The Wonders of Divine Faith

...of the kernel, and refresh themselves with empty husks. These are prodigal sons, as the Gospel witnesses—a fatal and wretched lot!

If by chance the wonders, or miracles, which the following pages—like a rare theater—display as a spectacle to the eyes of your mind, should seem too lofty, too great, or too many for you, friend Reader, I ask you to consider this: any miracle holds us suspended in wonder only so long as it shows itself to be beyond our grasp original: "supra captum nostrum"; for as soon as some deed which was called a miracle accommodates itself to our understanding, it ceases to be a wonder or a miracle. The Mysteries and Miracles of our sacred Faith are to be believed by Divine Faith, not seen through by the intellect in this earthly life original: "in hac via," literally "on this way," referring to the soul's pilgrimage on earth. You grasp only as much as you believe, considering what stupendous wonders Divine Faith works daily in you, in me, and in every individual believer. All that the miracles recorded here teach us, and demand from us, is that you, and I, and all mortals with us, believe not in a human way, nor only in an angelic way, but in a truly divine way.

But if the present discipline of Faith, even in a brief letter, should fail either you or itself, know that I have beforehand confidently asked you to lead the wanderer back more quickly to the right path of infallible truth; since nothing is more dangerous than to deviate even one single step from the path of divine Truth. However, do not conduct your examination or pass judgment according to the narrow measure of your reason—which is but the handmaid Handmaid (pedissequa): A common theological term in the Middle Ages and Renaissance ("ancilla fidei"), suggesting that human reason should serve and support faith rather than rule over it. of Sacred Faith—but according to the scales original: "trutinam" of supernatural Faith; for indeed, it is not the subordinate who judges his superior, but the superior who judges his servant. Nor should the multitude of numbers or the abundance of citations that occur displease you; since at your pleasure, even if you skip them all, you may still perceive the entire meaning, even if the teachings themselves...