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| St. Bernard by El Greco |
IV. Faith cannot be deceived. With
the power to understand invisible truths, faith does not know the poverty of
the senses; it transcends even the limits of human reason, the capacity of
nature, the bounds of experience. Why do you ask the eye to do what it is not
equipped to do? And why does the hand endeavor to examine things beyond its
reach? What you may learn from these senses is of limited value. But faith will
tell you of me without detracting from my greatness. Learn to receive
with greater confidence, to follow with greater security, whatever faith
commends to you. "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my
Father.”74 As if after he had ascended he wished to be or could be
touched by her! And yet he could be touched, but by the heart, not by the hand;
by desire, not by the eye; by faith, not by the senses. "Why do you want
to touch me now," he says, "would you measure the glory of the
resurrection by a physical touch? Do you not remember that, while was still
mortal, the eyes of the disciples could not endure for a short space the glory
of my transfigured body that was destined to die?75 I still
accommodate myself to your senses by bearing this form of a servant which you
are accustomed to seeing. But this glory of mine is too wonderful for you, so
high that you cannot reach it.76 Defer
your judgment therefore, refrain from expressing an opinion, do not entrust the
defining of so great a matter to the senses, it is for faith to pronounce 
on it. With its fuller
comprehension, faith will define it more worthily and more surely. In its deep
and mystical breast it can grasp what is the length and breath and height and
depth.77 'What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man
conceived '78 is borne within itself by faith, as if wrapped in a
covering and kept under seal.
74. Jn 20:17 75. Mt
17:6 76. Ps 139:6 77. Eph 3:18 78. 1 Cor 2:9
CISTERCIAN
FATHERS SERIES: NUMBER SEVEN - BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - Song of Songs II
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