"Come now, Mistress and Queen, that is a petty complaint."
"Lady Love, you have taken from me the world, worldly honor, and all earthly riches."
"Mistress and Queen, I shall make that up to you in one hour with the Holy Spirit on earth, just as you wish it."
"Lady Love, you have brought me to such a pass that my body is racked by a strange weakness."
"Mistress and Queen, in exchange I have given you much sublime knowledge."
"Lady Love, you have devoured my flesh and my blood."
"Mistress and Queen, you have thereby been purified and drawn into God."
"Lady Love, you are a robber; for this as well shall you make reparation."
"Mistress and Queen, then take me."
"Lady Love, now you have recompensed me a hundredfold on earth."
"Mistress and Queen, in addition you may demand God and all his kingdom.
2. Concerning Three Persons and Three Gifts'
God's true greeting, coming from the heavenly flood out of the spring of the flowing Trinity, has such force that it takes away all the body's strength and reveals the soul to herself, so that she sees herself resembling the saints, and she takes on a divine radiance. Then the soul leaves the body, taking all her power, wisdom, love, and longing. Just the tiniest bit of her life force remains with the body as in a sweet sleep.' Then she sees one complete God in three Persons and knows the three Persons in one God undivided.
He greets her in courtly language that one does not hear in this kitchen, clothes her in the garments that one fittingly wears in a palace, and surrenders himself into her power. Then she can wish for and ask whatever she wants. It is granted her and she is enlightened. What she is not enlightened about is the first cause of the Three Persons.' Then he draws her further to a secret place. There she is not permitted to beg on anyone's behalf or ask, because all alone with her he wants to play a game that the body does not know, nor the peasants at their plows, nor knights at their tournaments, nor his lovely mother, Mary-not even she may play it there. Then she soars further to a blissful place of which I neither will nor can speak. It is too difficult; I do not dare, for I am a very sinful person. Yet when infinite God brings the unfathomable soul to the heights, she loses sight of the earth in her astonishment and is not aware of ever having been on earth. Just when the game is at its best, one has to leave it.
Then God in full vigor speaks: "Young Miss, you must go down." She shudders and laments" her banishment. She says: "Lord, you have raised me up" so high here that I shall not be able to praise you in any fitting degree when in my body. Rather, I shall suffer as an outcast and shall struggle against the body." And he says:
She says: "Dear Lord, it has to be as the master of the house13 commands." And she sighs with all her might, which awakens the body.14
Then the body speaks: "Well, woman, just where have you been? You come back so love-struck, lovely, and vibrant, free and witty. Your carrying on has cost me my appetite, sense of smell, color, and all my strength."
She says: "Shut up, murderer! Quit your bellyaching. I'll always be on my guard with you around. That my enemy has been wounded-what do we care about that? It makes me glad."
This is a greeting that has many streams. It pours forth from the flowing God into the poor, parched soul unceasingly with new knowledge, in new contemplation, and in the special enjoyment of the new presence. 0 sweet God, inwardly on fire, outwardly blossoming, now that you have given this to the least," I would like to experience the life that you have given to your greatest. For that I would be willing to endure suffering even longer.
No one is able or is permitted to receive this greeting unless one has gone beyond oneself and has become nothing. In this greeting I want to die living." This the blind saints cannot ruin for me. They are the ones who love and do not know."
3. The Handmaids of the Soul and the Blow of Love18
All holy Christian virtues are the handmaids of the soul. The sweet listlessness of the soul complains to Love of her troubles:
"Well then, dearest Maiden, for a long time now you have been my chambermaid. Now tell me, where is all this leading? You have hunted me, trapped me, bound me, and wounded me so deeply that I shall never be healthy again. You have meted out to me many a cudgel blow. Tell me, am I ever going to recover from you? If I were not going to be killed by your hand, it would be better for me never to have known you."19
If this letter is too long, this is the reason: I was on the meadow where I found flowers of all kinds. This is a sweet lament: Who dies of love shall be buried in God.
4. The Soul's, journey to Court During Which God Reveals Himself
When the needy soul comes to the court, she is judicious and refined. She gazes at her God in high spirits. Oh, how tenderly is she welcomed there! She remains silent, longing boundlessly for his praise. With great longing he reveals to her his divine heart. It resembles red gold burning in a great fire of coals. He places her into his glowing heart. When the exalted Sovereign and the little waif thus embrace and are united as water and wine, she turns to nothing and is transported out of herself.20 When she has no strength left, he is as lovesick for her as he always was; for he neither increases nor decreases. Then she says:
This is the journey to court of a loving soul that cannot exist without God.
5. The Torment and the Praise of the Soul21
My body is in great torment, my soul is in sublime bliss; for she has both gazed upon and embraced her Lover in her arms. He causes her, poor wretch, torment. When he draws her up, she flows. She cannot hold herself in check until he brings her within himself. She would like to speak but cannot, so utterly has she been enmeshed in sublime union with the awe-inspiring Trinity. Then he leaves her for a short while, that she might feel longing. She desires his praise but does not know how to find it as she would like. She would even want him to send her into hell that he might be praised beyond measure by all creatures.22 She looks at him and says to him, "Lord, give me your blessing." He looks at her, draws her up again, and gives her a greeting23 that the body cannot express.
Then the body speaks to the soul:
And the soul says:
6. The Nine Choirs: How They Sing24
Now hear,25 my Beloved; listen with spiritual ears. Thus do the nine choirs sing:
7. God's Curse in Eight Things
8. The Most Lowly Praises God in Ten Things
9. With Three Things You Dwell on the Heights
Those who are on fire in true love and build on the firm ground of truth and bear abundant fruit for a blessed end-they dwell on the heights.
Explanation: This is about the Seraphim.
10. Who Loves God Triumphs over Three Things
11. Four Battle for God
12. The Soul Praises GodforFive Things"
13. How God Comes to the Soul
14. How the Soul Receives and Praises God
15. How God Receives the Soul
16. God Likens the Soul to Four Things
17. The Soul Praises God About Five Things
18. God Likens the Soul to Five Things
19. God Caresses the Soul in Six Ways
20. The Soul Praises God in Return in Six Ways
21. Of Knowledge and Enjoyment
22. St. Mary's Message and How One Virtue Follows Another. How the Soul Was Made in theJubilus33 of the Trinity, and How St. Mary Nursed All the Saints and Nurses Them Still
The sweet dew of the eternal Trinity gushed forth from the fountain of the everlasting Godhead into the flower of the chosen maid; and the fruit of this flower is an immortal God and a mortal man and a living hope of eternal life. And our Redeemer became a Bridegroom. The bride became exhilarated at the sight of his noble countenance:
Tell me, where did our Redeemer become the Bridegroom?
In the jubilus of the Holy Trinity. When God could no longer contain himself, he created the soul and, in his immense love, gave himself to her as her own.3S
&nb
sp; "What are you made of, Soul, that you ascend so high above all creatures, mingle with the Holy Trinity, and yet remain whole in yourself?"
"You have brought up the question of my origin. I shall tell you honestly: I was made by love in that very place." For that reason no creature is able to give comfort to my noble nature or to open it up except love alone."
"Holy Mary, dear Lady, you are the mother of this wonder. When did this happen to you?"
"When our Father's jubilus was saddened by Adam's fall, so that he had to become angry, the Eternal Wisdom of the almighty Godhead intercepted the anger together with me. The Father chose me for his bride-that he might have something to love; for his darling bride, the noble soul, was dead. The Son chose me to be his mother, and the Holy Spirit received me as his beloved. Then I alone was the bride of the Holy Trinity and mother of orphans, and I brought them before God's eyes so that they might not all sink down, though some did. When I was thus the mother of many a banished child, my breasts became so full of the pure, spotless milk of true, generous mercy that I suckled the prophets and sages, even before I was born. Afterward, in my childhood, I suckled Jesus; later, in my youth, I suckled God's bride, Holy Christianity, under the cross when I was so desolate and wretched, as the sword of the physical suffering of Jesus cut spiritually into my soul."
As she was thus born and made healthy out of the open wounds, she was like a child, and very young. If she was going to recover completely after her death and birth, God's mother was going to have to be her mother and her nurse. This was and is as it should be, since God is her rightful father and she is his rightful bride. She resembles him in all parts.
"Lady, in your old age you suckled the holy apostles with your motherly instruction and with your powerful prayer, that God might reveal his honor and your will through them. Lady, thus did you suckle then and suckle still the hearts of martyrs with strong faith, the ears of confessors with holy protection, the virgins with your chastity, widows with constancy, married people with kindness, and sinners with patient hope."
"Lady, us, too, you must suckle, for your breasts are still so full that they are not likely to dry up. If you no longer wanted to suckle, the milk would cause you much pain. For truly, I have seen your breasts so full that seven streams pour out at one time from one breast over my body and over my soul. In that hour you relieve me of a labor that no friend of God can bear without inner suffering. In this same manner, you shall go on suckling until the last day. Then you shall become dry, for then God's children-and your children-will be weaned and fully grown for eternal life. Ah, then we shall know and see with inexpressible joy the milk and even the breasts themselves41 thatJesus so often kissed."42
23. You Should Ask That God Love You Passionately, Often, and Long; Then You Shall Become Pure, Beautiful, and Holy43
Ah, Lord, love me passionately, love me often, and love me long. For the more passionately you love me, the purer I shall become. The more often you love me, the more beautiful I shall become. The longer you love me, the holier I shall become here on earth.
24. How God Responds to the Soul
That I love you passionately comes from my nature, for I am love itself. That I love you often comes from my desire, for I desire to be loved passionately. That I love you long comes from my being eternal, for I am without an end and without a beginning.
25. The Way to Suffer Pain Willingly for God's Sake
God guides his chosen children along strange paths. This is a strange path and a noble path and a holy path that God himself trod: that a human being, though free of sin and guilt, suffer pain. Upon this path the soul that aches for God is joyful, for by nature she is joyful to her Lord, who suffered much pain because of his good deeds. Our dear Lord, the heavenly Father, delivered up his most beloved Son to be tormented by the heathens and martyred by the Jews despite his innocence. Now the time has come when some people, who have the appearance of being religious, torment the bodies of God's children and martyr their spirits. For he wants them to resemble his beloved Son who was tormented in body and soul.
26. The Path upon Which the Soul Draws the Senses and Is Free of Suffering of the Heart
It is a rarely traveled and lofty path upon which the devoted soul makes its way and guides the senses as one with sight guides a blind person. On this path the soul is free and lives without inner suffering, for she wants nothing but what her Lord wants, who arranges everything for the best.
27. How You Become Worthy of This Path and Keep to It and Become Perfect
Three things make a person worthy of this path-that one recognize it and enter upon it: first, that one submit to God relinquishing all human control, and that one piously hold on to God's grace and willingly keep it by being forgiving in all things as far as is possible for a human will. The second thing keeping a person on this path is that one welcome all things except for sin alone. The third thing keeping a person on this path is that one do all things equally for God's honor. Thus I think relieving my most basic need counts as much in God's sight as if I were in the highest state of contemplation that a human being can attain. Why? If I do it out of love in order to give honor to God, it is all one and the same. But when I sin, I am not on this path.
28. Love Shall Be Deadly, Boundless, and Unceasing; This Is the Folly ofFools
I delight in loving him who loves me, and I long to love him to the death, boundlessly, and without ceasing. Be happy, my soul, for your Life has died for love of you." Love him so fiercely that you could die for him. Thus you burn ever more without ever being extinguished as a living flame in the vast fire of high majesty.
29. The Beauty of the Bridegroom and How the Bride Should Follow Him in Twenty-Three Steps of the Cross` 6
Look at me, my bride.' See how beautiful are my eyes, how comely is my mouth, how on fire is my heart, how agile are my hands, and how swift are my feet. So, follow me! You shall be martyred with me, betrayed in jealousy, hunted in ambush, taken prisoner in hate, bound in obedience, your eyes covered so that one will not tell you the truth, slapped by the rage of the world, brought to trial in confession, struck blows by penance, sent to Herod in derision, stripped naked by abandonment, scourged by poverty, crowned with trials, spat upon by disgrace, bearing your cross in the hatred of sin, crucified in voluntary withdrawal from all things, nailed to the cross by the holy virtues, wounded by love, dying on the cross in holy constancy, pierced in your heart by constant union, taken down from the cross in true victory over all your enemies, buried in oblivion, arisen from the dead in a holy end, and drawn up into heaven in God's breath.
30. The Seven Hours`
31. You Should Ignore Scorn
I was deeply scorned, and our Lord said: "Do not be much surprised. Since the precious unguent jar was utterly rejected and spat upon, what is going to happen to the vinegar jar, which has nothing of value about it?"
32. You Should Ignore Honors, Suffering, and Possessions. Be Sad After Sinning
33. Concerning Food, Consolation, and Love
My soul spoke thus to her Lover:
34. In Suffering You Should Be a Lamb, a Turtledove, and a Bride
35. The Desert Has Twelve Things
36. Concerning Malice, Good Works, and Concerning a Marvel"
37. The Soul Responds to God Saying She Is Unworthy of These Favors
38. God Boasts That the Soul Has Overcome Four Sins
In heaven God boasts about the soul on earth that loves him and says:
39. God Asks the Soul What She Is Bringing
40. She Replies: Something That Is Better than Seven Things
41. God Asks in Praise What the Precious Stone Is Called
42. The Precious Stone Is Called Heart's Delight
43. Put Your Delight into the Trinity
44. The Sevenfold Path of Love, the Three Garments of the Bride, and the Dance
that thrusts many a soul backward with such force that she never achieves genuine love; and when you have struck down all your ma
ny foes, then you are so weary that you say: `Fair youth, I long for you. Where shall I find you?' And the youth says:
In the sweet dew of the morning-this is the cloistered inwardness that first enters the soul-her chamberlains, the five senses, speak thus:
"Lady, you should dress yourself."
"Dear ones, where am I supposed to be going?"
"We have definitely heard it whispered about that the prince intends to come to you in the dew and in the delightful song of the birds. Alas, lady, do not tarry!"
Then she puts on the slip of soft humility, so humble that it cannot bear anything underneath it. Over it comes a white dress of spotless chastity, so pure that it cannot bear anything in thought, word, or touch that might soil it. Then she puts on the cloak of her good name, which she has gilded with all the virtues. She enters into the woods, the company of holy people. There sings day and night the sweetest of the nightingales, the well-modulated union with God; and she hears many a sweet voice of birds, holy knowledge.55 And still the young man did not come. So she sends out messengers because she is eager to dance. She sent for the faith of Abraham and the longing of the prophets and the chaste humility of our Lady, St. Mary, and all the holy virtues of our Lord Jesus Christ and all the excellence of his chosen ones. Then a splendid dance of praise takes place.
The young man finally comes and says to her: "Young lady, my chosen ones have shown off their dancing to you. Just as artfully should you now follow their lead."
The Flowing Light of the Godhead Page 7