Light, Life, and Love: Selections from the German Mystics of the Middle Ages Part 2

No man is so boorish or stupid or awkward, that he cannot, by G.o.d's grace, unite his will wholly and entirely with G.o.d's will. And nothing more is necessary than that he should say with earnest longing: O Lord, show me Thy dearest will, and strengthen me to do it. And G.o.d does it, as sure as He lives, and gives him grace in ever richer fulness, till he comes to perfection, as He gave to the woman at Jacob's well. Look you, the most ignorant and the lowest of you all can obtain this from G.o.d, before he leaves this church, yea, before I finish this sermon, as sure as G.o.d lives and I am a man.

(187)

O almighty and merciful Creator and good Lord, be merciful to me for my poor sins, and help me that I may overcome all temptations and shameful l.u.s.ts, and may be able to avoid utterly, in thought and deed, what Thou forbiddest, and give me grace to do and to hold all that Thou hast commanded. Help me to believe, to hope, and to love, and in every way to live as Thou willest, as much as Thou willest, and what Thou willest. (415)

THE WILL

THEN is the will perfect, when it has gone out of itself, and is formed in the will of G.o.d. The more this is so, the more perfect and true is the will, and in such a will thou canst do all things. (553)

SURRENDER OF THE WILL

YOU should know, that that which G.o.d gives to those men who seek to do His will with all their might, is the best. Of this thou mayest be as sure, as thou art sure that G.o.d lives, that the very best must necessarily be, and that in no other way could anything better happen. Even if something else seems better, it would not be so good for thee, for G.o.d wills this and not another way, and this way must be the best for thee. Whether it be sickness or poverty or hunger or thirst, or whatever it be, that G.o.d hangs over thee or does not hang over thee--whatever G.o.d gives or gives not, that is all what is best for thee; whether it be devotion or inwardness, or the lack of these which grieves thee--only set thyself right in this, that thou desirest the glory of G.o.d in all things, and then whatever He does to thee, that is the best.

Now thou mayest perchance say: How can I tell whether it is the will of G.o.d or not? If it were not the will of G.o.d, it would not happen.

Thou couldst have neither sickness nor anything else unless G.o.d willed it. But know that it is G.o.d's will that thou shouldst have so much pleasure and satisfaction therein, that thou shouldst feel no pain as pain; thou shouldst take it from G.o.d as the very best thing, for it must of necessity be the very best thing for thee. Therefore I may even wish for it and desire it, and nothing would become me better than so to do.

If there were a man whom I were particularly anxious to please, and if I knew for certain that he liked me better in a grey cloak than in any other, there is no doubt that however good another cloak might be, I should be fonder of the grey than of all the rest. And if there were anyone whom I would gladly please, I should do nothing else in word or deed than what I knew that he liked.

Ah, now consider how your love shows itself! If you loved G.o.d, of a surety nothing would give you greater pleasure than what pleases Him best, and that whereby His will may be most fully done. And, however great thy pain or hards.h.i.+p may be, if thou hast not as great pleasure in it as in comfort or fulness, it is wrong.

We say every day in prayer to our Father, Thy will be done. And yet when His will is done, we grumble at it, and find no pleasure in His will. If our prayers were sincere, we should certainly think His will, and what He does, to be the best, and that the very best had happened to us. (134)

Those who accept all that the Lord send, as the very best, remain always in perfect peace, for in them G.o.d's will has become their will. This is incomparably better than for our will to become G.o.d's will. For when thy will becomes G.o.d's will--if thou art sick, thou wishest not to be well contrary to G.o.d's will, but thou wishest that it were G.o.d's will that thou shouldest be well. And so in other things. But when G.o.d's will becomes thy will--then thou art sick: in G.o.d's name; thy friend dies: in G.o.d's name! (55)

SUFFERING

MEN who love G.o.d are so far from complaining of their sufferings, that their complaint and their suffering is rather because the suffering which G.o.d's will has a.s.signed them is so small. All their blessedness is to suffer by G.o.d's will, and not to have suffered something, for this is the loss of suffering. This is why I said, Blessed are they who are willing to suffer for righteousness, not, Blessed are they who have suffered. (434)

All that a man bears for G.o.d's sake, G.o.d makes light and sweet for him. (45)

If all was right with you, your sufferings would no longer be suffering, but love and comfort. (442)

If G.o.d could have given to men anything more n.o.ble than suffering, He would have redeemed mankind with it: otherwise, you must say that my Father was my enemy, if he knew of anything n.o.bler than suffering. (338)

True suffering is a mother of all the virtues. (338)

SIN

DEADLY sin is a death of the soul. To die is to lose life. But G.o.d is the life of the soul; since then deadly sin separates us from G.o.d, it is a death of the soul.

Deadly sin is also an unrest of the heart. Everything can rest only in its proper place. But the natural place of the soul is G.o.d; as St Augustine says, Lord, thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it finds rest in Thee. But deadly sin separates us from G.o.d; therefore it is an unrest of the heart. Deadly sin is also a sickness of the faculties, when a man can never stand up alone for the weight of his sins, nor ever resist falling into sin. Therefore deadly sin is a sickness of the faculties. Deadly sin is also a blindness of the sense, in that it suffers not a man to know the shortness of the pleasures of l.u.s.t, nor the length of the punishment in h.e.l.l, nor the eternity of joys in heaven. Deadly sin is also a death of all graces; for as soon as a deadly sin takes place, a man becomes bare of all graces. (217)

Every creature must of necessity abide in G.o.d; if we fall out of the hands of his mercy, we fall into the hands of His justice. We must ever abide in Him. What madness then is it to wish not to be with Him, without whom thou canst not be! (169)

CONTENTMENT

A GREAT teacher once told a story in his preaching about a man who for eight years besought G.o.d to show him a man who would make known to him the way of truth. While he was in this state of anxiety there came a voice from G.o.d and spake to him: Go in front of the church, and there shalt thou find a man who will make known to thee the way of truth. He went, and found a poor man whose feet were chapped and full of dirt, and all his clothes were hardly worth twopence-halfpenny. He greeted this poor man and said to him, G.o.d give thee a good morning. The poor man answered, I never had a bad morning. The other said, G.o.d give thee happiness. How answerest thou that? The poor man answered, I was never unhappy. The first then said, G.o.d send thee blessedness. How answerest thou that? I was never unblessed, was the answer. Lastly the questioner said, G.o.d give thee health! Now enlighten me, for I cannot understand it. And the poor man replied, When thou saidst to me, may G.o.d give thee a good morning, I said I never had a bad morning. If I am hungry, I praise G.o.d for it; if I am cold, I praise G.o.d for it; if I am distressful and despised, I praise G.o.d for it; and that is why I never had a bad morning. When thou askedst G.o.d to give me happiness, I answered that I had never been unhappy; for what G.o.d gives or ordains for me, whether it be His love or suffering, sour or sweet, I take it all from G.o.d as being the best, and that is why I was never unhappy. Thou saidst further, May G.o.d make thee blessed, and I said, I was never unblessed, for I have given up my will so entirely to G.o.d's will, that what G.o.d wills, that I also will, and that is why I was never unblessed, because I willed alone G.o.d's will. Ah!

dear fellow, replied the man; but if G.o.d should will to throw thee into h.e.l.l, what wouldst thou say then? He replied, Throw me into h.e.l.l! Then I would resist Him. But even if He threw me into h.e.l.l, I should still have two arms wherewith to embrace Him. One arm is true humility, which I should place under Him, and with the arm of love I should embrace Him. And he concluded, I would rather be in h.e.l.l and possess G.o.d, than in the kingdom of heaven without Him. (623)

DETACHMENT

THE man who has submitted his will and purposes entirely to G.o.d, carries G.o.d with him in all his works and in all circ.u.mstances.

Therein can no man hinder him, for he neither aims at nor enjoys anything else, save G.o.d. G.o.d is united with Him in all his purposes and designs. Even as no manifoldness can dissipate G.o.d, so nothing can dissipate such a man, or destroy his unity. Man, therefore, should take G.o.d with him in all things; G.o.d should be always present to his mind and will and affections. The same disposition that thou hast in church or in thy cell, thou shouldst keep and maintain in a crowd, and amid the unrest and manifoldness of the world.

Some people pride themselves on their detachment from mankind, and are glad to be alone or in church; and therein lies their peace. But he who is truly in the right state, is so in all circ.u.mstances, and among all persons; he who is not in a good state, it is not right with him in all places and among all persons. He who is as he should be has G.o.d with him in truth, in all places and among all persons, in the street as well as in the church; and then no man can hinder him. (547)

It is often much harder for a man to be alone in a crowd than in the desert; and it is often harder to leave a small thing than a great, and to practise a small work than one which people consider very great. (565)

PRAYER

GOOD and earnest prayer is a golden ladder which reaches up to heaven, and by which man ascends to G.o.d.

The man who will pray aright should ask for nothing except what may promote G.o.d's honour and glory, his own profit and the advantage of his neighbours. When we ask for temporal things we should always add, if it be G.o.d's will and if it be for my soul's health. But when we pray for virtues, we need add no qualification, for these are G.o.d's own working. (359)

LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOUR

IT is a hard thing to practise this universal love, and to love our neighbours as ourselves, as our Lord commanded us. But if you will understand it rightly, there is a greater reward attached to this command, than to any other. The commandment seems hard, but the reward is precious indeed. (135)

LOVE

HE who has found this way of love, seeketh no other. He who turns on this pivot is in such wise a prisoner that his foot and hand and mouth and eyes and heart, and all his human faculties, belong to G.o.d. And, therefore, thou canst overcome thy flesh in no better way, so that it may not shame thee, than by love. This is why it is written, Love is as strong as death, as hard as h.e.l.l. Death separates the soul from the body, but love separates all things from the soul. She suffers nought to come near her, that is not G.o.d nor G.o.d-like. Happy is he who is thus imprisoned; the more thou art a prisoner, the more wilt thou be freed. That we may be so imprisoned, and so freed, may He help us, Who Himself is Love. (30)

THE UNION WITH G.o.d

THE union of the soul with G.o.d is far more inward than that of the soul and body. (566)

Now I might ask, how stands it with the soul that is lost in G.o.d?

Does the soul find herself or not? To this will I answer as it appears to me, that the soul finds herself in the point, where every rational being understands itself with itself. Although it sinks and sinks in the eternity of the Divine Essence, yet it can never reach the ground. Therefore G.o.d has left a little point wherein the soul turns back upon itself and finds itself, and knows itself to be a creature. (387)

G.o.d alone must work in thee without hindrance, that He may bring to perfection His likeness in thee. So thou mayest understand with Him, and love with Him. This is the essence of perfection. (471)

THE LAST JUDGMENT

PEOPLE say of the last day, that G.o.d shall give judgment. This is true. But it is not true as people imagine. Every man p.r.o.nounces his own sentence; as he shows himself here in his essence, so will he remain everlastingly. (471)

PRECEPT AND PRACTICE

BETTER one life-master than a thousand reading-masters (wger wre ein lebemeister denne tsent lesemeister). If I sought a master in the scriptures, I should seek him in Paris and in the high schools of high learning. But if I wished to ask questions about the perfect life, that he could not tell me. Where then must I go?

Nowhere at all save to an utterly simple nature; he could answer my question. (599)

RELICS

MY people, why seek ye after dead bones? Why seek ye not after living holiness, which might give you everlasting life? The dead can neither give nor take away. (599)

SAYINGS OF ECKHART

MASTER ECKHART saith: He who is always alone, he is worthy of G.o.d; and he who is always at home, to him is G.o.d present; and be who abides always in a present now, in him doth G.o.d beget His Son without ceasing. (600)

Master Eckhart saith: I will never pray to G.o.d to give Himself to me: I will pray Him to make me purer. If I were purer, G.o.d must give Himself to me, of His own nature, and sink into me. (601)