"But if you wish to know how these things come about,
ask grace not instuction,
desire not understanding,
the groaning of prayer not diligent reading,
the Spouse not the teacher,
God not man,
darkness not clarity,
not light but the fire
that totally inflames and carries us into God
by ecstatic unctions and burning affections.
The fire is God,
and his furnace is in Jerusalem;
and Christ enkindles it
in the heat of his burning passion,
which only he truly perceives who says;
My soul chooses hanging and my bones death.
Whoever loves his death
can see God
because it is truly beyond doubt that
man will not see me and live.
Let us, then, die
and enter into the darkness;
let us impose silence
upon our cares, our desires and our imaginings.
With Christ crucified
let us pass out of this world to the Father
so that when the Father is shown to us,
we may say with Phillip:
It is enough for us.
Let us hear with Paul:
My grace is sufficient for you.
Let us rejoice with David saying:
My flesh and my heart have grown faint;
You are the God of my heart;
and the God that is my portion forever.
Blessed be the name of the Lord forever
and all people will say:
Let it be; let it be.
Amen."
-St. Bonaventure
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