Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which is to look out
Christ’s compassion to the world;
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.
– St Teresa of Avila
I am that.
I am that which is highest.
I am that which is lowest.
I am that which is All.
– Julian of Norwich
Because of the great,
infinite love which God has for all humankind,
he makes no distinction in love between the blessed soul of Christ
and the lowliest of the souls that are to be saved . . . .
We should highly rejoice that God dwells in our soul
and still more highly should we rejoice that our soul dwells in God.
Our soul is made to be God’s dwelling place,
and the dwelling place of our soul
is God who was never made.
– Julian of Norwich
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food,
and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Matthew 6: 2.5-2/
The prophet said:
God guides the redeemed through a narrow way
into the broad road,
so that they come into the wide and broad place;
that is to say, into true freedom of the spirit,
when one has become a spirit with God.
– Meister Eckhart
‘The spouse of the King is terrible as an army set in array; She is like to a choir of music on a field of battle.’ Canticles vi. 3; vii.
‘Put you on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil.’ Ephesians vi. II.
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With heavenly armor am I clad to-day; The hand of God has thus invested me. What now from Him could tear my heart away; What henceforth come between my God and me? With Him for Guide, the fight I face serene; Nor furious fire, nor foe, nor death, I fear. My enemies shall know I am a queen, The spouse of God, most high, most dear. |
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This armor I shall keep while life shall last; Thou, Thou, hast given it Me, my King, my Spouse! My fairest, brightest gems, by naught on earth surpast, Shall be my sacred vows. |
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My first dear sacrifice, O Poverty, Thou shalt go with me till my dying hour. Detached from all things must the athlete be, If he the race would run, and prove his power |
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Taste, worldly men! regret, remorse and pain, The bitter fruits of earthly, vain desire; The glorious palms of Poverty I gain, I who to God alone aspire. |
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‘Who would My heavenly Kingdom have from Me, He must use violence,’ so Jesus said. Ah well then! Poverty my mighty lanceshall be, The helmetfor my head. |
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The pure white Angels’ sister now am I; My vow of Chastityhas made me so. Ah, how I hope one day with them to fly! Meanwhile to daily combat must I go. For my great Spouse, of every lord the Lord, Struggle must I, with neither truce nor rest; And Chastity shall be my heavenly sword. To win men’s souls to Jesus’ breast. |
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O Chastity,my sword invincible! To overcome my foes thou hast sufficed; By thee am I – O joy ineffable! – The Spouse of Jesus Christ. |
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The proud, proud angel, in the realms of light, Cried out, rebellious: ‘I will not obey!’ But I shall cry, throughout earth’s dreary night, ‘With all my heart, I will obey alway!’ With holy boldness all my soul is steeled, Against hell’s wild attacks I bravely dart; Obedience ismy firm and mighty shield, The buckleron my valiant heart. |
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O conquering God! no other prize I seek, Than to submit with all my heart to Thee; Of victories th’ obedient man shall speak Through all eternity. If now a soldier’s weapon I can wield, If valiantly like him the foe I face, I also long to sing upon the field, As sang the glorious Virgin of all grace. Thou mak’st the chords to vibrate of Thy lyre. That lyre, O Jesus! is my loving heart; To sing Thy mercies is that heart’s desire. How sweet, how strong, how dear, Thou art. |
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With radiant smile, Thou Spouse, my heart’s Delight, I go to meet all foes from hell’s dark land; And singing I shall die, upon the field of fight, My weapons in my hand.
June, 1894. |
And God said to the soul:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me.
And where the desires of two come together
There love is perfected
HOW THE SOUL SPEAKS TO THE SOUL
Lord, you are my lover,
My longing,
My flowing stream,
My sun,
And I am your reflection.
HOW GOD ANSWERS THE SOUL
It is my nature that makes me love you often,
For I am love itself.
It is my longin that makes me love you intensely,
For I yearn to be loved from the heart.
It is my eternity that makes me love you long,
For I have no end.
Meister Eckhart says,
Practice is better than precept;
but the practice and precept of eternal God is a counsel of perfection.
If I wanted a teacher of theology, I should go for one to Paris,
to its learned university.
However, if I came to ask about the perfect life,
why then he could not tell me.
Where then am I to turn?
To pure and abstract nature, nowhere else:
that can solve your anxious questions.
Why, good people, search among dead bones?
Why not seek the living part that is directly connected with creation and that gives eternal life?
The dead neither give nor take.
An angel seeking God as God would not anywhere for him except in a quiet, solitary creature.
The essence of perfection lies in bearing poverty, misery, scorn, adversity and every hardship that befalls, willingly, gladly, freely, eagerly, calm and unmoved and persisting until death without a why.
To bear my exile now, within this world of tears,
The holy tender glance of Christ, my Lord, I need.
That glance, surcharged with love, consoles me through the years;
His loveliness displays foretaste of heaven indeed.
On me my Jesus smiles, when toward Him I aspire,
The trial of my faith then weighs no more on me.
That love-glance of my God, that smile of holy fire,
Oh, this is heaven for me!
‘Tis heaven to have the power, great grace from Christ to win
For Holy Mother Church, for all my Sisters dear,-
For every soul on earth that He may enter in,
Enflame our sinful hearts, and grant us joy and cheer.
All things my love can gain when, heart to heart, I pray,
Alone with Jesus Christ in speechless ecstasy.
Beside His altar blest with Him I gladly stay,–
Oh, this is heaven for me!
My heaven within the Host safe hid and peaceful, lies,
Where Jesus Christ abides, divinest, fairest Fair.
From that great fount of love doth endless life arise;
There, day and night, my Lord doth hearken to my prayer.
When, in Thy perfect love (O moment blest and bright!)
Thou comest, Spouse most pure, me to transform in Thee,
That union of our hearts, that rapture of delight,-
Oh, this is heaven for me!
My heaven it is to feel in me some likeness blest
To Him Who made me and my soul hath reconciled;
My heaven it is always beneath His eye to rest.
To call Him Father dear, and be His loving child.
Safe shielded in His arms, no storm my soul can fear;
Complete abandonment my only law shall be.
To sleep upon His Heart, with His blest Face so near,-
Oh, this is heaven for me!
My heaven is God alone, the Trinity Divine,
Who dwells within my heart, the Prisoner of my love.
There, contemplating Thee, I tell Thee Thou art mine;
Thee will I love and serve until we meet above.
My heaven it is to smile on Thee whom I adore,
E’en when, to try my faith, from me Thou hidest Thee;
Calmly on Thee to smile, until Thou smil’st once more,-
Oh, this is heaven to me!
June 7, 1896.
In the desert,
Turn toward emptiness,
Fleeing the self.
Stand alone,
Ask no one’s help,
And your being will quiet,
Free from the bondage of things.
Those who cling to the world,
Endeavor to free them;
Those who are free, praise.
Care for the sick,
But live alone,
Happy to drink from the waters of sorrow,
To kindle Love’s fire
With the twigs of a simple life.
Thus you will live in the desert
– Mechthild of Magdeburg