9. God Praises His Bride in Five Things
10. The Bride Praises God in Return in Five Things
11. Seven Kinds of Love for God
12. Seven Kinds of Perfection
13. Between God and the Soul There Should Be Love
14. Where Bitterness, Low Spirits, Sickness, Terror, Sensitivity, Distress, Forsakenness, and Inconsolability Come From`22
15. How One Wounded by Love Is Restored to Health
16. The Seven Gifts of a Brother
17. How God Woos the Soul and Makes Her Wise in His Love25
Thus does God woo the guileless soul and make her wise in his love:
18. How the Soul Interprets God's Wooing in Eight Things
19. How Knowledge and the Soul Converse and How the Latter Says That She Is Threefold. Of the Three Heavens
Knowledge speaks first:
This third heaven is vaulted, ordered, and illumined brightly with the Three Persons.34
20. How Sister Hildegund Is Adorned in Heaven with Three Mantles, with Seven Crowns, and How the Nine Choirs Praise Her
On the feast of the holy virgin St. Barbara, Sister Hildegund received her glory. God revealed this to a lame dog who is as yet licking its wounds in wretchedness.35 It happened thus while I was at prayer. I do not know whether heaven descended to me or I was drawn into the blissful house of God. There stood Hildegund before the throne of the heavenly Father, adorned as a new bride that the king had brought home. She had three mantles draped over her and wore on her head seven crowns, and the nine choirs offered her special praise. When I looked at her, I recognized her in all the gifts that she had received from God. I was eager to speak with her and, in order to remain longer with her in this blissful state, I asked her: "Tell me, where did you get that rosecolored mantle?"
Hildegund said: "I was a martyr in fiery love, so much so that often my heart's blood poured forth over my head."
Then I asked her further: "Where did you get this golden mantle that shines so splendidly?"
She said: "From the example of good works."
I said: "Where did you get this flowering white mantle?"
She replied: "From the overwhelming36 love, which I kept secretly in my soul and in my senses."
These were the seven crowns: the crown of constancy, the crown of holy faith, the crown of fidelity, the crown of generous mercy, the crown of holy understanding, the crown of love, and the crown of virginity.
Then I asked further: "Dear Sister, where is your crown of humility that is so becoming to religious persons?"
She answered: "I do not have it especially, nor did I ever attain it just enough that God took away pride with it."
These seven crowns are all specially adorned with a garland of the dignity of pure noble chastity. The nine choirs praise her for nine virtues thus:
The Seraphim praise her thus, for they are her equals: "We praise you for your love, God's Queen."
The Thrones praise her thus: "We praise the bridegroom because of the beauty of the bride."
21. If You Would Behold the Mountain, You Should Have Seven Thing.'
22. How Contemplation Asks the Loving Soul About the Seraphim and the Least of Men
"Lady Soul, would you rather be an angel of the order of Seraphim or a human being with body and soul in the lowest choir of angels?""
The Soul to Contemplation: "Lady Contemplation, you have certainly noticed that the Seraphim angels are exalted princes and that they are one love and one fire and one breath and one light with God."
Contemplation to the Soul: "Lady Soul, you have certainly noticed that the angels are simple persons and that they do not praise God nor love him nor know him beyond the limits of their nature. The least of human beings can catch up with them by Christian belief, sorrow, longing, and good will. It's just that the human soul cannot burn as intensely in the Godhead."
The Soul to Contemplation: "Lady Contemplation, you have certainly noticed that the Seraphim angels are God's children and yet his servants as well. The least soul is a daughter of the Father and a sister of the Son and a friend of the Holy Spirit and, indeed, a bride of the Holy Trinity. When the game is over, then let one see how the scales tip-the noblest angel, Jesus Christ, who soars above the Seraphim, who is undivided with his Father. Him shall I, the least of souls, take in my arms, eat him and drink him, and have my way with him. This can never happen to the angels. No matter how high he dwells above me, his Godhead shall never be so distant that I cannot constantly entwine my limbs with him; and so I shall never cool off. What, then, do I care what the angels experience?"
23. How Love Questions and Instructs Dull Souls and Would Like to Bring Them to Their Lover and Begins to Speak; and How the Dull Soul Responds
"Alas, foolish Soul, where are you, or what is your dwelling like, and what are you living for? Where can you find rest since you do not love your vibrant God more than your own will or beyond all your might?"
"Let me sleep. I don't know what you are talking about."
"One certainly has to wake the queen when the king intends to come."
"I am a member of a religious order. I fast, keep vigils, am free of serious sin; I am bound enough."
"What good does it do to bind an empty vessel if the wine still runs out? One has to fill it with the stones of external hardship and the ashes of transitoriness."
"I dwell in the comfort of my relatives and my dear religious friends. Besides, how can I enjoy loving someone I don't know?"
"What? You don't know how to recognize the Lord who has been spoken of so lovingly to you so often? You are more concerned about that mongrel body of yours than about Jesus, your sweet Lord; and so you are never going to win honor in his eyes."
"I live by my own will. That is what I like to do."
"If you want to render God genuine loyalty, for his love you should follow his spirit."
"I rest in the vigor of my body."
"You should be ashamed of yourself today in God's sight, that you call yourself a religious and yet busy yourself the whole time with your body."
"How am I supposed to stay well if I take on the burdens you involve?"
"Oh, traitor! He who made the soul so noble that she feasts on nothing but God-he will not let your body perish."
"You are rebuking me severely. If I knew where he was, I could yet change my ways."
"If you wish to dwell with him in noble freedom, you first have to clear bad habits out of this dwelling."
"If I knew what was best, I would choose the best."
"Alas! That many a man who is wise in learning and by natural good sense does not risk putting himself completely in the power of naked love! Rather, it is the simple and pure who seek God alone in all their actions to whom God, given his nature, must favorably incline."
"I imagined that, having entered religious life, I had climbed high enough."
"What good does it do to put fine clothes on a sleeping man and set gourmet food before him? As long as he is asleep, he can't eat anyway. Ah, my love, let me awaken you."
"Well then, tell me where his dwelling is."
"There is no other Lord that dwells in all his castles at the same time but him alone. He lives in the peace of holy affection and whispers to his beloved in the narrow confines of the soul. He also embraces her in the noble comfort of his love. He greets her with his loving eyes when they earnestly gaze at one another with love. He kisses her passionately with his divine mouth. You are happy, more than happy in this most glorious hour. He caresses her, as well he can, on the bed of love. Then she rises to the heights of bliss and to the most exquisite pain when she becomes truly intimate with him. Ah, dear Soul, let yourself be loved and don't fiercely fend it off."
"Who are those who defend themselves fiercely?"
"Those who pester others and themselves with their own spitefulness. Now I shall tell you who he is. He is the loftiest of all pinnacles, and this same loftiest of all pinnacles bent down into the deepest of all val
leys, and this deepest of all valleys ascended onto the highest of all pinnacles. 0 dull Soul, look all around you and open your blind eyes."
"If he has climbed down from the highest pinnacle for love of me and given himself along with all creatures to me totally, and if he does not now intend to withdraw his goodness from me, then I might well be ever ashamed in his sight that I was never quite willing to give up my worthless copper in return for his precious gold. Alas, where have I been, poor blind me, that I have lived so long without strong love? With it I can indeed conquer all my troubles in spite of all my enemies. Poor wretch, although I have missed much that is good, I shall nevertheless still go out from all things and into God. 0 Love, will you still receive me?"
"Yes, I shall. God has never denied himself to anyone. This is an equal balance: If you want to have love, you must leave love."
24. How the Loving Soul Joins the Company of God and His Chosen Dear Ones and Shall Be Equal to All the Saints. How the Devil and the Soul Talk to Each Other
Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, that you suffered despite your guiltlessness gives me consolation, for in all that I suffer I am guilty; and your salvific death keeps my memory of you alive, and your immaculate blood has coursed through my soul.
Mary, dear Mother, I stand next to you under the cross with all my Christian faith, and the sword of holy sorrow cuts through my soul39 because so many of those who have the appearance of religious persons" are so unreliable.
John the Baptist, I was taken prisoner with you because the treacherous slut of deceitfulness killed the word of God in my mouth.'
John the Evangelist, I fell asleep with you in tender love on the breast of Jesus Christ, and then I saw and heard there such glorious marvels that my body often took leave of itself.42
Peter, I have been crucified with you because things never go right for me as a human being, and spiritually I am often in pain for the praise of Jesus Christ.
Paul, I was miraculously caught up with you" and saw such a house that nothing has ever surprised me as much as the fact that I have been able since then to remain a living person. When I recall that the heavenly Father is the blessed chalice-bearer there and Jesus the chalice, the Holy Spirit the unadulterated wine, and how the whole Trinity is the full chalice and love the mistress in charge of the wine cellar, then, God knows, I would be happy indeed if love would invite me into the house. But for now I am happy to drink gall here. Ah, dear Jesus, reward all those lovingly who have here poured out bitterness for me to drink, for they have made me rich in divine favors. I received a chalice filled with gall that was so powerful that it utterly permeated my body and soul. And so I offered special prayers to God for the pourer, that he would pour out for him celestial wine. And indeed, he did so, saying: "Noble Maiden, be of good cheer. The magnitude of my wonder shall come over you. Lions shall fear you. Bears shall accept your dominion over them. Wolves shall flee you. The lamb shall be your companion." I am certain of this and, up until now it has turned out that I have had to drain many a chalice of gall because, alas, the devil still has many a one among religious people willing to pour it out. They are so full of poison that they cannot drink it all up by themselves, but must pour it out maliciously for God's children.
Stephen, I kneel next to you in front ofJewish hearts under the sharp stones, for they fall upon me large and small." Those who appear to be good people stone me from the back and run away and do not want me to know anything about its having befallen me because of them: but God saw it.
Lawrence, I was bound next to you for more than twenty years on a horrible gridiron, but God preserved me unburned and freed me more than seven years ago.
Martin, I live with you in obscurity and God's true love martyred me beyond all adversity.
Dominic, my dear Father, I have something in common with you because I have desired many a day that the sinful blood of my heart might flow beneath the feet of disbelieving heretics.
Catherine, I go with you into battle because the lords of hell want to bring me down. One of them came to me splendorous as the radiance of the sun so that I might know that he was an angel. He was carrying a shining book and said:
"Go ahead and take this kiss of peace,45 when you cannot make it to mass."
The soul spoke with deliberate prudence: "He who has no peace himself, cannot bestow peace on me."
He went away and transformed himself and returned looking like a very wretched, sickly man whose guts were falling out and said: "Oh, you are so holy. Heal me."
The soul spoke again: "He who is himself sick cannot heal anyone."
"It is written: Who can do it better should help the other."
"It is also written: One should not help anyone against God."
"What one does for good is not against God."
"If there is nothing good about something, no one can achieve something good in its regard. You have an everlasting sickness.46 If you want to recover, go and show yourself to a priest or a bishop or an archbishop or the pope.47 I have no power except that of being able to sin." The he replied in rage: "That I will never do!"
Then he became like black smoke and comported himself indecently and disappeared. But I am not afraid of him.4S
Mary Magdalene, I live with you in the desert wilderness, because all things are foreign to me except God alone.
Lord heavenly Father, between you and me there goes unceasingly an imperceptible breath in which I come to know and see many marvels and inexpressible things. Unfortunately, they do me little good because I am such a worthless vessel that cannot endure your slightest spark. Unbound love dwells in the senses because it is still mixed in such a way with earthly things that a person can cry out: "Love is in grace, distant in the senses and has, alas, not yet climbed atop the soul." Many people have fallen because their soul remained unwounded.49 Solomon and David received the Holy Spirit in their human senses, but when the senses changed, they fell into false love. God knows, their soul had not sunk into the lowest depths beneath all creatures nor was it wounded by the powerful part of love, for he who never tasted the best wine often whoops it up the most. Bound love dwells in the soul and transcends human senses and concedes the body nothing it wants.50 It is restrained and very calm. It lowers its wings and listens for the inexpressible voice and gazes into the incomprehensible light and works with great desire to achieve the will of its Lord. If the body can still flap its wings, the soul can never reach the heights that are attainable for human beings. In this bound love the wounded soul becomes rich and her external senses very poor because the more riches God finds in her, the deeper she humbly lowers herself because of the true nobility of her love. I cannot imagine a person bound by the deepest stirrings of powerful love falling into serious sin; for the soul is bound, she has to love. May God thus bind us all!
25. The Lament of the Loving Soul; How God Protects Her and Withdraws His Gift from Her Concerning Wisdom, How the Soul Asks God How She Is and Where He Is. Concerning the Orchard, Flowers, and the Song of the Virgins
26. About This Book and the Writers of This Book
At once God revealed himself to my joyless soul, held this book in his right hand, and said:
Our Lord said:
As our Lord was speaking these words to me, I saw glorious truth in its eternal excellence.
1. Of Heaven and the Nine Choirs and Who Is Supposed to Fill the Breach.' Of the Throne of the Apostles and St. Mary and on Which Christ Sits. Of the Reward of Preachers, Martyrs, and Virgins, and of the Unbaptized Children2
he soul spoke thus to its longing: "I beg you, go off and see where my Lover is, and tell him I want to love."
Then longing went quickly off, for it is by nature swift, and reached the heights and called out: "Great Lord, open up and let me in."
The Master of the house said:
"What is it you want that you are making such a fuss?"
"Lord, I report to you that my lady cannot live much longer in her present condition. But if you were to flow, then
she could swim. A fish cannot remain alive and stay fresh long on the sand."
"Go on back. I'm not going to let you in unless you bring me the hungry soul that I desire more than anything else."
The messenger returned and the soul heard about her Lord's wish. Oh, how she trembled with love! She rose up with a deft movement and in pleasureful flight. Very soon two angels came to meet her. God sent them to her out of tender love. They said to her: "Lady Soul, what are you doing way up here? You are still clothed with dark earth."
The Flowing Light of the Godhead Page 9