Easter 2026 - Reading #37 - Understanding
Reading
Saint Augustine, in his treatise on the Gospel of John, describes the experience of understanding as a momentary glimpse of divine truth that permanently transforms the one who receives it: "We speak of things that cannot be spoken, and we try to explain what cannot be explained. Thought reaches a place where words fail. Yet what we cannot say, we must not remain silent about. The understanding of God is not like the understanding of geometry or grammar. It is a flash of insight, a momentary touch of the eternal, that leaves the soul changed even when the flash has passed."
Augustine elsewhere reflects: "Too late have I loved You, O Beauty so ancient and so new, too late have I loved You! Behold, You were within and I was without, and there I sought You. You were with me, and I was not with You. Those things held me far from You, which, unless they were in You, would not exist at all. You called, and cried out, and broke through my deafness. You flashed, and shone, and chased away my blindness."
For Augustine, understanding is not a permanent state of illumination but a series of flashes, moments when the veil parts and the soul sees, however briefly, the reality it has been believing in by faith. These flashes do not persist, but their effect does: the soul that has once seen, even for a moment, is never the same.
Reflection
Thirty-eight days into Easter, Augustine describes the gift of understanding in the language of love, as a flash, a cry, a breaking through. "You called, and cried out, and broke through my deafness. You flashed, and shone, and chased away my blindness." This is not the language of academic theology. It is the language of encounter, the moment when understanding ceases to be a concept and becomes an experience.
Augustine's testimony is encouraging for anyone who feels that their understanding of God is more intellectual than experiential. He did not arrive at understanding gradually, through steady effort. It broke through, suddenly, unexpectedly, and with a force that shattered his defenses. The gift of understanding is not something we produce through study alone (though study is a worthy preparation). It is something that happens to us when the Spirit chooses to pull back the curtain and show us what is real.
These moments may be rare. They may be brief. But their effect is permanent. The person who has once seen, even for an instant, the reality of God's presence, who has felt the veil part and glimpsed the infinite love and beauty behind all things, can never fully go back to sleep. The flash fades, but the memory of it sustains the soul through every darkness that follows. If you have had such a moment, treasure it. If you have not, or if it has been a long time, this Easter season is an invitation to ask for one. The Spirit gives the gift of understanding to those who ask, and who are willing to be changed by what they see.