Wisdom to Ponder

Having worked thirty-seven years with the Journey into God of St. Bonaventure, we were drawn by some of his wisdom that springs forth throughout the entire manuscript. We have gathered 36 of them for you to ponder. Originally published as individual cards accompanied by a photo, we now offer them here for your personal meditation.

Wisdom to Ponder 1

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter IV

 

We are made to be a daughter of God,

a spouse,

and a friend.

Wisdom to Ponder 2

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 3

 

 

It becomes clear that the psyche itself

has the capacity for God and the ability

to participation in God.

Wisdom to Ponder 3

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 1

 

Open your eyes,

alert your spiritual ears,

unlock your lips and

apply youur heart

so that in all creation

you may see, hear, praise, love and adore,

magnify and honor your God.

Wisdom to Ponder 4

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

 

For the most pure being

is an intelligible sphere

whose center is everywhere

and whose circumference

is nowhere.

Wisdom to Ponder 6

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

 

We cannot find happiness

without rising above ourselves

not by a physical journey 

but by a journey of the heart.

Wisdom to Ponder 5

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

It becomes clear that the psyche itself has the capacity for God and the ability to participation in God.

Wisdom to Ponder 7

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

 

Let us be rooted

and grounded

in love.

Wisdom to Ponder 8

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

There is no beauty

or delight

without proportion.

Wisdom to Ponder 9

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 7

 

Rest

with Christ

in the tomb.

Wisdom to Ponder 10

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

 

Happiness is nothing other

than the enjoyment

of the highest Good.

Wisdom to Ponder 11

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum
Journey into God

We return to our interior
where we see God in the splendor of the Saints,
and in them, as in our bed, we sleep in peace.

Wisdom to Ponder 12

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 1

 

Prayer is the mother

and the wellspring

of the upward movement into God.

Wisdom to Ponder 13

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

There is no other way to peace

but through the most burning love

of the Crucified.

Wisdom to Ponder 14

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

The mirror of the external world

is of little significance

unless our interior mirror is cleansed and polished.

Wisdom to Ponder 15

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

Take your time and ruminate very slowly.

Wisdom to Ponder 16

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

We must concentrate on the contemplation of truth

and rise gradually

until we arrive at the peak of the mountain.

Wisdom to Ponder 17

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

Flooded with all thes intellectual lights,

we are inhabited

by the divine Wisdom.

Wisdom to Ponder 18

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

Totally immersed in deceptions,

the human person is unable to reenter into itself

as the image of God.

Wisdom to Ponder 19

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

Desire tends above all to that

which is loved the most.

And that which is loved the most is happiness.

Wisdom to Ponder 20

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

The first being is the Alpha and the Omega.

It has neither neither past nor future,

but its being is only in the present.

Wisdom to Ponder 21

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

The supreme good

is supremely self-diffusive.

Wisdom to Ponder 22

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

We do not draw near to this door

unless we believe in Christ,

hope in Christ,

and love Christ.

Wisdom to Ponder 23

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

From God and through God and in God are all things, for God is all powerful, all knowing, and all good.

Wisdom to Ponder 24

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 5

 

For the most pure being

occurs only in full flight from non-being

just as nothing

is in full flight from being.

Wisdom to Ponder 25

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

It is in God alone,
that the true fountain of delight
is to be found.

Wisdom to Ponder 26

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

 

At creation humanity was made fit f
or the quiet of contemplation.

Wisdom to Ponder 27

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 3

 

Behold, therfore, how close the psyche is to God.

and how memory leads to eternity.

the intellect leads to truth,

and the power of choice

leads to the highest Good.

Wisdom to Ponder 28

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

We find mysteries which have no likeness among creatures. When we have contemplated all these things
it remains for us to transcend
not only the sensible world but even ourselves.

 

Wisdom to Ponder 29

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

We ought to be led to contemplate God
in all those creatures that enter into our consciousness
through our bodily senses..

Wisdom to Ponder 30

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

Creatures are shadows, echoes, and pictures of that eternal Source,
Light, and Fullness.

Wisdom to Ponder 31

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 1

 

For every creature is by nature
a kind of copy
and representation.

Wisdom to Ponder 32

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God

 

We arrive at peace
by which the truly contemplative person
is filled with the light of heavenly wisdom.

Wisdom to Ponder 33

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 7

 

Little attention should be given to investigation 

and much to zeal,

little to speech but much to interior joy,

little to words and all to the gift of the God.

Wisdom to Ponder 34

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Prologue

 

In the beginning I call upon that Eternal Source
from whom all illumination flows
as from the God of lights
from whom comes every good and perfect gift.

Wisdom to Ponder 35

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 7

 

My friend, leave behind the world of the senses.

In the state of unknowing,

allow yourself to be drawn back

into unity

with the One.

Wisdom to Ponder 36

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Journey into God, Chapter 7

 

Ask grace, not doctrine;
desire, not intellect;
the groaning of prayer, not studious reading;
the spouse, not the teacher;
darkness, not clarity.