Liber Quintus, Caput XI. Continuatio considerationis de Deo.
The Restless Search for God
Bernard acknowledges the weariness of seeking God and assures that the search is never in vain, grounding this hope in the psalmist's testimony.
Maybe you are growing impatient if we keep pressing the question, what is God? Partly because it has already been asked so many times over, and partly because you doubt it will ever be found. I tell you, Father Eugene: God alone can never be sought in vain, not even when he cannot be found. Let your own experience teach you about this; or if not, then believe the one who has experienced it — not me, but the holy one who says: It is good, Lord, for those who hope in you, for the soul that seeks you.✦
God as the Ultimate End
Bernard answers the question 'What is God?' by naming God as the ultimate end of all reality and the salvation of those who choose him.
So then, what is God? As far as the whole of reality is concerned — what is he? The ultimate end. As far as our choosing is concerned — salvation. As far as God's own knowledge of himself — he alone knows.
The Living Names of God
Bernard returns to the question and unfolds a litany of divine attributes experienced in the soul, revealing God as the source of every grace.
What is God? Almighty will, most loving virtue, eternal light, unchangeable reason, highest blessedness — creating minds so they may share in itself, giving life so they may feel, moving them to desire, enlarging them to receive, justifying them to merit, kindling zeal, making them fruitful to bear fruit, directing them to equity, shaping them to benevolence, moderating them to wisdom, strengthening them to virtue, visiting them to console, illuminating them to know, perpetuating them to immortality, filling them to make them happy, surrounding them to keep them safe.
Read the original Latin
Forte substomacharis, si adhuc pergimus quaerere, quid est Deus? tum quia toties jam quaesitum est, tum quia diffidis inventum iri. Dico tibi, Pater Eugeni, solus est Deus, qui frustra nunquam quaeri potest, nec cum inveniri non potest. Doceat te de hoc experimentum tuum; aut si non, experto credito, non mihi sed sancto, qui ait: Bonus est, Domine, sperantibus in te, animae quaerenti te. Quid ergo est Deus? Quod ad universum spectat, finis? quod ad electionem, salus: quod ad se, ipse novit. Quid est Deus?
Voluntas omnipotens, benevolentissima virtus, lumen aeternum, incommutabilis ratio, summa beatitudo, creans mentes ad se participandum, vivificans ad sentiendum afficiens ad appetendum, dilatans ad capiendum, justificans ad promerendum, accendens ad zelum, fecundans ad fructum, dirigens ad aequitatem, formans ad benevolentiam, moderans ad sapientiam, roborans ad virtutem, visitans ad consolationem, illuminans ad cognitionem, perpetuans ad immortalitatem, implens ad felicitatem, circumdans ad securitatem.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.83.5;Ps.85.4 — They said, 'Come, let us wipe them out as a nation, so that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.' Ps.85.4 — Turn away all your wrath; turn back from the fury of your anger.
De consideratione (On Consideration) companion
Make consideration a daily appointment
Bernard told Eugene to set aside time every day. Chosen Portion holds that time for you, free.
Bernard's core prescription — a fixed daily time reserved for examining the soul — is exactly the habit Chosen Portion installs with its daily devotional portion.
- One 10-minute daily portion for self-examination and prayer
- Reflection prompts drawn from historic texts, not improvised journaling
- A visible streak that protects the daily interval Bernard insisted on