and granted him supernatural light.
It corresponds to the simplicity and plainness that God loves so much that faith is not acquired through assiduous study. It is not knowledge that gives us the courage to take the great steps of faith. Rather, it is the simplicity of a heart that, having been touched by supernatural light, sets out to follow the Lord.
Along with the light of faith we also gain a deeper understanding. In His wisdom, our Father arranged it this way, so that, as St. Paul says, “let nobody claim the credit” (Eph 2:9). In the end, faith will always be a gift from God, for which we can never tire of giving thanks.
Certainly, an awakened mind is also a gift of God; but it is secondary. Therefore, it may happen that a person who is not necessarily endowed with a brilliant intellect will understand and put into practice the contents of faith more easily than someone who possesses a lot of knowledge but has difficulty with the simplicity of faith.
In the case of St. Augustine, we find both elements: a strong light of faith and a sharp intellect. This has made him a great luminary for the Church. And precisely from him comes this maxim: “Do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe that you may understand”.