Carmelite Spirituality

In Chapter 31, the Soul reaches a profound peace through her union with Love, recognizing that although she is limited and cannot love or comprehend God as He deserves, her will to love suffices. Love assures her that God, her Beloved, does not require more than what she can give and that He lacks nothing-this truth becomes the source of her calm. The Soul accepts that God’s incomprehensibility is not a frustration but a consolation, because it means that her love for Him can endlessly grow without limit. She no longer needs to hear about Him through intermediaries; knowing that He is beyond all knowing is itself enough. This chapter teaches that the soul’s true repose lies in loving God for His own sake, trusting that what is lacking in her is more than fulfilled in Him, and resting in the silence of what cannot be said.

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1. “Ah, very sweet Soul, says Love, what do you want Him to give you? Are you not a creature? Do you want to have from your Lover something which is not entrusted to Him to give you, nor to you to take?”

Love begins by gently reminding the Soul of her creatureliness and the bounds of divine generosity. The Soul must be content with the measure given her, not striving to receive what cannot be possessed by a creature. This affirms humility as the foundation of divine love.

2. “For you told me that between a lover and a beloved there is no lordship. But indeed there is, as it seems to me, since the One has everything and the other has nothing compared to His All.”

The Soul expresses a poignant realization: despite Love’s earlier teaching of equality in love, the apparent imbalance between God’s plenitude and her nothingness still wounds her. This is the cry of a lover who wants full reciprocity but acknowledges the abyss between Creator and creature.

3. “Your will suffices for your Lover … He will love nothing without you, thus you are not without Him.”

Love consoles the Soul by revealing that her willing desire is enough. God does not seek equivalency in giving but communion of will. The profound mutual indwelling-“He will love nothing without you”-shows how divine love elevates the soul into partnership, not possession.

4. “I do not have anything which I love more strongly than the one who suffices me … if what I love is not sufficient for me, I would disintegrate or diminish from so little of love as I have.”

The Soul reaches a sublime honesty: her entire being is anchored in God, and without Him, she would dissolve. This line is a mystical confession of utter dependence-her identity, peace, and even capacity to love hinges upon God’s sufficiency.

5. “He has in Him the abundance of all goodness without any lack. And this is the sum of my peace and the true repose of my thought, for I do not love except for His sake.”

This is the heart of mystical peace. The Soul finds rest not in what she receives but in the perfection of the One she loves. Her love is entirely theocentric-directed toward God’s goodness for its own sake-and this detachment becomes her repose.

6. “The best thing which one could say about Him to me is nothing compared to what He is in Himself … I have the sum of my questions in what cannot be said to me about Him.”

In this luminous conclusion, the Soul transcends all speech and knowledge. What truly satisfies her is the truth that God is incomprehensible. The unknown depths of God become her final peace; her questions dissolve into awe, not answers.

7. “And such is the Lover of my soul, says the Soul herself.”

The Soul closes with this serene affirmation. Having passed through desire, longing, and divine correction, she comes to simple clarity: the incomprehensible God is her Lover, and this is enough. She no longer seeks anything but to rest in what she cannot grasp.

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1. Why does Love initially challenge the Soul’s desire to receive more from God?

Love reminds the Soul that she is a creature and that God does not give anything beyond what is appropriate for a creature to receive. This is meant to calm the Soul’s restless longing by grounding her in the truth of her created nature and the sufficiency of what she has already received.

2. What tension does the Soul express regarding the idea of equality in love between the Lover (God) and the beloved (herself)?

The Soul recalls that Love once told her that there is no lordship in true love, implying equality. However, she now feels there is lordship, because God has everything and she, by comparison, has nothing. This reveals the Soul’s deep longing for complete mutuality with God and her pain at the perceived imbalance.

3. How does Love respond to the Soul’s desire to improve her capacity to love?

Love assures the Soul that her will is sufficient for her Lover. God values her desire and intention more than her capacity. Her sincere will to love is accepted by God as full love, and this divine acceptance brings peace.

4. What central conviction gives the Soul peace in the face of her perceived insufficiency?

The Soul finds peace in the fact that although she lacks fullness, her Beloved lacks nothing. Since He is the sum of all goodness, her love is satisfied not by her own possession, but by the certainty that He possesses all. This trust in God’s sufficiency becomes the ground of her own rest.

5. Why does the Soul say that the best thing someone can tell her about God is “nothing”?

Because God is incomprehensible, no human description can do Him justice. The Soul finds peace in the mystery itself-she desires no words or images to replace the truth of God’s unknowability. This mystical insight affirms that love for God grows by loving what cannot be grasped.

6. How does the chapter depict the dynamic between longing and satisfaction in divine love?

The Soul experiences both intense longing and deep satisfaction. Her desire to love as God deserves is met by the assurance that her will suffices. She is calmed not by fulfillment of desire in a finite sense, but by entering into the infinite mystery of God’s being, where love continually renews itself without end.

7. What does this chapter suggest about the nature of perfect love in the spiritual life?

Perfect love rests not in possession or comprehension but in total surrender to the Beloved. It is a love that finds peace in the mystery, accepts its own limits, and rejoices in the other’s perfection. True spiritual maturity is shown in this tranquil, trusting love.

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Chapter 32 teaches that the soul, wholly enflamed by divine Love, rests in the stillness of her own mind because her entire being is centered not on what she can receive from God, but on God Himself in His unknowable abundance. She declares that the infinite, incomprehensible goodness that remains hidden in God is more hers than any gift or grace she could possess, because she loves it more. This radical orientation of love toward what cannot be grasped means that her treasure is entirely in God’s mystery, and her will is so united with His that she cannot will anything apart from Him. Even if glory or joy were offered from another source, she would refuse it unless it came directly from God. Though she recognizes the limits of speech in describing God, she affirms that even hearing something imperfectly expressed is better than silence, because it still kindles love for the incomprehensible Spirit who is her All.

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1. “Love makes them remain, Love who is the mistress of the doing of this book.”

Love is presented not merely as an emotion but as the very agent of stillness, interiority, and authorship. The Soul remains in her mind-detached from external distraction-through the action of Love, who governs the entire unfolding of this spiritual journey. Love is personified as both guide and authority, implying that the depth of the soul’s contemplation and interior rest is Love’s own doing.

2. “I do not love myself nor Him nor His works except for the sake of Himself.”

This radical purity of intention defines the soul’s perfection. Even her love for God is not motivated by personal gain, consolation, or reward but solely for God’s own sake. The soul renounces even spiritual possessiveness, reflecting a self-emptying love that mirrors divine charity.

3. “What He possesses is more mine than what I possess or ever will possess… I love better what is in Him beyond my intellect than I do what is in Him and in my intellect.”

The soul’s treasure lies not in her own experience or understanding of God but in what remains utterly inaccessible-God’s infinite, ungraspable goodness. This paradoxical claim reveals a spiritual maturity: what the soul cannot possess or comprehend is more “hers” because her love is anchored in God’s mystery rather than in finite gifts.

4. “Where the greater part of my love is, there is the greater part of my treasure.”

This line echoes Matthew 6:21, but with a mystical twist. The soul’s treasure is not in anything tangible or intelligible but in the infinite unknown of God. This is a contemplative love that surrenders the need to grasp or claim, resting instead in what surpasses understanding.

5. “If He himself would not give it to me properly from Himself, I would lack it for all me forever… I cannot will anything without Him.”

The soul has been so consumed by divine Love that she can no longer accept even joy or glory unless it comes directly from God. Her will is utterly united to His-any other source of consolation or joy is repugnant. This is a description of total spiritual poverty and radical dependence on God alone.

6. “To hear one describing it and talking about it is better than hearing nothing said!”

Although the soul acknowledges that God is ultimately incomprehensible, she still finds value in human attempts to speak of Him. This humility accepts the poverty of language without dismissing it, cherishing every effort to articulate divine things as better than silence, even though silence is the true dwelling place of God.

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1. What role does Love play in keeping the soul within her own mind?

Love is the force that stabilizes and gathers the soul inward. She is described as the “mistress” of the book’s unfolding, suggesting that it is through Love alone that the soul can dwell in her own depths, detached from external distractions. Love is the agent of stillness and interiorization.

2. Why does the soul say that what God possesses is more hers than what she herself possesses?

The soul values what remains in God’s infinite being beyond her comprehension more than the gifts or experiences she receives from Him. Because her love is focused more on what she cannot grasp than what she can, the “greater part” of her treasure is in the unknowable abundance of God. Her love determines her ownership-what she loves more, she claims more deeply.

3. How does the soul respond to Reason’s challenge to prove this claim?

She explains that she loves the infinite, incomprehensible goodness in God far more than the portion she can understand or experience. Her argument is that because her love is centered on the unknowable, this makes the unknowable more hers than anything she could actually receive, comprehend, or hold.

4. What does the soul say about receiving anything from another source besides God?

The soul adamantly refuses to receive even joy or glory from any creature-even if it were offered in abundance-unless it comes directly from God. She would rather be deprived or die eternally than accept anything apart from Him. This demonstrates the soul’s radical fidelity and total dependence on God alone.

5. What does the soul say about her ability to desire anything apart from God?

She declares that she has been so inflamed by Love that she literally cannot will anything apart from God. Her will has become one with His, and she no longer has the capacity or inclination to desire anything outside of that union.

6. How does the soul describe the limitations of speaking about God?

She admits that no one can comprehend or describe the Spirit, and she compares such efforts to trying to count the waves of the sea in a storm. Nonetheless, she concludes that hearing someone speak of God-even inadequately-is better than hearing nothing at all. This shows a humble acknowledgment of the value of limited human expression in contemplating divine mystery.

7. What is the central proof the soul offers for her total possession of God?

Her central proof is that her love is placed more in what she cannot understand about God than in what she can. Since her heart is set on His infinite, ungraspable goodness, that is where her treasure lies. The intensity and direction of her love-not her understanding-determine her possession.

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Chapter 33 portrays the soul’s ecstatic wonder at the limitless generosity of God, who grants her not only the vision of the Triune God but also perfect insight into all created beings-angels, saints, and even the smallest creatures-illuminated by that primary vision. Overwhelmed, the soul confesses she can scarcely remain composed, for the sheer immensity of these gifts eclipses any spiritual practice or method. She recognizes that her physical body is incapable of such perception, yet her purified spirit beholds these realities for eternity, as a testament to God’s unending goodness. Ultimately, the chapter teaches that the pinnacle of the contemplative life is sustained amazement-a continual, passive reception of divine revelation that transcends effort and occupies the soul in perpetual praise and wonder.

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1. “Ah, Lord, says the Soul, how am I still remaining in my mind when I ponder the gifts of your goodness, you who have given my soul the vision of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit whom my soul will see for eternity?”

The soul begins in a state of awe and spiritual astonishment, overwhelmed by the immensity of divine generosity. The promise of eternal vision of the Trinity-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-is too great to be grasped or even endured calmly. This ecstatic amazement suspends ordinary consciousness, shaking the very foundation of the soul’s mental composure.

2. “Since I will see so great a thing as the Trinity, the understanding of angels, souls, and saints will not be taken from me, nor even the vision of little things, which is to say, all things which are less than God!”

The soul acknowledges that in receiving the beatific vision of God, she is also gifted with knowledge and perception of all creation. Nothing-from the highest celestial beings to the smallest created things-is excluded. This reflects the completeness of divine illumination: to see God is to see all things in their proper light.

3. “Ah, Lord, says the Soul, what have you done for me? Truly, Lord, I am completely amazed over what I understand about it, so that I do not know what amazes me, nor do I have any other practice, nor can I have, for the continuation of this understanding.”

The soul expresses total disorientation in the face of such divine generosity. Her amazement is so deep that it becomes her only spiritual “practice.” She no longer strives through effort or method; her whole spiritual life is absorbed in wonder, a passive receptivity to what God is doing in her. This reveals a contemplative state beyond discursive reasoning or structured devotion.

4. “Lord, as I have no other cause to be amazed than that you have given to my soul the vision of the whole Trinity, of angels and souls, such as you have not given to your precious body which is joined to the nature of the Father in the person of the Son, so it is a marvel that I am able to live!”

In a bold and paradoxical statement, the soul claims to have received a vision even beyond what was granted to Christ’s physical body. This is not theological assertion but mystical hyperbole: the soul is so enraptured by divine intimacy that it feels as though it has been uniquely privileged-even more than what the senses could grasp in the Incarnation. The weight of this intimacy feels unbearable, and yet the soul survives it.

5. “But still, Lord, it is so great a thing to see the angels and the souls to whom you have given the vision of your sweet face. Corporality is not worthy to see such angels and souls, and, by greater reason, corporality cannot see the Trinity since it cannot see the angels nor the souls.”

The soul reflects on the limitations of the body. Corporeal vision is too coarse to perceive angels, let alone the Trinity. This underlines the spiritual nature of her gift-her spirit alone is capable of receiving this vision, suggesting a purification and elevation that bypasses the limitations of physical existence.

6. “Nevertheless, you have given this gift to my spirit for eternity, as long as you are God.”

The chapter concludes with a declaration of permanence: the soul’s vision of God and of all creation is not temporary or fleeting but eternal. This is a divine pledge, grounded not in the soul’s merit but in God’s unchanging nature. The eternal duration of the vision is a reflection of God’s own eternity, into which the soul is invited.

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1. What is the Soul’s initial reaction upon contemplating God’s gifts?

She is utterly amazed and almost unable to remain composed in her mind, overwhelmed by the promise of eternal vision of the Trinity and all creation.

2. What additional “visions” does the Soul realize she will share along with the Trinity?

She will also see angels, souls, saints, and even “little things”-all created order-in their true light, because knowing God fully illumines the knowledge of all that exists.

3. Why does the Soul claim she has “no other practice” or way to continue after this amazement?

Her amazement itself becomes her sole spiritual “practice”-no further method or exercise is needed because wonder at God’s generosity fully occupies her spirit.

4. How does the Soul compare her gift to what was given to Christ’s human nature?

She exclaims that she seems privileged even beyond Christ’s physical experience-having received a vision surpassing what His body could behold-emphasizing the boundless nature of divine gift.

5. What limitation of the body does the Soul acknowledge in perceiving these gifts?

She notes that corporeal (bodily) vision is too coarse to perceive angels or the Trinity; only the purified spirit can receive these supernatural visions.

6. What assurance does the Soul receive about the duration of these gifts?

She is assured that these visions are given “for eternity,” lasting as long as God Himself, so that her contemplative amazement will never cease.

7. What does this chapter teach about the relationship between divine revelation and the contemplative life?

It shows that the highest contemplative state is one of sustained wonder and passive receptivity, in which the soul’s sole “work” is to remain amazed and receptive to God’s boundless generosity, rather than to perform structured practices.

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Chapter 34 reveals that the soul, transformed by divine Love, finds its true activity in perfect non-action: by fully embracing her utter nothingness, she allows God to work within her and thereby receives all that He wills to give. Love instructs that only when the soul ceases striving from its own power does it enter into the fullness of divine action. Yet, acknowledging human frailty, Love permits the soul to “do the best she can” until she truly understands her nothingness-always remembering her creaturely origins to guard against pride. The soul’s humble confession of unworthiness before Christ’s infinite mercy culminates in a plea to be freed from the debt of love so that her will may henceforth be wholly conformed to God’s perfect will.

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1. “For God’s sake, Love, says this Soul, I pray that you say what I will do, for you know this and you know the gifts from the goodness of my Lover.”

The Soul, aware of her own incapacity, appeals to Love to prescribe her next steps. She acknowledges Love’s intimate knowledge of her state and the divine gifts she has received, seeking guidance that transcends her own feeble will.

2. “The best that I can tell you is that if you understand perfectly your nothingness you will do nothing, and this nothingness will give you everything.”

Love teaches the core mystical paradox: perfect non-action-recognizing one’s utter nothingness-is itself the path to receiving all from God. True union requires the soul to relinquish all self-effort, thereby making room for divine action.

3. “If you cannot come perfectly to understand your nothingness … it is necessary for you to do something, truly, the best that you can do, or you will diminish … As God has transformed you into Himself, so also you must not forget your nothingness.”

Recognizing human frailty, Love allows that the Soul may need to act-“the best that you can do”-until she fully realizes her nothingness. Even in the midst of divine transformation, the soul must remember her creaturely origin and continue a humble practice as long as self-forgetfulness is incomplete.

4. “Ah, Lord … I am certain that I am worthy of nothing other than my horrible faults … but my goal and my hope is … that, if none had sinned except me alone, so you would have ransomed my soul by your overflowing love …”

The Soul lays bare her sense of unworthiness, contrasting her sins with Christ’s sacrificial love. In a bold act of faith, she claims that even if she alone had sinned, God’s mercy would have sufficed-affirming both God’s infinite charity and her total dependence.

5. “I pray you … that you free me of this debt … so that from now on I might will in all things your perfect will.”

The chapter closes with the Soul asking to be unbound from her sense of indebtedness, so that her will can be wholly aligned with God’s. This complements Love’s earlier teaching: only when the Soul is freed from her own striving and debt can she will and act in full conformity with divine will.

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1. What does the Soul ask Love to tell her at the chapter’s outset?

The Soul pleads with Love to instruct her in what she should do next, acknowledging that Love alone understands her condition and the divine gifts she has received.

2. What is Love’s primary prescription for the Soul, and why is it paradoxical?

Love advises the Soul to do nothing by fully realizing her own nothingness. This is paradoxical because non-action-perfect surrender-becomes the means by which she receives everything from God.

3. Under what condition does Love permit the Soul to act, and what is the caveat?

If the Soul cannot yet fully grasp her nothingness, Love allows her to “do the best that she can.” However, she must continually remember her creaturely origin and remain humble, lest she “diminish” from the spiritual heights she has attained.

4. How does the Soul express her unworthiness in relation to Christ’s sacrifice?

The Soul confesses she merits only condemnation for her sins but trusts that even if she alone had sinned, Christ’s overflowing love would have ransomed her. She thus accentuates both her sinfulness and Christ’s infinite mercy.

5. What debt does the Soul feel she owes God, and what does she request?

The Soul feels indebted because she can “do nothing” to repay God’s love. She asks to be freed from this debt so that her will may be completely aligned with God’s perfect will going forward.

6. How does Chapter 34 illustrate the interplay between divine transformation and human effort?

It shows that while divine love calls the Soul to perfect non-action (surrender), human frailty may still require provisional acts of striving (“the best you can do”) until full passivity in God’s will is achieved.

7. Why must the Soul continually remember her “nothingness,” even after being transformed by God?

Remembering her nothingness preserves humility and prevents spiritual pride. It honors the truth of her creaturely dependence and keeps her receptive to grace rather than relying on her own perceived progress.

8. What is the ultimate goal the Soul expresses at the chapter’s end?

The Soul’s ultimate goal is to will only God’s perfect will in all things-achieved by being released from her sense of debt and fully surrendered to divine love.

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In Chapter 35, Marguerite Porete explores the radical intimacy between the soul and God by showing that if divine love is truly eternal and inseparable-God will never love without the soul-then the soul must have been loved from eternity, even before her temporal creation. The Soul boldly employs mystical logic to assert her timeless participation in God’s eternal will and wisdom, challenging Reason’s temporal categories. Although Reason initially rebukes this claim, it ultimately yields to Love’s higher authority, acknowledging that in the transformed soul “Love who accomplishes her will” supersedes all ordinary reason. The chapter thus affirms that in mystical union the soul transcends linear temporality, existing within God’s eternal knowledge and love, and that divine authority and insight take precedence over human logic.

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1. Soul: “You have said that He who is in Himself and of Himself without beginning will never love anything without me, nor I without Him.
Love: It is true, says Love, I assure you.”

The Soul begins by recalling Love’s own teaching: divine love is inseparable between God and the soul. If God will never love anything apart from her, the Soul reasons, then that mutual love must have no beginning. Love’s affirmation underscores that this bond transcends temporal sequence.

2. Soul: “Since He will never love … without me, I say therefore that He never loved anything without me. In addition, since He will be in me through love forever, therefore I have been loved by Him without beginning.”

The Soul draws a daring logical syllogism: God’s eternal future love implies an eternal past love. She claims that if God’s willing of her is timeless, then she must have been loved from eternity-a mystical claim that dares to place her in the eternal “before” Creation.

3. Reason: “Watch what you say … Have you forgotten that you have just barely been created, and that once you were not?”

Reason objects with ontological realism: the Soul had a beginning in time and did not exist before Creation. Reason warns that the Soul’s conclusion contradicts basic creation doctrine, revealing a tension between mystical logic and rational order.

4. Soul: “If I err … Love errs with me who makes me believe and think and speak.”

The Soul appeals to Love’s authority, suggesting that any error must lie in Reason, since Love is the source of her mystical convictions. This turns the debate from logical deduction to a question of spiritual authority.

5. Soul: “If I am loved without end … I have also been loved by them without beginning. For as He will love me without end … I have been in the knowledge of His wisdom … since He loved … the work which He would do in me by His divine power.”

The Soul refines her argument: God’s timeless knowledge and will toward her created effect means that, in God’s eternal knowing, she “existed” as the object of love before creation. Mystically, she participates in God’s eternal purpose, bridging the gap between creaturely beginning and divine eternity.

6. Reason (after hearing Love): “Now … I promise you obedience and peace … because Love wills it I cannot do the contrary.”

Reason, humbled, yields to Love’s higher authority. Even the rational faculty concedes that in the soul transformed by Love, mystical logic and divine authority override ordinary ontological categories. Reason pledges to abide in the harmony Love dictates.

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1. What syllogism does the Soul use to argue that she has been loved “without beginning”?

She argues that because God will never love without her in eternity (future), He therefore has never loved apart from her (past). Thus, her relationship with God precedes time.

2. How does Reason initially object to the Soul’s claim?

Reason reminds the Soul that she was created in time and did not exist “once”-so she cannot have been loved before her creation.

3. On what authority does the Soul reject Reason’s objection?

The Soul appeals to Love’s authority, claiming that because Love instills these convictions in her, any error must reside in Reason, not in Love.

4. How does the Soul refine her mystical logic to bridge divine eternity and creaturely creation?

She points out that in God’s eternal wisdom and will, she was “known” and “loved” before being brought into temporal existence; her creation was the realization of an eternal divine purpose.

5. What does Reason’s final response reveal about the relationship between reason and Love in Porete’s mysticism?

Reason ultimately yields to Love, acknowledging that when Love dwells in the soul, divine authority and mystical insight supersede ordinary rational categories; Reason pledges obedience and peace to Love’s will.

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In chapter 36, the Soul celebrates her liberation from Reason’s authority through the “nobility and courtesy” of her Bridegroom, Divine Love. Love confirms that the Soul’s every thought, word, and deed now originates in Christ’s own will, rendering any human faculty subordinate. The mutual willing-God wills that the Soul will, and she wills only what God wills-establishes a perfect “concord” that becomes her rest. Reason, in humbled submission, acknowledges Love’s supremacy. Ultimately, the Soul’s mastery is won not through human striving or legal obligation, but through the gift of divine peace, which rules her heart and frees her from all debt and fear.

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1. Soul: “Now the debts are turned, … for the nobility of the courtesy of my Spouse would not deign any longer to leave me in your service, nor in that of any other.”

The Soul declares that the roles of mastery and service have been reversed: Reason no longer governs her because her Bridegroom-Christ as Divine Love-has “redeemed” her from subjection. This overturning of “debts” emphasizes that the soul’s ultimate allegiance is to God alone, not to any created faculty or law.

2. Love: “This is the truth, most sweet Soul … I swear it and confess it to you.”

Love confirms the Soul’s liberation. This divine affirmation is itself a sacrament of freedom: the assurance that the Soul need no longer submit to Reason’s judgments, for she is now governed entirely by the will and courtesy of her Spouse.

3. Reason: “Ah … you think and say and do whatever you wish, since Love wills it and confirms it.”

Reason challenges the Soul’s assertion that her thoughts, words, and deeds now flow from Love’s authority and so she can do whatever she wills. Reason questions whether its own jurisdiction has really been superseded by the higher law of divine union-thereby acknowledging Love’s primacy over rational order.

4. Soul: “What is done is proper to herself, for by myself I cannot do anything if my Lover Himself does not do it in me.”

The Soul articulates the mystical principle of divine cooperation: no action of hers is possible apart from the Lover’s working within her. This echoes John 15:5 (“apart from me you can do nothing”) and underscores the soul’s absolute dependence on Christ’s indwelling power.

5. Soul: “Willing is always necessary for Him, for I do not will except that He wills in me, and He wills that I might will. In this He gives me rest by His courtesy.”

Here the Soul describes the mutuality of desire: God wills that she will, and she wills only what God wills. This reciprocal “concord” establishes the deepest rest-spiritual peace born of perfect harmony between divine and human will.

6. Soul: “By giving peace to me, you have made yourself the master. For whatever portion of my sins I find, whether to come or already there, always your peace dwells in me.

The Soul recognizes that true mastery-the power to govern her interior life-is exercised by means of peace. God’s gift of peace, not compulsion or law, secures her obedience. The indwelling peace eradicates guilt over past or future sins, making Love the sovereign guide of her life.

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1. What reversal of roles does the Soul announce at the start of the chapter?

The Soul declares that her “debts are turned”-Reason no longer governs her because her Bridegroom (Divine Love) has redeemed her. She is freed from service to Reason and any created power.

2. How does Love confirm the Soul’s new state of freedom?

Love swears to the truth of the Soul’s liberation, affirming that the Soul is now governed entirely by the Spouse’s courtesy and will, not by Reason or any other created authority.

3. How does Reason respond when the Soul claims to act solely by Love’s will?

Reason first challenges, but then concedes that the Soul can “think and say and do whatever” Love confirms, acknowledging Love’s authority over Reason.

4. What is the “concord” between God’s will and the Soul’s will, and what fruit does it bear?

The concord is that God wills the Soul’s willing and the Soul wills only what God wills. This perfect harmony yields deep rest-inner peace-as the Soul’s primary spiritual fruit.

5. How does the Soul describe the way God exercises “mastery” over her?

God’s mastery is exercised through the gift of peace. By granting her peace, He guides her without compulsion or guilt, making peace the ruling principle of her interior life.

6. What is the chapter’s teaching about the relationship between human reason and mystical love?

The chapter shows that mystical love (Divine Love) ultimately transcends and subsumes human reason. Reason must yield to Love’s higher authority in the soul’s transformed state.

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In chapter 37, the Soul expresses that her sins-though incomprehensible in their true deformity to anyone but God-will one day be understood in paradise, not to her shame but to the glory of God’s mercy and generosity. The revelation of her faults will serve to highlight the immensity of divine compassion, bringing her peace rather than remorse. Love affirms that perfect charity consists in always willing God’s will, and that such union removes all grounds for a guilty conscience. The Soul acknowledges that she is merely the vessel of divine understanding and that any wisdom or insight she communicates is entirely the work of Love within her. Thus, the chapter reveals that true peace, glory, and understanding arise not from personal merit, but from the Soul’s transformation through divine charity and God’s gratuitous action.

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1. Soul: “Lord, no one in this world can understand my sins in so ugly and hideous a figure as they are-only you can.”

The Soul acknowledges the unique clarity with which God alone perceives the depths of her sinfulness. Human judgment fails to grasp the full “ugliness” of her faults; only divine omniscience truly sees their gravity.

2. Soul: “But, Lord, in paradise all those who will be there will understand them, not to my distress but to my very great glory. For in seeing that by my sins I have angered you, your mercy … and your largesse full of courtesy will be understood.”

The Soul looks forward to heaven, where sins-and God’s response-will be perfectly transparent. Far from shame, this revelation will magnify God’s mercy and lavish grace, bringing the Soul “very great glory” as all see her redeemed by divine courtesy.

3. Love: “Such courtesy … gives peace of conscience to this Soul … to will perfectly your will is perfect charity.”

Love defines perfect charity as the will aligned with God’s will. In this union, remorse or guilt cannot abide, for they signal a failure of charity. Divine courtesy-God’s gracious forgiveness-secures the Soul’s conscience, enabling her to act from pure love without fear of condemnation.

4. Love: “The Soul was created for nothing other than to have within her without end the being of pure charity.”

This summation elevates the purpose of creation to its highest end: the Soul’s eternal indwelling of pure charity. All else-works, virtues, even the memory of sin-serves this single destiny of infinite love.

5. Soul: “Nothing comes from a work when it is necessary that the work is nothing … whatever is in me … of divine understanding … you … have said it in me and through me by your goodness …”

The Soul humbly recognizes that any spiritual insight she possesses is not her own achievement but the work of Love within her. Good works “come from nothing” when true transformation depends solely on divine agency, and she attributes all glory to Love’s gratuitous action.

—

1. Why does the Soul say only God can fully understand her sins?

Because human perception is limited; only God’s infinite knowledge can grasp the true “ugliness” and depth of her faults.

2. How does the Soul anticipate the revelation of her sins in paradise?

She expects that others’ understanding of her sins-and God’s merciful response-will bring her “very great glory” by showcasing divine courtesy and forgiveness.

3. How does Love define “perfect charity”?

Perfect charity is willing God’s will perfectly; when the Soul’s will is fully aligned with God’s, remorse and guilt disappear as they indicate a lack of charity.

4. What ultimate purpose of creation does Love state?

That the Soul be filled always with pure charity-divine love-as her eternal destiny.

5. Why does the Soul claim “nothing comes from a work” in her spiritual life?

Because genuine transformation and understanding arise not from her own efforts but from Love’s gracious action within her; her works are “nothing” apart from God’s work in her.

This chapter teaches that the full disclosure of our sinfulness in heaven will magnify God’s mercy, establishing perfect peace of conscience, and that our ultimate purpose is to be eternally possessed by divine charity-an outcome wholly rooted in God’s gracious love, not our own works.

——————–

In Chapter 38, the Soul humbly acknowledges her utter poverty and unworthiness, marveling that divine Love would willingly “suffer” her presence and grant her such grace despite her failures and the irrecoverable loss of time spent in spiritual idleness. She recognizes that Love, as an expression of God’s mercy, places the treasure of divine grace precisely in the abyss of her insufficiency-not because she deserves it, but because such generosity magnifies the nobility and courtesy of the Giver. While Reason cannot fully comprehend this mystery, she concedes that everything accomplished in the Soul through Love is good and divinely ordered. The chapter thus affirms that the recognition of one’s spiritual poverty is not a barrier but the very condition in which the Holy Spirit plants His gift of love, far exceeding what words can express.

—

1. “O overflowing and abundant Lover, and courtesy without measure for my sake-for thus it seems to me, says this Soul-when you will to suffer [me]!”

The Soul begins in astonished reverence, marveling that Love-the Divine-chooses to tolerate and even embrace her poverty and imperfection. The phrase “suffer me” echoes the language of Christ’s patient endurance, indicating that Love freely bears with her despite her unworthiness.

2. “To suffer, Lord? Indeed, you will to suffer [me], more willingly than anyone could say, lest I remain in what I deserve, that is, in this wretched body without limiting the time.”

Here the Soul acknowledges that she deserves to remain forever bound to her corruptible, sinful condition. Yet Love wills otherwise-Love chooses to raise her up. The Soul sees this as unthinkable mercy, a divine preference for compassion over strict justice.

3. “And at the same time, because of whatever mercy might be in you, I cannot recover the loss of past time, for it is necessary, sweet Lover, to guard your righteousness.”

The Soul recognizes a divine paradox: God’s mercy is boundless, yet His righteousness must also be upheld. The time lost in sin and idleness cannot be undone, and she accepts that loss as irretrievable in justice.

4. “Nevertheless, it cannot be that the lost time might never be returned to me, and that I would be so far from loving and understanding and praising you.”

Despite her acceptance of divine justice, she believes Love will transform even lost time into an opportunity for greater praise and love. This anticipates a mystical restoration-perhaps not temporal, but spiritual-through grace.

5. “How many moments of an hour have I been idle, and in how many deficiencies have I fallen, I who am in the abyss of total poverty?”

The Soul contemplates the depth of her need and failure, measuring it not in general terms, but in precise, painful awareness of each moment of spiritual sloth.

6. “And nevertheless, so it seems to me, you have willed to place the gift of such grace, which you have described above, in this abyss of poverty.”

This is the mystery at the heart of divine love: that the very depths of human poverty are chosen as the dwelling place of God’s highest grace. The Soul marvels that divine generosity is not withheld from misery, but precisely directed toward it.

7. “Described? says the Soul. Truly, Lady Love, everything you have said about this grace through the mouth of a creature would only be muttering compared to your work.”

The Soul admits that human speech, even Love’s speech through her, can barely scratch the surface of divine grace. All expression pales before the lived, interior experience of Love’s action.

8. Reason: “Ah, for God’s sake! Lady Love,” says Reason, “I indeed have heard what is said, willingly I would hear no more, except that I might grasp this perfectly, says Reason.”

Reason, witnessing the overwhelming mystery of Love’s generosity, yields with reluctant awe. She longs to understand, but confesses that she cannot fully grasp such a sublime mystery.

9. Love: “Truly,” says Love, “and it is given by the Holy Spirit Himself.”

Love affirms that the experience the Soul speaks of-this grace in poverty-is not a human insight but a divine gift, bestowed by the Holy Spirit alone. It transcends the intellect.

10. Reason: “Therefore I say,” says Reason, “that I cannot grasp it, except that it seems to me that everything which this Soul has done, which is by you, is very well done.”

In the end, Reason concedes. Though she cannot comprehend the grace given, she sees its fruit and recognizes its divine origin. She bows to the mystery of Love at work in the Soul.

—

1. Why is the Soul astonished that Love “wills to suffer” her?

Because she sees herself as deeply unworthy and immersed in spiritual poverty. That Love would tolerate-let alone embrace-her miserable condition is to her an overwhelming act of divine courtesy and compassion.

2. What does the Soul mean by “lest I remain in what I deserve”?

She acknowledges that, by justice, she deserves to remain trapped in her sinful, mortal condition. Yet Love’s mercy intervenes to draw her beyond this just fate.

3. How does the Soul reconcile God’s mercy with His righteousness?

She admits that even God’s mercy cannot undo the objective loss of time wasted in sin. God’s righteousness must be preserved, meaning that past time cannot be literally restored. However, she believes that Love can transform the loss into spiritual gain.

4. Why does the Soul refer to herself as being in “the abyss of total poverty”?

She is profoundly aware of her inner emptiness, failures, and lack of merit. She sees herself as utterly destitute before God, having wasted countless moments and fallen into many deficiencies.

5. How does the Soul interpret the placement of grace within this “abyss”?

She sees it as the supreme expression of divine generosity-that God chooses to deposit His most precious gift of grace in the very place of greatest need and unworthiness.

6. What does the Soul mean by saying that human language only “mutters” about divine grace?

She recognizes that even the most eloquent speech, including Love’s own articulation through her, falls short of capturing the mystery and magnitude of divine grace. It can only gesture toward the truth.

7. How does Reason respond to the Soul’s mystical experience?

Reason is overwhelmed and admits that she cannot fully comprehend what has been revealed. She no longer desires more words, only the ability to grasp what she’s already heard. In the end, she affirms that the fruits of the Soul’s life show that it is indeed the work of Love.

8. Who does Love say gives this gift of grace?

Love states that the gift is given “by the Holy Spirit Himself,” affirming that this is a supernatural action beyond human understanding.

——————–

Chapter 39 teaches that the Soul, transformed completely by divine Love, transcends the governance of Reason and the structured life of visible virtues. While Reason formerly guided the soul through counsel, virtue, and discretion, she now humbly desires to serve as the Soul’s handmaid, recognizing that a higher order has taken root-one invisible to most but superior in essence. Love affirms that the Soul, being wholly united with and transformed into Love, lives beyond the rule of Reason, just as Christ’s divinity remained untouched by His human suffering. In this state, the Soul owes no allegiance to Reason or to the moral order of virtue as such but owes only love to Love itself. This marks the soul’s true spiritual freedom, where discretion no longer applies, and every action flows from the immediate, sovereign movement of divine Love within her.

—

1. “Now, Lady Love, says Reason, I pray you, guide me so that I might serve her completely as her simple handmaid. For I understand that I cannot have greater joy nor greater honor than to be the servant of such a lady.”

Reason begins the chapter in a posture of humility, expressing a desire to become a servant of the transformed Soul. This reflects a reversal of the previous order, where Reason ruled. Now, Reason recognizes that there is something higher-namely, the state of the Soul who has been transformed by Love-and wishes to serve it.

2. “I confess it to you, says Love, that you cannot do better than to confess and say it.”

Love affirms Reason’s newfound humility. There is no higher role Reason can play now than to acknowledge her own limits and give way to the superior rule of Love within the Soul.

3. “Ah, most sweet Love, says Reason, what would I do with the people whom I have to govern who will never see any ordering in this Soul, that is, in her practices and activities?”

Reason struggles with the apparent disorder in the Soul’s external behavior. To those governed by Reason, the Soul seems disordered because she no longer follows the visible patterns of virtuous works and disciplined conduct. Reason is concerned with how others will perceive this.

4. “Why do you say that? says Love. Is there a better ordering than that of this Soul?”

Love challenges Reason’s criteria for order. What seems disordered to Reason is, from Love’s perspective, the highest order-a divine spontaneity that surpasses moral calculation and structured virtue.

5. “Not at all, says Reason … but of such types there are few on the earth. I dare to say it.”

Reason concedes that such a divine ordering exists, even if rare and misunderstood by most. This shows Reason’s growing humility and willingness to be taught by Love.

6. “I call an ordering, says Reason, the life of the works of the Virtues in perpetuity, through my counsel and the counsel of Discretion, as in the exemplar of the works of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Reason defines “ordering” as a life consistently shaped by virtues and moral reasoning, modeled after Christ. This is the classical Christian view of sanctity through habitual virtue.

7. “Reason, says Love … what the humanity of Jesus Christ suffered, the divinity did not feel. I speak in a similar way to you, says Love, concerning the Soul.”

Love offers a theological analogy: just as Christ’s divinity was untouched by the sufferings of His humanity, the inner life of the Soul, transformed by Love, is not disturbed by the operations of Reason or external virtues. This shows a mystical interiority beyond outward moral behavior.

8. “This Soul herself is Love, and Love has no difference from her. In everything it is appropriate to have discretion, except in Love.”

This is the central mystical teaching of the chapter: the Soul is so fully united with Love that she is Love. In her, all duality ceases-there is no longer a difference between lover and beloved. Discretion, which Reason values highly, has no place in such pure Love, which is beyond measure or calculation.

9. “All things owe me allegiance, including the works of the Virtues counseled by Reason, refined by Discretion, except the one alone who is grasped by Love and transformed into Love. This one owes me only love, and for this is he free, for Love has freed him.”

Love redefines allegiance. Even virtue, reason, and discretion owe allegiance to Love. But the Soul transformed into Love is no longer subject to them-she owes only love, and this is her freedom. This final image crystallizes the theme: true spiritual liberty comes not through the governance of reason, but through transformation into Love.

—

1. Why does Reason desire to serve the Soul, and how does Love respond?

Reason desires to serve the Soul because she recognizes the greatness and dignity of the Soul transformed by Love. She sees that there is no greater honor than to be a servant of such a lady. Love confirms that this is the wisest thing Reason could do, affirming her place now as a handmaid rather than a guide.

2. What concern does Reason raise about how others perceive the Soul’s lack of external order?

Reason is troubled that others, especially those governed by reason and discretion, will not understand the Soul’s way of life, since her practices and actions seem unordered or unconventional. This reflects the tension between visible virtue and hidden mystical union.

3. How does Love redefine what true “ordering” is in the spiritual life?

Love challenges Reason’s idea of order, saying that the Soul’s ordering is superior-though invisible to Reason’s standards-because it flows directly from Love. True order, for Love, is not the regularity of virtue but the spontaneous operation of divine Love in the Soul.

4. What does Love mean when she compares the Soul to the divinity of Christ in relation to His humanity?

Love uses the analogy to show that just as Christ’s divinity remained untouched by the suffering of His humanity, so too the Soul, transformed by Love, transcends the operations of Reason and Virtue. Her essence abides in God while her external life may appear unstructured.

5. Why does Love say that discretion is not needed in Love?

Because Love operates beyond measure, calculation, or moderation. While discretion is necessary in all other virtues and actions, pure Love is absolute and self-giving, and in it, the Soul acts not from calculation but from union with God’s own movement.

6. What is the ultimate freedom that Love gives to the Soul, according to this chapter?

The Soul who is transformed into Love owes nothing but Love itself-she is not subject to the law of virtues or the governance of Reason. This freedom is a spiritual liberation in which the Soul is no longer bound by external expectations but is moved directly by God.

——————–

Chapter 40 teaches that true wisdom, according to Love, is found in the soul that dwells in the abyss of humility-one who acknowledges her complete lack of righteousness and sees herself beneath all creatures, even demons, without comparison or self-justification. This profound self-emptying is not an act of despair but the highest wisdom, because it opens the soul entirely to God’s mercy. Such a soul has become “nothing and less than nothing,” and it is precisely this nothingness that Love exalts, for God raises the least to the highest by His loyal goodness. The small-minded cannot grasp this paradox, but to Love, this soul is supremely wise.

—

1. “Among my chosen ones, I call this Soul supremely wise, but a small mind does not know how to estimate or understand a thing of great value.”

Love affirms that this particular Soul is supremely wise-not because of human understanding or intellectual greatness, but because of a deeper spiritual reality that surpasses common perception. Those with “small minds” (attached to worldly judgment) cannot comprehend the worth of this Soul, for true wisdom here is not measured by visible virtue or learning but by hidden depth.

2. “What do you call wise? … The one in the abyss of humility.”

In a striking inversion of worldly values, Love defines wisdom not as knowledge, power, or outward righteousness, but as the Soul’s radical awareness of her own unworthiness. This abyss of humility is not self-hatred but a clear spiritual perception: she knows she possesses no righteousness of her own and is thus utterly dependent on God’s grace.

3. “One … who has no injustice in anything and knows he has no righteousness in anything.”

This paradox expresses perfect humility. The Soul commits no injustice (because she is aligned entirely with God’s will) but claims no merit of her own. Her wisdom is the fruit of detachment from both guilt and self-congratulation-she does not measure herself at all, living instead in God’s truth.

4. “She sees herself beneath all creatures, in the sea of sin.”

The Soul does not compare herself with others favorably but sees herself as the lowest of all. This isn’t scrupulous exaggeration-it is a deep interior vision of her radical poverty before God. She even perceives herself as beneath the demons-not in moral standing, but in her utter emptiness of merit.

5. “She has heard for a long time through the Holy Spirit that God will put the least in the highest solely by His loyal goodness.”

This is the culmination of her wisdom: she trusts entirely in God’s mercy, not in her own virtue. It is by divine goodness alone that she will be raised up. Her humility becomes the foundation for exaltation, in keeping with the Gospel truth that “the last shall be first.”

Overall Insight:
Love’s declaration that this Soul is “supremely wise” reveals a mystical theology of humility as the highest wisdom. The Soul’s self-knowledge, born of grace, leads her to see herself as less than nothing-yet without despair, for she clings to divine goodness. In this lies her true greatness.

—

1. Why does Love call this Soul “supremely wise”?

Because she dwells in the abyss of humility-she recognizes she has no righteousness of her own and sees herself beneath all creatures. Her wisdom is not based on human reasoning but on her radical self-emptying and her full dependence on God’s mercy.

2. What is Love’s definition of wisdom in this chapter?

Wisdom is being in “the abyss of humility,” which means having no sense of injustice in oneself but also no claim to righteousness. It is the complete acknowledgment of one’s nothingness and unworthiness before God.

3. How does the Soul view herself in relation to other creatures and even demons?

She sees herself as beneath all creatures, including the demons-not because she is more evil, but because she makes no comparisons or claims at all. In her self-perception, she is nothing and less than nothing.

4. How is the Soul’s understanding of her own sinfulness described?

She sees herself in “the sea of sin,” as a slave to it, without making comparisons to others. This radical self-awareness strips her of all pride and places her at the bottom-where she becomes the object of God’s pure mercy.

5. What is the source of the Soul’s assurance despite her sense of unworthiness?

Her confidence comes from the Holy Spirit, who has revealed to her that God will raise the least to the highest by His “loyal goodness.” Her humility opens her to God’s gracious exaltation.

6. What does Love say about those with “small minds”?

Love says that small minds cannot recognize the greatness or value of this Soul, because such wisdom-rooted in profound humility and self-emptying-is invisible to worldly or superficial judgment.

7. How does this chapter reinforce the central spiritual theme of transformation in Love?

It shows that true transformation happens through utter self-surrender and humility. The Soul’s transformation into Love itself is not through virtue in a moralistic sense, but through her recognition of complete dependence on God’s mercy.

In Chapter 21 of The Mirror of Simple Souls, the main teaching centers on the paradoxical truth that the Soul, having once obeyed the Virtues with full devotion under Reason’s guidance, eventually transcends them not by rejection but by surpassing their external practice through perfect union with Divine Love. Though she no longer “practices” the Virtues in the conventional sense, the Virtues now dwell in her more perfectly because she lives by their essence, not their form. Love, who reveals Himself to be God, explains that this Soul has been transformed into Him by love’s righteousness, becoming His own without self-possession. This culminates in a profound mystical state in which the Soul, entirely given over to Love, no longer acts from herself but from God within her, having passed beyond moral striving into divine assimilation.

—

1. “It is true that this Soul takes leave of the Virtues, insofar as the practicing of them is concerned, and insofar as the desire for what they demand is concerned. But the Virtues have not taken leave of her, for they are always with her, but this is from perfect obedience to them.”

Love clarifies that the soul’s apparent departure from the Virtues is not a rejection but a transcendence of active, willful practice. The soul no longer strives to practice the virtues because she has become a perfect vessel of them. Her earlier obedience has brought her to a point where the virtues are no longer external obligations but internalized presences, infused by Divine Love.

2. “For if a man serves a master, it is he whom the man serves, and the master does not belong to him… [But later] the servant leaves the master for a better master.”

This analogy reveals the transformation of the soul: like a servant who outgrows a teacher and finds a higher one, the soul transcends the external governance of the Virtues once she is mastered by Love itself. The Virtues now serve her in return, not out of reversal of hierarchy but because the soul has been elevated by grace into union with God.

3. “So this Soul has gained and learned so much with the Virtues that she is now superior to the Virtues… she has within her the mistress of the Virtues, whom one calls Divine Love.”

The soul has internalized all that the Virtues could offer and more, because Divine Love-who is above all virtues-now dwells in her. The soul’s condition surpasses moral excellence: she lives by a divine infusion, no longer needing moral scaffolding, having become the dwelling place of Divine Love.

4. “Reason: To whom does she belong then? says Reason.
Love: To my will, says Love, which transformed her into me.”

The soul now belongs entirely to Love. Not to herself, not to Reason, not even to the Virtues. Love, which is God, has absorbed her into divine will, indicating full deification of the soul-not ontologically, but through righteousness of love.

5. “Love: I am God, says Love, for Love is God and God is Love, and this Soul is God by the condition of Love. I am God by divine nature and this Soul is God by righteousness of Love.”

This is the central mystical declaration of the chapter: a bold articulation of deification. Love identifies itself as God, echoing 1 John 4:8 (“God is Love”), and states that the soul, through perfect union and love, has become God-not by nature, but by participation. The soul is not obliterated but transformed so completely by divine charity that it lives God’s life through infused love.

6. “This precious beloved of mine is taught and guided by me, without herself, for she is transformed into me, and such a perfect one… takes my nourishment.”

The soul no longer acts with self-possession. Her own will has been entirely taken up by Love’s will. The phrase “without herself” suggests not self-annihilation, but a complete divine possession in which God becomes the soul’s guide, teacher, and sustenance. She lives entirely in God, by God, and for God.

—

1. Why does Reason perceive a contradiction between the Soul leaving the Virtues and still having them more perfectly than others?

Reason is confused because the text says the Soul has “taken leave” of the Virtues, which sounds like abandonment. Yet it also says that the Soul possesses the Virtues more perfectly than anyone. This seems contradictory unless understood in a deeper, spiritual sense.

2. How does Love resolve this apparent contradiction?

Love explains that the Soul has ceased practicing the Virtues in an active, effortful way and no longer desires what they demand because she has reached perfect obedience. The Virtues now abide in her not as external demands but as internal realities-she lives them spontaneously through union with Love.

3. What is the significance of the servant-master analogy used by Love?

The analogy shows how the Soul once learned from the Virtues as a servant learns from a master. But once the servant surpasses the master in wisdom and status, the roles reverse. Similarly, the Soul becomes greater than the Virtues because she is transformed by Divine Love, who is their source and mistress.

4. What role does Divine Love play in the transformation of the Soul?

Divine Love is the principle by which the Soul is united to God. Love is not merely a virtue but God Himself. When the Soul is transformed by Divine Love, she becomes God’s own by righteousness of Love, living no longer by self but by God’s indwelling.

5. What does it mean when Love says the Soul is “God by righteousness of Love”?

It means that through perfect love and surrender, the Soul participates in God’s life-not by nature (as God is divine by essence), but through righteousness, meaning she is entirely united with God’s will and filled with His love. It is an expression of mystical union and deification.

6. How does this chapter portray the highest stage of spiritual life?

The highest stage is not moral striving but complete transformation into Divine Love. The Soul no longer belongs to herself or even to the Virtues but to God directly. She is taught, guided, and nourished by Love itself, having no will or movement apart from God.

——————–

Chapter 22 teaches that the Soul, transformed by Divine Love, rises like an eagle above all natural limitations, surpassing the realm of Nature to live in the freedom and nourishment of God’s splendor. By taking leave of “Lady Nature,” the Soul is no longer subject to the demands of the flesh, the instability of emotions, or the sway of worldly consolations and trials. Her interior is filled with Pure Charity and Goodness, which make her completely self-sufficient in God, joyful without excess, and sober without sorrow. This divine indwelling of the Trinity sanctifies her and renders her available to all while attached to none. The chapter closes with a warning to spiritual beginners not to settle for lesser goods but to pursue the fullness of divine union with courage and generosity of heart.

—

1. “And so this Soul is like the eagle, because this Soul flies high, indeed, very high, higher than any other bird because she is feathered by Fine Love.”

The eagle, a classical symbol of spiritual elevation and vision, represents the Soul’s exalted state through Divine Love. “Feathered by Fine Love” suggests that Love is not only the cause of ascent but also the means-granting the Soul the strength and capacity to rise beyond all created things, including the natural order. Her soaring flight implies detachment, freedom, and a clarity of spiritual sight superior to all others.

2. “She sees more clearly the beauty of the sun, the rays of the sun, and the splendor of the sun, and the rays which feed her with the marrow of the high cedars.”

This poetic vision conveys the Soul’s direct perception of Divine Truth (“the sun”), not through mediated symbols but through experiential intimacy. The imagery of “rays” feeding her with “marrow” underscores that her nourishment is no longer from external virtues or created nature, but directly from the radiance and inner substance of God. The “high cedars” likely symbolize saints or spiritual greatness-yet even these are surpassed, as she now feeds on their inner life source.

3. “Thus this Soul says to the unhappy Nature who through many days has made her remain in servitude: ‘Lady Nature, I take leave of you; Love is near me and I free myself by her without fear, and contrary to all else.'”

This marks the Soul’s formal renunciation of all attachments to natural inclinations, instincts, or limitations. “Lady Nature” is personified as a former mistress who once ruled the Soul through necessity and desire. Now, aided by Love, the Soul announces her final liberation from even the noblest human drives. She is free “contrary to all else,” meaning her detachment defies not only nature but conventional piety and fear alike.

4. “This Soul is not fearful of tribulation; she is not detained for consolation, nor is she lowered on account of temptation, nor is she diminished by any subtraction.”

The Soul has reached a state of pure equanimity. She is unmoved by suffering, unbound by desire for comfort, and unshaken by temptation or loss. This indicates that she no longer acts from self-interest or vulnerability, but from the rootedness of Divine Love itself. Her identity and sustenance are no longer affected by the flux of created things.

5. “She is at all times sober without sadness, joyous without dissolution, for God has sanctified His name within her and there the Trinity is at home.”

In this profound line, we see the characteristics of divine indwelling: a quiet, balanced joy (“sober without sadness”) and a dignity of spirit (“joyous without dissolution”) that results from union with the Trinity. The sanctification of God’s name within her indicates total interior transformation-God now dwells in her as in a temple, and she shares in His eternal life.

6. “To you little ones who in desire and will take prey for your nourishment, desire that you be such as she is.”

This is a direct exhortation to the reader or spiritual seeker. “Little ones” implies beginners on the path, and “take prey for your nourishment” refers to those who still seek spiritual or emotional satisfaction from things lesser than God. The author calls them to aim higher-not to settle for partial goods or spiritual crumbs, but to aspire to the Soul’s complete union with God.

7. “For whoever desires the lesser part and desires not the greater part, such a one is not worthy of the least of God’s blessings because of the cowardice of a poor heart.”

This striking and challenging conclusion criticizes spiritual mediocrity. To desire “the lesser part” (created consolations, virtues for their own sake, spiritual pride) without aspiring to complete surrender to Love is, in this text’s view, a failure of courage and love. The phrase “cowardice of a poor heart” indicates that fear and smallness of spirit keep souls from reaching their divine destiny.

—

1. Why is the Soul compared to an eagle in this chapter?

The Soul is compared to an eagle because she rises higher than all others, symbolizing her spiritual ascent beyond the natural and created order. She flies with the wings of “Fine Love,” which empowers her to see and receive divine realities-especially the rays and splendor of the “sun,” a symbol for God. Her vision is clearer, and her nourishment is drawn from the deepest sources of divine life.

2. What does it mean when the Soul says she takes leave of “Lady Nature”?

To take leave of “Lady Nature” means the Soul has transcended the limitations and demands of human nature, including desires, fears, and the instinctual life. Nature had once bound the Soul in “servitude,” but now, through Love, she is freed from all natural inclinations. This is a renunciation not of the body per se, but of being governed by anything other than divine Love.

3. How does Love describe the Soul’s freedom from external conditions like tribulation, temptation, and consolation?

Love explains that the Soul is no longer affected by suffering (tribulation), the need for comfort (consolation), temptation, or loss. She remains unshaken and undiminished in all circumstances. This reflects her perfect detachment and full identification with Divine Love, which makes her invulnerable to changes in fortune or emotional states.

4. What is meant by “She is at all times sober without sadness, joyous without dissolution”?

This means that the Soul possesses a stable, serene joy that is not excessive or fleeting. “Sober without sadness” indicates a deep peace without gloom, and “joyous without dissolution” implies a joyful state that does not lose itself in ecstasy or emotionalism. Her joy is grounded in the indwelling presence of the Trinity, who has made His home within her.

5. What warning or exhortation is given to spiritual beginners at the end of the chapter?

The text exhorts “little ones”-those beginning the spiritual journey-not to settle for lesser spiritual goods or temporary satisfactions. Instead, they are called to desire the greater part: full union with God. Those who cling to lesser desires are said to be unworthy even of God’s smallest blessings because of their “cowardice of a poor heart,” which reflects spiritual timidity and lack of generosity in love.

6. What role does “Pure Charity” and “Pure Goodness” play in the Soul’s condition?

Pure Charity and Pure Goodness are the divine qualities that fill the Soul and cause her to be content, detached, and generous. Because she is immersed in these, she asks nothing from anyone and has become “common to all things,” meaning she belongs to all and is constrained by nothing. These divine gifts anchor her in God’s fullness.

——————–

Chapter 23 teaches that the soul united with God through pure love becomes perfectly balanced, strong, and invulnerable-like a castle fortified against all opposition-by holding together a profound awareness of her own poverty and the illumination received from God. In this state of deep humility and divine union, she is so transformed that she becomes spiritually intoxicated, not merely by what she receives, but by what God Himself enjoys. Through the mystery of love’s transformation, she participates in the joy of the Trinity without directly “drinking” of it. This mystical inebriation surpasses comprehension, as she shares in the divine delight simply because her Lover drinks of it. The soul is thus lifted above herself, emptied of self, yet filled with divine praise and freedom. Her faculties remain but are wholly surrendered, submerged in divine humility, and made radiantly free by God’s love.

—

1. “This Unencumbered Soul, says Love, is balanced by means of a yoke with two equal weights … One of these weights … is her true understanding of her poverty … The left weight … is strength. The one on the right is the high understanding which the Soul receives from the pure Deity.”

The Soul’s spiritual stability is described through the imagery of a balanced yoke, symbolizing an equilibrium between self-awareness and divine enlightenment. The “understanding of her poverty” roots the Soul in profound humility, while divine understanding lifts her toward union with God. Strength sustains her along this path, suggesting that spiritual maturity involves a dynamic interplay between lowliness and exaltation. This balance renders the Soul invulnerable to interior or exterior attack-she is like a “castle in the sea,” inaccessible and serene.

2. “She is so deeply awed … by the understanding of her poverty that she seems … completely beside herself. And she is so inebriated … by the grace of the pure Deity that she is forever inebriated … from what she never drinks nor will ever drink.”

Here, Love describes the Soul as overcome by two paradoxical experiences: utter abasement in self-knowledge and ecstatic intoxication through divine grace. The most startling image is that of becoming “drunk” from a wine she “never drinks.” This points to a mystical union so deep that the Soul shares in what Christ drinks-in other words, she participates in divine joy and glory without having direct access to its essence. Her transformation in Love allows her to be affected by God’s own experience, not merely her own.

3. “The clearest wine, the newest, the most profitable … is the wine from the tap at the top. This is the supreme beverage which none drinks except the Trinity … the Annihilated Soul is inebriated … from what she never drinks nor ever will drink.”

This vivid metaphor of the divine “barrel” deepens the mystical paradox. The “top tap” contains the most sublime intimacy of God-reserved for the Trinity alone-yet the Soul is somehow inebriated by it. This expresses the Soul’s participation by communion rather than by possession. Through divine Love, she shares in the joy and delight of the Trinity, though she does not herself drink it. Her state is one of profound receptivity, transformed by what belongs to her Lover, not herself.

4. “In this barrel … are, without fail, several taps … The humanity [of Christ] … drinks at the most noble tap after the Trinity … Virgin Mary … and … the ardent Seraphim drink, on the wings of whom these Free Souls fly.”

The hierarchy of drinkers at the “divine barrel” reflects a spiritual order: Christ’s humanity drinks most nobly, followed by Mary, then the Seraphim. The Free Souls-like the one described-soar with the Seraphim, suggesting that though they may not drink from the highest tap, they participate in this divine ecstasy through union with those who do. This imagery underscores the mystical solidarity between God and all the elect in the ecstatic circulation of divine Love.

5. “Such a Soul … possesses memory, intellect, and will, in an abyss through humility and is highly penetrated with understanding through subtlety, and very free in all places by the love from the Deity.”

The Soul, while still fully human-with memory, intellect, and will-is transfigured through humility and subtlety, meaning she is no longer limited by natural categories. Her faculties are immersed in the “abyss” of God’s presence. Her freedom is no longer a choice between things, but an effortless availability to God in all things. Her very being is irradiated by divine understanding and Love.

—

1. What does the imagery of the “yoke with two equal weights” symbolize in the Soul’s spiritual life?

The yoke symbolizes the Soul’s perfect balance and interior stability. One weight is her deep understanding of her own poverty (humility), and the other is divine understanding (illumination). These opposing yet equal forces create a spiritual equilibrium that makes the Soul strong and unshakable-like a fortified castle in the midst of the sea.

2. Why is the Soul described as inebriated by something she never drinks?

The Soul is so united with her Lover (God) that she shares in His joy and delight as if they were her own, even without directly experiencing or “drinking” them. Her inebriation signifies a mystical participation in divine bliss beyond what is accessible to creatures-she is transformed by the joy God Himself receives.

3. What is the significance of the barrel and its multiple taps?

The barrel represents the infinite goodness of God, and the taps symbolize different degrees of participation in divine delight. Only the Trinity drinks from the topmost tap-pure, ineffable joy. Christ’s humanity, Mary, and the Seraphim drink in hierarchical order. The Soul, though she does not drink from this supreme source, is nonetheless intoxicated by it through her union with the Lover.

4. How does Love explain the transformation that enables the Soul to be inebriated from what she does not drink?

Love explains that the transformation occurs through righteousness and union in Love, whereby the Soul becomes one with her Lover. There remains a distinction of nature, but not of affection or union. Because her Lover drinks the supreme wine, she, being one with Him in love, feels its effect without consuming it.

5. What does Holy Church’s exclamation reveal about the value of such a Soul?

Holy Church admires the Soul’s sublime elevation and calls for her to be loved purely and guarded closely. This expresses the Church’s recognition of the Soul’s spiritual nobility and the necessity of reverence toward souls who have attained such intimate union with God.

6. How are the faculties of memory, intellect, and will described in the transformed Soul?

These faculties remain, but they are immersed in an abyss of humility, penetrated with divine understanding, and freed entirely through divine Love. The Soul retains her human capacities but they are utterly transformed and governed by God, making her free, subtle, and wholly available to Him.

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Chapter 24 teaches that souls who dwell in the righteous freeness of Pure Love are utterly detached from desire, emotional feeling, and spiritual affection, for even these can bind the soul and disturb the deep peace that Pure Love requires. Such souls do nothing that would disrupt their interior stillness; they live from the fullness of the divine presence within and do not seek anything beyond themselves. Their purity is preserved not by avoidance but by fullness-they have become transparent vessels of the divine sun, shining outward without being tainted by anything external. Because of this, they alone grasp the “greater part” of divine understanding. They live in a paradoxical state: utterly alone and free in all things, yet universally open and available to all. Like the sun, they illuminate without absorbing any impurity, having their being entirely from God and in God.

—

1. “[Reason]: Ah, Love, says Reason, when are such Souls in the righteous freeness of Pure Love?”

Reason, still seeking to understand the mystery of divine union, asks Love to define the precise moment or condition in which souls live in pure, unencumbered freedom-the “righteous freeness” that is the fruit of perfect love. The question reveals Reason’s humility and awareness of its own limitations when it comes to the depths of divine transformation.

2. “Love: When they possess neither desire, nor feeling, nor at any time affection of spirit. For these things would enslave them because it is too far from the peace of freeness where few folk allow themselves to remain.”

Love responds that true freeness in God comes only when the soul is utterly emptied of all self-originating movements-no desires, no felt emotions, not even spiritual affections. These seemingly good things are revealed as subtle forms of selfhood that disturb the soul’s total openness to God. Very few remain in this radical detachment, which is the threshold of divine peace.

3. “Also these Souls, says Love, do nothing which would be contrary to the peace of the being of their interior, and so they carry in peace the ordinance of Love.”

Such souls live entirely from the inner ground of peace and do not disturb that interior stillness with disordered action. Their every movement flows from the harmony of divine love, which has become their guiding law. “Ordinance” here refers not to an external command, but to the divine order now written into their being.

4. “Such persons are so filled that they possess the divine sun within themselves, without begging for anything beyond themselves, by which they can guard a purity of heart.”

These souls are completely indwelt by God (“the divine sun”) and so are never needy. They do not seek outward consolations or even graces, because they already contain the Source. This fullness enables them to maintain a radical purity of heart-not through effort, but through divine indwelling.

5. “And no others than they, says Love, have understanding of the greater part. And if they did not have understanding of it, they could beg for the lesser part, and still they would not have their sufficiency.”

Only these souls grasp the “greater part”-likely meaning God’s own joy and freedom. Without that understanding, even begging for lesser spiritual gifts would leave one empty. True sufficiency lies not in what one receives from God, but in the deep participation in God’s own being and understanding.

6. “Such Souls are alone in all things, and common in all things, for they do not encumber their being on account of something which might happen to them.”

These souls live a paradox: they are inwardly detached (“alone in all things”) and yet universally present and available (“common in all things”). Nothing exterior binds or agitates them. They are rooted in being, not circumstance.

7. “For as completely as the sun has light from God and shines on all things without taking any impurity into it, so also such Souls have their being from God and in God, without taking impurity into themselves on account of things which they might see or hear outside themselves.”

Here, the soul is likened to the sun-radiant, pure, and untouched by external defilements. This simile captures the essence of contemplative transformation: the soul does not react to the external world because she no longer lives from it. Her being is hidden in God, from whom she receives both existence and light.

—

1. What does it mean for a soul to be in the “righteous freeness of Pure Love”?

To be in this freeness means the soul is totally detached from all inner movements such as desire, feeling, and spiritual affection. These elements, while often valued, are seen here as potential enslavers, pulling the soul away from the unbroken peace and selflessness required by Pure Love.

2. Why must the soul be free from desire, feeling, and spiritual affection to remain in divine peace?

Because even subtle inner movements introduce self-centeredness or emotional disturbance, which compromise the total inner stillness and openness necessary for dwelling in God’s peace. Only those who let go of all inner possessiveness can remain in the pure freeness of divine love.

3. How do these souls maintain purity of heart without seeking anything outside themselves?

They are filled with the divine sun-God’s own presence-within themselves. This indwelling fullness prevents them from needing to “beg” or seek externally, and so they can preserve purity not through avoidance, but through a fullness that excludes all impurity.

4. What is the “greater part” that only these souls understand?

The “greater part” refers to the deepest divine realities-God’s own peace, joy, and nature-which are not accessible through effort or lesser spiritual experience. This understanding comes only through transformation and indwelling; without it, one may seek lesser gifts but remain spiritually insufficient.

5. In what way are these souls both “alone in all things” and “common in all things”?

They are alone in that they are free from attachment to any created thing. Yet they are common in that they belong to all and are available to all, because their detachment frees them to love universally without clinging or fear.

6. What is the significance of comparing these souls to the sun?

Like the sun, these souls shine outwardly with light and warmth, yet take in no impurity from the world around them. The image emphasizes that their source is divine, and that their interior remains undefiled despite being fully present in the world.

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In Chapter 25, the main teaching is that the soul entirely united to God through pure love no longer experiences joys or spiritual sensations in a separate or perceptible way, because she has died to self-will and become wholly one with the divine will. Like a fire that does not feel its own burning, she is so transformed by the fire of divine love that she no longer perceives it as something external or even internal-she simply is that fire. This state excludes all need for spiritual consolation or external support, which are seen as signs of incompleteness. Because she is stripped of all “matter,” including the desire for experiences or means to God, she sees clearly and acts rightly in all things through humility and divine charity. She becomes at once solitary in God and universally available in love, a vessel of divine largesse untouched by the distractions of sense or effort.

—

1. “[Reason]: Now tell me, Love, says Reason, do such Souls feel any joys within them or outside them?”

Reason begins with a simple yet profound inquiry-whether souls who dwell in pure divine love experience joy in the way others might expect. This question assumes that joy is something one can locate or feel as a discrete experience, either internally or externally.

2. “[Love]: Not at all as regards your question, says Love, because their nature is mortified and their spirit is dead. For all will has departed from them, and on account of this [such a Soul] lives and remains, and is, because of such mortification, in divine will.”

Love responds paradoxically: such souls do not experience joy as Reason defines it because their nature and will have been entirely mortified-they are dead to themselves. But precisely through this death of will, they now live fully in God’s will. Their joy is not felt as a separate emotional state but is instead identical with being rooted in divine will-an ontological transformation, not a passing feeling.

3. “That which burns has no cold, and the one who swims has no thirst.”

Love uses metaphor to convey a mystical paradox: the soul so immersed in divine love no longer notices or experiences love as an external object. Like a swimmer no longer feels thirst, the soul engulfed in divine fire is no longer “aware” of fire-it has become fire itself. The soul doesn’t feel joy as something added or separate, because it is joy in its divine essence.

4. “She is fire in herself through the power of Love who transforms her into the fire of Love.”

The soul is no longer a subject that experiences love; she has become love. Transformation is so complete that there’s no longer a division between lover and beloved, experiencer and experience. The soul is fully conformed to God’s nature through Love.

5. “This fire burns of itself in all places and in all moments of an hour without consuming any matter…”

This mystical fire is divine-eternal, active, and self-sufficient. It burns without consuming, echoing the burning bush in Exodus. The soul, now one with this divine fire, is sustained by God directly, without intermediaries, and is no longer dependent on external stimuli or acts for spiritual growth.

6. “Whoever feels something of God through matter… this is not the total fire… only blindness about the understanding of the goodness of God.”

Love criticizes those who seek divine experience through external means or their own effort. While such efforts may be well-intentioned, they reflect an incomplete understanding. True divine love is unmediated and does not rely on anything outside the soul’s union with God.

7. “The one who burns with this fire, without seeking matter… sees clearly in all things…”

The soul fully surrendered to God, seeking nothing and attached to nothing, has clarity of vision. With no selfish will or personal matter clouding her interior, she discerns all things rightly. Her vision is pure because her being is purified.

8. “She is alone in Him by the virtue of true humility. And she is common to all things through the largesse of perfect charity…”

This soul is in a state of paradox: utterly alone in God through humility, yet universally open to all through charity. Her radical detachment has made her radically available. She has transcended self and is both singularly God’s and universally loving.

This chapter intensifies the spiritual portrait of the annihilated soul. She does not “feel joy” because joy, like will, is transcended in the abyss of divine union. She is not a subject that feels-she is a flame that is.

—

1. Why does Love say that such souls do not feel joys within or outside themselves?

Because their nature is mortified and their spirit is dead-they have relinquished their personal will and now live entirely in the divine will. In this state, joy is no longer experienced as a distinct feeling but is absorbed into their very being.

2. What metaphor does Love use to explain why these souls do not feel the fire of divine love?

Love says, “That which burns has no cold, and the one who swims has no thirst.” Just as fire doesn’t feel fire and a swimmer doesn’t feel thirst, the soul fully immersed in divine love becomes the fire itself and therefore does not “feel” it as something separate.

3. What does Love mean by saying the fire “burns of itself …without consuming any matter”?

This divine fire is self-sustaining and spiritual-it is not fueled by created things or external matter. The soul united to God in this way is no longer dependent on anything outside itself to love or serve God.

4. How does Love critique spiritual practices that rely on matter or effort?

Love says that relying on external things or human effort to grow in divine love is “blindness about the understanding of the goodness of God.” Such striving is still limited and not the total fire of pure divine love.

5. What allows the soul to see clearly and act rightly in all things?

Because the soul is detached from all matter and free from self-will, she sees without obstruction. Her vision and judgment are purified by humility, allowing her to act with true charity and divine clarity.

6. What paradox does the soul embody at the end of this chapter?

She is “alone in Him by the virtue of true humility” and at the same time “common to all things through the largesse of perfect charity.” This means she is utterly united to God in solitude and equally open to all in love.

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Chapter 26 teaches that the Soul who has entered into Pure Love loves nothing except for God’s sake alone-not even the noblest of things-unless they are willed by God and directed toward His love. In this radical detachment, the Soul is alone in God, emptied of self-interest, and sees herself as nothing in God and God as nothing in her, expressing a mystical union free of possessiveness or image. Such a Soul no longer desires even divine consolations, for any craving for spiritual sweetness would hinder the delicate enterprise of Fine Love. Instead, she dwells in silent meditation that transcends sense and emotion, guided solely by Pure Love, which alone instructs her without intermediary.

—

1. “Such a Soul no longer loves anything in God, nor will she love anything, however noble it may be, if it is not solely for the sake of God and for the sake of what He wills, and for the sake of God in all things and all things for the sake of the love from Him.”

The soul has reached the highest refinement of love, where even noble things-spiritual delights, saints, virtues, or divine attributes-are not loved for themselves, but purely because God wills them. All attachments have been stripped away except for God’s will and love. This is the epitome of detachment and spiritual purification: to will nothing but what God wills, and to love nothing except for God’s sake.

2. “And through such love is this Soul alone in the Pure Love of the love of God. Such a Soul is so transparent in understanding that she sees herself to be nothing in God and God nothing in her.”

The soul’s union with God has become so radical that she exists in a state of total self-effacement. The phrase “she sees herself to be nothing in God and God nothing in her” expresses the obliteration of any imagined division, likeness, or possession. There is no “thingness” left-even God is no longer grasped as an object within her. This paradox articulates the absolute simplicity and emptiness necessary for union in Pure Love.

3. “Now give attention, noble lovers, to the one dwelling through meditation on Love, without creaturely hearing.”

The text addresses those advanced in the spiritual path-“noble lovers”-and invites them to a silent, interior meditation that transcends all created forms of knowledge or spiritual instruction. “Creaturely hearing” stands for all external or sensory forms of spiritual input, which must now be relinquished.

4. “For such meditation-which the Soul takes in Love, without willing any of Love’s gifts, called consolations, which comfort the Soul by the feeling of the sweetness of prayer-such meditation teaches the Soul, and no other practice teaches her except Pure Love.”

True spiritual learning at this stage no longer comes from prayerful sweetness, spiritual gifts, or even elevated understanding. The soul learns only through Pure Love, which strips her of all self-seeking. Desiring the comforts of God-consolations-would hinder her from advancing in this radical enterprise of “Fine Love,” which demands poverty of spirit and total abandonment to God.

—

1. What is the only motive for love in the purified Soul at this stage?

The only motive for love is God Himself-His will, His love, and His presence in all things. The Soul loves nothing except for the sake of God, even if it is noble or spiritual in nature.

2. What does it mean when Love says the Soul is “alone in the Pure Love of the love of God”?

It means the Soul is entirely absorbed in God’s love with no admixture of self-will, desire for reward, or emotional consolation. She dwells in pure, unselfish love without distraction, consolation, or dependence on anything else.

3. How does the Soul see herself and God at this point?

She sees herself to be nothing in God, and God nothing in her. This paradox expresses radical detachment and total transparency-there is no possession, no image, no duality. All boundaries have dissolved in the simplicity of pure being.

4. What kind of meditation is recommended, and what is it free from?

The meditation is one that abides in Love without relying on creaturely hearing-i.e., without dependence on external senses, thoughts, or teachings. It is pure, silent, interior dwelling in God.

5. Why are divine consolations considered an impediment at this stage?

Because seeking the comfort of God through emotional or spiritual sweetness involves self-will and attachment. These consolations, though good in earlier stages, can obstruct the Soul’s progress in “Fine Love,” which requires complete surrender and the renunciation of all spiritual self-interest.


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Chapter 27 teaches that meditation on Pure Love has only one purpose: to enable the soul to love God loyally and selflessly, without seeking any personal consolation or reward. True love is undivided and cannot have multiple aims, for any self-interest weakens its purity. The soul must be emptied of herself, surrendering even spiritual comforts, and seek only to do God’s will. Her will becomes one with God’s, not through her own effort but through the divine operation of the Holy Trinity within her. Pure Love thus transforms the soul into a vessel of unwavering fidelity, resting not in feelings but in the perfection of willing only what God wills.

1. “Meditation on Pure Love has only one intent alone, which is that the Soul love always loyally without wishing to have anything in return.”

This opening line defines the entire thrust of Pure Love: it is utterly disinterested, not seeking consolations, rewards, or any reciprocal affection. True love is loyal, free of self-interest, and focuses solely on loving for love’s sake. This radical purity makes the soul capable of divine union, where the motive is no longer benefit but fidelity.

2. “And the Soul can do this only if she is without herself, for Loyal Love would not deign to have any consolations which might come from her own seeking.”

To love loyally, the soul must be emptied of self. “Without herself” means transcending ego, desire, and even spiritual ambition. If she were to seek consolation-even spiritual-it would compromise the purity of love, introducing a self-referential motive that Love refuses to accept.

3. “Meditation on Love knows well according to the better part that she must not excuse herself from her work, which is to will perfectly the will of God.”

True meditation is not about introspection or the pursuit of interior comfort, but about uniting the will entirely with God’s. The “better part” refers to the superior way of surrender-where obedience to God’s will becomes the soul’s only labor and joy.

4. “For the one who wills that God cause him to experience God’s will in comforts does not trust perfectly in God’s goodness alone, but in the gifts of His riches which He has to give.”

To desire the experience of God’s will, rather than the will itself, is to seek the sweetness of the gift over the Giver. This is a subtle form of spiritual egoism. Pure trust rests in God’s goodness alone, whether He gives consolation or not.

5. “And without fail, says this Soul, whoever would love well would not remember to take nor to ask, but instead always would wish to give without retaining anything in order to love loyally.”

The soul reaches a state where it forgets self-entitlement entirely. She does not think in terms of receiving, only of giving. This radical generosity is the mirror of divine charity, which pours itself out without counting the cost or requiring return.

6. “For whoever would have two goals in one same work will enfeeble the one for the other.”

Divided intention weakens love. If the soul seeks both God and self-fulfillment, her love loses its single-heartedness and therefore its spiritual power. Pure Love is unified, undistracted, and simple.

7. “And so Loyal Love has only one sole intent, that she might always be able to love loyally. For she has no doubt about the love of her Lover…”

The Soul’s only concern is to remain loyal in her love. She has full confidence in God’s love-it is her own constancy that she questions. This doubt about herself, not about God, is the fruit of humility and clarity in love.

8. “And also of her [own] power she cannot will anything, for her will is no longer her own nor in her, but instead is in the One who loves her.”

This culminates the teaching: the soul’s will has been so united with God’s that it no longer resides in her as a private faculty. Her being is transparent, and the will of God moves within her as her own. This is a mystical transference, not annihilation, in which divine will becomes operative within the soul.

9. “And this is not her work but instead is the work of the whole Trinity, who works His will in such a Soul.”

This final line attributes all this transformation to the action of the Trinity. Pure Love, total surrender, and the unity of wills is a divine work, not a human achievement. The soul’s role is consent, receptivity, and faithfulness. The transformation into divine likeness is the loving labor of God alone.

—

1. What is the single intent of meditation on Pure Love, according to Love?

The sole intent of meditation on Pure Love is that the soul loves always with loyal, disinterested love-without wishing to receive anything in return. This love is entirely selfless and directed toward God alone.

2. Why must the soul be “without herself” in order to love loyally?

Being “without herself” means the soul must renounce all self-interest, even spiritual consolations or satisfaction. Only by forgetting herself can she love purely, since Loyal Love rejects all comforts that come from personal seeking.

3. How does Pure Love relate to the will of God?

Pure Love requires the soul to perfectly will the will of God without exceptions. She trusts that God knows and wills what is best, and her only desire is that His will be done in her, not that she experience His will in comforting ways.

4. Why does seeking God’s consolations show imperfect trust?

Desiring consolations from God shows trust in His gifts rather than in His goodness alone. Perfect trust surrenders to God’s will regardless of personal feeling or benefit.

5. What is the danger of having more than one intention in love?

If a soul has multiple goals-such as loving God and also seeking spiritual pleasure-her love is weakened and divided. Pure Love requires unity of purpose: to love God loyally without self-seeking.

6. How does the soul view herself in relation to God’s love?

She has complete confidence in God’s love for her, but she doubts her own fidelity. Her only concern is whether she remains true in loving as she should.

7. What happens to the soul’s will in this state of Pure Love?

The soul’s will no longer resides in herself; it is fully united with the will of God, who works His will in her. She no longer acts from her own power but is moved by divine initiative.

8. Who is ultimately responsible for this transformation of the soul’s will?

The transformation is not the soul’s own work but that of the entire Trinity, who operates within her to bring about this union of wills and pure, loyal love.

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In Chapter 28 of The Mirror of Simple Souls, the soul is described as having entered such an intimate union with God that she no longer feels joy as an external sensation because she has become joy itself. Immersed in the divine, she rejoices more in what is incommunicable and eternal than in passing spiritual consolations. Her will is one with God’s, like fire and flame, and she is transformed by Love into Love, losing all sense of individual identity. The soul acknowledges her own smallness in love, yet knows that whatever love she possesses flows entirely from God. This chapter portrays the consummation of mystical union: a state beyond feelings or selfhood, where the soul is entirely given over to God’s being, will, and joy.

—

1. “Such a Soul, says Love, swims in the sea of joy, that is in the sea of delights, flowing and running out of the Divinity. And so she feels no joy, for she is joy itself.”

The soul has become so deeply immersed in divine joy that it no longer experiences joy as an emotion distinct from itself. Rather, it is entirely assimilated into the very substance of joy, which flows from God. The paradox is that by losing the capacity to “feel” joy in the usual sense, the soul becomes joy itself-its nature entirely suffused with divine delight.

2. “She swims and flows in joy, without feeling any joy, for she dwells in Joy and Joy dwells in her. She is Joy itself by the virtue of Joy which transforms her into Joy itself.”

This repeated imagery of indwelling and identity shows the depth of union the soul shares with God. Feeling has given way to being; affective experience has been transcended by ontological transformation. The soul no longer seeks joy because it is joy-unified with divine Joy through the operation of Love.

3. “She rejoices more in that which can be communicated to no one than what can be communicated, because the latter is mediocre and only of the moment, and the former is infinite and eternal.”

The soul values most what is incommunicable-those hidden divine mysteries that transcend words, time, and shared human experience. These intimate touches of God’s eternal nature surpass all temporal consolations or spiritual gifts, which, by comparison, are fleeting and “mediocre.” True joy lies in what cannot be grasped or shared: the soul’s secret participation in God.

4. “Now there is one common will, as fire and flame, as the will of the Lover and the one who is loved, for Love has transformed this Soul into Love herself.”

The union between God and the soul is now likened to the inseparable relationship between fire and flame-two aspects of one reality. There is no longer a distinction between the will of the soul and that of God; Love has unified them so completely that the soul is not only loved but has become Love itself.

5. “Ah! very sweet Pure Divine Love, says this Soul, how it is a sweet transformation by which I am transformed into the thing which I love better than myself!”

The soul, speaking in ecstasy, acknowledges the sublime nature of this transformation: it has become what it loves more than itself-God. This is the ultimate fulfillment of mystical love, in which the soul is re-created into the likeness of its beloved.

6. “And I am so transformed that I have lost my name in it for the sake of Love, I who am able to love so little.”

By losing her “name,” the soul lets go of any individual identity, self-reference, or personal claim. This is spiritual annihilation in the highest mystical sense: the self has vanished into Love, even though the soul humbly admits it can love only a little-emphasizing the gratuitous nature of the transformation.

7. “However little I can love, it is in love, for I do not love except by Love.”

Even the soul’s capacity to love is not its own-it is Love loving through her. This underscores the radical passivity and receptivity of the mystic soul. Love is both the source and the agent of all true love, completing the full circle of mystical union.

—

1. What does it mean for the soul to “swim in the sea of joy” without feeling joy?

The soul has become so fully united with divine joy that it no longer experiences joy as a distinct feeling. Rather than receiving joy from without, she has become joy itself through her union with God. Joy is no longer something she possesses-it is what she is.

2. Why does the soul prefer what cannot be communicated to others over what can?

The soul rejoices more in the incommunicable aspects of divine union because they are eternal and infinite. In contrast, communicable experiences are transient, partial, and temporal-only “mediocre and of the moment.” The deepest joy lies in secret union with God, beyond words or sharing.

3. How does the imagery of “fire and flame” describe the union between God and the soul?

Just as fire and flame are inseparable, so too are the will of the Lover (God) and the beloved (the soul) unified into one common will. Love has so transformed the soul that her own will is no longer separate but identical with God’s.

4. What does the soul mean when she says she has lost her name for the sake of Love?

The soul has renounced all self-identity and ego, losing even her spiritual name or self-concept in the all-consuming presence of divine Love. This “losing of the name” symbolizes total self-emptying and transformation into Love itself.

5. Why does the soul say she can love only a little, and yet claim to love by Love?

This statement reflects the soul’s humility. Though she acknowledges her human incapacity to love adequately, she affirms that true love happens through Love itself-that is, God. Any love she has is not from herself, but is God’s love acting in her.

6. What does this chapter reveal about the nature of divine transformation?

Divine transformation is not merely ethical or emotional-it is ontological. The soul is not just close to God or inspired by Him; she is changed into joy, into love, into the very attributes of God Himself. This transformation strips away the self entirely and brings about a mystical identity with the divine.

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Chapter 29 teaches that the Soul, having been transformed by Pure Love, enters into a state of “righteous freeness,” in which she acts in complete harmony with the inner peace of her being and refuses to do anything that would violate it. This condition is likened to the innocence of an infant, who instinctively rejects anything displeasing. The Soul in this state lives entirely in divine simplicity and innocence, responding only to what is consonant with God’s will. Her freedom is not self-willed but rooted in perfect spiritual peace, untouched by external demands or inner disturbance. Reason, in this encounter, learns that true wisdom lies in surrendering to this divine innocence, where all is governed by the tranquil operation of Love.

—

1. “[Reason]: Now, Lady Love, says Reason, I pray you that you say what you meant when you said that this Soul is in the righteous freeness of Pure Love, when she does nothing which might be contrary to the demand of the peace of her being within.”

Reason asks for clarification about what it means for a soul to live in the “righteous freeness” of Pure Love. The focus here is on an interior state of unbroken spiritual peace. For such a soul, everything must align with the deep inner stillness and harmony that characterizes perfect union with God. Reason still seeks understanding through distinctions and rational categories, but Love is guiding it into the realm of childlike simplicity.

2. “Love: I will tell you what it means, says Love. It means that she would do nothing, regardless of what happens, which might be contrary to the perfect peace of her spirit. Instead the truly innocent one does it, and the being of which we speak is true innocence.”

Love responds with clarity: the soul acts only in ways that preserve the perfect interior peace she now possesses. This doesn’t mean passivity, but a radical non-disturbance-her every action flows from divine simplicity and inner harmony. She has become “true innocence,” acting from a source deeper than moral calculation: the pure motion of divine Love.

3. “Reason, says Love, I give you an example. Look at the infant who is purely innocent: does he allow a thing to be done, great or small, if he is not pleased by it?”

Love gives Reason a parable: the image of an infant. This simile connects the soul’s pure freeness with the spontaneous, uncompromised resistance of a child to anything that violates its nature. In this comparison, the soul is not immature, but utterly innocent and free-unaltered by external coercion or internal conflict.

4. “Reason: Without fail, Love, no, and well I can perceive it, and by this I am wise from my question.”

Reason is satisfied. It concedes to the superiority of Love’s insight, recognizing that this profound inner freedom is not irrational but supra-rational-a wisdom that transcends ordinary reasoning. The soul in pure freeness mirrors divine simplicity, unbound by fear, self-interest, or even consolations.

—

1. What does Reason ask Love to clarify at the beginning of this chapter?

Reason asks Love to explain what it means when she said that the Soul is in the “righteous freeness of Pure Love,” particularly how this relates to the Soul doing nothing that contradicts the peace of her inner being.

2. How does Love define this “righteous freeness”?

Love explains that the Soul in this state would never do anything-regardless of the situation-that might disturb the perfect peace of her spirit. Her will is in harmony with divine innocence and simplicity.

3. What does the example of the infant illustrate in this context?

The infant represents pure innocence: it refuses anything it does not find pleasing. Similarly, the Soul in divine freeness does not permit anything within or around her that would violate her inner peace and harmony with God’s will.

4. What transformation has occurred in the Soul to allow her to live in this state?

The Soul has become “true innocence,” having been transformed by Love. She now lives in such unity with divine peace that her actions are no longer self-directed but entirely in accord with the divine will and simplicity.

5. What is Reason’s reaction to Love’s explanation?

Reason accepts Love’s answer with humility and insight, acknowledging that he now understands and gains wisdom from his question. This shows the submission of rational understanding to divine Love and spiritual innocence.

——————–

Chapter 30 teaches that God’s essence infinitely transcends all human and angelic understanding, even in the beatific vision. Love reveals that nothing which can be said about God can compare to what He is in Himself, and that even the saints who see His face grasp less than He deserves to be known and loved. The Soul, overwhelmed by this truth, laments that despite giving her whole self-body, heart, and soul-to God, she feels she has received little in return. Yet Love gently reminds her that all she gave was already God’s, and in her total gift of self, she has in fact received the best part: deep union with Love Himself. The chapter thus presents the mystery of divine generosity hidden in the soul’s surrender and the paradox of joy found in knowing one cannot possess or comprehend the One who has given all.

—

1. “Ah, Lady Love,” says Reason, “I ask mercy of you, in praying that you satisfy this Soul by saying at least all that one can say about Him who is all in all things.”

Reason, as the faculty of understanding, desires to give rest to the Soul by exhausting the knowable content about God. This reveals Reason’s limitation: it believes peace can come through complete knowledge, yet it does not grasp that Divine Mystery surpasses the intellect.

2. “She always finds Him there, that is, in all things… All things are fitting for her, for she does not find anything anywhere but that she finds God there.”

Love responds that the Soul already lives in a state of divine awareness – she perceives God in all things. Her peace is not dependent on what can be said about God, but on her union with Him. Her soul is so divinely attuned that every created thing mediates the divine presence to her.

3. “Everything which this Soul has heard about God… is at best nothing (to speak properly) compared to what He is of Himself, which never was said, is not now said, nor will be.”

This profound assertion demolishes any notion that God can be adequately captured by language. Love affirms the Soul’s longing but insists that all speech about God falls short of His ineffable reality. Divine self-knowledge infinitely exceeds creaturely comprehension or praise.

4. “All creatures… who remain in the vision of the sweet face of your Spouse, have comprehended and will comprehend less about Him… compared to what He is worthy of.”

Even in the beatific vision, no creature can grasp God in His fullness. This underscores the infinite gap between God’s essence and created understanding, reinforcing both awe and humility in the soul’s contemplative love.

5. Soul: “Now very sweet Love… why would He be so gracious to create me and ransom me and recreate me in order to give me so little, He who has so much to give?”

The Soul, overwhelmed, laments that she receives so little from a God who has so much to give. This speaks from the ache of divine longing – the more the soul is united to God, the more she becomes aware of the abyss between the finite and the infinite.

6. “I would give Him everything if I had something to give… And however little I have… I have held nothing from Him… and He has given nothing to me, but keeps everything. Ah, Love… is this the portion of the lover?”

The Soul expresses the paradox of spiritual poverty: having given all, she feels she has received nothing. This mirrors the cruciform path of love, where total self-donation leads not to possession but to dispossession – yet this very surrender is the lover’s portion.

7. Love: “If you have given Him everything, the best part has come to you. And… you have not given Him anything which was not His own before you gave it to Him.”

Love gently corrects the Soul: all she gives was already God’s, and in giving all, she receives the best – union, transformation, and participation in Divine Life. Her offering, though seemingly impoverished, places her in the stream of God’s own self-gift.

8. Soul: “You speak truly, sweet Love… I could not deny it even if I wanted to.”

The Soul ultimately assents to the truth that her gift was itself God’s grace in her. This humble admission shows a soul emptied of self, living by love alone – receptive, obedient, and surrendered in the face of divine majesty.

—

1. Why does Reason ask Love to speak everything that can be said about God to the Soul?

Reason hopes that if Love can articulate everything about God, the Soul will be fully satisfied and can rest peacefully in her being of innocence without needing further inquiry or movement.

2. How does Love respond to Reason’s request for complete knowledge about God?

Love affirms that the Soul already finds God everywhere because He is in all things. Love insists that nothing said or ever to be said about God can compare to what He truly is in Himself, which transcends all speech and comprehension.

3. What does Love say about the knowledge of God even in the beatific vision?

Love reveals that even those souls who behold God’s face in heaven comprehend less about Him than He deserves, and far less than He understands and loves in Himself. This emphasizes the mystery of God’s infinite being, which remains beyond full grasp even in glory.

4. How does the Soul react to Love’s teaching about the unknowability of God?

The Soul is stunned and sorrowful. She laments that though God created, ransomed, and renewed her, He seems to have given her very little in return. She expresses a deep desire to give everything to God, and pain that He, having everything, seems to hold back.

5. What theological paradox does the Soul express about giving and receiving?

The Soul claims she has nothing of her own to give, yet she has given God everything – her body, heart, and soul – and still feels she has received nothing in return. This reflects the paradox of divine love, where the more one gives, the more one becomes aware of one’s nothingness and of God’s hidden generosity.

6. What insight does Love provide about the Soul’s gift to God?

Love points out that everything the Soul has given to God was already His, and that in giving all, the Soul has received the best part. Her total self-offering, though it seems empty, has actually brought her into deepest union with God.

7. How does the chapter express the theme of divine unknowability and loving surrender?

It affirms that God infinitely exceeds all knowledge, even in heaven, yet He is fully present to the Soul who loves. The Soul’s longing and surrender are met not with comprehension, but with deeper participation in God’s mystery – a love beyond reason and reward.

Chapter 11 deepens the understanding of the soul annihilated in Love by articulating nine mystical qualities that define her hidden and incomprehensible state – offered by Love for the benefit of contemplatives. First, the soul is so buried in humility and a sense of her nothingness that she is, paradoxically, impossible to find. Second, she is saved by faith alone – not through works – because her faith so fills her with the inner reality of the Trinity that nothing created can enter her attention. Third, she is alone in Love, forsaking all created consolations. Fourth, she does nothing for God in the conventional sense, because she trusts entirely in God’s own work within her. Fifth, she omits nothing for God, since her will is wholly conformed to His. Sixth, she cannot be taught, for her love reaches beyond all created knowledge. Seventh, nothing can be taken from her, because her treasure is God alone. Eighth, nothing can be given to her, because she already possesses the All in God. And ninth, she has no will of her own, for God’s will acts in her and through her entirely. The soul, full of divine Love, lives in a luminous paradox: utterly nothing in herself, yet dwelling in the all-sufficiency and ungraspable richness of God.

—

1. “The first point, says Reason, which you said is that one cannot find such a Soul.”

This is a paradox. The Soul is so annihilated in humility and self-knowledge of her own nothingness and sin that she becomes invisible, unknowable, even to herself. The “unfindability” is not a literal disappearance, but rather the mystical truth that the soul emptied of all ego and self-will can no longer be located within the categories of created being. Her humility is so radical that she sees herself as worse than all sinners, meriting the most extreme divine vengeance. Yet this very recognition is what makes her the perfect vessel of Divine Love.

2. “The second point is that this Soul is saved by faith without works.”

Here, Love teaches a Pauline truth in its most mystical form. The soul is immersed in the reality of God through faith-not merely intellectual assent, but a total interior surrender that consumes all attention and energy. She is so absorbed in God’s being-Father, Son, and Spirit-that she can no longer perform discrete “works” as such. Her faith is her whole life, and this deep union renders her incapable of distraction by created things. It also means that she no longer functions from self-directed effort but from divine influx alone.

3. “The third point is that she is alone in Love.”

To be alone in Love means radical detachment. The Soul relies on no created consolation, not even heavenly promises. Her hope is in God’s goodness alone. She is likened to the phoenix-a unique, solitary being that lives and dies in flames, then rises anew. This solitude in Love is not isolation but a state of total sufficiency in the Beloved, a mystical aloneness in divine intimacy.

4. “The fourth point is that this Soul does nothing for God.”

Another paradox. She does nothing for God because she is entirely surrendered to God. Her actions are not her own; they are God’s. She rests in His will, trusting entirely in His love. This annihilation of self-will is not sloth but the deepest form of charity, where the Soul neither claims nor initiates anything but lets herself be the instrument of divine action.

5. “The fifth point is that this Soul omits nothing to do for God which she might be able to do.”

Though she does nothing for God of her own initiative, she omits nothing that God wills. She is entirely responsive, perfectly aligned, incapable of even thinking a contrary thought. This union of passivity and complete availability makes her a vessel of divine action. She omits nothing, not because of her own diligence, but because she no longer exists apart from God’s will.

6. “The sixth point is that one cannot teach her anything.”

The Soul has transcended all human knowledge. No created understanding can compare to what she loves, which is the unknowable God. Even if she were given all the knowledge of past, present, and future creatures, it would mean nothing compared to the Mystery she is immersed in. She prefers what is eternally not-given over all that is given. Her learning is love-infused, unmediated, and divine.

7. “The seventh point is that one cannot take anything from her.”

The Soul possesses nothing but God. So nothing can be taken from her-not wealth, honor, body, life-because none of these are her possession. Only God is her All. This reveals the soul’s invincibility: she is unstealable, untouchable, because her treasure is in the uncreated. Her security is not in having but in being one with the Source of all.

8. “The eighth point is that one cannot give anything to her.”

As nothing can be taken from her, so nothing can be added. She already possesses the All she desires: God Himself. Any created gift is worthless compared to what she loves, which is God in His unapproachable and incomprehensible mystery. The soul even says, “There is no lesser part,” meaning that all distinctions of lesser and greater fade in the face of divine simplicity. She desires only what God retains for Himself, and this is both her grief and her glory.

9. “I say as well, says Love, that if this Soul would possess all the understanding and the love and the praise which ever was given and will be given by the divine Trinity, this would be nothing compared to what she loves and will love. And she will never attain this love through understanding.”

Love begins by proposing a radical counterfactual: even if the Soul somehow held every conceivable gift-all understanding, all love, and all praise that has ever existed or ever will exist in the Trinity-it would still pale in comparison to the one object of her desire: the infinite, unmediated Love of God. This hyperbole isn’t meant to be taken arithmetically but rhetorically: it highlights the boundlessness of the divine Love that the Soul craves.

Distinction Between Gifts and the Giver: The imagined gifts (understanding, love, praise) are all created or creaturely-even if they originate in the Trinity, they remain “given” insofar as they stand in relation to the Soul. But the Soul’s ultimate longing is not for gifts, however splendid, but for God Himself-the Giver who is Love. Thus every gift, no matter how transcendent, remains ontologically inferior to communion with the Person of God.

Apophatic Edge – “Never Attained Through Understanding”: The closing clause, “And she will never attain this love through understanding,” reaffirms that intellectual ascent-even the loftiest theological insight-cannot bridge the gap to the divine Mystery. True union with God’s Love is not a matter of comprehension or knowledge; it is an ontological participation in Love itself. Understanding can point toward God, but it cannot become God or contain Him.

10. “Nevertheless, Lady Love, she says, my love is so certain that I would prefer to hear something slanderous about you than that one should say nothing about you.”

The Soul boldly declares that she would rather hear false accusations against Love (“something slanderous”) than complete silence about Love’s goodness. This paradox highlights the depth of her devotion: any spoken word-even if inadequate or erroneous-keeps divine Love alive in the heart. Silence, by contrast, is like a spiritual death, as it withholds remembrance of God.

11. “And without fail I do this: I slander because everything I say is nothing but slander about your goodness. But whatever slander I commit must be pardoned me by you.”

The Soul confesses that every attempt to speak of Love’s goodness inevitably falls short-what she utters misrepresents or diminishes the infinite reality. Thus, in a mystical twist, her praise becomes “slander,” not because she intends harm, but because human language is inherently incapable of doing justice to divine perfection. This echoes Porete’s broader apophatic theme: the more one tries to name God, the more one errs. True knowledge of God lies beyond words; any conceptual praise is a kind of “blasphemy” relative to the absolute Otherness of God. Knowing this limitation, the Soul preemptively asks for pardon.

This passage also calls attention to the theme of Language as both Mediator and Obstacle: we need words to commune with God and one another, yet words always distort the divine Mystery. The Soul embraces this tension rather than fleeing from it.

In sum, this quote shows the Soul’s radical humility and devotion: she prefers the flawed utterance of Love’s name to its omission, yet she recognizes that all her speech is a kind of “slander” against divine greatness. Her plea for forgiveness reveals her confidence in Love’s mercy, and her paradoxical stance invites us to hold both the necessity and inadequacy of our own words about God.

12. ” … that I might accomplish the enterprise of this book … For insofar as I ask of Love something for myself on account of love, I will be with myself in the life of the spirit, in the shadow of the sun where one cannot see the subtle images of the drawing power of divine Love and of the divine generation.”

The passage elucidates the tension between language as mediator and obstacle in Porete’s very act of writing the Mirror of Simple Souls. In so far is she must use language to delineate the spirit’s annihilation in union with God, she is obstructed from being with God, and “[she] will be with [herself] in the life of the spirit.” To be with herself in the spirit means to not be with God in the annihilated spirit – this forms the crux of the dilemma.

Porete further explains this with the metaphor of the sun. “[T]he shadow of the sun” is the linguistically mediated expression of the mystical experience which is not the direct, unmediated expereince of the sun, i.e., God. There “one cannot see … the divine generation.” Language can never peer into the place where the mystical experience is generated.

13. “The ninth point is that one cannot say anything about her.”

This is the climax. The Soul speaks in self-awareness but confesses that everything said of Love is slander, because all language fails before the divine. Even praise falls short. She continues speaking because silence would be worse-yet acknowledges that speech itself falsifies the Reality. Her lament is her glory, her complaint her praise. She dwells in the “shadow of the sun,” the divine mystery that both reveals and hides, and yearns for the unspeakable.

This chapter forms a mystical crescendo where Love, through Reason, draws out a vision of the Annihilated Soul so stripped of self that she cannot be found, taught, robbed, or gifted. Her only reality is the incomprehensible God who gives Himself by not giving, speaks by silence, and acts by annihilation. It is a vision of union that passes through negation, where all that remains is Love loving in her.

—

1. Why “one cannot find this Soul,” and what does that reveal about her humility?

Because she is so profoundly aware of her own sinfulness and nothingness that she considers herself less than all sinners. Her radical humility “annihilates” her self-image, rendering her invisible to human judgment-even her own-so she cannot be located within any created category.

2. What does it mean that this Soul is “saved by faith without works”?

Her faith is so all-consuming that it fills her entirely with the Triune life, leaving no room for distinct “works.” She trusts God’s goodness implicitly, and thus, though she no longer performs works as such, she abides in the salvific activity of faith itself, which Love affirms surpasses all works.

3. How is the Soul “alone in Love,” and why is she likened to the phoenix?

She seeks no comfort or help from any creature-heavenly or earthly-but rests solely in God’s goodness. Like the phoenix, she stands unique and solitary, renewed by divine fire, fully satisfied in the Beloved and needing nothing else.

4. What paradox lies in the statement “this Soul does nothing for God”?

The paradox is that the Soul’s entire life is God’s action in her. She no longer acts for God as a separate agent; instead, she lets God act through her. Her will is wholly seized by Love, so she does nothing in her own name.

5. Why “she omits nothing to do for God,” even though she “does nothing for God”?

Because her will is perfectly aligned with God’s. She cannot will anything contrary to Him, so by default she “omits nothing” that God intends. Her perfect availability makes her exhaustively responsive to divine will, even though she no longer initiates action.

6. What is signified by saying “one cannot teach her anything”?

She is infused with such a superior, uncreated knowledge of God’s mystery that every creaturely truth appears nothing in comparison. To her, all created learning pales before the ineffable Reality she loves, so no teaching can augment her understanding.

7. Why “one cannot take anything from her,” not even life or love?

Because her only true possession is God. Since she holds nothing of her own-only the unassailable treasure of divine Love-no external force can deprive her of her ultimate good. Losses of honor, wealth, or life touch only what she has voluntarily relinquished.

8. What does “one cannot give anything to her” teach about her sufficiency?

It teaches that no created gift can add to her fulfillment, for she already possesses the inexhaustible gift of God’s own being. Only the Giver-God-can satisfy her, and that “greater part” remains solely His domain, highlighting her total sufficiency in divine Love.

9. How is it possible that “this Soul possesses no will”?

Her personal will has been entirely surrendered to God. She exercises no will apart from His; whatever she “consents” to is God’s will acting in her. This perfect conformity means she has no independent will at all-only God’s.

10. “If this Soul would possess all the understanding … this would be nothing compared to what she loves … ” Why does Love compare “all understanding” and “all praise” to “nothing” next to the Soul’s desire?

To show that even the loftiest gifts-being able to comprehend every truth or offer every hymn-are ontologically inferior to the infinite, unmediated Love of God that the Soul craves.

11. What does the impossibility of “attaining this love through understanding” teach about the limits of theology?

It reminds us that intellectual study can point toward God but cannot substitute for the soul’s direct, participatory experience of divine Love.

12 “And in this greater part … is enclosed the supreme mortification of the love of my spirit … ” What is the “greater part,” and how does it mortify the Soul’s own love?

The “greater part” is God’s hidden, ungraspable Essence. Encountering it kills off all creaturely attachments-even spiritual consolations-so that the Soul’s own love is purified and emptied.

13. How can “mortification” also be called the Soul’s “total glory”?

In mystical theology, dying to self (mortification) is the very pathway to being clothed in divine life (theosis). The Soul’s hiddenness in God becomes its ultimate honor and transformation.

14. “I would prefer to hear something slanderous about you than that one should say nothing about you … ” Why would the Soul choose “slander” over silence regarding Love’s goodness?

Because even a flawed word keeps divine Love alive in the heart, whereas silence lets the memory and praise of God die away.

15. In calling her own praise “slander,” what is the Soul confessing about language and the divine?

That every human attempt to describe God inevitably falls short-and thus “mistrepresents” the infinite Reality-yet such attempts are driven by love and are therefore pardoned by God.

16. “But the more I hear tell of you the more I am amazed … great villainy … feign discernment … ” How does hearing another’s testimony of God’s goodness both enrich and test the Soul’s faith?

It renews her wonder by revealing new facets of divine mystery, but it also exposes false teachers whose “feigned discernment” can mislead the unwary. Any insight mediated by language is not equal the immediate experience of God which is ineffable.

17. ” … in the shadow of the sun where one cannot see the subtle images of the drawing power of divine Love … ” If the “sun” is God, what does it mean to stand “in the shadow of the sun”?

If the sun is God Himself, then standing directly in the sun represents an unmediated experience of God while standing in the shadow represents a mediated one. This mediation proceeds by images, thoughts or language. Here Porete is primarily concerned about communicating her experience of the annihilated soul which paradoxically cannot be communicated by language.

18. Why would the “subtle images” of divine attraction vanish in that shadow?

The unmediate experience of God is only possible outside of the shadows, that is, beyond images, thoughts or any other form of cognition.

——————–

Chapter 12 clarifies a central paradox of the annihilated soul: that she truly possesses no will, nor can she will to possess one, because this very lack is the perfection of divine will operating in her. While Reason struggles with the apparent contradiction – seeing the soul’s longing to will God’s will as a form of possessing will – Love and the higher intellect correct this by showing that such longing is itself a divine movement, not originating in the creature. The soul’s sufficiency is not in her own power, but in being entirely carried by divine Love. True sufficiency lies in her utter incapacity to possess the divine will as her own, since God’s justice retains His grandeur. Yet this incapacity is the soul’s glory: her will is dissolved in the divine will, and thus she is fully sufficed, not by what she holds, but by what God alone enacts in her. This teaching exalts the mystery of divine union, where perfect surrender and the loss of will allow the soul to live entirely in God’s being.

—

1. “Now listen and grasp well, hearers of this book, the true intellect by which this book speaks in different places, that the Annihilated Soul neither possesses will, nor is able to possess it, nor is able to will to possess it, and in this the divine will is perfectly accomplished.”

Love issues a clarion call to understand the key mystical principle: the Annihilated Soul has no will of her own. She cannot have one, nor even will to have one. And in this utter emptiness of self-will, God’s will is perfectly enacted. Thus, the soul’s “conformity” to the divine will is not achieved by the soul willing it, but by her not willing anything so that God’s will can act in the resulting empty space.

2. “The Soul does not possess sufficiency of divine Love, nor divine Love sufficiency of the Soul, until the Soul is in God and God in the Soul, of Him, through Him, in such a state of divine rest. Then the Soul possesses all her sufficiency.”

Neither the soul nor divine Love alone is sufficient; only their mutual indwelling-God in the soul and soul in God-brings true “sufficiency.” This mutual in-gift establishes the “divine rest” in which the soul’s completeness is found. Spiritual sufficiency emerges from union, not from either party in any degree of isolation.

3. Intellect of Reason: “It seems … that the ninth point says … the Annihilated Soul wills nothing compared to what she would will to will, which will she cannot possess … from this she has a lack and no sufficiency.”

Reason reads the text and concludes that the soul’s lack of self – will renders her insufficient-she wants a will she cannot have, and thus remains incomplete. This is the natural mind’s dilemma: absence of will equals deficiency.

4. Soul: “Ah, Intellect of Reason … you take the shell and leave the kernel … your intellect is too low … Intellect of Divine Love … grasps it well without hesitation, for she is this herself.”

The Annihilated Soul chides Reason for simplistic thinking which takes only the superficial meaning (“the shell”). In contrast, Divine Love’s intellect, infused in the soul’s essence, comprehends this paradox. This highlights Porete’s recurring theme: only love-grown intellect can truly grasp these Mysteries.

5. Height of Intellect of Love: “If this Annihilated Soul wills the will of God-and the more she wills it, the more she would will to will it-she cannot possess this through the smallness of creaturehood, because God retains the grandeur of His divine righteousness. But God wills that she would will this, and that she would possess such a will. Such a will is the divine will …”

This passage refines the paradox: the soul’s desire is God’s will, yet she cannot will it as her own will because the divine will’s infinite grandeur always exceeds creaturely capacity. Rather, it is God who wills the soul to will His will, establishing her as participant in His divine life. The soul’s inability to appropriate God’s will preserves the Creator-creature distinction. The soul’s final annihilation has to be God’s doing: God reaches down to the Soul because the Soul cannot reach up to God.

6. “This divine will … courses through her in the veins of divine Understanding and the marrow of divine Love and the union of divine Praise. But the [created] will of the Soul inhibits these.”

The divine will is envisioned as life-giving blood-understanding as veins, love as marrow, praise as union. Yet any residual exercise of the soul’s own will “inhibits” this flow. Only through complete self-abandon can the full nourishment of divine life permeate the soul.

7. Love: “Therefore … how can the Soul possess will, since Clear Understanding understands that the will is one being among the beings … which a creature cannot possess if she possesses it by willing nothing?”

Love appeals to “Clear Understanding” (the infused intellect) to explain that a created being simply cannot “possess” its own will if it truly wills nothing. Will, as a distinct faculty, stands or falls on self-assertion; the Annihilated Soul’s self-negation precludes any such possession.

8. Love: “Now Reason has heard … the answer to her questions, except … where Reason says that the Unencumbered Soul possesses in her a lack of sufficiency. I will tell her … it is from willing the divine will, which the more one wills it, one possesses less of such a willing of his sufficiency. But this same will is the will of God alone and the glory of the Soul.”

Love finally answers Reason’s objection that, if an Annihilated Soul wills nothing, then this is a lack, not a sufficiency. Rather, the opposite is the case, because lack of the creaturely will is the sufficiency of the Divine will: The soul’s emptiness is the canvas on which God’s glory is painted. Or another metaphor: the Annihilated Soul is the empty stage on which the drama of the Trinity unfolds. The real lack would be the soul attempting with self-will to will God’s will, which she cannot do since creaturely will cannot attain to Divine will.

Final Comment:

This chapter culminates Porete’s teaching on the will: spiritual perfection is not self-assertion, the soul’s self-willing of God’s will. This only results in finite creaturely will displacing God’s infinite will. Rather, spiritual perfection is granted by self-annihilation, the soul’s complete surrender and willing nothing so that God’s will wills in the soul. Paradoxically, then, the Annihilated Soul is both utterly empty and radiantly full. What looks like lack to the natural mind is actually the soul’s gateway into the divine life – and thus her true sufficiency and rest.

—

1. What is the chapter’s core thesis about the Annihilated Soul’s will?

Porete argues that the Annihilated Soul possesses no independent will, cannot have one, and cannot even will to have one. In this utter self-emptying, God’s will alone is perfectly accomplished in her.

2. How does Reason initially misread this thesis, and why?

Reason interprets the soul’s lack of will as a deficiency-if the soul has no will, she must be incomplete and suffer a “lack of sufficiency.” This reflects the natural mind’s assumption that will is an essential faculty for any being.

3. What is Love’s key clarification in response to Reason’s objection?

Love explains that the soul’s “lack” is in fact her gift: by surrendering her will, she allows God’s infinite will to will in her. Although she desires to will God’s will, she cannot ever fully possess it-preserving the Creator-creature distinction.

4. Why can the Annihilated Soul never “possess” God’s will as her own?

Because God’s will is infinite and upheld by divine righteousness. No finite creature can contain or appropriate the fullness of God’s will; to attempt to do so would collapse the distinction between Creator and creature.

5. What role does the Infused Intellect of Love play in understanding this paradox?

The Infused Intellect of Love (the soul’s God-given, participatory knowing) grasps the paradox naturally-seeing self-emptying as true freedom. By contrast, the natural intellect (Reason) only sees the “shell” of emptiness and mistakes it for lack.

6. How does Porete define the soul’s true sufficiency?

True sufficiency arises not from the soul or from divine Love in isolation but from their mutual indwelling – “the Soul is in God and God in the Soul.” Only in that state of divine rest does the soul “possess all her sufficiency.”

7. What does Porete mean when she says “the more one wills [God’s will], one possesses less of such a willing of his sufficiency”?

The more the soul tries to will God’s will with her own self-willing, the less she possesses of the sufficiency of God’s will. Paradoxically, its the loss of creaturely will that makes room for the infinite will of God, and is thus the soul’s sufficiency.

8. How does the Creator-Creature distinction remain intact even in perfect union?

The soul cannot will God’s will with her own self-willing since a creature’s capacity can never attain to God’s. Thus, although the soul’s will is God willing in her, she never ceases to be a finite creature. She cannot contain or exercise the infinite divine will unless God wills it for her.

9. What is the paradox presented in “if this Annihilated Soul wills the will of God … she cannot possess this through the smallness of creaturehood,” and how does the clause “God wills that she would will this, and that she would possess such a will” resolve it?

The paradox is that although the Soul desires God’s infinite will ever more deeply, her finite, creaturely nature makes it impossible for her to fully contain or own that boundless will on her own. The resolution comes in acknowledging divine initiative: God Himself wills that her will become His own. In other words, God transforms her limited desire so that her will is no longer merely creaturely but is enfolded into and empowered by the infinite divine will.

These questions should help tease out Porete’s central argument: spiritual perfection lies not in strengthening our will, but in its complete surrender, so that only God’s will moves in us.

——————–

Chapter 13 explores how Reason, though content with earlier explanations given for the Actives and Contemplatives, requests clarification for the sake of the common folk, who may struggle to grasp the paradoxes spoken of the annihilated Soul. These paradoxes – such as possessing all things yet nothing, or willing all yet willing nothing – confound Reason, whose natural counsel is to desire holy things, fear sin, and strive for heaven. Yet Love explains that for souls governed by Fine Love, all experiences – honor or shame, torment or comfort, hell or paradise – are equally dear, for they no longer will or not-will anything apart from what God wills in them. These souls are so emptied that God alone moves them, and their peace lies in perfect acquiescence to His will, beyond all personal judgment or preference. They possess all, because they possess God, yet feel they possess nothing, since even divine gifts are counted as nothing compared to God’s very self. Thus, Love reveals that only through the light of faith and the power of divine love can one understand this book’s mysteries, which exceed the grasp of Reason alone.

—

1. Reason’s Request for Clarity: “I pray again that you declare them for the sake of the common folk … for there are several double words which are hard to grasp with their intellect.”

Reason recognizes that the paradoxical language (“neither shame nor honor … possesses all and possesses nothing … wills all and wills nothing”) can overwhelm ordinary readers. She asks Love to distill these truths into accessible explanations, so that all-even the “preciously elected”-can see the “true light of Truth” and the “perfection of Charity.”

2. The Double Words Summarized: “This Soul takes no account of shame, nor of honor … and so neither desires nor despises poverty … neither masses nor sermons … neither fasts nor prayers …”

Reason rehearses the core paradoxes: the Annihilated Soul is utterly detached from every pair of opposites-social status, material condition, religious practices, even ultimate destinies. To the natural mind, this appears bizarre: how can a soul thrive without caring for any of these?

3. Love’s First Clarification: Equanimity in All States – “Such Souls … possess as equally dear shame as honor, poverty as wealth, torment as comfort … in hell as in paradise … in small estate as in great … they neither will nor not-will anything of these prosperities nor adversities.”

Love explains that the Annihilated Soul’s indifference is really a perfect equanimity: every condition-honor or shame, plenty or want-matters to her only insofar as God wills it. She neither seeks nor rejects any circumstance; she rests in the one will of God that ordains all things.

4. Love’s Second Clarification: Ignorance of Divine Plan – “These Souls know not what is best for them … nor by what means God wishes to dispense justice or mercy … and for this the Unencumbered Soul possesses no longer any will to will or not-will, except only to will the will of God, and to accept in peace the divine ordinance.”

Beyond equanimity, these souls acknowledge their inability to understand God’s providence. They no longer presume to choose or refuse any path-only to will whatever God wills and to receive it in tranquil obedience. Their peace arises from total trust, not from insight into divine strategies.

5. The Final “All and Nothing” Paradox: “This Soul possesses God by divine grace … and whoever possesses God, possesses all things. And so [the book] says she possesses nothing, for all that this Soul possesses from God … seems to be nothing to her. And thus … she possesses all and so possesses nothing, she knows all and so knows nothing.”

Here Love ties together the chapter’s paradoxes. Possessing God is the only true possession-and it inherently includes everything. Yet because God’s essence infinitely transcends all creaturely gifts, even that possession seems “nothing” to the soul’s eye. Similarly, her infused knowledge (“knows all”) registers as “knowing nothing” beside the infinite Mystery.

In response to Reason’s plea, Love shows that what appear as “double words” of contradiction are in fact expressions of the Annihilated Soul’s radical freedom and unshakeable peace. By surrendering her own will and all creaturely preferences, the soul lives solely by the one will of God, embraces every condition equally, and dwells perpetually in the sufficiency of possessing God alone-paradoxically “all” and “nothing” at once.

—

1. Why does Reason ask Love to explain the paradoxes “for the sake of the common folk”?

Because ordinary readers (and even some contemplatives and actives) struggle with the book’s seemingly contradictory phrases-e.g., “possesses all and possesses nothing.” Reason hopes that Love’s plain explanations will illuminate these mysteries so anyone moved by faith and love can grasp them.

2. What does it mean that the Annihilated Soul “possesses shame as honor, poverty as wealth, torment as comfort”?

It means the soul treats every experience-whether painful or pleasurable, lowly or exalted-as equally dear, because she neither seeks nor avoids any state apart from God’s will. All conditions are embraced in perfect equanimity.

3. How can the Soul be “in hell as in paradise,” and why is this not despairing?

This paradox indicates that the soul’s inner peace is unaffected by external circumstances-even the torments of hell or the bliss of paradise. She rests solely in God’s will, so every realm is lived in tranquil obedience, not as judgment or reward but as God’s ordained space of her journey.

4. Why does the Soul “neither desire nor despise” religious practices like Mass, sermons, or prayer?

Because her devotion is no longer dependent on external forms. She remains obedient to Church practices out of love, but her spirit is free: she neither clings to nor rejects these means, seeing them simply as expressions of divine ordinance.

5. What does it signify that the Soul’s “nature is reordered” so she “gives to Nature all she asks … without remorse of conscience”?

Her bodily and emotional needs are met with trust. She cares for herself as necessary, without guilt, because her reordered nature desires only what aligns with God’s will-never seeking excess, never rejecting life’s necessities.

6. How does Love address Reason’s claim that the Soul “possesses all and so possesses nothing”?

Love explains that true possession is having God (who contains all things). To the soul’s eyes, however, even God’s gift seems “nothing” compared to the infinite Mystery. Thus she truly has “all,” yet experientially “nothing.”

7. Why does the Soul “know all and so knows nothing”?

Her infused understanding grasps divine mysteries (“knows all”), but relative to God’s infinite essence, her knowledge remains an unmeasurable “nothing.” She is aware both of her union and of her unknowing before the divine Mystery.

8. What practical effect does this radical equanimity have on the Soul’s peace?

Because she wills only what God wills-without preference for pleasure or avoidance of pain-she is never disturbed by life’s ups and downs. Her peace is anchored in divine love, not in shifting circumstances or personal desires.

9. How do faith and love function as “two strings in the bow” for those striving?

Reason notes that only those armed with faith (trust in God) and love (the soul’s surrendered affection) can live into these paradoxes. With these virtues, one is free to “love and do what you will,” reflecting St. Augustine’s maxim on love’s primacy over law.

These questions should help navigate the chapter’s challenging contrasts and see how they reveal the soul’s complete freedom in God.

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Chapter 14 teaches that the Soul, through the virtue of Faith, comes to a profound contemplative understanding of God’s nature and the mystery of the Incarnation. She knows by faith that God is all-powerful, all-wise, and perfectly good, and that the work of the Incarnation was accomplished by the unified action of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each fully participating in joining human nature to the divine person of the Son. While God Himself remains one in divine nature, the person of the Son now possesses both divine and human natures – body and soul – without division, and is thus uniquely the point of union between God and humanity. True contemplation lies in believing, speaking, and thinking in accordance with this mystery of the Trinity: three persons in one God, one power, one wisdom, one will. God’s divine nature fills all things, while the glorified humanity of Christ is in paradise and in the Sacrament of the Altar, making this mystery both heavenly and sacramental.

—

1. “She knows, says Love, by the virtue of Faith, that God is all Power, and all Wisdom, and perfect Goodness …”

Porete begins by grounding the Soul’s knowledge of God not in speculative reason but in the virtue of Faith. Faith here is presented as a participatory gift that enables the soul to affirm God’s attributes: omnipotence, omniscience, and perfect benevolence. This establishes that true contemplation of God arises from faith’s assent to the divine self-revelation.

2. ” …and that God the Father has accomplished the work of the Incarnation, and the Son also and the Holy Spirit also.”

Love emphasizes the joint action of all three Persons of the Trinity in the Incarnation. The Father “accomplished” it by will, the Son by assumption of human nature, and the Spirit by effecting unity. This triune work underscores the coherence of divine action: one salvific plan enacted by Father, Son, and Spirit.

3. “Thus God the Father has joined human nature to the person of God the Son, and the person of God the Son has joined [human nature] to the person of Himself, and God the Holy Spirit has joined [human nature] to the person of God the Son.”

This compact Trinitarian schema affirms the hypostatic union: the Father’s will, the Son’s person, and the Spirit’s indwelling all converge to unite human nature with the second Person. The repetition highlights different roles-begetting, assuming, and indwelling-while maintaining that it is a single, indivisible union.

4. “So then God possesses in Him one sole nature, that is divine nature; and the person of the Son possesses in Him three natures, that is, this same nature which the Father possesses, and the nature of the soul and the nature of the body, and is a person of the Trinity; and the Holy Spirit possesses in Him this same divine nature which the Father and the Son possess.”

Porete here articulates two key nuptial paradoxes:

Divine Simplicity: The Trinity shares one divine nature-undivided and co-essential.

Christ’s Person: The Son uniquely possesses three natures-divine, human soul, and human body-while remaining one Person. This succinctly conveys orthodox Christology: one Person, two natures, yet here expanded to three to distinguish the soul and body.

5. “To believe this, to say this, to think this is true contemplation. This is one Power, one Wisdom, and one Will. One God alone in three persons, three persons and one God alone.”

Contemplation is defined as faith-filled affirmation of Trinitarian mystery. Knowledge of divine simplicity and unity in distinction is not an abstract puzzle but the essence of mystical vision. The soul, by faith, participates in the triune attributes as co-identical in the Godhead.

6. “This God is everywhere in His divine nature, but humanity is glorified in paradise, joined to the person of the Son as well as to the Sacrament of the Altar.”

Porete contrasts God’s omnipresence with humanity’s localized glorification. Though God’s nature fills all things, human nature is exalted only in two “paradisal” unions-eternal (heaven) and eucharistic (the altar). This underscores the sacramental economy: the Incarnation and Eucharist as two loci where human nature truly participates in divine life.

Final Analysis:

In this chapter, Porete uses faith as the lens for true theological knowledge, summarizing the core mysteries of Trinity and Incarnation in a manner accessible to the soul “annihilated” by love. She presents these dogmas not as intellectual abstractions, but as mystical horizons-the very substance of contemplative union. By affirming that “to believe, to say, to think” these truths is contemplation, she unites orthodox doctrine with apophatic practice, showing that the soul’s simplest acts of faith are themselves windows into divine mystery.

—

1. What faculty allows the Soul to understand God according to this chapter?

The Soul understands God by the virtue of Faith, not by natural reason. Faith enables her to affirm God’s nature and the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation.

2. What are the essential attributes of God that the Soul knows through Faith?

She knows that God is all Power, all Wisdom, and perfect Goodness.

3. How does Porete describe the involvement of the Trinity in the Incarnation?

Porete teaches that all three Persons of the Trinity are involved:
* The Father joins human nature to the Son.
* The Son joins human nature to Himself.
* The Holy Spirit also joins human nature to the Son.

This shows the unity and cooperation of the Trinity in salvation history.

4. According to this chapter, how many natures does the person of the Son possess?

The Son possesses three natures:
* Divine nature (shared with the Father and the Spirit)
* Human soul
* Human body

This is Porete’s way of describing the full reality of the Incarnate Word.

5. What does Porete define as “true contemplation”?

To believe, say, and think these Trinitarian and Christological truths is true contemplation. For Porete, contemplating God consists in resting faithfully in these revealed mysteries.

6. How does Porete affirm the doctrine of the Trinity?

She states: “One Power, one Wisdom, and one Will. One God alone in three persons, three persons and one God alone.” This affirms the unity of essence and distinction of persons central to Trinitarian belief.

7. Where is God said to be present in His divine nature, and where is glorified humanity located?

God is everywhere in His divine nature (omnipresence), while glorified humanity is in paradise and joined to the person of the Son in heaven and to the Sacrament of the Altar on earth.

8. What is the significance of the Sacrament of the Altar in this context?

The Sacrament of the Altar (the Eucharist) is one of the two places where humanity is joined to the person of the Son-the other being in paradise. It affirms the real presence of Christ and the exaltation of human nature through the Eucharist.

9. How does Porete present the mystery of contemplation as mirroring the mystery of the Trinity and the Incarnation, and what does this suggest about the nature of union between the soul and God?

Porete presents contemplation not merely as intellectual reflection but as a participation in divine mysteries. To “believe, say, and think” the truths of the Trinity and Incarnation is, for her, true contemplation-suggesting that the soul’s contemplative union with God mirrors the interpersonal unity of the Trinity and the joining of divine and human natures in Christ. Just as the Trinity acts as one in the Incarnation, and just as human nature is united to God in the person of the Son, so too the contemplative soul is joined to God in an intimate and mystical union. This implies that contemplation is not separate from doctrine but is the soul’s interior participation in the same unity that defines God’s own being and action.

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Chapter 15 teaches that the Holy Sacrament of the Altar is the means by which true Christians receive both the divinity and the humanity of Christ, not through sensory perception but through the Light of Faith. While the physical senses detect only bread, faith affirms with certainty the real presence of Christ’s glorified body – true God and true man – ordained by the Trinity for the nourishment of the Church. This presence is not subject to human or angelic vision, even in glory, but is known spiritually and sacramentally by faith. The chapter emphasizes that Christ’s humanity in the Eucharist neither comes nor goes in a physical sense but remains as ordained by divine power, accessible only to faith, not reason or sense. The Soul, illuminated by divine light, enters into union with Love through this mystery, desiring to be dissolved entirely into the will of the Beloved. Thus, profound union and spiritual nourishment come through the subtle perception of the intellect enlightened by faith and love, not by outward signs.

—

1. “True Christians receive this divinity and this humanity when they take the Holy Sacrament of the Altar.”

Porete begins by affirming the profound reality of the Eucharist: it is not symbolic but the true reception of both the divinity and humanity of Christ. The emphasis is on the real presence, experienced by those who are genuinely united to God in love and faith. She is not explaining it in scholastic terms but rooting the mystery in lived spiritual participation.

2. “Take this Sacrament, place it in a mortar with other things, and grind this Sacrament until you can no longer see nor feel the Person… I tell you truly… He is not there.”

This startling image emphasizes the sacramental presence of Christ: His presence is not physical in the way ordinary objects are. Once the accidents (appearance of bread) are destroyed, the Real Presence ceases. But Porete insists we must “understand in a holy way,” not as though Christ is coming and going in a spatial sense. The presence is mysterious, sacramental, and wholly governed by divine ordinance, not human logic or perception.

3. “The humanity of Jesus Christ neither comes nor goes.”

This statement echoes orthodox Eucharistic theology while transcending it through mystical language. Christ’s humanity is eternally joined to the Godhead and remains constant; what changes is our perceptibility of His presence. The sacramental modality of Christ’s presence is not subject to physical movement or change.

4. “Those in glory … no longer see Him glorified except by [this] intellect.”

This is a remarkable mystical insight: even the blessed in heaven, including angels and saints, see Christ’s Eucharistic presence not sensibly, but spiritually, through the intellect of the spirit. Porete aligns the soul’s faith-driven vision of Christ in the Eucharist with the beatific knowledge of the glorified, but notes a difference: the glorified no longer need faith, while we still believe in what we cannot see.

5. “We see [the glorified humanity] by the virtue of Faith … our faith contradicts all these [senses] …”

Here, the heroism of faith is lifted up. Despite all appearances, faith insists that this is not bread but the precious body of Christ. Porete thus champions a faith that transcends the senses, inviting the soul to rest in divine certainty, not empirical evidence.

6. “The divine Trinity has ordained the Holy Sacrament … for the purpose of feeding and nourishing and sustaining the Holy Church.”

Porete underscores the ecclesial and nourishing purpose of the Eucharist. This is not a private spiritual experience but one meant to sustain the whole Church-a Trinitarian gift designed for communal growth into divine union.

7. “No one can arrive at a profound depth … without … subtlety of a great natural sense and … the Light of Intellect of the Spirit.”

Here we see the mystical epistemology that undergirds the entire book: knowledge of divine mysteries cannot come from reason alone. It requires a refined spiritual intuition, a spiritual intellect, and ultimately a transcendent love. The soul must be made subtle, receptive, and one in will with God.

8. “She comes from Love and there she wishes to be dissolved … to possess only one will in Love: that is, the sole will of the one whom she loves.”

Porete ends the chapter by returning to the theme of total union through love. The Eucharist is not only a sacrament of presence-it is also the means by which the soul is drawn back into her origin in Love, dissolved of all self-will, and made one with the divine. This is the ultimate fruit of the Sacrament: mystical union with Love itself.

—

1. What do true Christians receive in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, according to Porete?

They receive both the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ. The sacrament is not merely symbolic; it is a real participation in the fullness of Christ. This reception is understood through faith, not through the senses or reason.

2. What does Porete’s metaphor of grinding the sacrament in a mortar teach us about Christ’s Eucharistic presence?

It teaches that Christ’s sacramental presence is not material in the way ordinary physical objects are. Once the visible form is destroyed, the presence ceases-not because Christ “comes and goes,” but because His presence is divinely ordained and bound to the form of the sacrament. His humanity “neither comes nor goes” in a physical sense; it remains eternally joined to the divine, but the sacramental mode of presence depends on divine will.

3. Why does Porete say that even the saints and angels see Christ’s Eucharistic presence in the same way as we do?

Because no one, not even those in glory, sees the glorified humanity of Christ in the Eucharist by the senses. Rather, it is seen through the intellect of the spirit. In heaven, faith is no longer needed, but even there, the Eucharistic presence is not a matter of physical sight-it is a spiritual perception.

4. How does faith operate in contrast to sensory experience in the Eucharist?

Faith contradicts the senses. While the eyes, taste, smell, and touch perceive only bread, faith affirms that what is truly present is the precious body of Jesus Christ, both true God and true man. Faith goes beyond sensory data and affirms divine truth.

5. What is the ultimate purpose of the Sacrament of the Altar according to this chapter?

It is ordained by the Divine Trinity to feed, nourish, and sustain the Holy Church. The Eucharist is not just a mystical experience for individuals but a sacrament of communion and support for the entire Body of Christ.

6. According to Porete, what is required to penetrate the depth of this mystery?

One must have great natural subtlety, the Light of the Intellect of the Spirit, and deep inner refinement. Divine mysteries are not accessed through ordinary reasoning, but through illumined intellect and spiritual intuition, guided by love.

7. How does the soul participate in the Eucharistic mystery through love?

The soul, born of Love, longs to return to Love and be dissolved into it, so that it no longer possesses a separate will. In the Eucharist, the soul is drawn into union, receiving the being toward which she tends, resting in God alone with one will: the will of her Beloved.

Commentary on Chapters 14 and 15:

The placement of Chapter 15 directly after Chapter 14 is not accidental. Porete is offering a profound mystical theology of union, and she does so by unfolding it in three successive modes:

Chapter 14: The Incarnation and Hypostatic Union – She presents the union of divine and human natures in the Person of Christ, emphasizing the Trinity’s unified action. This is the foundational ontological union-God becoming man.

Chapter 15: The Eucharist (Real Presence) – She then transitions to the sacramental presence, where the union of Christ’s humanity and divinity is communicated to us. The Eucharist becomes the means by which Christ’s Hypostatic Union becomes present to the Church and intimately interiorized by the soul.

Implied Continuity: Union in Contemplation – Though not yet fully developed in these chapters, Porete is leading toward the final mystical union, where the soul, simplified and annihilated, comes to rest in God alone, as Christ is fully present in her by grace and love, just as He is in the Eucharist.

In this structure, Porete is subtly showing that:
* The Incarnation is not just a historical event, but a template for union.
* The Eucharist is not just a sacrament, but a real mode of that union made available to the soul.
* The contemplative union is not a metaphor – it is a participation in the same mystery: the joining of human and divine in love.

Christological and sacramental realism undergirds Porete’s mysticism. Her radical contemplative path is not disembodied – it’s grounded in the concrete reality of Christ, both in history and in the Eucharist.

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Chapter 16 teaches that the Soul united to God through Love and Faith lives in a profound simplicity and surrender, in which she “knows all and knows nothing” and “wills all and wills nothing.” This paradox arises because the Soul knows all that is necessary for salvation through faith, yet remains ignorant of the hidden workings of God within her, which He alone possesses and does not share. Likewise, she wills only what God wills in her, and so her own will is entirely relinquished, made “nothing” in light of God’s sufficiency. Because of this complete rest in the divine will, she desires nothing external – not masses, prayers, fasts, or even anxiety over sin – since her whole being is immersed in the eternal presence of God, who is equally present with or without such practices. She is beyond self-concern, sin, or fear, as her peace is fixed in the Trinity. Though she has no anxiety, her love for others remains pure; if she could help her neighbor, she would do so fully. Yet her thoughts are so divinely focused, unimpeded by created things, that no worldly concern can stir her inner rest, which reflects the tranquil and all-sufficient goodness of God Himself.

—

1. “Reason, says Love, to what I said, that the Unencumbered Soul knows all and so knows nothing, I answer you that she knows by the virtue of Faith what is necessary for her to know for her salvation.”

Love clarifies to Reason that the soul’s knowledge operates on two levels. By Faith, the soul knows all that is essential for salvation. This is not empirical or speculative knowledge but sufficient and salvific. At the same time, the soul “knows nothing” of what God alone knows and does within her. Thus, mystical union transcends discursive understanding-it is a knowing through unknowing.

2. “She wills all things, says Love, and so wills nothing; for this Soul … wills so perfectly the will of God that she neither knows, nor is able, nor wills in her own will except the will of God.”

This paradox captures the soul’s total conformity to God. She is so united with the divine will that she can be said to will “everything” (because she embraces God’s total will) and “nothing” (because she has no personal or separate will). This is the annihilation of self-will in the fire of divine charity.

3. “This daughter of Zion desires neither masses nor sermons, neither fasts nor prayers.”

At first glance, this seems iconoclastic, even heretical-but Love makes a distinction. These practices are good for those still begging (i.e., seeking God), but this soul no longer begs. She possesses God. For her, external means are not necessary because she abides in the divine presence always, without mediation.

4. “Why would this Soul desire these things named above since God is surely everywhere, without this as with this?”

This rhetorical question underscores the soul’s radical detachment from created means. The presence of God is not confined to rituals or devotional acts. The soul sees God everywhere and in everything, hence has no need to chase after Him in particular actions.

5. “This Soul has no anxiety about sin which she might have ever committed … nor about the sins or anxiety in which her neighbors remain.”

The soul’s detachment extends even to the past and the sufferings of others. But this is not indifference-it is the fruit of resting in God’s perfect will and providence. She is so united to God’s will that His displeasure at sin becomes hers, but she is not anxious, because anxiety implies disunion, and she is at rest in God.

6. “This means, says Love, that this Soul does not belong to herself, which is why she cannot have anxiety. For her thought is at rest in a peaceful place, that is, in the Trinity.”

Here is the heart of Porete’s mystical theology: self-annihilation leads to divine rest. The soul no longer belongs to herself-her ego is gone. As a result, she has no anxiety, no striving, no disturbance. She rests in the Trinity, in a state of pure being, beyond all fear or concern.

7. “It is His displeasure itself which gives to this Soul such displeasure.”

This subtle line highlights that even the soul’s sense of moral repulsion at sin is not her own. Her response is not moralism but participation: she feels God’s own sorrow, not by effort but by union.

8. “The Trinity has no anxiety in her on account of such displeasure, and so also this Soul who is at rest in [the Trinity] has no anxiety.”

Because God is not anxious, neither is the soul who rests in God. This mystical calm coexists with sorrow for sin and compassion for others, but it remains free of turbulence. It is a peaceful sorrow, a serene compassion-marks of perfect charity.

—

1. What does it mean that the soul “knows all and so knows nothing”?

The soul “knows all” through the virtue of Faith, meaning she knows everything necessary for salvation without needing discursive knowledge. Yet she “knows nothing” of what God works in her by Himself, since this action is beyond her comprehension. Her knowledge is thus total in one sense (by faith) and nonexistent in another (by mystical unknowing).

2. Why does Love say the soul “wills all things and so wills nothing”?

Because the soul is perfectly conformed to the will of God, she wills all that God wills. Yet since her will is completely surrendered, she has no independent will of her own-hence, she wills “nothing.” Her own will is annihilated in the divine will.

3. Why does this soul no longer desire masses, sermons, fasts, or prayers?

Because she no longer seeks God-she possesses Him. These devotional practices are useful for those still on the way (the “beggars”), but she is already united with God and sees Him in all things, at all times. Thus, external means are no longer necessary for her communion with Him.

4. Is this rejection of external devotions a condemnation of them?

No. Love affirms that such devotions are good and necessary for many souls. But this particular soul has moved beyond them, not out of contempt, but because her interior union with God is so complete that nothing external adds to her relationship with Him.

5. Why does this soul have no anxiety about her past sins or the sins of others?

Because she no longer belongs to herself-her selfhood is lost in God. She shares in God’s displeasure at sin, but without being disturbed or anxious. Her rest in the Trinity is so profound that even sorrow is free of inner turmoil.

6. What does Love mean when she says the soul “does not belong to herself”?

It means the soul has undergone complete self-surrender and annihilation of ego. She has no self-will, no self-possession, no sense of personal agency apart from God. She exists entirely within and from God’s will.

7. Does this union with God make the soul indifferent to others?

No. If she could help others, she would do so with all her power. Her thoughts are simply so united to the divine that she is not disturbed by others’ struggles; she shares God’s own compassion, but without being drawn into anxious striving.

8. How does the soul’s state reflect the nature of God Himself?

Because God is without anxiety-even in His displeasure at sin-the soul united with Him shares this divine serenity. Her compassion is God’s compassion, and her peace is God’s peace. She is thus a mirror of divine life: sorrowful without despair, active without agitation, present without striving.

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Chapter 17 teaches that the Soul united to God through Love lives in such pure righteousness and divine simplicity that she gives to Nature all that it legitimately requires without guilt or spiritual disturbance. These Souls are entirely detached from temporal possessions, not out of ascetic effort or moral calculation, but because their interior peace rests so wholly in God that anxiety over earthly needs is impossible for them – even if they were to live until the end of time. If they possess anything and know another is in greater need, they would give it away without hesitation, even in the face of absolute scarcity, because their justice and charity are divine in origin and unclouded by self-interest. Their peace and innocence are so profound that to deny Nature its rightful sustenance would be, for them, a breach of divine righteousness and a disturbance of the harmony in which they live. They use the elements and all created things with the same innocent freedom that comes from God’s original intent in creation, and they dwell in a spiritual condition beyond guilt or grasping, upheld by a “high place” of inner repose established in Love.

—

1. “This Soul gives to Nature whatever she asks. And it is true, says Love, that this Soul has neither care nor love for temporal things which she would know how to gain in refusing Nature her demand …”

The Soul, fully united with God, no longer clings to or values temporal things. She grants Nature what is needed without resistance or anxiety, not out of indulgence but because refusal would arise from selfishness or guilt. Her purity allows her to respond freely to natural needs without attachment.

2. “But such creatures are so excellent that one would not dare to speak overtly about them, especially about their practice by which these Souls possess being from good intellect.”

Love emphasizes the hidden and sacred nature of such souls, warning against revealing too much lest those with “simple intellects” misunderstand and misuse the teaching. These souls live from a divinely illumined intellect, rare and easily misjudged.

3. “Such Souls… possess, by righteousness of their being which is pure and divine being, such a condition within them that they possess nothing.”

This radical dispossession is not merely external but existential-they possess nothing, not even spiritually, except God. Their confidence in divine providence is total; they remain untroubled even if deprived of all earthly means until Judgment Day.

4. “If they possess something … and should they know that others might have greater need than they, such Souls would never withhold anything …”

These souls, moved by Divine Love, are utterly selfless. Even if famine loomed and no more sustenance would grow, they would still give freely. This generosity arises not from moral obligation but from the perfection of divine justice living within them.

5. “Such is their nature, through pure righteousness; and such righteousness is Divine Righteousness, who has given his measure to the Soul.”

Their generosity and non-possession are not just virtues but the outworking of Divine Righteousness itself in the soul. They have become the living measure of God’s justice and love-what they do is the expression of God’s own rightness.

6. “Why would such Souls feel guilty about taking what is necessary if necessity asks it?… Who would make his conscience guilty about taking the necessities from the four elements …?”

Love uses the image of the four elements to affirm that such souls receive necessities from creation as innocently and peacefully as breathing air or feeling warmth. Their communion with God frees them from guilt and inner conflict in receiving what is needed.

7. “They possess the good foundation, says Love, and the high place which holds them in repose from all things.”

Ultimately, these souls are anchored in divine peace, a “high place” above conflict, anxiety, or lack. They are not indifferent, but at rest-freely responding to the needs of Nature and neighbor without any loss of interior stillness.

—

1. What does it mean that the Soul “gives to Nature whatever she asks”?

It means the Soul, having no attachment to temporal possessions or self-will, does not resist the natural needs of the body. She freely allows Nature to be sustained with what is necessary without guilt or conflict, because she lives in total simplicity and innocence.

2. Why does Love caution against speaking overtly about these Souls and their practices?

Love warns that such Souls are so spiritually advanced and their practices so subtle that those with “simple intellects” might misunderstand them, potentially harming themselves or misapplying the teaching. The depth of their life in God is too easily misread.

3. How does such a Soul view the idea of possession?

The Soul lives in a state of total dispossession-she “possesses nothing” in the deepest sense. Her being is so aligned with Divine Righteousness that she holds on to nothing, even spiritually, except God. Her identity is one of radical freedom and unownership.

4. What would such a Soul do if someone else had a greater need than she?

She would give freely, without hesitation, even if it meant she would be left with nothing. Her charity is so pure that even the threat of future deprivation would not stop her from helping someone in greater need.

5. How does Divine Righteousness justify the actions of these Souls regarding giving and receiving necessities?

Divine Righteousness affirms that it is just for these Souls to take what is necessary and to give freely. It argues that guilt would only arise from selfish withholding, not from innocent use of creation. Their righteousness is itself a participation in God’s justice.

6. What is the significance of the example of the four elements?

The example illustrates how these Souls receive from creation without guilt, just as one naturally accepts light or warmth. Their relationship to created things is innocent, untroubled, and free from possessiveness-they take only what Nature requires, with complete peace of heart.

7. What sustains the peace and freedom of such Souls?

Their peace comes from their rootedness in Divine Love and Righteousness. They rest in the “high place” of God’s own life and will, beyond anxiety or self-concern. Their repose is total-they are not anxious even about their own survival, trusting completely in God.

——————–

Chapter 18 teaches that souls deeply transformed by divine Love no longer know how to speak of God, not out of ignorance but because their knowledge has been drawn into the mystery of unknowing. They cannot say where God is or who God is in the ordinary way, because true divine Love has overtaken them with such subtlety and surprise that all creaturely modes of speaking fall away. Those who speak of God freely and with certainty have not been touched by the pure seed of divine Love, which removes the impulse to articulate and replaces it with silent understanding. In such souls, comprehension is profound yet fleeting, as the subtle presence of the divine Lover causes them to grasp much and quickly forget, not through confusion but through a divine forgetfulness that keeps them ever open and emptied for Love.

—

1. “Such creatures know no longer how to speak of God, for they know not how to say where God is any more than how to say who God is.”

This opening statement emphasizes the deep unknowing that characterizes the soul united with God. The soul, immersed in Divine Love, transcends all conceptual and locational knowledge of God. The inability to speak of God is not ignorance but the fruit of a union so intimate that God exceeds all names and categories. It signals a contemplative realization beyond discursive reason.

2. “For whoever speaks of God when he wishes and to whom he wishes and where he wishes to speak, must not doubt, but know without doubt… such a one never once felt the true seed of divine Love…”

Here, Love rebukes those who speak easily or confidently of God. True divine Love humbles the soul, striking it with awe and a kind of wordless astonishment. The soul that feels this “true seed” is rendered silent, no longer able to speak of God as if He were an object to be grasped or discussed at will. The mark of divine Love is reverent muteness, not spiritual verbosity.

3. “…which makes the Soul completely surprised without being aware of it.”

The encounter with Divine Love is so profound it catches the soul off guard, awakening it to a reality too vast and subtle to be articulated. This surprise is not emotional shock but a contemplative displacement-being drawn out of oneself into the mystery of God, beyond self-awareness or spiritual self-possession.

4. “For the true pure seed of divine Love, without creaturely matter, which is given by the Creator to the creature…”

The divine Love that transforms the soul is purely spiritual-“without creaturely matter”-and directly imparted by God. It is not mediated through sense, intellect, or created forms. This purity strips the soul of any ability or even desire to reduce God to concepts or language.

5. “And the custom of such Souls is to understand much and to forget quickly through the subtlety of the Lover.”

The final line beautifully captures the paradox of contemplative knowing. These souls “understand much,” not in the sense of accumulating knowledge, but of being infused with divine understanding. Yet they “forget quickly,” not from weakness but because the Divine Lover moves so subtly that nothing is clung to. This forgetting is the fruit of being led continually into deeper silence, trust, and surrender.

—

1. Why do such souls no longer speak of God?

Because they no longer know how to speak of God-neither where God is nor who God is. Their union with God transcends all conceptual and verbal categories. They have entered into a state of divine unknowing where language fails and silence becomes the truest expression of their experience.

2. What does the Soul imply about those who speak of God freely and confidently?

The Soul criticizes such behavior, asserting that those who can speak of God “when he wishes and to whom he wishes” have never truly experienced the “pure seed of divine Love.” True divine Love leaves the soul awestruck and silent, not talkative or presumptuous.

3. What is the “true pure seed of divine Love,” and what does it do to the soul?

It is a gift directly from the Creator, unmediated by created things (“without creaturely matter”), which utterly transforms the soul. This divine seed removes the soul’s ability and inclination to speak about God, replacing it with a silent, deep, contemplative knowing.

4. What is meant by the soul being “completely surprised without being aware of it”?

This describes a mystical experience of divine encounter that transcends even the soul’s conscious awareness. The soul is overtaken by God in such a subtle and total way that it cannot reflect on itself or the experience-it simply abides in the mystery.

5. How does the chapter describe the intellectual disposition of such souls?

These souls “understand much and forget quickly.” This paradox means that while they are filled with divine insight, they do not cling to thoughts or retain them as possessions. Their understanding flows from the subtle presence of the Divine Lover and quickly dissolves into deeper silence.

6. What is the significance of “forgetting quickly” in this context?

“Forgetfulness” here is not a lack but a spiritual grace. It signifies the soul’s detachment from even spiritual understanding. The soul follows the movement of God moment to moment, without clinging to past illuminations, thus remaining wholly surrendered and open.

——————–

Chapter 19 teaches that the most exalted souls-those who are entirely surrendered to God-remain hidden, not only from the world but even from the highest theological virtues: Faith, Hope, and Charity. These virtues dwell within the souls and serve them, yet cannot fully comprehend their identity or worth, which is known to God alone. Such souls surpass the understanding of the institutional Church (called here “Holy Church the Little”), for they belong to a deeper spiritual reality governed by Divine Love (“Holy Church the Great”). Their lives are not defined by desire or will but by total self-emptying, making them uniquely receptive to God’s noblest gifts. They are royal in dignity-daughters, sisters, and spouses of the King-yet entirely unknowable except by the One who created and continually re-creates them through Love.

1. “O Holy Trinity, say Faith, Hope, and Charity, where are such supreme Souls who are such as this book describes? Who are they? Where are they? What do they do?”

The theological virtues-Faith, Hope, and Charity-express a yearning to locate and understand these exalted souls. Their questions highlight both the mystery and the hiddenness of these souls, even to divine virtues themselves, suggesting that such souls are rare, veiled, and surpass ordinary spiritual categories. The amazement of the Church is anticipated, underlining how these souls exceed the expectations of conventional religious understanding.

2. “In truth, Holy Church the Little, says Love; this is the Church who is governed by Reason, and not Holy Church the Great, says Divine Love, who is governed by us.”

Love distinguishes between two “Churches”: one governed by Reason (“Holy Church the Little”) and another governed by Divine Love (“Holy Church the Great”). This reflects a mystical hierarchy-those led by rational structures versus those moved entirely by divine infusion. The souls described here belong to the latter, and thus, their lives remain incomprehensible to those guided only by Reason.

3. “Without fail, as you know, says Love, a thing which God has created knows not how to find these Souls.”

No created being, not even the theological virtues themselves, can fully locate or identify these souls. They dwell in a divine hiddenness that makes them spiritually elusive. This reinforces their sanctity: they live in union with God beyond created categories.

4. “You are with them in all moments of the hours, for you make them noble.”

Faith, Hope, and Charity may not comprehend the full nature of these souls, but they are constantly present within them and elevate their dignity. The virtues are servants and adornments of these souls, not their origin or measure.

5. “But who they are-for the purpose of speaking of their worth and their dignity-this is known neither to you nor to them, which is why the Holy Church cannot know it.”

Their true identity and divine nobility are unknowable even to themselves and to the virtues that dwell in them. This is the reason why institutional religion (Holy Church) cannot grasp them. They are known only to God, existing in a hiddenness akin to the hidden life of Christ.

6. “God alone, says Love, who has created them and redeemed them, and perhaps re-created them many times for the sake of Love by whom alone they are exiled, annihilated and forgotten.”

God alone knows these souls, having not only created and redeemed them but also “re-created” them repeatedly through trials and self-emptying love. Their lives involve continual annihilation of self and forgetfulness of self in divine Love-a process unintelligible to natural or ecclesial categories.

7. “Are not all the Virtues praised, written and commanded for the sake of these Souls, and not the Souls for the sake of the Virtues?”

This bold inversion elevates these souls above even the virtues. Virtues exist for their perfection, not the other way around. The soul, in its highest state, is not formed by virtues but is served by them, being receptive only to God.

8. “Whoever wishes to have these gifts [must] accompany neither desire nor will, for otherwise he will not have [the gifts].”

To receive the sublime gifts of divine nobility, the soul must be emptied of all desire and self-will. This teaching reflects the theme of annihilation-only through complete detachment can one receive God’s highest favors.

9. “No created thing enters within their souls except God alone who created the Souls.”

This closing line sums up the chapter’s vision of the soul’s inaccessibility. Even the highest spiritual powers, the Church, and the virtues cannot penetrate these souls-only God dwells within them. This radical theocentrism excludes all creaturely intrusion and places these souls in a unique intimacy with God alone.

—

1. Why do Faith, Hope, and Charity ask Love about the souls described in the book?

They are astounded by the sublimity of these souls and seek to understand who they are, where they are, and what they do, especially since these souls seem hidden and surpass normal categories of sanctity. Their inquiry reflects the mystery surrounding such souls, even to the highest theological virtues.

2. What distinction does Love make between the “Holy Church the Little” and the “Holy Church the Great”?

“Holy Church the Little” is governed by Reason and represents the institutional or rationally organized Church. In contrast, “Holy Church the Great” is governed by Divine Love and is aligned with these exalted souls. The latter transcends rational comprehension and reflects a mystical, God-governed reality.

3. Why does Love say that no created thing can know who these souls are?

Because these souls are hidden in God alone. Even the virtues that dwell in them-Faith, Hope, and Charity-do not know their full identity or worth. Only God, who created and continually re-creates them through love, knows them fully.

4. What is the relationship between these souls and the theological virtues?

The virtues dwell within these souls and make them noble, but they do not define the souls. Instead, the virtues are said to exist for the sake of these souls, not the other way around. This reveals the radical exaltation of such souls and their primacy in God’s plan.

5. What is required of a soul to receive the singular gifts of divine nobility mentioned in the chapter?

The soul must completely renounce desire and self-will. Only in such emptiness and surrender can the soul be receptive to the pure gifts of divine nobility, which God does not bestow on those who remain attached to personal desire or volition.

6. Why can’t even Holy Church understand these souls, according to Love?

Because Holy Church, as a created reality, cannot enter into or comprehend the interior of these souls. Only God, who dwells in them and created them, knows them intimately. Their nature and union with God are beyond all creaturely knowledge or ecclesial recognition.

——————–

Chapter 20 teaches that the exalted souls who are united to God are ultimately known and understood only by God Himself, not even by other souls who may share in similar spiritual graces. Although these rare souls-“those-who-are-such”-may recognize one another through shared divine practice and the singular gift bestowed on them, they cannot fully comprehend each other’s dignity, for that remains a mystery held by God alone. Reason is humbled by this truth and stands in awe of the uniqueness and divine origin of such souls. Love affirms that all human and created understanding, even enlightened or spiritually elevated, falls short of grasping the full measure of God’s intimate work in the soul. This chapter emphasizes the transcendence and incomprehensibility of divine union.

—

1. Reason: “You say that no one understands these souls except God who created them.”

Reason repeats the central claim from earlier: the ultimate mystery of these exalted souls lies beyond all created comprehension. This sets the stage for a further probing into whether even similar souls might have some knowledge of one another.

2. Love: “Those-who-are-such, if they were, or if they are, would understand their companions by their practice, but even more by the virtue of the gift which is given to them, which is singular.”

Love affirms that souls of the same kind-those fully united to God-can recognize one another through their spiritual practice and especially through the shared divine gift that marks them. However, this recognition is not total comprehension; it is a fellowship of likeness in being and grace.

3. Reason: “Singular, says Reason, and without fail it is singular, for in hearing it I am singularly amazed.”

Reason, despite being a faculty of order and analysis, is overwhelmed by the uniqueness of the gift given to these souls. The repetition of the word “singular” emphasizes both the rarity and incomparability of such spiritual states. Even Reason can do nothing but marvel.

4. Love: “Even so such souls would not understand the dignity of these Souls, for God alone understands them, God who created them.”

Even among souls of the same lofty rank, full knowledge of one another’s inner worth and divine elevation is impossible. Their dignity is known only to God. This reaffirms a major theme: the soul’s ultimate identity and glory are hidden in God alone, never fully accessible to creation-even to other exalted souls.

This chapter clarifies an apparent paradox: while these souls can recognize each other by shared divine life and practice, the depths of their identity remain veiled, known only to their Creator.

—

1. What is Reason’s concern at the beginning of this chapter?

Reason is troubled by the idea that no one understands the exalted souls except God and wants clarification, especially since the book also suggests that similar souls might recognize each other.

2. How does Love clarify the nature of this recognition among such souls?

Love explains that those-who-are-such (souls united to God) can recognize each other, not through full comprehension, but by their shared spiritual practice and more deeply by the singular divine gift they have received.

3. What is the meaning of the word “singular” in this context?

“Singular” refers to the utterly unique and incomparable nature of the divine gift given to these souls. Reason is struck by this and repeats the word to express both intellectual and spiritual amazement.

4. Can even other perfect souls understand the full dignity of these exalted souls?

No, Love insists that even souls who share in this divine union cannot comprehend the full dignity of their companions; only God, who created them, can know their true worth.

5. What does this exchange reveal about the limitations of both reason and spiritual likeness in grasping divine mystery?

It shows that reason can recognize its limits and be amazed by divine mysteries, and even spiritual likeness cannot penetrate the full depth of God’s work in a soul. Only God fully knows the soul He has formed and exalted.

Overview:

The Mirror of Simple Souls is a profoundly mystical and theologically radical work that traces the soul’s journey through spiritual purification, self-annihilation, and union with God. Structured as a dialogical unfolding between the Soul, Love, and Divine Wisdom, the text maps an inner path that transcends conventional virtue, devotional practices, and ecclesiastical forms. The central teaching of the work is that the soul must pass through seven stages or conditions, culminating in a state of naked nothingness, where she is wholly annihilated of self-will and rests entirely in God’s divine will. In this condition, the soul becomes one with God not by imitation or merit, but by being transformed in the ground of love-where distinction between self and God disappears in simplicity.

Early chapters deal with the soul’s struggle against the desires of the body and the distractions of the intellect and will. The soul must first pass through active virtue and affective devotion, but the text repeatedly insists that these are merely stages. To stop here is to remain “sad” and bound to the “affection of the spirit,” a subtle form of spiritual self-love. True transformation occurs when the soul ceases even to love God with a possessive love and allows God to love in her, through her, and as her-without intermediary. In this surrender, the soul comes to dwell in the state of “freeness,” where she wills nothing and does nothing for herself. Her only reality is Divine Being, who “is,” while she “is not.” All action ceases because divine will has entirely replaced the soul’s own.

In this radical passivity, the soul moves beyond fear, virtue, and even ecclesiastical patterns, into a freedom that transcends the institutional Church’s categories. The text boldly asserts that the perfect soul no longer takes Holy Church as exemplar, not because she is rebellious, but because she has fulfilled and surpassed all virtue in divine humility. While still revering the Church and its sacraments, the soul is no longer defined by its external forms. This is not lawlessness, but the full realization of divine indwelling. The soul now dwells in God as God dwells in her, by pure love, without why.

A major theme is the paradox of “Farnearness,” a mystical nearness to God that feels like distance because it surpasses sensation and understanding. The soul is united to God in a mode beyond all creaturely categories, beyond merit, thought, and feeling. She no longer prays, not out of irreverence, but because she is entirely surrendered and receptive. This surrender is so total that she receives even divine love as seed, without clinging, owning, or reciprocating in the creaturely sense. She is love because God is love in her.

Throughout the later chapters, the author warns against the subtleties of Nature-especially the refined forms of spiritual pride that masquerade as virtue. Nature, even when disguised in gentleness or self-denial, subtly asserts its rights. The soul must pass through great suffering, even putting to death the “friends” of virtue and devotion who once aided her, but now must be relinquished. This painful detachment leads to true humility and entrance into divine simplicity.

The final chapters assert that the soul, now stripped of everything, returns to her “prior being”-that is, to the divine source from which she came, before she existed. This is not annihilation in the negative sense, but the fulfillment of her origin in God, who alone is. The soul no longer exists for herself but in and as the Divine. This is the mystery of deiformity: the soul becomes what God is, not by nature but by love and union.

The conclusion and the appended approvals emphasize the radical nature of this teaching. Leading clerics confirm its orthodoxy but also warn that it is not for the many. It is a divine practice meant for the few who are called to such nakedness and freedom. The text ends not with doctrinal finality, but with a gesture of humble offering and intercessory hope-that those who are prepared may receive it as seed and bear fruit a hundredfold.

In sum, The Mirror of Simple Souls is a mystical theology of spiritual death and divine union. It calls the soul beyond action and virtue, beyond self and thought, into a simple, undivided being in God. Its path is one of annihilation, not destruction; detachment, not despair; and union, not absorption. At its heart lies the paradoxical teaching that to be everything in God, the soul must become nothing in herself-and in that nothingness, she discovers what God is: All.

——————–

This introductory poem to The Mirror of Simple Souls establishes the necessary spiritual posture for understanding the book: humility, love, and faith must precede and govern reason. The reader is warned that intellectual brilliance alone-particularly that of theologians and scholars-will be insufficient for grasping the deep mysteries presented within. Instead, one must be overtaken by Humility, who guards the treasury of divine knowledge and mothers all virtues. Love and Faith, presented as the true mistresses of the soul’s house, must elevate the reader above the limits of reason. Even Reason herself must submit to Love and Faith, acknowledging their authority and vivifying power. Thus, the reader is invited to abandon prideful reliance on rational understanding and instead entrust themselves wholly to the loving illumination of divine truth.

—

1. “You who would read this book, / If you indeed wish to grasp it, / Think about what you say, / For it is very difficult to comprehend;”

Porete immediately signals that this is not a text for casual reading. It requires deep spiritual engagement, not just intellectual curiosity. The phrase “think about what you say” suggests that the reader’s speech and perhaps inner dialogue must be purified-a call to inner stillness and spiritual receptivity.

2. “Humility, who is keeper of the treasury of Knowledge / And the mother of the other Virtues, / Must overtake you.”

Humility is personified and presented as the gatekeeper to divine knowledge, not Reason. This flips scholastic assumptions on their head: instead of intellect or learning granting access to truth, it is a dispossession of self and an entrance into humility that opens the door to true wisdom. Humility here is not a moral posture but a metaphysical key.

3. “Theologians and other clerks, / You will not have the intellect for it, / No matter how brilliant your abilities, / If you do not proceed humbly.”

Porete addresses the learned class directly and provocatively. No degree of academic or theological training will suffice. Only humility makes the soul capable of understanding this work-again emphasizing that mystical insight is not acquired but received, and only in spiritual poverty.

4. “And may Love and Faith, together, / Cause you to rise above Reason, / [Since] they are the ladies of the house.”

Love and Faith are described as sovereign powers within the “house” (symbolic of the soul or this spiritual text), and they must elevate the reader beyond Reason. This is a bold mystical claim: that true understanding surpasses rationality and occurs in a supra-rational realm governed by divine Love and Faith.

5. “Even Reason witnesses / In the Thirteenth Chapter of this book, / And with no shame about it, / That Love and Faith make her live / And she does not free herself from them, / For they have lordship over her, / Which is why she must humble herself.”

Porete anticipates resistance from Reason, the traditional guide in theological inquiry. But she stages Reason as a character who herself testifies to the necessity of submission to Love and Faith. This narrative move prepares the reader to let go of analytical control and to welcome a more yielding, receptive mode of spiritual understanding.

6. “Humble, then, your wisdom / Which is based on Reason, / And place all your fidelity / In those things which are given / By Love, illuminated through Faith.”

The reader is asked to consciously renounce their reliance on rational wisdom and to entrust themselves wholly to what is given-a passive stance, reliant on grace. The illumination of Love through Faith evokes the Pauline triad (faith, hope, love), with Love here taking central stage as the animating force of divine life.

7. “And thus you will understand this book / Which makes the Soul live by love.”

Porete concludes by stating the purpose of the book: not to inform the mind, but to make the soul live-and specifically live by love. This phrase sums up the entire spiritual orientation of the work: it is a book for the transformation of the soul into love, not merely for comprehension or doctrine.


—

1. Why does Porete emphasize the difficulty of understanding this book?

Porete stresses that the book is “very difficult to comprehend” not because of obscure language or theological complexity, but because it requires a spiritual posture of humility. The understanding she speaks of is not intellectual but experiential, mystical. Only a soul surrendered in humility can grasp the truths revealed here, which transcend rational analysis.

2. What role does humility play in the reader’s approach to the text?

Humility is described as the “keeper of the treasury of Knowledge” and the “mother of the other Virtues.” This means that all true spiritual knowledge is guarded by humility and accessed only through it. Without humility, even the most brilliant minds are blind to the deeper truths of God. Thus, humility is not just a virtue-it is a necessary condition for divine union and understanding.

3. Why does Porete caution theologians and scholars in particular?

She warns theologians and clerks that their intellectual abilities, however great, will be useless unless they approach her book with humility. This is a direct challenge to the scholastic mindset of her time, which prized rational theology. Porete insists that divine truths, especially the truths of love and annihilation of self, are grasped only through the heart, not the intellect.

4. What is the significance of Love and Faith being called “ladies of the house”?

In calling Love and Faith “ladies of the house,” Porete portrays them as the ruling principles of the soul’s interior life. They preside over Reason, who must take a subordinate position. This personification expresses the mystical hierarchy in which Love and Faith are not simply emotional or doctrinal elements but the very powers by which the soul is transformed and led into union with God.

5. How does Reason relate to Love and Faith in Porete’s vision?

Reason is acknowledged as a valuable faculty but must be humbled and made to serve Love and Faith. In chapter 13 (as foreshadowed here), Reason herself testifies that she is enlivened by Love and Faith and remains subject to them. This suggests that while Reason is not rejected, it is relativized-it must be transcended by the soul to reach divine wisdom.

6. What does it mean to “rise above Reason”?

To rise above Reason means to transcend discursive, logical thinking in order to enter a mode of knowing grounded in Love and illuminated by Faith. This is not irrationality but supra-rationality-a higher order of perception available to the soul emptied of self and filled with divine grace. It is a movement from the mind to the heart, from control to surrender.

7. What is the ultimate purpose of the book, according to the final lines of the poem?

The purpose is not intellectual mastery but spiritual transformation. The book is meant to make “the Soul live by love.” This means that the soul’s entire being and movement become rooted in divine Love, a Love that consumes self-will and unites the soul wholly to God. The book is a mirror not for the mind but for the soul seeking its annihilation and renewal in Love.

——————–

Chapter 1 (The Prologue) introduces the spiritual journey of the Soul through seven stages of grace, culminating in divine union and fruition in the “land of life.” Love, personified, speaks directly to actives, contemplatives, and especially those annihilated in true love, calling them to attentive, humble listening. The chapter presents a powerful allegory: just as a noble maiden in a distant land falls in love with the reputation of King Alexander and comforts herself with his image, so too does the Soul-captivated by the renown of divine Love-find consolation in this book, which serves as a painted image or living memorial of the Beloved. The Soul acknowledges that though she once felt distant, the gift of this book makes Love present in a transformative way. The author concludes by affirming that Love originates in God and communicates divine truth in a way the “little ones” may grasp, preparing the Soul to advance through the seven stages of being which will be unfolded throughout the book.

—

1. “Soul, touched by God and removed from sin at the first stage of grace, is carried by divine graces to the seventh stage of grace, in which state the Soul possesses the fullness of her perfection through divine fruition in the land of life.”

Porete begins with a vision of the soul’s spiritual journey as a divine ascent through seven stages of grace. This mystical itinerary culminates not in knowledge or moral virtue, but in divine fruition-a term that implies enjoyment, union, and rest in God. The “land of life” echoes biblical images (e.g., Psalm 27:13) and signifies not merely heaven but a condition of total spiritual transformation in this life, accessible through grace.

2. “Here Love speaks: As for you actives and contemplatives, and perhaps those annihilated by true love…”

Love herself becomes the speaker, personified and authoritative. The addressees include three types: the actives (engaged in works), the contemplatives (inward, meditative souls), and the annihilated (those utterly emptied of self through divine love). This third category is the highest and most radical-those whose ego has been consumed in God. Porete identifies this condition as necessary for understanding her book.

3. “I pray you by love, says Love, that you hear through great effort of the subtle intellect within you and through great diligence, for otherwise all those who hear it will grasp it badly…”

Even though Love transcends reason, understanding this message still demands the “subtle intellect”-not discursive logic, but spiritual perception. Porete acknowledges that the truths of love are paradoxical and elusive unless one listens with both interior refinement and humble attentiveness. Misunderstanding is easy; true hearing is rare.

4. “Listen with humility to a little exemplum of love in the world… as a parallel to divine love.”

The exemplum functions like a medieval parable. Its simplicity conceals profound mystical symbolism. The earthly story is meant to mirror divine reality, inviting readers to enter through the imagination into deeper spiritual truths.

5. Exemplum: “Once upon a time, there was a maiden, daughter of a king… her will loved him because of the great renown of his gentility…”

The maiden symbolizes the soul. Her distant love for Alexander-a noble king of legendary generosity and majesty-represents the soul’s yearning for God. Her love is awakened by hearsay, by fama (reputation), and grows into a consuming desire even without contact. This reflects the via amoris (way of love), in which longing precedes possession, and distance intensifies devotion.

6. “She thought to herself that she would comfort her melancholy by imagining some figure of her love… And so she had an image painted…”

The image becomes a means of remembering and loving the one who is absent. This mirrors the spiritual soul’s use of symbols, prayer, or sacred texts as a way of keeping alive the longing for divine presence. Yet the image is not the same as the reality-it is a trace, a bridge, not the fulfillment.

7. Soul: “In truly similar fashion… He gave me this book, which makes present in some fashion His love itself.”

Porete identifies herself with the maiden. The book she offers is an image of divine love, just as the painted portrait was an image of Alexander. It is a medium of remembrance and desire, pointing beyond itself. But unlike the distant king, this Lord is not far off-His friends dwell in His palace. This foreshadows Porete’s teaching that divine union is possible now, not merely in the afterlife.

8. “It is not true that I am in a strange land and far from the palace where the very noble friends of this Lord dwell…”

This overturns the initial theme of distance. Though God seems far, in reality, the soul-if purified-can dwell where His “noble friends” are. The contemplative, annihilated soul already participates in the divine life. This redefines exile and home: exile is self-will; home is union with God.

9. Author: “Thus we shall tell you how our Lord is not at all freed from Love, but Love is from Him for us…”

This paradoxical statement defends divine Love as God’s own nature. God is not freed from Love because He is Love; Love is not a force apart from Him, but His own self-communication. Thus, what seems poetic is in fact deeply theological: Love originates in God and returns to Him through the soul.

10. “Love can do everything without any misdeed.”

This radical claim sets up one of Porete’s most controversial theses: that divine Love is above law, beyond moral calculation, and cannot sin. This foreshadows the soul’s eventual liberation from the “virtues” as stepping stones-because in pure union, the soul no longer needs intermediaries or effort. This anticipates the trials with ecclesiastical authority she would face.

11. “There are seven stages of noble being, from which a creature receives being…”

Porete introduces the book’s structure: the seven stages of the soul’s spiritual development. This is reminiscent of earlier mystical ladders (e.g., Bernard of Clairvaux’s Ladder of Love), but her version is interior and contemplative, climaxing not in moral perfection but in non-being-the soul’s annihilation in God.

—

1. What is the significance of the seven stages of grace in the soul’s journey?

The seven stages represent a spiritual ascent culminating in the soul’s union with God. The final stage is described as divine fruition-a state of complete perfection in which the soul experiences God directly, beyond effort or virtue. It echoes traditional mystical ladders but reorients them toward annihilation of self and immersion in Love.

2. Who is the speaker in this chapter, and why is that significant?

The speaker is personified Love, not the author or a theological figure. This conveys that what follows is not merely human wisdom but a direct expression of divine Love. It emphasizes the book’s authority as coming from God’s own love communicated to the soul.

3. What kinds of readers are invited to listen to Love’s teaching, and what is required of them?

Love addresses the actives, contemplatives, and especially those annihilated by true love. These are souls at different stages of the spiritual path, culminating in the one who has lost all self-will in God. Love insists that readers must listen with a subtle intellect and great diligence, suggesting that this teaching is spiritually demanding and cannot be grasped by superficial understanding.

4. What is the purpose of the exemplum (story of the maiden and Alexander)?

The exemplum illustrates the soul’s yearning for God through the allegory of a maiden who falls in love with a distant, noble king. It reflects how the soul is drawn to God by hearing of His greatness, suffers in His absence, and finds comfort through remembrance. It reveals that longing and love precede possession, and that even symbols (like the painted image or this book) can mediate divine presence.

5. What does the soul mean when she says, “He gave me this book”?

The book is described as a gift from God, given to the soul as a means of remembering and loving Him. Like the painted image in the exemplum, it represents God’s love and communicates His presence in a mediated form. It affirms that the text is not a personal composition but a spiritual instrument given by grace.

6. How does Porete challenge the notion that God is far away?

While the soul at first seems to be far from God, she later affirms that she is not in a strange land, but close to the divine “palace” where the friends of God dwell. This reflects her key teaching: that union with God is possible here and now, not just in the afterlife. The sense of distance is due to the soul’s immaturity, not God’s absence.

7. What theological claim does the author make about Love and God?

The text boldly asserts that “our Lord is not freed from Love, but Love is from Him for us,” and “Love can do everything without any misdeed.” This establishes that God is Love, and true love, being from God, is incapable of sin. It sets up the controversial idea that when the soul is fully united to Love, she is beyond moral law-not lawless, but consumed by divine spontaneity.

8. How does this prologue set the tone for the rest of the book?

It establishes a mystical and paradoxical tone, blending humility with bold spiritual claims. It invites the reader into a deep journey marked not by striving but by annihilation, not by theology alone but by divine encounter. It warns that only the “subtle intellect” will understand and that what follows will challenge conventional spiritual thinking.

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Chapter 2 presents Love’s purpose for the book: it is a gift made especially for the “little ones” of Holy Church to help them grow in worthiness toward the perfection of life and the peace attainable through perfect charity. This charity is a divine gift from the entire Trinity. The book will unfold this gift through the enlightened intellect of Love and in dialogue with Reason, guiding the soul toward its highest spiritual fulfillment.

—

1. “As for you little ones of Holy Church, says Love, I have made this book for you…”

Love, the personified speaker in the text, addresses the “little ones of Holy Church,” referring to those who are humble, simple, and perhaps spiritually immature, but willing to be formed. The phrase “little ones” recalls Christ’s teaching about the childlike heart necessary for receiving the kingdom of God. This sets a tone of humility and receptivity, suggesting that the book is a guide for those who are open to learning and growing in love.

2. “I have made this book for you, so that you might hear in order to be more worthy of the perfection of life and the being of peace…”

Love reveals her purpose in the creation of the book: to help the soul become more “worthy” of perfection of life and peace. These are two key goals of spiritual life: perfection representing the fulfillment of the soul’s union with God and peace symbolizing the inner tranquility that comes from such a union. The book serves not just as instruction but as an invitation to deeper holiness and communion with God. The idea of being “worthy” here does not refer to merit in the conventional sense but to readiness or openness to receive divine grace.

3. “To which the creature is able to arrive through the virtue of perfect charity, the gift given by the whole Trinity…”

This statement connects the soul’s journey to charity, which is both a theological virtue and a gift from the Trinity. Perfect charity (love) is the highest form of love, transcending self-interest and focused on the love of God and neighbor. The book’s purpose is to help the reader reach this highest state of love, which is the ultimate means of attaining both perfection and peace. By attributing this gift to the whole Trinity, Porete emphasizes the divine initiative in the soul’s journey; it is not by human effort alone, but by the outpouring of God’s love that the soul progresses.

4. “You will hear explained in this book through the Intellect of Love and following the questions of Reason.”

This phrase is rich in mystical and intellectual depth. Love promises that the book will be understood through the Intellect of Love, which suggests a wisdom that transcends mere rationality. Love is the source of understanding, and the intellect guided by love leads to a deeper, more transformative comprehension of the divine. The phrase “following the questions of Reason” suggests a dialogue between reason and love, implying that human intellect and faith must work together. However, the Intellect of Love leads, guiding the reader toward a deeper, experiential understanding of truth, while reason serves as a supporting framework. This duality hints at the mystical balance Porete often emphasizes between mind and heart in the soul’s union with God.

Analysis:
In this chapter, Love lays the foundation for the entire book’s purpose: the spiritual formation of the reader, particularly those who are humble and open. This chapter reaffirms that the mystical path being outlined in the book is for those who seek perfection in life and peace, attainable through charity, which is a divine gift. Porete distinguishes between human effort and divine grace in the spiritual journey, making clear that while the soul must respond to God’s initiative, the ultimate perfection is a gift from the Trinity.

Additionally, Porete places importance on reason and intellect being subordinated to love and faith. The “Intellect of Love” suggests that true understanding of divine matters requires an affective engagement with God. This allows us to understand that mystical insight is more than intellectual assent-it involves spiritual awakening and love’s transformative power. Thus, the book promises to guide the reader into this more profound union with God through both reason and love, blending intellect with divine experience.

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1. Who is the intended audience of the book, and why is this important?

The book is intended for the “little ones of Holy Church”-those who are humble, receptive, and spiritually open. This is important because the book’s teachings are not for the intellectually proud or self-sufficient; it is for those who are willing to be formed and purified by divine love. Humility and openness are essential for receiving the deep spiritual truths Porete presents.

2. What is the central gift that the book aims to lead the reader toward?

The central gift the book aims to lead the reader toward is perfect charity-a love that is pure and selfless, given by the Trinity. This perfect love enables the soul to achieve both perfection and peace, which are the ultimate goals of the spiritual journey. The book reveals how this gift works in the soul, leading to transformation and union with God.

3. What role does reason play in understanding the teachings of this book?

Reason is an important partner in the spiritual journey, but it must be guided by love. While reason can frame and support the intellectual understanding of spiritual matters, it is the Intellect of Love that reveals the deepest truths. The soul must balance reason and love, allowing the heart to lead the intellect towards mystical understanding, rather than relying solely on rational analysis.

4. How does this chapter highlight the relationship between grace and human effort?

This chapter emphasizes that while the soul must engage in the spiritual journey, the ultimate source of perfection and peace is the grace of God. Perfect charity, the love that brings the soul to union with God, is a divine gift that originates in the Trinity. Human effort, symbolized by the pursuit of humility and receptivity, is necessary, but it is always in response to the grace of God that leads the soul toward perfection.

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Chapter 3 emphasizes that the foundation of spiritual life begins with obeying the commandments of Holy Church, which call us to love God fully-with heart, soul, and strength-while also loving ourselves rightly and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Love explains each aspect of the commandment in practical terms: keeping our thoughts on God, speaking truthfully, working purely for His sake, and aligning our will to His rather than seeking personal gain. These are essential for salvation, not optional. The example of the rich young man illustrates that while following the commandments is necessary, perfection lies beyond them-in renouncing all and living in total charity, which is the fullness of the virtuous life.

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1. “Therefore we shall begin, says Love, with the commandments of the Holy Church, so that each might be able to take his nourishment in this book with the aid of God…”

The commandments of the Holy Church are presented as foundational for understanding the teachings of the book. By beginning with them, the author emphasizes the importance of obedience to divine law and the necessity of God’s grace to understand the deeper spiritual truths being conveyed. The notion of “nourishment” suggests that the commandments are not just rules to follow but a means of spiritual sustenance that prepare the soul for the journey of transformation. The idea that the reader needs “the aid of God” underlines that spiritual growth is not only a matter of personal effort but also depends on God’s continual assistance.

2. “God… commands that we love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength; and ourselves as we ought, and our neighbors as ourselves.”

This is a reference to the Great Commandment as outlined in the Gospels (Matthew 22:37-39). The commandment to love God fully and our neighbors as ourselves is central to the Christian life. Porete expands on this by breaking it down into specific actions that demonstrate love in its fullness: the love of God, self, and neighbor. Each form of love is connected to a distinct aspect of the human being: heart (emotion and thought), soul (truth and integrity), and strength (action and work). This multifaceted love is not simply an abstract sentiment but involves every part of one’s being and every action. The love of self is also important, but it must be oriented correctly, not for personal gain but in alignment with God’s perfect will.

3. “First, that we love Him with all our heart: that means that our thoughts should be always truly in Him.”

Loving God with all our heart emphasizes the centrality of thought and intention in the Christian life. The heart, often seen as the seat of affection and intention, must be wholly focused on God. This means that the mind and emotions should always be directed toward God, even in ordinary life. This form of love entails continual mindfulness of God, striving to maintain an inner disposition of reverence, gratitude, and awe toward Him.

4. “And with all our soul: that means that until death we do not speak but the truth.”

The soul is considered the essence of the person, and loving God with one’s soul involves a commitment to truthfulness and integrity. Truth-telling is a profound act of love, as it aligns the person with God’s own truth. The phrase “until death” suggests that this commitment to truth is a lifelong journey, indicating the perseverance required to maintain fidelity to God’s will through every stage of life. Living truthfully is not merely a matter of words but a deep alignment of the inner and outer person.

5. “And with all our strength: that is, that we accomplish all our works purely for Him.”

Loving God with all our strength calls for action and service. It is not enough to love God in thought or word; this love must be demonstrated through our works. The emphasis here is on purity-acting not for personal gain or glory but solely for God’s honor and the advancement of His kingdom. The love of God is made visible in the labor and effort we put forth in our daily lives, as an expression of our total surrender to His will.

6. “And ourselves as we ought: that means that in doing this we do not give attention to our gain but the perfect will of God.”

Porete highlights the importance of self-love in the proper sense: to love ourselves is to seek the will of God rather than selfish desires. This challenges any inclination toward selfishness or self-centeredness. True love of self is in alignment with God’s will, and in this context, it leads to the transformation of the soul to be more fully like Christ. This concept of self-love is key to spiritual maturity, as it involves detaching from worldly desires and focusing on what God intends for us.

7. “And our neighbors as ourselves: that is, that we neither do, nor think, nor speak toward our neighbors anything we would not wish they do toward us.”

This section reiterates the Golden Rule: to love others as we love ourselves. This commandment is grounded in the concept of mutual respect and empathy. Loving others involves a total commitment to their well-being, not just in actions but in thoughts and speech. It challenges the soul to go beyond superficial interactions and cultivate a deep love that desires the good of others even in the unseen realms of thought and intention. This is a call to spiritual purity in all aspects of relating to others.

8. “These commands are of necessity for salvation for all: nobody can have grace with a lesser way.”

Porete affirms that these commandments are not merely ideals but essential prerequisites for salvation. There is no shortcut to grace or spiritual perfection-one cannot receive God’s grace apart from following these fundamental commandments. These directives serve as the foundation upon which the soul’s journey toward union with God is built. They ensure that the path of love and purity is maintained in every area of life, which is necessary for salvation.

9. “Note here the example of the rich young man who said to Jesus Christ that he had kept these since infancy, and Jesus Christ said to him: ‘One thing is necessary for you to do, if you want to be perfect…'”

The story of the rich young man serves as a cautionary example of how even the outward observance of the commandments is not enough for spiritual perfection. The young man had followed the commandments but was still attached to his wealth, which was hindering his ability to fully follow Christ. Jesus’ call to sell all he had and give to the poor demonstrates that true perfection requires not just obedience to the commandments but also detachment from worldly attachments. Perfection in love involves an absolute surrender to Christ and an openness to give up everything for Him.

Analysis:
In this chapter, Porete presents the Great Commandment as the central principle of Christian life, emphasizing the necessity of loving God, self, and neighbor in fullness. Each aspect of love is described in detail, showing how it must permeate the inner thoughts, actions, and relationships of the soul. Porete’s focus is on purity of intention-loving God with the heart, soul, and strength, and loving others as ourselves in a way that mirrors God’s love.

The chapter also challenges the reader to recognize that true perfection is not simply a matter of external obedience but involves an interior transformation that calls for detachment from selfish desires, as seen in the example of the rich young man. The ultimate message is that perfect charity, grounded in these commandments, is essential for salvation, and no one can attain grace apart from this full commitment to love.

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1. What is the significance of the commandments of the Holy Church in this chapter?

The commandments of the Holy Church are presented as the foundational requirements for salvation and spiritual perfection. They are not just rules to follow but a pathway to union with God, grounding the soul in love for God, self, and neighbor. These commandments form the structure for the soul’s journey of transformation and ultimate perfection.

2. How does the chapter define “loving God with all our heart, soul, and strength”?

Loving God with all our heart means focusing our thoughts and emotions on God. Loving Him with all our soul means living truthfully and aligning our lives with His will. Loving God with all our strength refers to performing all our actions purely for God, without self-interest, and as an expression of our total devotion to Him.

3. What does Porete say about the importance of loving our neighbors as ourselves?

Loving our neighbors as ourselves means treating others with the same respect, care, and kindness we desire for ourselves. It involves not just actions but also thoughts and words, ensuring that our interactions are rooted in empathy and charity. This commandment extends to all areas of life, fostering a spirit of mutual respect and selflessness in our relationships.

4. What is the lesson from the story of the rich young man?

The story of the rich young man teaches that external adherence to commandments is not enough for spiritual perfection. True perfection involves an interior detachment from worldly attachments, such as wealth. The young man’s inability to give up his possessions shows that true love and commitment to Christ require a willingness to surrender everything for His sake, and this is essential for perfect charity.

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Chapter 4 presents Charity as a sovereign virtue entirely governed by Love, detached from all self-interest and earthly considerations. Charity neither claims ownership nor seeks repayment, but selflessly attends to others’ needs, giving freely without fear, shame, or anxiety. She lives with a radical disregard for worldly value, treating all as refuse in light of divine love. Her generosity is boundless-even promising beyond her means-trusting that the more she gives, the more she will receive. Charity’s wisdom lies in her ability to profit spiritually where others lose, transcending all entanglements. To live in perfect charity, one must be mortified in spiritual affections, allowing the work of charity to transform the soul completely.

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1. “Charity obeys no created thing except Love.”

In this opening statement, Charity is depicted as the supreme virtue that answers only to Love, which is understood here as the highest divine force or God Himself. This suggests that charity is not governed by any worldly authority, desire, or rule; it is aligned directly with the will of God, which is perfect Love. Charity’s obedience to Love places it outside of the influence of selfish motives or external pressures. Charity becomes a reflection of God’s pure will in the world, serving as an ultimate model for human behavior.

2. “Charity possesses nothing of her own, and should she possess something she does not say that it belongs to her.”

Here, Charity is described as self-emptying and detached from personal ownership. The implication is that true charity does not cling to possessions or material wealth, as these are not the focus of its existence. Rather, charity’s purpose is to serve others and give away what is of value, without claiming ownership. This reflects the spirit of poverty-a radical detachment from earthly possessions in favor of a greater attachment to God and others. The point is that charity operates out of generosity, not selfish accumulation.

3. “Charity abandons her own need and attends to that of others.”

Charity is portrayed as a self-sacrificial virtue, putting the needs of others above its own. This is a reflection of the Christ-like love that abandons personal desires and focuses entirely on serving the needs of others. By “abandoning her own need,” charity transcends self-interest and is concerned solely with the well-being of those in need. This is a powerful expression of selflessness and altruism, emphasizing that charity is not motivated by personal gain or satisfaction, but by a desire to serve.

4. “Charity asks no payment from any creature for some good or pleasure that she has accomplished.”

True charity is disinterested in reciprocity or reward. It is given freely without any expectation of receiving something in return, be it material compensation or personal gratification. This shows the purity of charity, which is not motivated by any form of transaction or exchange. Charity’s only reward is the fulfillment of God’s will and the benefit of the other person, not personal benefit. This underscores the unconditional nature of divine love, which seeks the good of others without a thought for self.

5. “Charity has no shame, nor fear, nor anxiety. She is so upright that she cannot bow on account of anything that might happen to her.”

Here, charity is described as being free from the limitations that often accompany human existence, such as shame, fear, and anxiety. These emotions are often tied to self-consciousness and concern for one’s own reputation or future. However, charity operates from a place of freedom, remaining steadfast and upright, regardless of the external circumstances. The lack of fear or anxiety indicates that charity is grounded in the peace and security that come from total trust in God, not in the approval of others or the outcome of one’s actions.

6. “Charity neither makes nor takes account of anything under the sun, for the whole world is only refuse and leftovers.”

This line presents a radical detachment from the world and its values. Charity does not measure its actions or rewards based on earthly standards of success, wealth, or status. The phrase “the whole world is only refuse and leftovers” suggests that worldly possessions and achievements are of little value compared to the eternal goods of charity, which focus on the spiritual well-being of others. This points to the transcendent nature of charity-its focus is on heavenly things, not earthly rewards.

7. “Charity gives to all what she possesses of worth, without retaining anything for herself, and with this she often promises what she does not possess through her great largesse, in the hope that the more she gives the more remains in her.”

Charity’s giving is depicted as generous, to the point of promising what it does not have. This reflects a bold trust in divine provision. The idea that “the more she gives, the more remains in her” echoes the paradoxical nature of spiritual generosity. In the kingdom of God, the act of giving does not diminish but multiplies. Charity’s act of giving is a manifestation of divine love, which is infinite and can never be exhausted. The emphasis here is on the abundance of God’s love and how it continually replenishes the heart that seeks to give to others.

8. “Charity is such a wise merchant that she earns profits everywhere where others lose, and she escapes the bonds that bind others and thus she has great multiplicity of what pleases Love.”

This statement emphasizes the wisdom and fruitfulness of charity. Charity, as a “wise merchant,” operates in a way that appears paradoxical to worldly standards: while others may lose or fail in their efforts, charity’s giving results in spiritual profit. This suggests that spiritual rewards are not always visible in worldly terms, but charity’s actions result in a greater abundance of grace and divine favor. Moreover, charity “escapes the bonds” that bind others, pointing to the freedom that comes with living out this virtue. The multiplicity of what pleases Love indicates that charity not only pleases God but also leads to a bountiful spiritual life.

9. “And note that the one who would have perfect charity must be mortified in the affections of the life of the spirit through the work of charity.”

Perfection in charity requires a mortification of the affections-a deep purification of the soul’s attachments and desires. To embody perfect charity, one must undergo a spiritual purification, which often involves sacrifice and self-denial. Mortification is not about suppressing love but about aligning the soul with God’s perfect will, removing any selfish attachments that might hinder the free flow of divine charity. This is the work of charity itself: to purify the soul so that it can more fully reflect God’s love.

Analysis:
In this chapter, charity is presented as the most noble virtue, defined by radical selflessness and detachment from the world. It is freely given, unconditionally, and without any expectation of return. Charity’s ultimate purpose is to serve others and fulfill God’s will, rather than seeking self-gratification or earthly rewards. The paradoxes of charity-giving without possessing, promising without holding, and profiting where others fail-show the transformative power of divine love.

Charity’s true power lies in its ability to give freely and abundantly, with the trust that God will replenish the soul with all it needs. This chapter calls the reader to a life of radical generosity, trust in divine providence, and purification through mortification, demonstrating that the highest form of love is one that gives without holding back.

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1. How is Charity defined in this chapter?

Charity is defined as the highest virtue, characterized by selflessness, detachment from personal gain, and a radical commitment to serving others without seeking any reward or recognition. Charity obeys only Love (God), giving freely and abundantly to others, trusting that God will provide all that is necessary for the soul’s fulfillment.

2. What is the significance of Charity “possessing nothing of her own”?

This highlights charity’s detachment from material possessions and personal gain. Charity gives freely and does not claim ownership of anything, showing that true generosity comes from a place of poverty of spirit. The virtue of charity is not concerned with accumulating wealth or power but with serving others out of love for God.

3. How does Charity reflect the paradox of giving more and receiving more?

Charity’s giving is paradoxical in that the more it gives, the more it receives, not in material terms, but in spiritual abundance. This reflects the eternal truth that in the kingdom of God, generosity never depletes but instead leads to greater spiritual rewards. Charity’s trust in God’s provision allows it to give without fear of running out, confident that divine love replenishes all that is given.

4. What is required to have perfect charity, according to the final line of the chapter?

To have perfect charity, one must undergo mortification of the soul’s attachments and desires. This involves a spiritual purification that allows the person to give freely, without any selfish motivations or attachments, aligning their will fully with God’s. The work of charity itself purifies the soul and leads to perfect love.

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Chapter 5 presents the life of the soul in the “peace of charity” as a state of total annihilation of self, where the soul no longer acts, wills, or learns according to natural faculties, but is wholly immersed in divine Love. This soul, likened to the Seraphim with six wings, seeks no mediation between itself and God, desiring only direct union. Her understanding, will, and being are surrendered entirely to God, whom she loves and praises without measure. Her knowledge of divine goodness and Christ’s Passion only deepens her awareness of their incomprehensibility. With the wings of contemplative insight and divine rest, she flies to the heights of union, abiding in God’s presence without fear, for she lives within the divine will. This soul fears nothing, not even the torments of the world, because God-omnipresent, omnipotent, and all-loving-dwells in her as Father, Brother, and Spouse.

—

1. “Thus there is another life, which we call the peace of charity in the annihilated life.”

Porete introduces a distinct form of mystical life-a state of interior stillness called the peace of charity, experienced by the soul that has been completely annihilated (emptied of self). This phrase draws on the mystical tradition of annihilation found in Ruysbroeck, Eckhart, and the Cloud of Unknowing, where the soul surrenders all self-will, identity, and striving.

2. “A Soul… who is saved by faith without works… who is only in love… who does nothing for God… who leaves nothing to do for God… to whom nothing can be taught… from whom nothing can be taken nor given… and who possesses no will.”

Here, Love lists paradoxes that define the annihilated soul. She is saved not by actions but by a state of being-in love. She acts not for God, but in union with Him; thus, her “doing” dissolves. Teaching or giving presupposes separation, which no longer applies. Even the will-normally central in spiritual effort-is absent. This echoes a radical passivity: the soul is not inert, but wholly permeable to divine action.

3. “Alas, says Love, who will give to this Soul what is lacking to her, for it was not ever given, is not now given, nor will be?”

Love mourns the ungraspable mystery of this soul’s perfection. Nothing can be added to or given to this soul-she lives in a divine plenitude that defies acquisition. The lament expresses the paradox of this soul’s poverty and sufficiency: she lacks nothing, yet receives nothing.

4. “This Soul, says Love, has six wings like the Seraphim.”

The soul is likened to a Seraph, the highest choir of angels whose sole function is loving adoration. The comparison affirms the soul’s pure love and immediate union with God, bypassing all mediation. This sets the stage for an allegorical reading of Isaiah’s Seraphim (Isaiah 6:2).

5. “She no longer wants anything which comes by a mediary… for she does not seek divine knowledge among the masters of this age, but in truly despising the world and herself.”

This soul seeks no external instruction or spiritual nourishment through human channels. Instead, knowledge arises from inward detachment-a total renunciation of worldly esteem and self-regard. Porete’s emphasis on despising herself is not morbid but signals mystical poverty: the ego must vanish to make room for God.

6. “Great God, how great a difference there is between a gift from a lover to a beloved through a mediary and a gift that is between lovers without a mediary!”

This exclamation captures the soul’s longing for immediacy with God. Divine union, like the love between two who share intimacy without intermediaries, is qualitatively superior to mediated grace. The heart of mystical life is this directness: God alone giving Himself to the soul, and the soul receiving without anything in between.

7. “With two wings she covers her face from Jesus Christ our Lord…”

Covering the face symbolizes reverence and unknowing. The soul perceives divine goodness but understands that all comprehension pales beside the reality of God. It is an image of luminous ignorance: to see is to see that one cannot see.

8. “With two other wings she covers her feet…”

Covering the feet signifies humility before Christ’s Passion. The deeper the soul’s insight into Christ’s suffering, the more she realizes its incomprehensibility. The Passion is not merely an event to reflect on-it is a divine act only God can truly know.

9. “With the two others the Soul flies, and dwells in being and rest.”

The final pair of wings enable flight-a metaphor for ecstatic ascent. But the soul does not fly to do or to become-she dwells in being and rests in the divine will. Being and rest are not passive, but the fulfillment of love: stillness in the heart of God.

10. “She cannot fear anything if God dwells in her…”

Fear vanishes in divine indwelling. Even the most terrible natural evils-torment, beasts, elemental forces-cannot touch her peace. Her immunity does not come from strength, but from complete surrender to God who is everywhere present, omniscient, omnipotent.

11. “He is our Father, our Brother and our Loyal Lover… and as such, says this Soul, He is the Lover of our souls.”

Porete concludes with a profoundly tender theology. God is not only transcendent but intimately relational: Father, Brother, and Lover. The soul that lives in annihilated peace knows Him not as a concept but as the One who loves her personally and without end.

—

1. What is meant by “the peace of charity in the annihilated life”?

It refers to a state of deep interior stillness where the soul lives entirely in love (charity) and has been stripped of all ego, self-will, and personal initiative (annihilation). In this state, the soul is fully surrendered to God and rests in divine union, no longer acting but being acted upon.

2. Why does Love present a list of paradoxical traits (e.g., a soul who “does nothing for God”)?

These paradoxes express the soul’s complete absorption into divine will. She acts not for God as if separate, but from within God’s own activity. Doing, willing, learning, and even giving or receiving all presuppose duality-yet this soul exists in radical union where duality has vanished.

3. What does it mean that this soul can neither be taught nor given anything?

It means she has reached a state where external forms of knowledge and spiritual effort are no longer needed. She lives in a kind of divine immediacy-knowing through love, receiving through pure being-beyond the help of intermediaries like teachers or spiritual exercises.

4. Why is this soul likened to a Seraph with six wings?

The Seraphim are the highest choir of angels, known for their pure, fiery love of God. The image suggests that the soul has entered into this angelic mode of existence, consumed by love, reverent in mystery, and lifted into divine stillness and flight.

5. What do the six wings symbolize?

Two wings cover her face: Humble reverence before God’s goodness, acknowledging her unknowing.
Two cover her feet: Humility before Christ’s Passion, recognizing her inability to grasp its full mystery.
Two wings allow flight: The soul ascends into rest and being-symbolizing union with God and perfect repose in His will.

6. What is the role of ‘no mediation’ in this chapter?

Porete emphasizes that the highest union with God occurs without a mediary. This means the soul receives love, knowledge, and divine presence directly from God-not through saints, sacraments, or even Christ in His humanity, but from God as God in Himself. This is the mystical ideal of immediacy.

7. Why is there no fear in this annihilated soul?

Because God dwells fully within her. She is united to omnipotent, omniscient, all-good Love. Nothing external can threaten or disturb her because she no longer lives from her ego or in relation to the world-she lives entirely from God’s presence and sees everything from His eternal perspective.

8. What does the final description of God as Father, Brother, and Lover reveal about Porete’s mystical theology?

It reveals her deeply intimate and affective understanding of God. God is not abstract or distant, but personally close-related to the soul through familial and spousal bonds. This threefold title points to a total and tender union, encompassing authority, solidarity, and mutual desire.

——————–

Chapter 6 teaches that the Soul, having been transformed and liberated by divine Love, enters into such a profound state of rest and freedom in the peace of charity that she no longer serves the Virtues in the way she once did. Previously, she had submitted herself entirely to the Virtues, even to the point of torment and servitude. But now, exalted by the courtliness of Love, she takes leave of them-not in contempt, but in transcendence-declaring her freedom from their former dominion. The Soul’s journey through the purifying demands of virtue was necessary, but now she has been drawn into a higher state beyond the labor of moral striving: a state of spiritual liberty, divine intimacy, and peaceful repose in God.

—

1. “This Soul by such love, says Love herself, can say to the Virtues that for a long time and for many days she has been in their service.”

Love introduces the Soul’s claim, affirming that she has lived under the governance of the Virtues for a long time. This sets up the chapter’s primary movement: the Soul’s progression from moral effort to spiritual freedom. The “such love” is a transformative, divine love that has altered her relationship to virtue itself.

2. “I confess it to you, Lady Love, says this Soul, there was a time when I belonged to them, but now it is another time. Your courtliness has placed me outside their service.”

The Soul speaks with deep self-awareness, recognizing her past devotion to the Virtues. Yet she now claims to have been lifted by Love beyond their governance. This introduces Porete’s radical theme: that divine Love can draw the soul beyond the active practice of virtues-not in contempt of them, but by transcending them. “Courtliness” here evokes both feudal and courtly love imagery-Love is a noble sovereign who lifts the Soul into divine intimacy.

3. “Virtues, I take my leave of you forever,
I will possess a heart most free and gay;
Your service is too constant, you know well.”

The Soul’s farewell to the Virtues is total and irreversible (“forever”). She now enjoys an inner freedom and joy (“free and gay”) that comes not from striving but from resting in God. This is the fruit of spiritual annihilation-freedom from the tyranny even of goodness as duty. The constant demand of the Virtues is burdensome: even virtuous striving can become an obstacle if it binds the Soul to a self-conscious effort instead of allowing her to lose herself in God.

4. “Once I placed my heart in you, retaining nothing;
You know that I was to you totally abandoned;
I was once a slave to you, but now am delivered from it.”

The Soul acknowledges a period of total surrender to the Virtues. However, she now views that past stage as slavery. The “deliverance” marks a mystical breakthrough-Porete describes a passage from labor to spiritual spontaneity, where love, not effort, governs the Soul’s actions.

5. “Thus I lived a while in great distress,
I suffered in many grave torments, many pains endured.
Miracle it is that I have somehow escaped alive.”

The path of moral striving is depicted as spiritually painful and exhausting. Porete does not romanticize the ascetical life; instead, she portrays it as a necessary crucible that must eventually be transcended. The Soul’s “escape” is likened to a miraculous release and hints at a mystical death and rebirth: she has died to the self that labored and been reborn into a self that rests.

6. “This being so, I no longer care: I am parted from you,
For which I thank God on high; good for me this day.
I am parted from your dominations, which so vexed me.”

This gratitude signals joy and relief. The “dominations” of the Virtues are seen as tyrannies once necessary, now outgrown. The Soul’s language is daring-speaking of the Virtues as oppressive-not because they are bad, but because they belong to a lower state now transcended.

7. “I was never more free, except as departed from you.
I am parted from your dominations, in peace I rest.”

Now free from the “dominations” of the Virtues, the Soul enjoys peace-a central theme in Porete’s mystical teaching. Peace here is not the fruit of virtue but of divine union. The Soul abides in God alone, not in the order of created things, even virtuous ones.

—

1. What does the Soul confess to Love at the beginning of the chapter?

The Soul acknowledges that she once belonged to the Virtues and served them faithfully, but that time has passed. Through Love’s “courtliness,” she has been lifted out of their service into a higher state.

2. Why does the Soul say she is taking leave of the Virtues?

The Soul claims that their service, though once fully embraced, has become too constant and burdensome. She now possesses a “heart most free and gay,” no longer bound by the obligations of virtue because she has entered into the freedom of divine Love.

3. How does the Soul describe her past relationship with the Virtues?

She describes it as one of complete self-giving, even calling herself their slave. Though it involved deep devotion, she also recalls great distress, torment, and pain. Her spiritual journey through the virtues was difficult and demanding.

4. What is the tone of the Soul’s farewell to the Virtues, and what does it signify?

The tone is both thankful and relieved. She is grateful to God for her deliverance and expresses peace in her separation. This signifies her transition from the active life of effort to the contemplative rest of being-in-God through Love.

5. What does the Soul mean when she says, “I was never more free, except as departed from you”?

This statement reflects the mystical paradox of Marguerite’s teaching: true spiritual freedom is found not in the struggle to do good, but in the soul’s surrender to divine Love. Only in leaving behind the governance of the Virtues does the soul experience complete inner freedom and rest.

6. How does this chapter relate to the theme of “annihilation” in Marguerite’s mysticism?

It illustrates the Soul’s annihilation of self-will and even of moral striving. By no longer living through the effort of virtue but by divine Love alone, the Soul is emptied (annihilated) of self and rests in the pure being of God.

7. Is Marguerite Porete rejecting the Virtues altogether in this chapter?

Not exactly. She does not reject the Virtues as evil, but presents them as a necessary but lower stage on the spiritual path. The Soul must pass through them, but ultimately transcends them when she is united with Love in total freedom and peace.

——————–

Chapter 7 teaches that the Soul who has reached the heights of divine union through Love has been so thoroughly emptied of self-of her own intellect, will, and desires-that she is now moved entirely by the will of God within her. In this state of annihilation, she is untouched by external conditions or inner agitation; honor and shame, wealth and poverty, fear and longing no longer affect her. She has become so receptive to divine action that even her capacity to speak meaningfully of God dissolves, for she no longer experiences God through concepts or affections but is instead possessed by Love itself. Her actions conform to the Church’s commandments, but without personal desire or volition-because her will is absorbed into God’s. This is not a void, but a fullness: in having nothing of her own, she possesses all in God.

—

1. “This Soul, says Love, takes account of neither shame nor honor, of neither poverty nor wealth, of neither anxiety nor ease, of neither love nor hate, of neither hell nor of paradise.”

The Soul has transcended all dualities and opposites of worldly and spiritual life. She neither fears hell nor desires paradise, neither seeks honor nor flees shame. This radical detachment signals her complete annihilation and surrender to God, no longer moved by reward, punishment, or emotion. It’s the state of absolute inner freedom and divine indifference-a hallmark of the noble soul.

2. “Ah, for God’s sake, Love, says Reason, what does this mean, what you have said?”

Reason is again bewildered by the paradoxes of divine love. Porete stages Reason as the voice of conventional theology and moral logic, unable to grasp the mystical states Love reveals. This question reflects how the path of annihilation challenges rational and doctrinal boundaries.

3. “What does this mean? says Love. Certainly the one knows this, and no other, to whom God has given the intellect-for Scripture does not teach it, nor the human mind comprehend it, nor does creaturely work deserve to grasp it or comprehend it.”

Love responds by declaring that this knowledge is a gift-infused, not acquired. It transcends Scripture, intellect, and works. This reiterates Porete’s emphasis on divine illumination: the soul who knows these truths is not self-taught, nor even scripturally taught, but God-taught in a way beyond human merit or understanding.

4. “Thus this gift is given from the most High, into whom this creature is carried by the fertility of understanding, and nothing remains in her own intellect.”

The Soul is carried into God by a superabundant, fertile divine knowledge that displaces her own. Her intellect is emptied to receive divine fullness. This “fertility” contrasts with sterile rationalism-it is a fecundity of unknowing that overflows with God’s wisdom.

5. “And this Soul, who has become nothing, thus possesses everything, and so possesses nothing; she wills everything and she wills nothing; she knows all and she knows nothing.”

A cluster of holy paradoxes. In her nothingness, she paradoxically “possesses everything”-because she is one with God who is All. But she also “possesses nothing,” because self-possession has been lost. The same applies to will and knowledge. These antitheses echo apophatic mysticism, where the soul transcends all finite categories in union with God.

6. “And how can it be, Lady Love, says Reason, that this Soul can will what this book says, when before it said that she had no more will?”

Reason again raises a logical contradiction: if the Soul has no will, how can she now be said to will anything at all? The question illustrates the limits of discursive reason in the face of mystical union, where language stretches and breaks.

7. “It is no longer her will which wills, but now the will of God wills in her; for this Soul dwells not in love which causes her to will this through desiring something. Instead, Love dwells in her who seized her will, and Love accomplishes Love’s will in her.”

Love clarifies: the Soul’s will is now entirely God’s. She no longer wills by way of desire or intention. Rather, Love itself dwells and acts in her. This is the essence of mystical passivity or non-action: her will has been seized by Love, and now God acts within her without resistance.

8. “Thus Love works in her without her, which is why no anxiety can remain in her.”

Love’s activity in the Soul is not mediated by the Soul’s effort. This “without her” expresses a profound passivity-an infused activity of God alone. As a result, anxiety vanishes, since there is no striving left. Her peace is absolute because all self-originated desire and will have died.

9. “This Soul, says Love, no longer knows how to speak about God, for she is annihilated from all her external desires and interior sentiments, from all affection of spirit;”

Speech about God requires a distance between subject and object. But this Soul has been annihilated from even the spiritual faculties-desire, feeling, affection-so she cannot even speak of God, for there is no longer a “self” to speak. She is not only silent but silenced by Love.

10. “so that what this Soul does she does by practice of good habit according to the commandment of the Holy Church, without any desire, for the will is dead which gave desire to her.”

The Soul still acts externally-she lives according to the Church’s commandments and customs-but her interior is empty of desire or motive. Her will is dead, so even her outward piety is no longer “hers” in the usual sense. This protects Porete from charges of antinomianism: the Soul appears obedient, but her obedience arises not from will but from union.

—

1. Why does the Soul “take account of neither shame nor honor, neither poverty nor wealth” and even neither “hell nor paradise”?

Because she has been emptied of all self-regard and desire. She is no longer moved by external opposites or internal inclinations. Her love of God is so pure that it seeks neither reward nor fears punishment. She lives in total detachment, beyond all created goods and evils, anchored only in God.

2. Why is Reason unable to understand what Love is describing?

Reason is limited to natural knowledge, moral logic, and doctrinal boundaries. But what Love describes is a divine mystery, a gift of God that surpasses Scripture, human comprehension, and any merit-based achievement. Only one who has received this direct illumination from God can understand it.

3. What does Love mean when she says, “this Soul, who has become nothing, thus possesses everything, and so possesses nothing”?

This paradox expresses the mystical state of union with God. By becoming “nothing” (dying to self), the Soul is united with God who is “everything.” She possesses all in God but nothing as her own possession. Her knowledge, will, and being are now God’s, not hers.

4. How does Love answer Reason’s concern about the Soul still willing, even after she was said to have no will?

Love explains that it is not the Soul’s own will that acts now, but the will of God acting in her. Her own will has been seized and emptied by Love. Thus, it is God’s will that wills through her, without desire or self-interest.

5. What does it mean when Love says, “Love works in her without her”?

It means the Soul is so annihilated that even her actions are no longer attributed to her own initiative. Love (God) is the sole actor. She is passive, receptive, and entirely moved by divine will, not by her own decisions or affections.

6. Why can this Soul no longer “speak about God”?

Because speaking about God presumes a subject (the soul) contemplating an object (God). But the Soul has been annihilated-there is no self to speak. She has transcended even spiritual affection and contemplation. Her union is too deep and simple for language.

7. How does the Soul live outwardly if her will and desires are dead?

She continues to live according to the commandments of the Holy Church through the habit of virtue, not out of conscious will or desire. Her external life remains faithful, but her interior is detached from all intention. Obedience becomes a spontaneous fruit of divine indwelling.

8. What is the significance of the Soul having “no anxiety”?

Anxiety arises from self-will, fear, and desire. Since the Soul has none of these-her will is now God’s, her desires are dead-she is perfectly at peace. Nothing can disturb her because nothing moves her but God.

9. What does this chapter reveal about Marguerite Porete’s view of perfection?

Perfection, for Porete, is not moral achievement or spiritual effort, but self-emptying to the point where God alone acts in the soul. It is a state of annihilation, detachment, and divine indwelling where the soul no longer even desires God, but simply is in God.

——————–

Chapter 8 teaches that the Soul, having passed through long servitude under the guidance of Reason and the Virtues, reaches a point of spiritual freedom where she no longer practices the Virtues in their earlier, effortful form. Reason, puzzled and scandalized, fails to grasp this higher state and believes the Soul is deluded for abandoning the very practices that lead to salvation. But Love corrects this misunderstanding: the Soul has not rejected the Virtues but has so fully interiorized and transcended them that they now serve her spontaneously and effortlessly. Formerly, the Virtues demanded constant sacrifice and discipline, often tormenting Nature; now, the Soul is so united with Love that the Virtues follow her will without resistance. This is not a loss of virtue, but a consummation-where the Soul, once a servant, becomes a mistress of the very powers that once ruled her.

—

1. Reason: “What a wonder! This Soul no longer has any sentiment of grace, nor desire of spirit, since she has taken leave of the Virtues who offer the manner of living well to every good soul, and without these Virtues none can be saved nor come to perfection of life; and whoever possesses them cannot be deceived. Nevertheless, this Soul takes leave of them. Is she not out of her mind, the Soul who speaks thus?”

Reason is struck by the paradox that the Soul has “taken leave of the Virtues,” which are typically regarded as essential for salvation and perfection. In Reason’s view, abandoning the Virtues seems irrational, as they are seen as the means to live well and reach the perfection of life. This reveals the conflict between the natural order of reason and the divine paradox being described. For Reason, the Virtues represent the foundation of spiritual life, yet the Soul has moved beyond them, raising a question about the nature of true perfection and divine love.

2. Love: “Without a doubt, not at all, for such Souls possess better the Virtues than any other creatures, but they do not possess any longer the practice of them, for these Souls no longer belong to the Virtues as they used to; also they have been servants long enough to become free from now on.”

Love responds by reframing the Soul’s relationship with the Virtues. She explains that the Soul, having once served the Virtues, has transcended the need to practice them in the conventional way. The Soul has become so perfected by Love that she no longer operates in the realm of the Virtues as a servant, but has become free. This freedom does not imply a rejection of the Virtues but a transformation in the Soul’s spiritual state. She no longer practices them because she has become them. This is a radical departure from the standard understanding of moral growth.

3. Reason: “When were they servants?”
Love: “When they lived in the love and the obedience of you, Lady Reason, and also of the other Virtues.”

Love indicates that the Soul was once a servant to Reason and the other Virtues when she was on the path of spiritual growth, obeying their rules and moral commands. This is a necessary stage of spiritual development, where the Soul’s efforts are directed towards living virtuously and according to reason. But once this stage has been perfected, the Soul no longer needs to live in obedience to the Virtues because she is now elevated beyond them.

4. Love: “When Love dwells in them, and the Virtues serve them without any contradiction and without labor by such Souls.”

This marks the critical moment of transformation: when Love (divine Love) takes full possession of the Soul, she transcends the need for the active practice of the Virtues. The Virtues, now perfected within her, become natural to her being. She is no longer bound by the labor of working on individual virtues, because Love itself is now at work in her, perfectly ordering all things.

5. Love: “Such Souls who have become so free have known many days what Dominion knows how to do. And if someone were to ask them about the greatest torment a creature could suffer, they would say that it would be to live in Love and to be still in obedience to the Virtues.”

Love suggests that these Souls have learned the deep mystery of freedom. Their freedom lies in surrendering completely to Love, which paradoxically involves transcending the labor of virtue. The greatest torment, they say, would be to live in Love but still remain bound by the structures of the Virtues. This is a striking contrast: while the Virtues once guided the Soul, they are now surpassed by the full and free expression of divine Love. This expresses a profound mystical experience where the Soul is no longer bound by traditional moral structures but operates entirely in the freedom of Love.

6. Love: “Thus it is that the Virtues demand honor and possessions, heart and body and life. This means that such Souls leave all things, and still the Virtues say to this Soul, who gave all this to them retaining nothing to comfort Nature, they say to her that the just are saved at great pain.”

The Virtues, in their highest form, demand total self-surrender: heart, body, and life. For the Soul to have left all these things behind shows her complete abandonment to divine Love. Even though the Virtues commend the Soul for such sacrifices, they still acknowledge the tremendous pain involved. This reveals a paradox in the mystical journey: the Soul who seeks perfection must undergo suffering, even in the abandonment of the Virtues, as she transcends them.

7. Love: “Such Souls have perfected the Virtues, for such Souls do nothing more for the Virtues. But instead, the Virtues do everything which such Souls wish, without dominating and without contradiction, for such Souls are their mistresses.”

In this final statement, Love reveals the mystical fulfillment of the Soul’s union with God: the Soul no longer works for the Virtues, but the Virtues now work for her. The Soul has become the mistress of the Virtues, not by rejecting them, but by having them perfected in her being. This signifies the Soul’s complete union with God’s will, where the Virtues serve her naturally and without conflict. It marks the ultimate freedom: not the freedom to act on her own, but the freedom to act entirely in accordance with divine love and will.

Summary Commentary:
In this chapter, we see the tension between Reason, which is bound by conventional moral categories, and the deeper mystical insight of Love. While Reason cannot comprehend why the Soul would abandon the Virtues, Love explains that these Souls transcend them by becoming perfected within them. The Soul’s true freedom lies in surrendering to divine Love, beyond the labor of moral striving, and entering into a state where the Virtues no longer demand effort, but naturally flow from the divine indwelling. This reflects a mystical understanding of perfection, where the Soul becomes so united with God that even the highest virtues are no longer required as separate practices but are seamlessly integrated into her being.

—

1. Why does Reason think it’s a wonder that the Soul has abandoned the Virtues?

Reason is astonished because the Virtues are typically seen as essential to spiritual growth and salvation. According to Reason, no one can live a good life, be saved, or achieve perfection without practicing the Virtues. The Soul’s departure from the Virtues challenges the conventional understanding that they are necessary for salvation.

2. How does Love respond to Reason’s concern about the Soul abandoning the Virtues?

Love explains that the Soul has not actually abandoned the Virtues but has transcended them. While the Soul once served the Virtues, she has now become so perfected by divine Love that she no longer needs to practice them in the traditional sense. The Soul has achieved freedom, having completed the training that the Virtues offered, and now operates naturally in the fullness of Love.

3. What does Love mean when she says that the Soul has become “free” from the Virtues?

Love means that the Soul has reached a state of spiritual maturity where she no longer needs to follow the strictures of the Virtues as a servant. Instead, she is now able to live perfectly in divine Love, where the Virtues naturally manifest without any effort or conscious practice. The Soul’s freedom is not a rejection of the Virtues, but an elevation beyond the need to struggle with them.

4. What does Love say about the relationship between the Soul and the Virtues after the Soul becomes free?

Love states that once the Soul is free, the Virtues no longer demand anything from her. Instead, the Virtues serve the Soul, carrying out her desires without any contradiction or effort on her part. The Soul has become the mistress of the Virtues, embodying them perfectly, which demonstrates her complete union with divine Love.

5. How does Love describe the greatest torment a creature could suffer, according to the Souls who have reached perfection?

Love says that the greatest torment for these Souls would be to live in Love but still be in obedience to the Virtues. This paradoxical statement reveals that the Souls have transcended the need to practice the Virtues because they now live fully in divine Love. The struggle to align oneself with the Virtues becomes unnecessary once Love has taken full possession of the Soul.

6. What do the Virtues demand from the Soul, and how does the Soul respond?

The Virtues demand everything from the Soul-honor, possessions, heart, body, and life. The Soul willingly gives up all of these, but even after this total surrender, the Virtues acknowledge that the just are saved with great difficulty. Despite the pain involved, the Soul is now so united with divine Love that the sacrifice becomes natural and necessary.

7. What is the significance of the Soul becoming the “mistress” of the Virtues?

Becoming the mistress of the Virtues signifies the Soul’s complete union with divine Love. It means that the Soul no longer practices the Virtues as separate actions but embodies them fully. The Virtues are no longer something she struggles with or works toward; they are seamlessly integrated into her being, and she directs them effortlessly, as they now serve her.

8. How does this chapter challenge traditional views of virtue and spiritual growth?

This chapter challenges the conventional view that the Virtues are the primary means of spiritual growth and salvation. Instead, it presents the idea that true spiritual perfection transcends the active practice of the Virtues, and is found in complete union with divine Love. The Soul no longer needs to strive to be virtuous because Love itself has perfected the Soul, and the Virtues are integrated into her being.

——————–

Chapter 9 teaches that the Soul fully united to Love no longer possesses any personal will or desire-not for purgatory, paradise, or even certainty of salvation-because to desire anything would separate her from the pure freedom of Love. In this annihilated state, the Soul lives only by Understanding, Love, and Praise, with no self-reflection or judgment of her own condition, for she no longer possesses self-consciousness in the usual sense. Her nature, now transformed and ordered by Love, asks for nothing forbidden, and she lives without anxiety except in true necessity. This mysterious state cannot be grasped by Reason, the senses, or conventional religious teachers, but only by those whom “Fine Love” calls and transforms in an instant. Such a Soul, utterly passive and free, becomes a true student of Divine Wisdom, resting in humility, truth, and love-the highest gift God gives to a creature.

—

1. [Love]: “Whoever would ask such free Souls, sure and peaceful, if they would want to be in purgatory, they would say no; or if they would want to be certain of their salvation in this life, they would say no; or if they would want to be in paradise, they would say no. But then with what would they will it? They no longer possess any will, and if they would desire anything, they would separate themselves from Love. For the One who possesses their will knows what is their good, and this is their sufficiency without them knowing it and without being assured of it.”

In this passage, Love explains that the Souls who have transcended the need for the Virtues and perfected themselves in divine Love no longer possess a will of their own. They no longer desire anything-whether it be purgatory, certainty of salvation, or paradise-because their will has been wholly absorbed into the will of God. This reflects the idea that true spiritual freedom comes when the individual no longer desires anything for themselves but is completely united with divine will. The phrase “the One who possesses their will knows what is their good” suggests that these Souls trust entirely in God’s wisdom and providence, recognizing that His will is their sufficiency, even if they are not explicitly aware of it.

2. [Love]: “Such Souls, however, live by understanding, by Love, and by praise. This is the habitual practice of such Souls without moving themselves, for Understanding, Love, and Praise dwell in them.”

Love characterizes these Souls as living in a constant state of divine understanding, Love, and praise. This is not a conscious striving or effort on the part of the Soul; rather, it is a state of being in which these qualities are naturally manifested because the Soul has been fully transformed by God. There is no separation between what they do and what they are, as they have become fully aligned with divine virtues, operating without personal effort.

3. [Love]: “Such Souls do not know how to consider themselves good or evil, no longer possessing understanding of themselves, nor knowing how to judge if they are converted or perverted.”

This statement highlights the Soul’s transcendence of self-awareness. These Souls no longer judge themselves based on traditional moral categories of good or evil because they have reached a state of complete unity with divine Love. Their actions and existence are no longer governed by personal judgment or self-assessment; they simply live in divine Love, free from self-consciousness or concern about their own moral standing. This absence of self-judgment shows the depth of their freedom from personal will and ego.

4. [Love]: “To speak more briefly, let us take one Soul as an example, says Love. Such a Soul neither desires nor despises poverty nor tribulation, neither mass nor sermon, neither fast nor prayer, and gives to Nature all that is necessary, without remorse of conscience. But such Nature is so well ordered through the transformation by unity of Love, to whom the will of this Soul is conjoined, that Nature demands nothing which is prohibited. Such a Soul has no anxiety about anything which she lacks, unless it is in the hour of her necessity. And no one can lose this anxiety if he is not innocent.”

In this passage, Love elaborates on the way such Souls behave. They are not concerned with the material conditions of life (poverty, tribulation, rituals like mass or prayer) because their will has been wholly united with God’s will. The Soul’s natural inclinations (Nature) are aligned with divine will, so she desires nothing that would be considered sinful or contrary to God’s law. Their lack of anxiety about their own needs reflects the peace that comes from complete trust in God. Even in moments of necessity, there is no anxiety, as the Soul knows that God will provide. This reinforces the idea that true freedom comes when one has surrendered the will and relies entirely on God’s will.

5. [Reason]: “For the sake of God! says Reason. What are you saying?”

Reason, as is typical throughout the dialogue, expresses confusion or resistance to the idea that the Soul no longer has a will of her own. Reason represents the human intellectual approach, which finds it difficult to comprehend the state of the Soul described by Love. This reaction underscores the challenge of understanding divine union from a human, rational perspective, which operates on categories of self-will and desire.

6. [Love]: “I answer you thus, Reason, says Love. As I said to you before, and again I say it to you, that none of the masters of the natural senses, nor any the masters of Scripture, nor those who remain in the love of the obedience to the Virtues, none perceive this, nor will they perceive what is intended. But of this be certain, Reason, says Love, for no one perceives it except those whom Fine Love’ calls. But if by chance one finds such Souls, they will speak the truth about it, if they wish. And do not think that anyone can understand them, but only those whom Fine Love and Charity call.”

Love responds to Reason by explaining that this state of the Soul is beyond the understanding of human reason, even the highest intellectual and spiritual authorities (those who are masters of senses, Scripture, or the Virtues). Only those whom “Fine Love” (a deep, divine Love) calls will understand this state. This emphasizes the mystical and incomprehensible nature of the Soul’s transformation. It is not something that can be understood through human intellect or religious adherence alone; it is a gift that God bestows upon those whom He chooses.

7. [Love]: “This gift, says Love, is given any time in a moment of an hour, and whoever possesses it guards it, for it is the most perfect gift which God gives to a creature. This Soul is a student of Divinity, and she sits in the valley of Humility and on the plain of Truth, and rests on the mountain of Love.”

Finally, Love describes this gift as the most perfect gift that God can give to a creature: the complete union with divine Love, where the Soul no longer has a will of her own but is fully aligned with God’s will. This gift is fragile and must be carefully guarded. The Soul who receives it becomes a “student of Divinity,” continually growing in humility, truth, and Love. The imagery of the valley of Humility, the plain of Truth, and the mountain of Love highlights the progression of spiritual growth, from humble submission to God to the highest union with divine Love.

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1. Why do these liberated souls refuse to will anything-even salvation, paradise, or purgatory?

Because they no longer possess a personal will; their will is entirely united with God’s. Desiring anything would mean separating from Love. Since Love itself now possesses their will, they are content in a divine sufficiency that operates without their conscious knowledge or assurance.

2. What becomes the daily activity or “practice” of such souls?

Their life becomes a constant state of Understanding, Love, and Praise. These are not external acts they perform, but inward realities that dwell within them. They no longer exert effort to achieve these virtues; they live by them, effortlessly and continually.

3. How do such souls view their own moral state-whether good or evil?

They have no self-knowledge in this regard. They do not judge themselves as good or evil, converted or perverted. Their self-understanding is lost in God, and they no longer reference themselves through moral categories-they are beyond self-reflection.

4. How do these souls relate to religious practices and physical needs?

They neither desire nor despise spiritual practices (e.g., Mass, fasting, prayer), nor do they feel compelled by them. They give their body what it needs without guilt, because their nature has been reordered by Love. Their desires are so attuned to God’s will that they never seek anything prohibited.

5. What kind of anxiety do they still experience, if any?

They experience no anxiety except in moments of real physical necessity. Even this minimal anxiety can only be entirely lost by someone who is innocent-implying that only the fully purified soul is completely free of all worry.

6. Why does Reason object to what Love is saying, and how does Love respond?

Reason is scandalized-what Love says seems to contradict traditional teachings and religious norms. Love responds by asserting that neither masters of the senses, Scripture, nor even those faithful to the Virtues can understand this path. Only those whom Fine Love and Charity call will perceive and speak truth about it.

7. What is the nature of the gift these souls have received, according to Love?

It is the most perfect gift God gives-a momentary yet enduring transformation that unites the soul to God beyond will or knowledge. This soul becomes a “student of Divinity,” resting in Humility, Truth, and Love-dwelling symbolically in valley, plain, and mountain respectively.

8. What does it mean that this soul no longer moves herself?

It means she is no longer driven by self-generated desire, effort, or thought. All movement arises from God within her-Love and Understanding are not things she uses; they are her condition. She is passive, receptive, and entirely moved by God.

9. Why is this state so difficult to understand or recognize?

Because it transcends the categories of religious obedience, moral striving, and intellectual knowledge. It is a mystical gift, hidden from those who rely solely on reason, discipline, or external religion. Only those called by Fine Love can even recognize or affirm it.

10. How might one verify whether a soul truly lives in this state?

Such a soul can speak truthfully of her state if she wishes, but she cannot be understood except by others who have been similarly called by Fine Love and Charity. This makes the state inherently self-verifying among those who share it, and invisible to those outside it.

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Chapter 10 presents twelve mystical names by which Love identifies the Soul who has been transformed by divine union, at the request of Reason who seeks to offer some understanding to the “Actives.” These names-such as The Very Marvelous One, The Not Understood, Most Innocent of the Daughters of Jerusalem, and Oblivion-express the Soul’s hiddenness, divine grounding, humility, illumination, and total self-forgetfulness. Each name signifies a stage or quality of the Soul’s annihilated and exalted state: her foundation in the Church, her enlightenment by understanding, her adornment with Love, her peace and fulfillment in divine will, and ultimately, her being lost in God beyond comprehension. Through this naming, Love reveals the Soul’s true nobility, invisible to ordinary understanding but grasped by the hearing heart of the devout.

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1. “Ah, Love,” says Reason, “name this Soul by her right name, give to the Actives some understanding of it.”

Here, Reason acts as the intermediary for the “Actives”-those who live in the way of the virtues, spiritual effort, and moral striving. They cannot grasp the nature of the liberated Soul through conceptual understanding, so Reason pleads with Love to provide names-poetic, symbolic designations that might give them some glimpse or hearing of what they cannot directly perceive.

2. “She can be named, says Love, by twelve names…”

Love answers by offering twelve mystical titles. Each name is a window into the soul’s state of union with God. They are not descriptions in the usual sense, but revelations-each compressing a mystery, meant to resonate spiritually rather than instruct didactically. The twelve-fold naming evokes fullness and perfection, echoing biblical and liturgical symbolism (e.g., twelve tribes, twelve apostles).

3. “The very marvelous one.”

This name stresses the Soul’s astonishing transformation-a marvel to angels and saints, and beyond human comprehension. Her state is not the result of effort or merit, but of divine wonder.

4. “The Not Understood.”

A key name: this Soul cannot be understood by intellect or moral reasoning. Her identity is hidden even from herself, echoing the apophatic tradition-she is lost in God beyond concept.

5. “Most Innocent of the Daughters of Jerusalem.”

Innocence here is not moral naiveté but the purity that comes from utter union with God’s will. She surpasses even the holy “Daughters of Jerusalem” (symbolic of devout souls), being the most stripped of self.

6. “She upon whom the Holy Church is founded.”

Radically bold: the Soul in union with Love becomes a foundation stone of the Church-not institutionally, but spiritually. The Church is built not only on Peter, but on union with God.

7. “Illuminated by Understanding.”

Not intellectual comprehension, but divine illumination-an inner light that comes from being possessed by Love. Understanding is now an infused state, not a skill or acquired knowledge.

8. “Adorned by Love.”

Love not only transforms but beautifies the soul. Her only ornament is Love itself; all her dignity and glory come from being clothed in divine affection.

9. “Living by Praise.”

Her entire being is praise. She no longer praises as an action; she is praise in essence-her existence is perpetual glorification of God.

10. “Annihilated in all things through Humility.”

Self-will, ego, striving-all are annihilated. True humility is not thinking lowly of oneself, but no longer being for oneself. Her nothingness becomes the space where God dwells.

11. “At peace in divine being through divine will.”

This is the still point: she rests not in her understanding of God, but in God. Her peace is unshakable because it comes from surrender into divine being itself.

12. “She who wills nothing except the divine will.”

Her will is perfectly one with God’s. Not just obedience, but ontological unity: she no longer has a will of her own. What God wills, she wills-effortlessly.

13. “Filled and satisfied without any lack by divine goodness through the work of the Trinity.”

She is entirely full. There is no hunger, no longing, no incompletion. The Trinity’s work in her is total. Her satisfaction is not emotional but ontological: nothing is missing.

14. “Her last name is: Oblivion, Forgotten.”

This is the apex of self-emptying. She is forgotten-by the world, by herself, even in some way as an object of knowledge. Her identity has dissolved into God. She is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3). This “oblivion” is not loss but divine concealment.

15. “And without fail,” says Pure Courtesy, “it is right that she be thus named, for these are her right names.”

Pure Courtesy-symbolizing divine gentleness and appropriateness-confirms that these names are true and fitting. The language may seem lofty or strange to the Actives, but it is accurate in a deeper register of spiritual truth.

16. “Ah, Love,” says Reason, “you have named this Soul by many names, by which the Actives have some understanding of her, which would only be by hearing the very noble names by which you have named her.”

Reason acknowledges that these names do not provide intellectual grasp, but they convey something through their nobility and resonance. The Actives can now begin to revere what they cannot understand-recognizing holiness through the language of Love.

—

1. Why does Reason ask Love to name the Soul for the Actives?

Reason understands that the Actives-those still engaged in the path of moral and religious striving-cannot comprehend the state of the liberated Soul through explanation. So, she asks Love to name the Soul in a way that can offer them a glimpse or reverent hearing of the mystery they cannot grasp intellectually.

2. What is the significance of naming the Soul with twelve titles?

The twelve names reflect a symbolic fullness and spiritual perfection (echoing scriptural patterns like the twelve tribes or apostles). Each name expresses a distinct aspect of the Soul’s union with God, not as individual attributes but as facets of a single, complete transformation in Love.

3. What does the name “The Not Understood” reveal about the nature of the Soul in this state?

It indicates that the Soul transcends all human understanding. She cannot be grasped by intellect, theology, or natural reason-even by herself. Her identity is hidden in God, emphasizing the apophatic tradition and the mystery of divine union.

4. How does “Annihilated in all things through Humility” relate to the core theme of self-emptying?

This name shows the complete disappearance of self-will and ego. The Soul no longer asserts anything for herself, and this radical humility opens the way for God to fully inhabit her. True humility is not thinking little of oneself, but the loss of self in God.

5. What does “Living by Praise” imply about the Soul’s daily existence?

It means that the Soul’s entire being is a continuous act of praise. She no longer needs to perform acts of devotion-her very existence is glorification of God. This is praise as ontological condition, not verbal or ritual expression.

6. Why is the Soul called “Oblivion, Forgotten” as her final name?

This name captures the culmination of her journey: she has been entirely forgotten by the world, and even by herself. All identity has dissolved into God. It expresses the hiddenness of divine union and the Soul’s final detachment from all that is not God.

7. What does Love mean by saying “none perceive this… but only those whom Fine Love calls”?

Love is highlighting that the understanding of this state cannot be taught, inherited, or reasoned into. Only those chosen by Divine Love (called by “Fine Love”) can know it from within. It is a grace, not an achievement.

8. How does this chapter challenge the perspective of the Actives and even the theologians?

It reveals that those who live by effort, reason, obedience to virtues, or study of Scripture cannot grasp the Soul’s state of union. This challenges a view of salvation or holiness based on merit, replacing it with a radical surrender to Love.

9. What theological truth is implied in the title “Filled and satisfied… by the work of the Trinity”?

It shows that the soul is now the dwelling place of the Triune God. The satisfaction she experiences is Trinitarian in origin-perfect, lacking nothing, and flowing directly from divine goodness. It is a profound statement about the inner life of grace.

10. How do these names function for the reader who is not yet in the state of the Soul described?

They serve as invitations and signposts. While the reader may not understand them fully, the names stir longing, reverence, and perhaps a loosening of reliance on one’s own effort. They suggest that divine union is real and attainable-not by work, but by surrender.

Overall Synthesis of The Sparkling Stone by John van Ruysbroeck

The Sparkling Stone is a contemplative and mystical treatise that outlines the full path of the soul’s ascent into union with God and its subsequent return to the world as a channel of divine love. The work is structured around a detailed articulation of the stages of inner purification, spiritual illumination, divine union, and the fruition of that union in a transformed, charitable life. Ruysbroeck’s approach is both deeply metaphysical and profoundly experiential, rooted in the Christian mystical tradition and drawing especially on the themes of Trinitarian love, self-emptying, and the interior life.

At the heart of the work is the idea that the soul must be purified of all disordered loves and false attachments before it can begin to perceive and enjoy God. This purification involves both moral virtue and detachment from all images, concepts, and even self-conscious striving. The soul must be emptied of self through humility, peace, and interior silence. As this process deepens, the soul becomes increasingly receptive to divine grace, leading to the possibility of a contemplative union in which the soul perceives God with “bare thought” and rests in His simplicity.

This contemplative life reaches its peak in a mystical union that Ruysbroeck calls “fruition”-a direct, loving adherence to God in which the soul experiences both the indrawing and outpouring touches of the Divine. In the indrawing, the soul is drawn out of itself and absorbed into the mystery of God’s own being, entering into the simple unity of the Trinity. This results in a state where the soul no longer sees itself as distinct but becomes one with God “without difference and without distinction.” This union is marked not by activity but by a peaceful, loving rest in God’s own life, a state that surpasses the intellect and draws the soul into the “darkness” of God-His unknowable essence.

However, this highest experience of God is not the end of the soul’s journey. For Ruysbroeck, true union must give birth to action. The soul, having been transformed by love, is sent back into the world by God. It now lives what he calls the “common life,” marked by a balance of contemplation and active charity. This God-seeing person seeks only the glory of God, not his own. He is a vessel of virtue, a source of help to others, and lives out of the inexhaustible abundance of the Holy Spirit. He is both hidden in God and manifest in love for the world-rooted in the divine life and bearing fruit in acts of compassion and justice.

Throughout The Sparkling Stone, Ruysbroeck emphasizes that none of this can be achieved by mere effort or desire, but only through divine grace and conformity to Christ. He also repeatedly warns against self-deception-those who think they enjoy God while clinging to images, attachments, or self-interest are deluded. The true contemplative is marked by total inward purity, an open and surrendered heart, and a willingness to follow God both into the solitude of contemplation and the demands of daily life.

In essence, The Sparkling Stone presents a map of the soul’s transformation in God. It leads the reader from purification through illumination to the heights of divine union and back down again into a world transfigured by love. The work is at once a rigorous theological vision of Christian mysticism and a deeply personal testimony to the life of grace.

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Prologue: In the prologue of The Sparkling Stone, Ruysbroeck outlines the ideal of Christian perfection as a harmonious integration of four qualities: moral zeal, interior spiritual depth, contemplative union with God, and loving outflow toward others. True holiness is not found in isolation or imbalance, but in the unity of these dimensions, each enriching and tempering the others. When they are present together, the soul is in a perfect state and, through the continual increase of divine grace, it grows ever deeper in virtue and the knowledge of truth-both before God in hidden intimacy and before others in visible witness.

—

“The man who would live in the most perfect state of Holy Church must be a good and zealous man; an inward and ghostly man; an uplifted and God-seeing man; and an outflowing man to all in common.”

Ruysbroeck opens with a concise map of Christian perfection: moral zeal, inner depth, mystical vision, and loving action. Each trait points to a distinct dimension of the spiritual life – ethical integrity, contemplative interiority, union with God, and generous charity. Perfection is not found in just one of these, but in their harmonious integration.

“Whenever these four things are together in a man, then his state is perfect;”

The “perfect state” is not a singular achievement, but a balanced fullness of spiritual life. These four dimensions – virtue, interior life, vision of God, and outward love – must coexist. Ruysbroeck avoids extremes: no mysticism without virtue, no charity without contemplation.

“and through the increase of grace he shall continually grow and progress in all virtues, and in the knowledge of truth, before God and before all men.”
Perfection is dynamic, not static. Even the perfect soul is still “growing,” not by human strength but by divine grace. This growth deepens both virtue (moral excellence) and truth (spiritual knowledge), lived transparently before God (inwardly) and before all men (outwardly).

—

1. What four qualities define the person who lives in the most perfect state of Holy Church according to Ruysbroeck?

Ruysbroeck identifies four qualities:

A good and zealous man: One who lives a morally upright life and is fervent in devotion and works.

An inward and ghostly man: A person rooted in interiority, attuned to the spiritual life, and sensitive to the workings of grace.

An uplifted and God-seeing man: One who lives in contemplation, raised above himself through divine illumination, beholding God.

An outflowing man to all in common: One who expresses his union with God in active love and generosity toward all.

These four aspects represent the integration of moral virtue, contemplative depth, mystical union, and active charity.

2. Why does Ruysbroeck say that all four aspects must be present together?

He teaches that a person’s state is perfect only when all four qualities are united. This union ensures that no part of the spiritual life is isolated or overemphasized. For example, contemplation without charity, or zeal without interiority, would be incomplete. True perfection lies in the balance and interpenetration of all four.

3. How does Ruysbroeck describe spiritual progress in the perfect soul?

Spiritual progress is described as a continual growth through the increase of grace. The perfect person doesn’t remain static but advances in virtue (moral life) and knowledge of truth (spiritual insight). This growth is visible before God (indicating interior, divine knowledge) and before all men (indicating visible fruitfulness and witness).

4. What does the phrase “knowledge of truth before God and before all men” imply about the nature of true wisdom?

True wisdom is not merely intellectual or private. It is a lived knowledge that arises from grace, is perceived by God, and bears fruit in the world. The phrase implies both mystical knowledge (known in divine intimacy) and practical knowledge (manifested in moral and charitable action). It is a wisdom that shines inwardly and outwardly.

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Chapter 1. Ruysbroeck outlines three essential qualities that constitute a truly good man: a clean conscience free from mortal sin, a threefold obedience to God, the Church, and one’s rightly formed conscience, and a sincere intention to glorify God in all actions. These qualities together make a soul open and receptive to divine grace. Ruysbroeck insists that without any one of these, a person cannot be considered good or in the grace of God. Yet he also affirms that even the most sinful person can become good in an instant if he sincerely resolves to live by these principles, for such a resolution disposes the soul immediately to God and fills it with grace.

—

“The first, which a good man must have, is a clean conscience without reproach of mortal sin.”

The foundation of goodness is moral integrity. A clean conscience means not only the absence of serious sin, but also a deep alignment of the will with God. Ruysbroeck begins with purification – the necessity of being reconciled with God through repentance and confession, in accordance with the teaching of the Church.

“Whosoever wishes to become a good man must examine and prove himself with due discernment, from that time onward when he could first have committed sin.”

Conversion begins with self-examination – an honest and discerning review of one’s life from the first moment of moral responsibility. Ruysbroeck emphasizes the Church’s guidance, underscoring the importance of tradition, confession, and moral seriousness.

“The second thing which pertains to a good man is that he must in all things be obedient to God, and to Holy Church, and to his own proper convictions.”

Goodness is not only about avoiding sin, but also about active obedience. This includes:

Obedience to God: the ultimate source of truth;

Obedience to Holy Church: the visible authority and sacramental life;

Obedience to one’s own convictions: the properly formed conscience, when aligned with grace.
All three must harmonize. Ruysbroeck refuses both legalism and mere individualism.

“So shall he live without care and doubt, and shall ever abide without inward reproach in all his deeds.”

The fruit of true obedience is peace – not anxiety or scrupulosity, but a quiet conscience, rooted in fidelity. This spiritual tranquility is a mark of the good man.

“The third thing which behoves every good man is that in all his deeds he should have in mind, above all else, the glory of God.”

The good man is not self-centered, but God-centered. Every action should aim at the glorification of God, either explicitly or implicitly. This orientation sanctifies even mundane work.

“If… he has not always God before his eyes, yet at least there should be established in him the intention and desire to live according to the dearest will of God.”

Ruysbroeck allows for human frailty. Even when direct attention to God lapses, a fixed intention toward God’s will preserves the purity of the act. This is a pastoral and deeply Carmelite insight – intention sanctifies.

“These three things, when they are possessed in this way, make a man good.”

Goodness is not a vague ideal, but the result of three concrete principles: a purified conscience, obedience to divine and ecclesial authority, and the God-centered aim of one’s life.

“And whosoever lacks any one of these three is neither good nor in the grace of God…”

Ruysbroeck speaks with clarity and seriousness. These are not optional virtues – without them, the soul is not rightly disposed to grace.

“But whenever a man resolves in his heart to fulfil these three points… in that very instant he becomes good, and is susceptible of God, and filled with the grace of God.”

Here is the heart of Ruysbroeck’s theology of transformation: the will’s turning to God is decisive. The soul that sincerely chooses these three pillars – contrition, obedience, and the glory of God – is immediately “susceptible” to grace, regardless of past sin. God rushes in where the will opens.

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1. What is the first requirement for becoming a good man, and how is it to be fulfilled?

The first requirement is a clean conscience, free from the guilt of mortal sin. To achieve this, a person must engage in serious self-examination, discerning his sins from the first moment he became morally responsible. This self-scrutiny should be guided by the precepts and customs of Holy Church, meaning it includes sacramental confession and genuine repentance. Purity of conscience is foundational because it prepares the soul for grace and aligns the will with God’s law.

2. What threefold obedience defines the second mark of a good man?

A good man must be obedient in three ways:

To God: This is the highest obedience, aligning oneself with divine law and grace.

To Holy Church: This involves submission to ecclesial authority, the sacramental life, and Church teachings.

To one’s own proper convictions: That is, a rightly formed conscience, consistent with truth and charity.

These three are not in competition but must work in harmony. Ruysbroeck insists on equal obedience to all three, emphasizing that a well-ordered soul lives in peace, free from doubt and inward reproach.

3. According to Ruysbroeck, how should a good man orient his actions, and what does this imply about human limitations?

The good man should orient all his actions toward the glory of God. This is the supreme intention that should underlie every deed. However, Ruysbroeck acknowledges human limitations – a person may not always consciously think of God during busy tasks. Still, if the deep intention and desire to do God’s will is firmly established in the heart, the action remains pleasing to God. This affirms that habitual intention, rather than constant attention, sustains the spiritual life amidst daily responsibilities.

4. What does Ruysbroeck say about the person who lacks any one of the three qualities of a good man?

He states firmly that without any one of these three – purity of conscience, obedience, or the intention to glorify God – a person is neither good nor in the grace of God. The three are essential and interconnected. Missing even one disrupts the soul’s receptivity to grace. Ruysbroeck speaks with pastoral seriousness, urging complete commitment rather than partial virtue.

5. Can a person become good instantly, even after a life of sin? If so, how?

Yes, according to Ruysbroeck, in the very instant that a person resolves in his heart to fulfill these three principles, he becomes good. This act of sincere will – turning toward God with contrition, obedience, and the desire to glorify Him – opens the soul to grace. Even the worst sinner can become “susceptible of God” and be filled with grace through this authentic inner conversion. This underscores Ruysbroeck’s belief in the transformative power of the will under grace.

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Chapter 2. Ruysbroeck teaches that a morally good man becomes truly spiritual-what he calls a “ghostly” man-by progressing through three interior transformations: freedom from images, spiritual freedom in desire, and the felt union with God. To be free from images means to let go of all disordered affections and attachments that form impressions in the soul, even in relationships or devotions, unless they are entirely oriented toward God. This detachment prepares the soul to ascend freely in prayer and love without interior hindrance, exercising a spiritual liberty that lifts it toward God in all its actions. When the soul lives in this imageless ascent, it begins to experience an inner union with God-a dynamic communion in which desire and grace continually renew one another. This perpetual rhythm of ascent and union is what constitutes the true interior or ghostly life. Without these three stages, a man may be externally virtuous but cannot be considered truly spiritual.

—

“If, further, this good man would become an inward and ghostly man, he needs must have three further things. The first is a heart unencumbered with images; the second is spiritual freedom in his desires, the third is the feeling of inward union with God.”

Ruysbroeck now moves from moral goodness to interior transformation – from being good to being ghostly (i.e., spiritual). He sets out three progressively deeper requirements: detachment from images, inner freedom, and mystical union. These are not arbitrary but flow organically from the purified moral life described earlier.

“He who would have a heart void of images may not possess anything with affection, nor may he cling to any one, or have intercourse with him with attachment of the will…”

The first stage, freedom from images, requires detachment of the will. Ruysbroeck is not condemning love of persons or things per se, but rather any disordered affection – clinging to others for selfish or fleshly reasons. Such attachments implant images in the soul that crowd out the simplicity required for God.

“All intercourse and all affection which do not aim purely at the honour of God bring images into a man’s heart… born, not of God, but of the flesh.”

The key distinction is between love that arises from the Spirit and love born of the flesh. Only those relationships and affections ordered to God’s glory are spiritually safe. Disordered affections create “images” – not just visual impressions, but interior distractions and idols that cloud the heart.

“If a man would become spiritual, he must forsake all fleshly lusts and loves and must cleave with longing and love to God alone, and thus possess Him.”

Ruysbroeck here calls for radical detachment, but it is not an emptying for its own sake. The soul must “cleave” to God alone, not by suppression but by longing and love. The goal is not negation but divine possession through desire purified of all lesser loves.

“This loving possession of God makes a man inwardly free from ungodly images; for God is a Spirit, of Whom no one can make to himself a true image.”

Since God is pure Spirit, no finite image can represent Him adequately. To possess God spiritually is to be drawn into a formless, imageless communion. The purified soul becomes image-free not through effort alone, but through love’s union with the imageless God.

“Certainly in this exercise a man should lay hold of good images to help him; such as the Passion of our Lord…”

Ruysbroeck is pastoral here. He acknowledges the use of holy images – meditating on Christ’s Passion, for instance – as stepping stones. But even these must give way in the final stage to what he calls imageless Nudity, the pure presence of God unmediated by form.

“The second condition is inward freedom. Through this, the man should be able to raise himself towards God in all inward exercises, free from images and encumbrances…”

Once the heart is cleansed of images, the soul gains inward freedom. This freedom is not passive but active – it enables the soul to rise in prayer, praise, worship, and love, drawn by God’s grace. It is the liberty of a heart unburdened and ready to soar.

“Through this inward exercise, he reaches the third state; which is that he feels a ghostly union with God.”

The climax of the process is inward union – a spiritual and experiential oneness with God. This is not merely conceptual but felt, lived, and transformative. It is the culmination of detachment and freedom: an infused union of the soul with God.

“Whosoever… has an imageless and free ascent unto his God, and means nought else but the glory of God, must taste of the goodness of God…”

Ruysbroeck makes clear that pure intention – desiring only God’s glory – is the gateway to divine taste and experience. The soul encounters God in freedom and simplicity, beyond all created forms.

“And in this union, the inward and spiritual life is made perfect… activity and union perpetually renew themselves; and this perpetual renewal… is a ghostly life.”

Here we see Ruysbroeck’s mystical dynamism: union is not static. It perpetually draws the soul deeper through renewed desire and new acts of love. The rhythm of union and activity, of resting and rising, constitutes the living pulse of the spiritual life.

“So you are now able to see how a man becomes good through the moral virtues and an upright intention; and how he may become ghostly through the inward virtues and union with God.”

Ruysbroeck summarizes: the journey moves from moral goodness (virtues and intention) to spiritual depth (inward virtues and mystical union). The two stages are not opposed, but integrated – the one prepares for the other.

“But without these said points, he can neither be good nor ghostly.”

The path is exacting. Without the threefold moral foundation and the threefold spiritual ascent, the soul remains unformed. Ruysbroeck offers both invitation and warning: the mystical life is open to all, but not cheapened.

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1. What are the three qualities that make a good man into an inward or “ghostly” man?

To become an inward or spiritual (ghostly) man, a person must possess:

A heart unencumbered with images – meaning freedom from attachments that implant created forms or “images” into the soul.

Spiritual freedom in his desires – the ability to rise to God in prayer and devotion without distraction or inner bondage.

The feeling of inward union with God – a lived, experiential communion that renews the soul continually.

These qualities move the soul from moral goodness to mystical interiority.

2. What does Ruysbroeck mean by “images,” and why must the heart be free from them?

By “images,” Ruysbroeck refers not only to mental pictures but to attachments, affections, and created forms that clutter the soul and distract it from God. These images originate from fleshly or self-centered love, not from the Spirit. To be inward, the soul must forsake such attachments and cleave to God alone. Even relationships or religious devotions that are not ordered purely to God’s glory can become spiritual distractions if they create interior “images.”

3. Can any images be useful in the spiritual life according to Ruysbroeck?

Yes – good images can be temporarily useful. Ruysbroeck allows for the use of holy meditations, especially on the Passion of Christ or anything that stirs greater devotion. These can serve as helps or stepping-stones. However, in the final stage of contemplative union, the soul must let go of all images – even good ones – to enter into the imageless “Nudity” of God, who as Spirit cannot be fully grasped or imagined.

4. What is “spiritual freedom,” and how does it affect the soul’s relation to God?

Spiritual freedom is the soul’s ability to lift itself freely toward God in all its exercises – such as thanksgiving, praise, worship, prayer, and love. It means being unbound by attachment, imagination, or interior distractions. This freedom is enabled by grace and interior zeal and makes the soul light, mobile, and responsive in its communion with God. It is the condition necessary for the unhindered ascent of the soul.

5. What is the nature and function of “inward union with God” in the spiritual life?

Inward union with God is a felt, experiential communion where the soul is joined to God beyond all images and desires only His glory. This union perfects the spiritual life, but it is dynamic – not static. It leads to new stirrings of desire and acts of love, which in turn deepen the union. Ruysbroeck describes this as a perpetual renewal: activity (the soul’s loving ascent) and union (its resting in God) feed each other continually. This rhythm is the very life of the inward man.

6. What is the relationship between moral goodness and the ghostly life according to Ruysbroeck?

Moral goodness – consisting of virtues, a clean conscience, and right intention – is the foundation for the ghostly life. Without it, no true inwardness can take root. But the ghostly life goes beyond moral virtue to include detachment from images, spiritual freedom, and union with God. The two levels are integrated: the moral prepares the way; the spiritual completes it. Without both, a man is neither truly good nor truly inward.


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Chapter 3. Ruysbroeck describes how the spiritual man becomes a God-seeing man through three interior conditions: a profound awareness of the soul’s abysmal foundation in God, an unstructured and imageless “wayless” movement of love toward Him, and a dwelling in divine fruition. The soul, grounded in God’s immeasurable depths, is drawn into a love that transcends reason and method, and experiences a continual transformation-melting into unity and burning in the eternal fire of divine love. This consuming love both differentiates and unifies: the soul sees itself as distinct from God, yet in the act of surrender, it loses all distinction and becomes one with Him. Such a life cannot be taught, for it surpasses human instruction and is known only by the direct revelation of God’s eternal truth within the soul.

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“Further, you must know that if this ghostly man would now become a God-seeing man, he needs must have three other things. The first is the feeling that the foundation of his being is abysmal … the second is that his inward exercise should be wayless; the third is that his indwelling should be a divine fruition.”

Ruysbroeck now transitions from the “ghostly” (inward) man to the God-seeing man, who lives in the most elevated spiritual state. This ascent requires three things:

Awareness of one’s abysmal foundation – a mystical sense of the soul’s unfathomable depth and receptivity to God.

Wayless exercise – the soul must operate beyond rational forms, structures, or methods.

Divine fruition – the soul rests in a direct and blissful participation in God’s own life.
These three mark the transition from contemplative practice to mystical union.

“The union with God which a spiritual man feels … as being abysmal-that is, measureless depth, measureless height, measureless length and measureless breadth … And there it feels itself to be one life with God.”

Union with God, in its deepest realization, is immeasurable and limitless. The soul is stretched in every direction-depth, height, length, and breadth-until it becomes lost in divine vastness. This abysmal awareness leads to the soul’s melting into Unity and dying to self, until it becomes one life with God. Ruysbroeck stresses that such union is not metaphorical; it is experientially real, yet it leads to a knowledge that is ignorance, a knowing beyond all knowing.

“And from this there arises the second point, which is an exercise above reason and without condition … he can always enter, naked and unencumbered with images, into the inmost part of his spirit.”

The second trait of the God-seeing soul is its wayless exercise-an interior movement that is beyond all form, reason, or method. In this state, the soul remains empty, image-free, and surrendered, continually drawn by the Divine Unity. This drawing is an eternal interior pull, a loving invitation that only those detached from self can fully feel. It leads to a spiritual fire that consumes the soul in love, demanding total self-surrender.

“This eternal demand of the Divine Unity kindles within the spirit an eternal fire of love … in the transformation within the Unity, all spirits fail in their own activity … and feel nothing else but a burning up of themselves in the simple Unity of God.”

Here Ruysbroeck describes the paradox of divine transformation: the soul, though actively loving, loses all personal initiative and is consumed by a divine fire. This is the purest form of union, in which even love itself becomes God’s action within the soul. The soul no longer sees itself as distinct; it is burned into undifferentiated unity, even though, when it reflects, it still knows itself as “other.” This mystical fire is ceaseless and eternal, the mark of the God-seeing life.

“And thus you may see that the indrawing Unity of God is nought else than the fathomless Love, which lovingly draws inward, in eternal fruition, the Father and the Son and all that lives in Them.”

The movement of the God-seeing soul is nothing less than participation in the Trinitarian Love itself. This love is fathomless and all-consuming, drawing everything into the unity of divine life. All creation, all the saints, all lovers of God, are continually drawn into the inner life of the Trinity, and this movement is itself eternal beatitude. It is not merely something the soul contemplates-it is something the soul becomes.

“And therefore we must all found our lives upon a fathomless abyss; that we may eternally plunge into Love … and be melted away … and eternally wander and sojourn within the Glory of God.”

The conclusion is poetic, rapturous, and visionary. Ruysbroeck teaches that the spiritual foundation must be radical poverty and abyssal receptivity, a total openness to divine immensity. The soul is to plunge, ascend, stray, and dissolve within the infinite Love of God. This mystical journey is not a static vision but a dynamic, unending participation in divine love and glory. All the metaphors-depth, height, wandering, melting-describe the God-seeing soul’s eternal movement into the unknowable God.

“Behold! by each of these images, I show forth to God-seeing men their being and their exercise, but none else can understand them. For the contemplative life cannot be taught. But where the Eternal Truth reveals Itself within the spirit all that is needful is taught and learnt.”

Ruysbroeck closes with a sober note: these things cannot be grasped intellectually or transmitted by teaching. Only the God-seeing soul can understand, because only such a soul experiences these truths inwardly. The contemplative life is given not by instruction, but by the inner revelation of Eternal Truth. This affirms the radical interiority and grace-dependence of the mystical path: it is a gift, not a technique.

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1. What are the three qualities required for a ghostly man to become a God-seeing man?

Ruysbroeck teaches that three further conditions must be met for a spiritual man to become a God-seeing man:

An abysmal foundation – the soul must feel itself rooted in a depth beyond all measure, stretching into height, length, and breadth, until it perceives itself as one with God.

Wayless inward exercise – the soul’s prayer and love must rise beyond reason, method, or image, into pure, formless movement toward God.

Divine fruition – the soul must dwell in a continuous, unmediated enjoyment of God’s being, consumed by divine love.

These mark the transition from inward recollection to mystical contemplation and union.

2. What does Ruysbroeck mean by the “abysmal foundation” of the God-seeing soul?

The “abysmal foundation” refers to the soul’s mystical realization that it exists within a measureless divine reality. This experience reveals the soul as immersed in the limitless depth, height, length, and breadth of God. The soul feels itself melting into unity, surrendering all distinct identity as it dies to itself and lives in God. This abysmal awareness is both foundational and transformative, opening the soul to God’s infinite mystery.

3. What characterizes the “wayless” exercise of a God-seeing soul?

“Wayless” exercise is the soul’s pure, unmediated ascent toward God, free of forms, images, or rational processes. The soul is drawn by the interior pull of Divine Unity, beyond all method or structure. It becomes increasingly detached from self and from all possessions, entering inwardly into the inmost depths of the spirit, where it finds an eternal light and an eternal demand to become one with God. This exercise is entirely passive-active, a movement of total surrender and continual transformation.

4. How does the soul experience the Divine Unity and the eternal fire of love?

In the state of mystical union, the soul experiences the Divine Unity as a consuming fire. This fire is the eternal love of God, which continually draws the soul into itself. As the soul yields more and more to this indrawing, it is inflamed with desire, but also burned up in love, losing its sense of separate existence. It feels both the craving for union and the transformation through union. Though it can still observe a distinction between itself and God, in the act of burning, it experiences only undifferentiated unity.

5. What is the ultimate destiny of the God-seeing soul, according to Ruysbroeck?

The God-seeing soul is destined for eternal fruition in divine love. It is drawn into the fathomless Love that unites Father and Son and all who live in them. The soul eternally plunges, ascends, strays, and melts into the mystery and glory of God. This journey is not static contemplation but a dynamic and endless participation in the raptures of divine goodness. The soul is continually burnt up in love, and this perpetual burning is its blessedness and joy for all eternity.

6. Why does Ruysbroeck say that the contemplative life “cannot be taught”?

Because the God-seeing life transcends reason, image, and instruction, it cannot be conveyed through teaching. It is an experiential mystery, accessible only to those who have been interiorly transformed by grace. Ruysbroeck emphasizes that only the Eternal Truth, revealing itself directly within the soul, can teach what is needed. This underscores the contemplative path as one of divine revelation, not intellectual attainment.


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Chapter 4. This chapter teaches that to the one who overcomes self and all created things, God grants a “sparkling stone” and a “new name” known only to the recipient-symbols of intimate, hidden union with Christ. The sparkling stone is Christ Himself: radiant, weightless, humble, and filled with divine love. Through this gift, the soul receives inner illumination, divine truth, and eternal life. Its smallness and lightness signify Christ’s humility in the Incarnation and His hidden presence in the hearts of those who love Him. The new name, given in this stone, represents the unique, eternal identity bestowed upon the soul as it is spiritually reborn through grace and the workings of the Holy Spirit. This mystical name reflects the soul’s particular love and service to God and remains forever as its true spiritual self, formed through divine union.

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“To him that overcometh … will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a sparkling stone, and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”

Ruysbroeck begins with a mystical interpretation of Revelation 2:17. The “overcomer” is the soul who transcends self and all else. To such a soul, God grants both hidden manna-a symbol of interior delight in God-and a sparkling stone, the profound gift of Christ Himself. This passage sets the tone for a deeply symbolic meditation on divine union and personal transformation.

“By this sparkling stone we mean our Lord Christ Jesus, for He is, according to His Godhead, a shining forth of the Eternal Light, and an irradiation of the glory of God, and a flawless mirror in which all things live.”

The “sparkling stone” is Christ, radiant with divine light and truth. The metaphor suggests both beauty and humility: Christ is exalted in His Godhead and yet accessible, unassuming, and even overlooked. He reflects God’s glory and reveals life itself, a mirror in which all creatures are known and held.

“This stone is also like to a fiery flame, for the fiery love of the Eternal Word has filled the whole world with love and wills that all loving spirits be burned up to nothingness in love.”

Christ is not only radiant, but consuming. The divine love is fire-purifying, transforming, and annihilating selfhood in divine union. Here, the mystic path is expressed in paradox: the goal is to be burned up to nothingness, losing oneself completely in divine love.

“He made Himself so small in time that the Jews trod Him under their feet. But they felt Him not.”

The stone’s smallness symbolizes Christ’s humility and hiddenness in the Incarnation. Though divine, He made Himself so lowly that He could be disregarded and despised. This is the paradox of divine majesty veiled in human weakness-a central theme in Ruysbroeck’s Christology.

“That the stone is round teaches us that the Divine Truth has neither beginning nor end… that it is smooth and even… that the Divine Truth shall weigh all things evenly.”

The physical properties of the stone are layered with symbolic meaning: roundness signifies eternity; smoothness, divine justice. The mystic sees in every aspect of Christ’s being not just abstract doctrine but direct, experiential revelation of God’s character.

“This noble stone… is particularly light; for the Eternal Word of the Father has no weight… yet bears heaven and earth by Its strength.”

This lightness suggests spiritual sublimity and omnipresence. Christ bears all creation not by force, but by divine buoyancy. In a mystical paradox, the Light that supports all is itself weightless-transcending even space and time.

“Behold, this is the sparkling stone which is given to the God-seeing man, and in this stone a new name is written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”

The “new name” symbolizes the unique, intimate knowledge and identity conferred by God in union. It is hidden, ineffable, and personal-known only to the soul and God. This name denotes both a new essence and a secret communion.

“All spirits in their return towards God receive names… according to the nobleness of its service and the loftiness of its love.”

Ruysbroeck teaches that spiritual ascent is marked by interior transformation. The “name” is a sign of one’s vocation, purified essence, and place in the divine order-bestowed not by merit alone but by grace and divine love.

“When we have lost this name of innocence through sin… we are baptized once more in the Holy Ghost. And thereby we receive a new name which shall remain with us throughout eternity.”

The loss of innocence is not final; repentance opens the soul to new depths of grace. Through spiritual rebirth in the Holy Spirit, a new name-a new identity in God-is granted. This name, rooted in the gifts of Christ, endures forever.

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1. What is the “sparkling stone” given to those who overcome, and what does it symbolize?

The “sparkling stone” refers to Christ Himself, given to those who overcome themselves and the world through spiritual victory. Symbolically, it represents the divine presence of Christ as radiant light, inner truth, and eternal life. It is described as white and red like fire (symbolizing purity and divine love), small and light (indicating humility), and round and smooth (signifying God’s eternity and justice). The stone also points to the hidden and often unrecognized reality of Christ’s humility in the Incarnation, being so small that He is trodden underfoot yet not perceived.

2. How does Ruysbroeck describe the humility of Christ in relation to the sparkling stone?

Ruysbroeck emphasizes that Christ, the Eternal Word, humbled Himself to such a degree that He became “a worm, and no man,” despised and rejected. The stone is called calculus, meaning “treadling,” because Christ made Himself so small that He was trampled underfoot by men, particularly by those who did not recognize Him. His humility was such that He became weightless in the eyes of the world, yet He bore heaven and earth by His divine strength.

3. What is the spiritual significance of the stone being round, smooth, and light?

Each quality of the stone carries spiritual meaning:

Roundness: Symbolizes the Divine Truth as eternal-without beginning or end.

Smoothness and evenness: Represents the impartial and perfect justice of God, who rewards each according to his merits.

Lightness: Indicates the spiritual sublimity of the Eternal Word, who, though bearing all things, remains transcendent, gentle, and accessible. Christ’s lightness also allows human nature, through union with Him, to ascend above the heavens.

4. What is the “new name” written in the stone, and who receives it?

The “new name” is a mystical name given to the soul that has overcome self and been transformed through union with God. It symbolizes a unique and secret identity granted by God, known only to the recipient. This name is not merely a label, but a participation in divine mystery-bestowed through grace and love. It reflects the soul’s eternal destiny and place in God’s glory, corresponding to the soul’s service and love.

5. How does Ruysbroeck connect the concept of “names” to spiritual transformation and eternal identity?

Ruysbroeck teaches that every spirit receives a name upon returning to God. This name reflects the dignity of the soul’s love and service. The original name of innocence given at baptism is lost through sin, but can be replaced through a new baptism in the Holy Ghost. This new name is eternal, signifying the soul’s rebirth, transformation, and glorification in Christ. The naming expresses the uniqueness and mystery of each soul’s path in God.

6. What three works does God wish to accomplish in us, according to Ruysbroeck, in order to bestow this new name?

While the specific three works are not detailed in this chapter, Ruysbroeck refers generally to God’s desire to effect interior transformation through self-overcoming, loving union, and the grace-filled activity of the Holy Spirit. Those who cooperate with these divine operations-especially by overcoming sin, being reborn in love, and living a life of service and contemplation-are granted this new name that endures eternally.

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Chapter 5. Ruysbroeck teaches that God, in His universal love, calls all human beings to union with Himself as the foundational work of grace, but this call requires a free and willing response from the soul. He distinguishes five types of sinners-those who are spiritually negligent, those who sin mortally yet do good, unbelievers, hardened godless individuals, and hypocrites-all of whom resist this divine invitation in different ways. Yet, all may be saved if they awaken, repent, and submit to grace. Ruysbroeck emphasizes that grace is always at work, tailored to each person’s capacity, enabling them to renounce sin, grow in virtue, and even reach perfection, provided they surrender entirely to God’s initiative. He concludes that even worldly gifts, though lesser and morally neutral, can either aid sanctity or fuel sin depending on how they are received and used.

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“The first work which God works in all men in common consists in His calling and inviting them all, without exception, to union with Himself.”

God’s universal call to union is the foundational act of grace offered to every person. This divine invitation precedes any merit or disposition in the soul and demonstrates God’s unconditional love and desire for communion with all humanity. It is the basis upon which further spiritual progress depends; without responding to this call, no further grace or sanctification is possible.

“Now I have observed that all sinners may be divided into five kinds.”

Ruysbroeck introduces a typology of sinners, each failing to respond rightly to God’s call, though all are still recipients of it. This classification is not meant to judge, but to help souls examine their state and the barriers preventing union with God.

“To the first kind belong all those who are careless of good works… prefer to live in worldly employments and in multiplicity of heart.”

These are the lukewarm and distracted, whose attachment to comfort and earthly concerns makes them spiritually unfit. Their fragmentation of heart keeps them from receiving or retaining grace.

“To the second kind belong those who have willingly and wittingly fallen into mortal sin, yet also do good works…”

This group lives in contradiction: they perform external good while clinging to grave sin. Their inner division renders their good works ineffective for union with God, as love for sin overpowers love for God.

“The third kind of sinners consists in all unbelievers, and those who err in faith…”

For Ruysbroeck, true faith is foundational. Regardless of virtuous living, without the right orientation to God through faith, no one can attain true holiness or union with Him.

“To the fourth kind belong those who abide in mortal sin without fear and without shame…”

These are hardened sinners, rejecting even the basic knowledge of God. They deny spiritual reality and virtue entirely, making conversion difficult though not impossible. Their state borders on blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.

“The fifth kind of sinners are those hypocrites who do outward good works… to acquire a name for holiness…”

These souls are outwardly pious but inwardly corrupt. Their intentions are self-serving, and thus they are furthest from God, though perhaps appearing closest to others. Their hypocrisy blocks grace.

“Whenever a sinner enters into himself… he draws near to God.”

Despite the darkness of sin, the door to repentance remains open. Self-examination and true contrition are the beginnings of return. The call of grace remains active and persistent.

“He must of his own free will resolve to leave sin and to do penance. And so he becomes one aim and one will with God.”

Human freedom is crucial in the spiritual journey. Cooperation with grace-through willful renunciation of sin and penance-enables the soul to be unified with God’s will, leading to the restoration of grace and spiritual life.

“We should all conceive of God in this way: First… He calls and invites all men… Secondly… He through grace flows forth… Thirdly… we can become one life and one spirit with God…”

Ruysbroeck summarizes his theology of grace in three acts: (1) the universal call, (2) the outpouring of grace to those who respond, and (3) the transformation of the soul into unity with God. This process reveals God’s initiative and human response as co-essential.

“For all that we are, and all that we have received… are all the free gifts of God.”

Everything-natural and supernatural-is a gift. Recognizing this calls for gratitude, humility, and the dedication of all gifts back to God in service. Even natural goods like beauty or wealth become spiritual occasions depending on their use.

“There are many gifts… which are for the good an aid to virtue; but for the wicked an aid to sin…”

Temporal blessings are morally neutral but can become occasions of sin or virtue depending on the heart’s orientation. The good use them for God’s glory; the wicked, for selfish gain. This underscores the need for purity of intention in all things.

This chapter thus moves from a universal doctrine of grace to a discerning examination of the ways sin obstructs its fruitfulness, always holding out the hope of transformation through repentance and cooperation with grace.

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1. What is the first and universal work that God performs in all human beings?

The first and universal work of God in all people is His invitation to union with Himself. This call is extended to every person without exception-both the good and the wicked. It is the necessary first step, and no one can receive further gifts or graces from God unless they respond to this initial divine call. Without this turning toward God, the soul remains closed to spiritual progress.

2. Who are the five kinds of sinners Ruysbroeck describes, and what characterizes each type?

Ruysbroeck distinguishes five kinds of sinners:

First kind: Those who are careless of good works, absorbed in worldly comfort and sensual pleasures, and distracted in heart. They are incapable of receiving or preserving grace due to their spiritual negligence.

Second kind: Those who commit mortal sin knowingly, yet perform good works, fear God, and admire the just. However, their love of sin still outweighs their love of God, rendering them unworthy of grace.

Third kind: Unbelievers and heretics-those who err in faith. Regardless of their good actions, without true faith (which is the foundation of all holiness), they cannot please God.

Fourth kind: Hardened sinners who live in mortal sin without shame or fear. They scoff at virtue, consider religion deceitful, and live as though God does not exist. They sin against the Holy Ghost and are rarely converted.

Fifth kind: Hypocrites, who perform good works outwardly but for selfish motives (e.g., reputation or gain). They appear holy externally but are inwardly false, cut off from God and true virtue.

3. Can any of these five kinds of sinners be saved? If so, how?

Yes, any sinner can be saved if he enters into himself, becomes displeased with his sins, and freely chooses to renounce sin and do penance. God continually calls all sinners to union with Him. Through sincere self-examination and cooperation with grace, a sinner can align his will with God’s, receive His grace, and begin the path of transformation.

4. What three truths should we understand about God’s relationship with souls, according to Ruysbroeck?

God calls all people-good and bad-to union with Himself, freely and without distinction.

God’s grace flows into those who are obedient to this call and willing to receive it.

Union with God becomes possible when a soul surrenders completely to grace, renouncing self and becoming one will and one spirit with God.

These three truths reveal the dynamism of grace: God’s initiative, man’s response, and the resulting unity.

5. How does God’s grace operate differently in each person?

Grace works in each person according to their capacity to receive it. It follows divine order, adapting itself to the soul’s readiness, disposition, and openness. Some receive the grace to leave sin; others, to grow in virtue; and still others, to persevere in the highest perfection. The key is submissiveness to grace, which enables the soul to be transformed and empowered for the spiritual life.

6. What role does free will play in responding to God’s grace?

Free will is essential in responding to God’s grace. Although God initiates the call and offers His gifts freely, the soul must voluntarily choose to renounce sin and cooperate with grace. Without this free and willing response, the effects of grace remain dormant. Union with God is not imposed but entered into through freedom and love.

7. How are worldly goods like health, beauty, and wealth to be understood in this framework?

Worldly goods are lesser gifts of God and are morally neutral. They are given to both the good and the wicked. For the virtuous, they become aids to holiness when used in service of God and others. For the wicked, they become occasions of sin, leading to pride, indulgence, and selfishness. Thus, the spiritual value of these goods depends entirely on the disposition and intention of the person who possesses them.

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Chapter 6. Ruysbroeck distinguishes sharply between hirelings and faithful servants of God, emphasizing the inner motivation behind one’s spiritual life. Hirelings serve God not out of love, but for personal gain-seeking either temporal goods or eternal life for their own benefit-and thus remain trapped in self-love, fear, and spiritual misery. Though their actions may conform externally to religious law, they lack the transforming power of divine love. In contrast, faithful servants have surrendered self-interest and entrusted their needs entirely to God; through this detachment, they receive divine grace, which births true love in the soul. This love casts out fear, brings confidence and peace, and unites the soul with God’s will. Thus, the core difference lies in whether one serves from self-love or divine love, the latter being the mark of true spiritual fidelity.

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“Some men receive the gifts of God as hirelings, but others as faithful servants of God; and these differ one from another in all inward works, that is, in love and intention, in feeling and in every exercise of the inward life.”

Ruysbroeck introduces a crucial spiritual distinction: not all who receive divine gifts relate to them equally. The interior disposition-especially love and intention-determines whether one is merely a hireling (acting for reward) or a faithful servant (acting from love). This difference penetrates to the deepest levels of the inner life.

“All those who love themselves so inordinately that they will not serve God, save for their own profit and because of their own reward, these separate themselves from God, and dwell in bondage and in their own selfhood.”

Self-love, when disordered, becomes the root of spiritual bondage. The hireling serves God not out of devotion, but for self-interest-temporal or eternal. This turns the soul inward upon itself and estranges it from divine communion.

“Although these men seem to keep within the law and the commandments of God and of Holy Church, they do not keep within the law of love.”

Outward conformity to religious norms does not guarantee union with God. Ruysbroeck insists on love as the core of authentic obedience; without love, even the observance of law remains spiritually barren.

“Their whole inward life is doubt and fear, travail and misery. For they see on the right hand eternal life, and this they are afraid of losing; and they see on the left hand the eternal pains of hell, and these they are afraid of gaining.”

The hireling is tormented by fear-caught between the desire for heaven and the dread of hell. This fear arises not from reverence, but from clinging to self-preservation. The soul becomes trapped in anxiety, never tasting the freedom of divine love.

“Their fear of hell springs from self-love, which seeks its own.”

This diagnosis is severe: even religious fear can be corrupt if rooted in selfishness. True spirituality must transcend self-interest, even the self-interest that longs for salvation.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; but by this is meant that fear which is exercised upon the right side, where one considers the loss of eternal blessedness…”

Ruysbroeck nuances fear: the “fear of the Lord” can be salvific if it awakens the soul to its deepest longing for God. This preparatory fear leads to virtue and opens the soul to grace.

“From that very hour in which, with God’s help, he can overcome his selfhood… God bestows upon him His grace.”

The turning point is detachment from self. The soul, no longer centered on its own needs, entrusts everything to God. This self-emptying prepares it to receive divine grace freely.

“Through grace, he feels true love: and love casts out doubt and fear, and fills the man with hope and trust, and thus he becomes a faithful servant…”

Grace births love, and love drives out fear. The faithful servant trusts in God and acts out of love, not obligation. This transformation marks the soul’s entry into true spiritual freedom.

“Behold, this is the difference between the faithful servant and the hireling.”

The chapter culminates in a contrast: the hireling remains in fear, ruled by self-love and self-interest, while the faithful servant, freed by grace, lives in love, trust, and union with God’s will.

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1. What fundamental distinction does Ruysbroeck make between different types of recipients of God’s gifts?

Ruysbroeck distinguishes between hirelings and faithful servants. Hirelings serve God for their own benefit-seeking temporal rewards or even eternal life for self-interest. Faithful servants, by contrast, serve God out of pure love, seeking not their own gain but God’s glory. This distinction touches every aspect of the interior life: intention, love, feeling, and practice.

2. How does self-love affect the spiritual life of the hireling?

Inordinate self-love traps the hireling in spiritual bondage and alienates him from God. He does good works not out of love, but from a desire for reward or fear of punishment. This focus on self causes all his spiritual activities-prayer, virtue, obedience-to be rooted in anxiety and self-interest, rather than in true union with God.

3. Why are the works of hirelings spiritually ineffective, even when they appear religious?

Their works lack the law of love. Though they follow the external commandments of God and the Church, they do so out of necessity or fear rather than devotion. Because their intention is self-centered, their actions remain spiritually barren. Their religious life is marked by fear, doubt, and inner misery.

4. What kind of fear is considered the “beginning of wisdom” according to Ruysbroeck?

The fear that is the beginning of wisdom is the reverent fear of losing blessedness-of being separated from God. This fear arises from humanity’s innate desire for beatitude and can prompt the soul to leave sin and seek virtue. While it is still imperfect (since it stems from self-interest), it plays a preparatory role in spiritual growth.

5. How does a person transition from a hireling to a faithful servant of God?

The transition occurs when a person, with God’s help, overcomes selfhood and entrusts everything to God’s will. This detachment makes the soul receptive to divine grace. Once grace is received, it produces true love, which casts out fear and fills the soul with hope and trust. The person then acts from love, becoming a faithful servant.

6. What are the signs of a faithful servant as opposed to a hireling?

A faithful servant acts from love, trusts God fully, and is united with His will. He serves not for reward or out of fear, but because he loves God for His own sake. His interior life is marked by peace, confidence, and charity. The hireling, on the other hand, is anxious, fearful, and self-centered, never fully trusting or surrendering to God.

7. How does Ruysbroeck describe the effect of divine love on the soul?

Divine love, once received through grace, dispels fear and doubt. It brings hope, trust, and inner freedom. Love transforms the soul’s motivations, making it act not for self-preservation but out of joyful union with God. It is love that finally unites the servant to God in fidelity and truth.

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Chapter 7. This chapter distinguishes between the faithful servants of God, who obey His commandments through outward works and active virtue, and the secret friends of God, who go beyond obedience to embrace an interior life of love and spiritual union with Him. While faithful servants serve God visibly through the Church and good deeds, the secret friends are drawn inward by grace to a deeper, contemplative relationship, forsaking all attachments for God alone. Though both vocations are valid and grounded in divine love, the contemplative life is the “better part,” praised by Christ in Mary over Martha’s busy service. Yet Ruysbroeck cautions that true contemplatives must also serve when love demands it, and those who avoid both action and contemplation are deceived. Ultimately, divine love is the one thing needful, whether expressed outwardly in service or inwardly in union.

—

“We must now observe the great difference which there is between the faithful servants and the inward friends of God.”

Ruysbroeck sets the stage by clearly distinguishing two categories within the spiritual life. This foundational contrast introduces the chapter’s central theme: not all who serve God do so at the same depth of union or intimacy.

“The faithful servants have chosen to keep the commandments of God…this is called the outward or active life.”

Faithful servants are those who obey God and the Church through visible good works and virtues. They are commendable in their obedience and moral life, but their focus is external-rooted in action and service rather than inner contemplation.

“But the inward friends of God choose to follow, besides the commandments, the quickening counsels of God…with a willing abandonment of all that one may possess outside God with lust and love.”

The secret friends go further-they live a life of inward devotion, renouncing all worldly attachments for the sake of pure union with God. This deeper path includes the “counsels” (not merely commandments), pointing to a voluntary, love-driven surrender beyond obligation.

“But He sends His servants outwards…but He calls and invites His friends inwards.”

God’s grace works in both vocations, but in distinct ways: the servants are sent into the world for works of service, while the friends are drawn inward for union and contemplation. This reflects the classic distinction between the active and contemplative lives.

“As long as a man is divided of heart…he is unstable of mind.”

Interior unity is a prerequisite for contemplative grace. Those who remain inwardly distracted or attached to the temporal cannot enter into the deeper interior exercises of divine friendship. The contemplative path requires interior stillness and undivided attention to God.

“Though he may live according to the commandments of God, inwardly he abides in darkness…he knows not what inward exercises may be.”

Even the outwardly virtuous may remain spiritually immature if they lack inner recollection. This is not a moral failing, but a limitation in spiritual depth; the inward path is hidden from them because they have not turned fully toward God within.

“For his exercise is more outward than inward, more of the senses than of the spirit.”

Ruysbroeck critiques those whose devotion remains sensory and active without becoming spiritual and contemplative. Even good external works can become distractions if they overshadow the love of God which should animate them.

“Certain gross and outward men always condemn and blame the inward and contemplative men, because they have in mind that these are idle.”

This reflects the perennial misunderstanding between active and contemplative lives. Those immersed in external service may wrongly judge contemplatives as lazy, not recognizing the hidden fruit and intensity of interior union.

“But our Lord gave His judgment…Mary hath chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Ruysbroeck appeals to the Gospel account of Mary and Martha as divine affirmation of the contemplative life’s superiority. Mary represents the secret friends of God, whose love-centered interiority is eternal and unshakable.

“That One Thing which is needful for all men is Divine love.”

All spiritual distinctions ultimately converge in this essential truth: divine love is the foundation of both lives. Love is what makes outward service meaningful and inward contemplation fruitful. Without love, neither path is complete.

“But there are found some foolish men who would be so inward that they would neither act nor serve…”

Ruysbroeck rejects false quietism-those who feign contemplative depth but neglect active charity are deceived. True divine friendship includes a readiness to serve when love demands it. The authentic contemplative is also obedient to the call of charity.

“All secret friends of God are also at the same time faithful servants…but all the faithful servants are not secret friends.”

This concluding distinction clarifies the hierarchy: the contemplative contains within it the active (as in Mary, who can also serve), but the active does not necessarily contain the contemplative. The highest form of life is to be both-loving God within and serving Him without.

This chapter emphasizes both the dignity of active service and the superiority of contemplative union, while warning against false forms of both. True love of God is the key that unites and elevates every vocation.

—

1. What distinguishes the faithful servants of God from the secret friends of God?

Faithful servants follow God’s commandments and lead outwardly virtuous lives in obedience to God and the Church. Their spiritual path is characterized by active service, good works, and moral conduct-this is the “outward” or “active” life. In contrast, the secret friends of God go beyond mere obedience and follow God’s counsels with interior love. They practice an inward cleaving to God, abandoning all attachments not grounded in divine love. Their life is contemplative and marked by a deep, interior communion with God.

2. How does God direct His faithful servants versus His secret friends?

God sends His faithful servants outward to perform external good works, being active in the world and the Church’s service. Secret friends, however, are called inward by God and instructed in the hidden ways of the spiritual life. They are led into deeper interior exercises and drawn into intimate union with Him. Each is guided according to their disposition-those more attuned to external action serve actively, while those capable of deeper love and detachment are led to contemplation.

3. Why can’t a divided heart enter the contemplative life?

A divided heart-one that clings to temporal things or is swayed by external joys and sorrows-cannot focus wholly on God. This instability prevents a person from being recollected and spiritually still, which are necessary conditions for receiving the grace of inner contemplation. Only when the heart is wholly turned inward, detached from the senses, and steadfast in desire for God can the person engage in the secret exercises of divine friendship.

4. Why do some outwardly faithful people remain unaware of the contemplative life?

Even though they obey God’s commandments and perform good works, their attention remains fixed on their actions rather than on God Himself. They may be sincere and without hypocrisy, but their focus on outward tasks prevents them from discovering the deeper exercises of love and contemplation. They prioritize what is seen and done rather than inward union, and thus the contemplative dimension remains hidden from them.

5. What example does Ruysbroeck use to illustrate the tension between active and contemplative life, and what is its meaning?

He uses the Gospel story of Martha and Mary. Martha, who represents the active life, complains to Jesus that Mary is not helping with service. Jesus acknowledges Martha’s diligence but praises Mary, who represents the contemplative life, for choosing the “better part.” This illustrates that while active service is good and necessary, interior union with God is better and eternal. It confirms the superiority of the contemplative life when done in love.

6. What is the “One Thing” that is needful for all men, and how is it expressed differently in servants and friends?

The “One Thing” is Divine love, which is essential to both vocations. The faithful servants express this love in obedience and external works, while the secret friends live this love through inward cleaving to God. Love is the root of both paths, but the contemplative expression of it is more perfect, as it unites the soul more intimately with God.

7. How does Ruysbroeck respond to those who avoid both action and genuine contemplation?

He strongly criticizes those who claim to be so inward that they refuse to act, even when their neighbor is in need. These are not true contemplatives but self-deceived. Authentic secret friends of God also become faithful servants when necessary. No one can be rightly called a friend of God who does not also keep His commandments and serve when love requires it.

8. Are all faithful servants also secret friends of God? Why or why not?

No, not all faithful servants are secret friends. While the faithful servants live morally good and obedient lives, they may not be called into the deeper contemplative experience due to their orientation toward external works. However, all secret friends are also faithful servants, for true contemplatives also serve when needed, uniting interior love with active charity.

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Chapter 8. In this chapter, Ruysbroeck draws a subtle but vital distinction between the secret friends and the hidden sons of God. While both live in God’s presence and love Him inwardly, the friends still relate to God through their own spiritual activity and retain a sense of selfhood in their union. Their journey is upward, guided by reason and deliberate adherence, but they do not transcend all forms and images to enter the imageless “Nudity” of pure divine union. In contrast, the hidden sons die entirely to self and to all inward striving, passing beyond reason, images, and even the sweetness of grace into the formless depths of God, led solely by His Spirit. This total abandonment allows them to live not by their own efforts but by a God-formed life, in full conformity with divine love. Yet Ruysbroeck affirms that all faithful people-servants, friends, and sons-are children of God according to their capacity and obedience, provided they persevere. True mysticism, he insists, is never contrary to ecclesial obedience or moral vigilance, and the highest union demands radical self-renunciation and fidelity.

—

“But the friends possess their inwardness as an attribute, for they choose the loving adherence to God as best and highest of all that they ever can and will reach: and that is why they cannot with themselves and their own activity penetrate to the imageless Nudity.”

Secret friends of God attain a high degree of interiority, choosing loving adherence to God as their greatest good. Yet their union is mediated through their own being and spiritual activity. Their love and vision, though deep, do not pass into the “imageless Nudity”-the radical simplicity and undifferentiated oneness of God beyond all forms and activities.

“For the simple passing into the Bare and Wayless, they do not know and love… their highest inward life ever remains in Reason and in Ways.”

These friends are still tethered to the structures of reason, method, and personal striving. They do not enter the utter abandonment required for union in “bare and wayless love”-a mystical state transcending all human frameworks. Their spiritual path is noble, but it is not yet the most radical surrender of self.

“And though they feel themselves uplifted to God in a mighty fire of love, yet they keep something of their own selfhood, and are not consumed and burnt to nothingness in the unity of love.”

Even in intense love and union, they retain a sense of self. They have not been wholly annihilated in the fire of divine unity. This distinguishes them from the hidden sons, who are utterly consumed in God and live only from His life, not their own.

“The inward life of the friends of our Lord is an upward-striving exercise of love… but how one possesses God through bare love above every exercise, in freedom from one’s self, this they do not feel.”

The friends live in a continual ascent, yet always through effort and self-awareness. They have not passed into the effortless divine life of the hidden sons, who possess God not through striving but through selfless being and divine indwelling.

“But could we renounce ourselves, and all selfhood in our works, we should, with our bare and imageless spirit, transcend all things… And then we should feel the certainty that we are indeed the sons of God.”

To become a hidden son of God requires a complete renunciation of all self-reference-even in our good works and intentions. In this total death to self, the soul enters into the imageless life of God, receiving a divine mode of being and knowing itself as truly God’s child-not by image, but by participation.

“Nevertheless, you should know that all good and faithful men are the sons of God… But because of the inequality of their adherence and their exercises, I call some the faithful servants of God and others I call His secret friends, and others again His hidden sons.”

Ruysbroeck affirms that all the just are sons of God in a general sense through grace and virtue. However, he distinguishes between them according to the depth and purity of their spiritual life. The faithful servants, secret friends, and hidden sons are on the same path, but they differ greatly in how deeply they have renounced themselves and become transparent to God.

“And so no one is disobedient or contrary to God save he who does not keep His commandments… And therefore such failings [venial sins] do not make us disobedient, for they do not drive out the grace of God nor our inward peace.”

Despite the lofty spiritual distinctions, Ruysbroeck grounds his teaching firmly in obedience to God’s commandments, the Church, and conscience. Even the most hidden sons are still subject to the ordinary moral and ecclesial life. Minor faults, while lamentable, do not remove one from grace unless they breach obedience.

“And by these words I have explained to you what I said at the beginning: namely, that every man must needs be obedient in all things to God and to Holy Church and to his own conscience…”

He ends with a pastoral note of humility and clarity: his mystical distinctions are not meant to dismiss the obligations of Christian life. All authentic mysticism is rooted in obedience, humility, and the Church. The higher one rises, the deeper must be one’s fidelity.

—

1. What is the fundamental difference between the secret friends and the hidden sons of God?

The secret friends of God adhere to Him with intense love and interior devotion, yet they do so through their own spiritual activity and awareness. Their union with God remains mediated by their sense of self and deliberate striving. In contrast, the hidden sons of God go beyond this: they undergo a total death to selfhood and enter into a state of imageless, wayless love. This is a complete union where nothing of the self remains, and the soul lives only by the Spirit of God, not by its own powers.

2. How do the secret friends relate to God, and what limitations remain in their union?

Secret friends love God fervently and are raised in a fire of love toward Him. However, they still retain a subtle selfhood-they value their own spiritual activity, their gifts, and the sweetness they receive from God. Their love is exercised through reason, discernment, and upward striving. As a result, their union with God is real but not total; they cannot enter the “bare and wayless” love, because their own being and effort stand as intermediaries between them and God.

3. What characterizes the hidden sons of God, and how is their state different from that of the friends?

The hidden sons have transcended not only outward attachments but even inward ones-they have abandoned all self-reliance and self-reference. They have died to their own spiritual striving and activity, and thus their union with God is not mediated by self, image, or method. They are led purely by the Spirit of God into the “Nudity” or divine simplicity. In this death-like passing into God, they become inwardly certain of their divine sonship, living from God rather than toward Him.

4. Why can the secret friends not attain the highest beatitude according to Ruysbroeck?

Because they do not completely renounce their selfhood. They still find meaning and rest in their inner works, in the sweetness of God’s presence, and in spiritual consolation. Although they turn away from external pleasures, they still “rest upon the way,” meaning they do not fully pass into the imageless and formless union that characterizes the highest mystical state. Thus, they do not attain the full blessedness that comes from total self-emptying.

5. What is the “bare and imageless spirit,” and how does it relate to mystical union?

The “bare and imageless spirit” is the soul stripped of all concepts, images, methods, and even self-awareness. It refers to a state of pure receptivity to God where the soul no longer acts from itself but is led wholly by God. Only in this state can the soul be united with God beyond mediation. This is the state of the hidden sons, who transcend all that is created-even in themselves-to enter into the divine life directly.

6. How does Ruysbroeck affirm that all faithful people are still sons of God?

He states that all faithful and virtuous people are sons of God in a general sense because they are born of the Spirit and moved by it according to their capacity. Whether as servants, friends, or hidden sons, all live by God’s grace and love Him sincerely. The distinctions lie not in worth but in degree of surrender, receptivity, and spiritual elevation.

7. What warning does Ruysbroeck give regarding the erasure of names from the Book of Life?

He warns that even those once righteous-whose names were written in God’s Book-can fall away if they turn inwardly toward sin and do not persevere to the end. Perseverance in one’s chosen turning toward God is necessary. Failure to endure in grace leads to the loss of participation in God and the fruit of virtue, regardless of one’s earlier state.

8. What balance does Ruysbroeck strike between mystical theology and ecclesial obedience?

Despite the depth of his mystical teaching, Ruysbroeck firmly maintains that all must obey the commandments of God, Holy Church, and the dictates of conscience. No spiritual experience or interiority exempts one from obedience. Even venial sins, while not destroying grace, must be lamented and guarded against. His vision is not antinomian but thoroughly orthodox and rooted in Catholic discipline.

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Chapter 9. Ruysbroeck explores the path by which a soul becomes not merely a servant or friend of God, but a hidden son-a soul so transformed that it lives entirely in God and not in itself. This transformation requires more than moral virtue or spiritual experience; it demands an eternal death to self, in which the soul forsakes even its own spiritual works, virtues, and understanding, to pass into the imageless, wayless simplicity of God’s own life. True divine sonship is attained when the soul, moved by the Holy Spirit and purified of all selfhood, surrenders entirely in love and is led into union with God through the Eternal Word. There, beyond all reason, image, or desire for self, the soul becomes radiant with divine light, living no longer by its own power but by God’s own being, in a ceaseless hunger for the Infinite.

Ruysbroeck continues that the soul’s ultimate blessedness lies in a simple, abyssal immersion in God-a state beyond reason, knowledge, and activity-where the soul is swallowed up into the unmoved Quiet of the Godhead. In this union, the soul lives simultaneously in God and in itself: contemplatively resting in God while actively exercising love. Though this immersion transcends all virtue and understanding, it does not dissolve the soul’s created being but fulfills it in its proper end. This state is marked by an eternal, self-emptying love, likened to a river pouring irreversibly into the sea, which neither increases merit nor alters the soul’s nature, but confirms and sustains the soul’s possession of God. Yet conscious knowledge remains essential; for to be united with God without knowing it would be meaningless. Thus, the soul’s eternal life is defined not only by union, but by discerning love and awareness, sustained in the darkness of divine mystery and the bright simplicity of God’s transforming light.

—

“But I still longed to know how we may become hidden sons of God, and may attain to the God-seeing life.”

This longing introduces the central concern of the chapter: how to move beyond the states of servant and friend to the deeper union of being a hidden son of God-a state marked by transformation and the vision of God.

“We must always live and be watchful in all virtues, and beyond all virtues must forsake this life and die in God…”

The path begins with a foundation in virtue but does not end there. True transformation involves a mystical death-a complete surrender of self into God-transcending even the virtuous life.

“If we are born of the Spirit of God, we are the sons of grace… nevertheless, they do not feel established nor possessed of God, nor assured of eternal life…”

Being born of the Spirit grants one grace and the capacity for virtue, but this alone does not confer the assurance or possession of God that comes with the deeper transformation into divine sonship.

“…when we transcend ourselves… then we cease, and we and all our selfhood die in God. And in this death we become hidden sons of God, and find a new life within us: and that is eternal life.”

True sonship is not achieved by doing, but by ceasing-by surrendering every part of self into God, allowing His divine life to be born within us. This death of the self is the gateway to eternal life.

“In the Presence of God, we must forsake ourselves and all our works… there we shall possess God in an eternal death to ourselves.”

Even our works, though good, must be relinquished. Possession of God comes not by offering, but by self-forgetting. Eternal death to self leads to eternal union.

“When we go towards God by means of the virtues, God dwells in us; but when we go out from ourselves and from all else, then we dwell in God.”

This sharp distinction contrasts indwelling grace with full immersion in the Divine. In the first, God comes to us; in the second, we go to God-entirely and without mediation.

“…if above all things we would taste God… we must go forth into God with our feeling, above reason… into the simple bareness of our intelligence.”

To experience God directly, we must rise above discursive thought and rational understanding into a state of pure, imageless contemplation-a loving, intelligent emptiness.

“…we are wrought and transformed through the Eternal Word, Who is the Image of the Father… This Light is nothing else than a fathomless staring and seeing.”

Union is effected by the Eternal Word-Christ-who draws us into divine likeness. The seeing here is not intellectual but ontological: we become what we behold, and behold what we become.

“In this simple staring we are one life and one spirit with God: and this I call a contemplative life.”

The essence of contemplative life is not effort or striving, but simplicity and stillness. In the gaze of love, the soul becomes one spirit with God, sharing His life.

“With this contemplation, there is bound up an exercise which is wayless… there shines perpetually the simple ray of the Splendour of God…”

The contemplative path is “wayless”-beyond method, structure, or goal. God’s light shines perpetually, but it is only perceived when the soul stops navigating and simply rests.

“…love cannot be lazy… this is a hunger which cannot be appeased… a perpetual striving after the unattainable… neither be silent on it nor speak of it…”

Love, even in stillness, is active. It is a ceaseless yearning for the Infinite-an unattainable that paradoxically possesses and consumes the soul. It eludes language and intellect.

“…the Spirit of God is driving us and enkindling us in this restlessness of love… burning us to nothingness in His Selfhood…”

This divine love is both a compulsion and a consummation. It burns away selfhood, not in violence, but in union-drawing the soul into the very life and essence of God.

—

“This possession is a simple and abysmal tasting of all good and of eternal life; and in this tasting we are swallowed up above reason and without reason, in the deep Quiet of the Godhead, which is never moved.”

The author begins by describing union with God as a “tasting” beyond all rational comprehension. This is not a conceptual knowledge but an experiential immersion-utterly simple, wordless, and passive. The “deep Quiet” of the unmoved Godhead evokes the ultimate stillness and peace, inaccessible to any self-directed effort or understanding.

“We are poor in ourselves, but rich in God; hungry and thirsty in ourselves, drunken and fulfilled in God; busy in ourselves, idle in God.”

Here, the paradoxical nature of mystical union is highlighted. The soul lives a dual life: emptiness and striving in its creaturely self, but fullness and rest in God. This tension is not a contradiction but a necessary dynamic of spiritual transformation-holding both poles while anchored in love.

“And thus we live wholly in God, where we possess our blessedness; and we live wholly in ourselves, where we exercise ourselves in love towards God. And though we live wholly in God and wholly in ourselves, yet it is but one life…”

The mystical life is simultaneously fully divine and fully human. The soul lives “wholly in God” through union, and “wholly in itself” through love’s active practice. This twofold reality expresses the mystery of grace and cooperation-God’s gift and our loving response.

“For we cannot wholly become God and lose our created being, this is impossible.”

This is a critical clarification. While the soul is deeply united to God, it does not become God in essence. There remains an ontological distinction-maintaining the soul’s created nature even in the depths of mystical immersion.

“If we follow this brightness without pause, back into that Source from whence it comes forth, there we feel nothing but a quenching of our spirit and an irretrievable down-sinking into simple and fathomless love.”

The mystical path involves a complete surrender into God, described as “quenching” and “down-sinking.” The “brightness” is divine illumination, and following it leads to utter self-loss in love-no longer self-aware, but immersed in God’s own being.

“This down-sinking is like a river, which without pause or turning back ever pours into the sea…”

This vivid image captures the soul’s continual movement toward God. Just as a river flows without return into the sea, the soul pours itself into God in a constant, irreversible surrender. The river’s resting place is the sea; the soul’s is God.

“Now this immersion is above all virtues, and above every exercise of love…”

The author places the immersion into God above all spiritual acts or virtues. This “being in God” is not an action but a state of transformation and rest that transcends all movement of the soul-pure receptivity.

“Our reason abides here with open eyes in the darkness, that is, in an abysmal ignorance…”

This is a key apophatic insight. Even enlightened reason is “blinded” in the divine depths. Yet this ignorance is not a lack but a surpassing-a knowing beyond knowing, where God’s incomprehensible splendor enfolds and transforms the soul.

“Without our own knowledge, we cannot possess God; and without the practice of love, we cannot be united with God…”

Despite the emphasis on passivity and immersion, the author insists that knowledge and love remain essential. Awareness and will are engaged: we must know that we possess God, and we must actively love. This guards against a quietism that denies human responsibility.

“This is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.”

The chapter closes with Christ’s own words affirming that eternal life is rooted in knowing God. This knowledge is not intellectual but experiential, grounded in union, love, and a continual returning into God through the Spirit.

—

1. What initial desire sets the stage for this chapter?

The author expresses a deep longing to understand how one may become a hidden son of God and attain the God-seeing life. This inquiry leads into a distinction between merely being born of the Spirit and being transformed through a total death to self in God.

2. How does the author describe the path beyond virtue to divine sonship?

While the virtues are necessary, they are not the end. The soul must move beyond them-through spiritual watchfulness and self-renunciation-into a mystical death in God. This death to self, including the abandonment of even one’s own works, leads to new life in God, which is eternal life.

3. Why are those who are born of the Spirit not necessarily hidden sons of God?

Though those born of the Spirit possess grace and can perform good works, they are not assured of eternal life because they still retain some measure of selfhood. True sonship demands a complete death to self and surrender into God’s being.

4. What is meant by “eternal death to ourselves,” and how is it linked to possessing God?

“Eternal death to ourselves” means a continual, interior surrender of all that is not God-including self-will, self-awareness, and even spiritual accomplishments. This radical relinquishment is the only way to truly possess God in His fullness, without mediation.

5. How does the author contrast two movements: God dwelling in us vs. us dwelling in God?

When we live virtuously, God dwells in us through grace. However, when we transcend ourselves completely, we go forth and dwell in God. This latter state is superior because it implies a full union with God beyond all works or self-reference.

6. What does it mean to go “above reason” into the “simple bareness of intelligence”?

It means that to truly taste and experience God, the soul must move beyond discursive thought and intellectual reasoning into a pure, imageless awareness. This bareness is not ignorance but a luminous simplicity that opens the soul to God as He is.

7. What role does the Eternal Word play in this transformation?

The Eternal Word (Christ) is the divine image through which we are wrought and transformed. Contemplation of this Word draws the soul into divine likeness. In beholding this Light, we participate in God’s life and become one spirit with Him.

8. How is contemplative life described in its essence?

It is a life of “simple staring” or loving awareness in which the soul is unified with God in stillness and love. This is not passive, but an active state of being where no method or distinction remains-only union.

9. Why is the contemplative path called “wayless”?

Because it transcends all techniques, forms, and structured exercises. It is not a path in the usual sense but a resting in God where the soul is drawn and illumined by the unmediated Splendour of God’s presence.

10. How does love operate in this stage of contemplation?

Love becomes a “restless hunger” for the Infinite-unceasing, unsatisfied, yet consuming. It compels the soul onward even in the stillness of contemplation. This love surpasses speech and silence, expressing itself as a divine yearning.

11. What is the effect of the Spirit of God in this contemplative soul?

The Spirit enkindles and propels the soul into this divine hunger, ultimately burning away all that is not God. The self is reduced to nothingness-not in despair but in divine union-leaving only God’s own life and identity in the soul.

12. What is the nature of the possession of God described in this passage?

The possession of God is described as a “simple and abysmal tasting of all good and of eternal life”-a mystical experience that swallows the soul above and without reason. It takes place in the “deep Quiet of the Godhead,” a state of perfect stillness beyond intellectual comprehension. The soul cannot access this reality through reason or ascetic practice alone; it is a gift experienced in the depths of contemplative union.

13. How does the soul experience a twofold life in God and in itself?

The soul lives “wholly in God” where it possesses blessedness, and “wholly in itself” where it actively exercises love toward God. These two aspects-contemplative union and active devotion-form one single life that is twofold in feeling. The soul is both poor and rich, hungry and full, active and still. This paradoxical tension reflects the soul’s ongoing transformation in God without the loss of its created nature.

14. Why does the author say we can never become God in essence?

Although the soul is united to God in love, it cannot lose its created being or become God in essence. The ontological distinction between Creator and creature remains. This affirms the orthodox view that even the deepest union with God preserves the integrity and limits of the human person, avoiding pantheism or absorption.

15. What is the significance of the metaphor of the river and the sea?

The metaphor of the river flowing into the sea expresses the soul’s irreversible surrender into God. Just as the river’s natural destination is the sea, the soul’s true resting place is in the infinite depth of God. This “down-sinking” is an eternal, uninterrupted movement of love that carries the soul out of itself and into God’s possession.

16. How does this immersion in God compare to the exercise of virtues and love?

This immersion is described as being above all virtues and above every exercise of love. It is not a work or act but a passive state of being-a total surrender into God. While virtues and exercises help prepare the soul, the immersion is their fulfillment and surpassing, marked by simplicity and self-loss.

17. What role does knowledge play in this state of union with God?

Despite the surpassing of reason, the soul must still know that it possesses God. Knowledge and discernment are essential to truly possessing and enjoying union. The author uses the analogy: just as it is useless to be a lord of all the world without knowing it, so it would be meaningless to possess God without awareness. Knowledge with discernment confirms and stabilizes the experience of eternal life.

18. How is eternal life defined in this section, and what scriptural support is given?

Eternal life is defined as knowing and loving God with discernment. The soul must not only be immersed in God but also be conscious of that immersion. The author cites Christ’s words from John 17:3: “This is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.” This affirms that contemplative knowledge and relational love form the heart of eternal life.

19. How does the soul relate to the divine brightness that shines into it?

The brightness from God teaches truth and stirs the soul to virtue and love. If the soul follows this brightness back to its Source with unbroken gaze, it experiences a quenching of self and a descent into simple, fathomless love. This movement is likened to being transformed and re-formed in God’s own selfhood, beyond all conceptual understanding.

20. What does the author mean by the “abysmal ignorance” in which reason remains?

Even at its highest, reason stands “with open eyes in the darkness”-an “abysmal ignorance.” This is not a deficiency but a recognition of God’s overwhelming mystery. The divine splendor is so great it blinds reason and remains hidden. Nevertheless, this darkness is filled with the light and simplicity of God that transforms the soul from within.

21. Why does this immersion not earn any new reward, and what is its lasting significance?

This immersion in God is not a meritorious act, so it does not gain further reward. Instead, it sustains the soul in the possession of God and the good already received. Like a river always flowing to its end, the soul’s immersion is continual and defines its resting-place. It is the ultimate fulfillment, not a means to another end.

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Chapter 10. Ruysbroeck teaches that although the soul is truly one with God in love, it must eternally remain distinct from Him in essence, and this paradox is essential to authentic spiritual life. The soul experiences God in four ascending ways: first, through His grace, which stirs devotion and virtue; second, by living in God through a brightness that enlightens reason; third, by being transformed and immersed in God beyond all distinctions; and fourth, by feeling the yearning hunger of love that longs for the infinite God yet can never be satisfied. This unfulfilled craving arises not from lack, but from the overwhelming abundance of divine goodness, which inflames the soul’s desire beyond all bounds. The spiritual life, then, is marked by a ceaseless interplay of union and distinction, of divine touches that both draw the soul into surrender and awaken it to freedom, in a love that is at once stormy and sweet, ever active, yet ever resting in God.

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“Though I have said before that we are one with God and this is taught us by Holy Writ, yet now I will say that we must eternally remain other than God, and distinct from Him… And we must understand and feel both within us, if all is to be right with us.”

Ruysbroeck affirms the paradox that grounds his mystical theology: the soul is truly united with God, yet remains eternally distinct as a creature. Both realities-union and distinction-must be held together in spiritual awareness, or the soul will fall into error, either of self-exaltation (pantheism) or despair (separation). This duality underpins all that follows in the chapter.

“From the Face of God… a brightness shines upon the face of our inward being… especially are we taught in this brightness to feel God and ourselves in four ways.”

This “brightness” refers to the interior illumination that flows from divine presence. It teaches the soul four forms of spiritual awareness, progressively deeper, each describing how we experience both God’s nearness and our own distinct being.

“First, we feel God in His grace… like as the sun, by its splendour and its heat… He enlightens and gladdens and makes fruitful all men who desire to obey Him.”

The first mode of feeling is ethical and ascetical. God’s grace is like sunlight, giving warmth and vitality. Yet this grace requires our cooperation in four forms: inward recollection, fraternal charity, penitential humility, and elevation of heart in prayer. Through these, God remains with us, and this forms the foundation of all spiritual life.

“Secondly: when we possess the God-seeing life, we feel ourselves to be living in God… there we experience the transformation of our whole selves in God.”

The second mode is contemplative: an inner awareness that we live in God, and a surrender to divine brightness that leads to transformation. The soul no longer lives merely from God’s grace, but within His very life. Yet even here, reason operates as an intermediary, unable to reach beyond itself unless the soul “leans out” into pure contemplation.

“Third… we feel ourselves to be one with God… swallowed up in the fathomless abyss of our eternal blessedness… we cannot experience in any other way than in the immersion in love.”

In this deepest union, all faculties fall silent in essential fruition, a passive but luminous state beyond activity. However, any return to reflection breaks the experience and reinstates the sense of difference. This is not loss of selfhood, but rather a foretaste of eternal unity without absorption.

“Fourth… we feel God and ourselves… there arises within us a gaping and eager craving… even though God gave all that He could give, if he gave not Himself, we should not be appeased.”

Here, Ruysbroeck articulates the paradox of spiritual hunger at the height of union. Even while God pours out His sweetness, the soul, still other than God, burns with insatiable longing. This “wildness of love” arises from God’s touch-both drawing inward into unity and pouring outward into desire. Love becomes a storm, a lightning-flash, as the soul is stretched by its own yearning.

“For everything that we can conceive… we find in Him without measure… and the more we taste of them, the more we long to taste… and the more the flood of His sweetness flows through us and over us…”

This climactic vision returns to the theme of divine sweetness and its incomprehensibility. The soul tastes God’s gifts, and through them, God Himself. But the more it receives, the more it thirsts-because the divine is infinite and the soul finite. Scripture supports this with references to the Song of Songs and the Psalms, confirming the overwhelming, unspeakable joy that cannot be exhausted.

Summary Insight:
Ruysbroeck’s purpose in this chapter is to hold the soul in a delicate balance: total union with God in love, and yet eternal distinction in being. The four “feelings” or stages progress from grace to participation, transformation, unity, and finally the burning love that arises from this paradox. The soul cannot rest in God apart from its own active longing. In fact, it is the very distinction between God and the soul that allows love-wild, yearning, and storm-like-to exist eternally. Thus, perfect unity does not annihilate the soul’s otherness, but rather intensifies its desire and consummates its blessedness.

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1. Why does Ruysbroeck insist that we must feel both our oneness with God and our distinction from Him?

Ruysbroeck emphasizes that both truths-our unity with God and our eternal distinction from Him-must be experienced simultaneously because they safeguard the soul from spiritual error. Unity without distinction leads to pantheism, while distinction without unity leads to despair. True mystical life lives from both realities: a deep union in love, and a humble acknowledgment of creaturehood. Holy Scripture, he says, affirms both, and only in holding both can we be “right.”

2. What is the first way we feel God within us, and what practices does it require?

The first way is feeling God’s presence through His grace, which acts like sunlight-enlightening, warming, and making fruitful the soul. This grace stirs the soul to action and cannot be passively received. Ruysbroeck describes four required practices:

Inward recollection, to remain in contact with the fire of love;

Charity, going out toward others in brotherly love;

Penance, humbling oneself and resisting lust;

Praise and prayer, lifting the heart above itself to God.
These practices engage the whole person-mind, heart, and will-and constitute the total exercise of reason-based devotion.

3. How does Ruysbroeck describe the second way we experience God?

The second way is through the God-seeing life, where we perceive ourselves living in God. A divine brightness shines into our inner being and enlightens the reason. When we remain in this brightness, we experience how our created life flows into God’s eternal life. As we go beyond reason with “simple sight” and yearning, we undergo transformation and become enwrapped in God. This experience is contemplative and intuitive, not rationally grasped.

4. What characterizes the third way of experiencing God, and why can it not be sustained through reason?

The third way is the feeling of oneness with God, experienced when the soul is immersed in God through love. It is a state of essential fruition, in which all faculties stand idle-not lost, but inactive in restful union. However, this cannot be rationally comprehended. The moment the soul reflects on it or tries to understand it, it falls back into distinction and perceives God as other again. The union is thus real, but reason cannot contain it.

5. What causes the soul’s craving and restlessness in the fourth feeling of God?

In the fourth way, the soul feels both God and itself. From this arises a “gaping and eager craving”, because the soul senses God desires to give Himself entirely, yet it cannot receive Him fully. The more it tastes, the more it longs, because finite desire meets infinite goodness. This tension leads to the “wildness of love”-a burning yearning that flares like lightning, driven by divine touches that both draw the soul into union and leave it free to seek more. The soul is caught in a storm of love: active, unfulfilled, and yet overflowing with grace.

6. How does Ruysbroeck describe the dual divine touch in this chapter?

Ruysbroeck speaks of two divine touches:

The inward-drawing touch, which pulls the soul out of itself toward unity and requires self-renunciation and surrender.

The outpouring touch, which gives the soul freedom to seek, ask, and be filled with every spiritual delight.
Together, they form a rhythm of passive receptivity and active longing, drawing the soul deeper into God while preserving its desire and individuality.

7. Why is the soul’s desire never satisfied, even when God gives Himself?

Though God gives Himself in love, the soul remains a finite vessel receiving an infinite source. Every taste of God only awakens deeper longing. Ruysbroeck compares this to drinking from the sea-no matter how much is drunk, the sea remains. The more the soul receives, the more its capacity to desire expands. This insatiability is not a flaw but a sign of its spiritual vitality. The soul is made to be eternally hungry for the infinite God.

8. How does Ruysbroeck support his teaching using Scripture?

He cites Psalm 34:8 – “O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet,” to affirm the personal experience of divine sweetness. He also references the Song of Songs – “I sat down under his shadow… and his fruit was sweet to my taste” – to evoke the intimate, ecstatic delight of divine union. These scriptural images validate the soul’s desire and the endless depths of joy that God offers in mystical love.

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Chapter 11. Ruysbroeck emphasizes the profound difference between the full radiance of divine glory enjoyed by the saints in heaven and the limited, shadowed enlightenment possible in our earthly state. Though both derive from the same divine Sun, our mortal condition veils the clarity of divine vision, offering only a mediated experience through grace. Yet this shadow is already illuminated enough to guide us into virtue and contemplation. Through love and self-abandonment, the soul can be drawn into union with God even now, tasting the sweetness of Christ, the divine Fruit, who both absorbs and transforms the soul. This mystical union unfolds uniquely in each soul, marked by a “new name” inscribed in the Book of Life, revealed through Christ’s redemptive death. The soul’s journey is trinitarian: drawn inward by the Father, nourished by the Son, and taught by the Holy Spirit, as it anticipates the noonday glory where the saints eternally rejoice in God’s selfhood.

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“There is a great difference between the brightness of the saints and the highest brightness or enlightenment to which we may attain in this life.”
Ruysbroeck begins by affirming a key mystical distinction: even the most exalted contemplative experiences on earth fall short of the beatific vision of the saints in glory. The soul in this life is still veiled in the “shadow” of mortality and cannot receive the divine radiance directly.

“For it is only the shadow of God which enlightens our inward wilderness… But the state of the saints is transparent and shining, and therefore they receive the brightness without intermediary.”

Using metaphorical language, he contrasts earthly contemplation (a shadowed, mediated illumination) with the saints’ direct, unfiltered reception of divine light. The soul’s impurity in this life causes dimness; but the saints, fully purified, receive God’s light without obstruction.

“Now we see through a glass darkly, says St Paul… but if we would become one with the brightness of the Sun, we must follow love, and go out of ourselves into the Wayless…”

Echoing 1 Corinthians 13:12, Ruysbroeck underscores our current obscurity, yet offers a path forward: love. It is by love’s self-transcendence, by “going into the Wayless” (i.e., abandoning all methods and created forms), that we may be drawn into union with God’s brightness.

“The state of the Jews… was cold and in the night… but though our state in the Christian faith is but still in the cool and morning hour… the day has dawned.”

He offers a typological reading of salvation history: the Old Covenant as darkness, Christianity as dawn, and the life of the saints as full noon. Christians have begun to walk in the light, though not yet at its zenith.

“The state of the saints is warm and bright… they live and walk in the noon-tide… and each one according to the degree of his enlightenment, tastes and knows the fruits of all the virtues…”

The glorified saints fully experience the fruition of virtue, bathed in divine brightness. Their enlightenment is individualized by their personal measure of virtue and grace, but all participate in divine glory.

“The Fruit of God is the Son of God, Whom the Father brings forth in our spirit… It rather absorbs us into Itself and assimilates us with Itself.”

This is a profound mystical statement. Christ is the “Fruit” tasted in contemplation, but this fruit is not something the soul takes in; rather, it takes in the soul. Divine union transforms the soul more than the soul appropriates God.

“In this overcoming of all things, we taste of the hidden manna… we receive the sparkling stone… in which our new names were written before the beginning of the world.”

He alludes to Revelation 2:17, emphasizing that this mystical tasting corresponds to the soul’s eternal identity in God. The “new name” symbolizes the unique grace and vocation known only in God.

“Whosoever feels himself to be forever united with God, he possesses his name according to the measure of his virtues… and of his union.”

Union with God is personal and variable: each soul possesses its “name”-its divine identity-according to its degree of virtue, recollection, and transformation.

“The Lamb of God… has opened for us the Book of Life… And these names cannot be blotted out, for they are one with the Living Book, which is the Son of God.”

Christ’s death gives us access to the “Book of Life,” where the elect are inscribed. This metaphor underscores the unchangeable nature of God’s salvific knowledge and our incorporation into Christ.

“In the measure in which each man can overcome himself… he tastes the sweetness of the Inborn Fruit… and the Holy Ghost teaches him that he is the heir of God.”

The soul’s spiritual inheritance is linked to its self-renunciation and openness to God’s inner touch. The Spirit confirms divine sonship through interior tasting and experiential knowledge.

“Each one has been named separately, and his name is continually made new through new graces and new works of virtue.”

Mystical identity is dynamic: the soul’s name unfolds through progressive sanctification. It is not fixed as a static label but grows with each new grace and act of love.

“And therefore every knee shall bow before the Name of Jesus… in His name we are called and chosen, and adorned with grace and with virtues, and look for the glory of God.”

All salvation centers on Christ. His name is above all others, and in Him, the elect are chosen, sanctified, and prepared for divine glory.

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1. What is the fundamental difference between the brightness the saints enjoy and the enlightenment attainable in this life?

The saints in glory enjoy a direct, unmediated vision of God’s brightness, for their state is transparent and spiritual, free from the grossness of the mortal condition. In contrast, the enlightenment we can attain in this life is only a “shadow” of God-it is mediated, dimmed by our corporeality and the limitations of our fallen nature. Though the same divine Sun enlightens both states, our perception remains veiled, as St. Paul says, “we see through a glass darkly.”

2. How does Ruysbroeck describe the contemplative path toward divine union despite these limitations?

Ruysbroeck teaches that even in this shadowed state, the soul can be drawn into union with the divine light by love. This requires going “out of ourselves into the Wayless,” abandoning self and method to be drawn by God’s initiative. In this self-emptying love, the soul can be lifted into a contemplative life suitable to our mortal state, wherein we perceive the truth necessary for salvation and are gradually united with God.

3. What distinction does the author make between the spiritual states of Jews under the Old Covenant and Christians under the New?

The Jews, in the Old Covenant, are described as walking in darkness, “in the land of the shadow of death,” lacking the fullness of divine presence due to original sin. Christians, by contrast, live in the “cool and morning hour”-still early and imperfect, but the day has dawned. Through Christ and grace, they begin to walk in the light, although not yet at its noonday intensity, as the saints do.

4. How does Ruysbroeck describe the noonday state of the saints, and what do they experience there?

The saints live in the noon-tide brightness of God’s glory. With enlightened and open eyes, they experience the overflow of divine light. They taste the fruits of all virtues and, most sublimely, the knowledge and union with the Trinity in Unity. This union is described as surpassing and intoxicating, causing them to rest entirely in God’s selfhood.

5. What is meant by “the Fruit of God” and how is it experienced by the contemplative soul?

The “Fruit of God” is Christ, the Son of God, whom the Father brings forth in the depths of the soul. This fruit is “infinitely sweet” but cannot be consumed or assimilated by the soul; rather, it absorbs and transforms the soul into itself. When the soul is drawn inward by this Fruit, it abandons all else and tastes the hidden manna-the spiritual nourishment that grants eternal life.

6. What role does the concept of the “new name” play in this mystical theology?

The “new name” signifies the unique identity and vocation of each soul in God, known only to the one who receives it. It is inscribed in the eternal Book of Life, united to the Son of God. This name unfolds over time through the reception of new graces and acts of virtue, symbolizing a dynamic and personal relationship with God, ever renewed in union and transformation.

7. How does the mystery of Christ’s death relate to the revelation of the Book of Life and the names within it?

Christ, the Lamb of God, by His death, opened the Book of Life, breaking its seals and making accessible the divine plan of salvation. In this book are written the names of the elect, eternally chosen and inseparable from the Son. Through Christ’s sacrifice, all the virtues are fulfilled, and the elect are empowered to live according to the divine will and receive their destined union with God.

8. What is the relationship between the Trinity and the soul’s experience of union, according to this chapter?

The soul, in overcoming itself and dying to all created things, is drawn inward by the Father, touched by the Son (the divine Fruit), and taught by the Holy Spirit. In this trinitarian movement, the soul becomes aware that it is an heir of God. Each divine Person contributes uniquely to the soul’s transformation, culminating in experiential union and the confirmation of its eternal name and identity.

9. Why is Christ’s name exalted above all other names, and how does this affect the elect?

Christ’s name is exalted because He has conquered sin and death on behalf of humanity, fulfilling all virtue in its highest form. In His name, the elect are called, chosen, sanctified, and adorned with grace and virtue. His victory enlightens human darkness and secures for the soul its path to divine glory. Hence, every knee shall bow to His name in adoration and gratitude.

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Chapter 12. Ruysbroeck presents the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Thabor as a symbol of the soul’s ascent into divine union through contemplation. The mountain signifies the elevation of the soul’s “bare intelligence,” where, having become like Peter in truth, James in detachment, and John in grace, the soul is led by Christ into an interior solitude and illuminated with the light of Eternal Wisdom. Here, distinctions fall away in a unified experience of God-seeing, tasting, being, and knowing become one. Through the Father’s inward voice and the Spirit’s burning love, the soul is drawn into the embrace of the Trinity, becoming one being and one joy with God. This mystical union is rooted in Christ’s redemptive mission and reveals the soul’s eternal name and place within the divine good-pleasure. Ultimately, each soul becomes itself a fruition of love, wholly satisfied in God, with no desire beyond this intimate embrace.

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“And so, that the Name of Christ may be exalted and glorified in us, we should follow Him up the mountain of our bare intelligence, even as Peter, James and John followed Him on to mount Thabor.”

Ruysbroeck begins by urging the soul to imitate the apostles in their ascent of Mount Tabor, the site of Christ’s transfiguration. “The mountain of our bare intelligence” symbolizes the elevation of the mind stripped of images and distractions-a contemplative ascent into divine understanding. This is not just a psychological effort but a spiritual one: a climb in purity, truth, virtue, and love.

“So soon as we are like Peter in knowledge of truth, and like James in the overcoming of the world, and like John in fulness of grace possessing the virtues in righteousness…”

Each apostle represents a spiritual virtue required for this ascent: Peter symbolizes firm faith and doctrinal truth; James, asceticism and detachment from the world; and John, fullness of love and grace. Only when these three conditions are fulfilled in the soul does Christ lead it up the contemplative mountain.

“…Jesus brings us up on to the mountain of our bare intelligence to a hidden solitude, and reveals Himself to us in glory and in Divine brightness.”

At the summit of contemplation, Christ manifests His divine radiance to the soul in solitude. This hidden place is beyond the noise and clutter of the senses-it is an inner stillness where divine glory is disclosed, a foretaste of heaven.

“The Wisdom of God enfolds our bare vision and the simplicity of our spirit in a wayless, simple fruition of all good without distinction…”

Here Ruysbroeck describes the union of the soul with divine Wisdom as “wayless” and “without distinction”-terms characteristic of apophatic mysticism. The soul enjoys a simple, undivided taste of divine Goodness, no longer fragmented by created categories. This is pure fruition, the delight of God Himself.

“And therefore, if we ever remained with Jesus on mount Thabor… we should continually experience a growth of new light and new truth…”

The contemplative life is dynamic, not static. To remain “on the mountain” is to dwell continually in contemplative awareness, receiving ever-deepening illumination from the Father’s voice. The soul is gradually transformed as it listens and responds to this divine touch.

“Between our pleasure in God, and God’s pleasure in us, there arises the practice of true love.”

Contemplative union is mutual. God delights in the soul, and the soul delights in God. This mutual joy gives rise to “true love”-not a fleeting feeling, but a sustained state of being rooted in the divine will. Here, the soul finds its identity (“name and office”) and purpose in God.

“The outpouring touch of God quickens us… and teaches us to know truth and to discern the virtues…”

God’s grace outwardly strengthens the soul’s reason, discernment, and ability to live virtuously. This is the “outpouring” touch-a divine energizing and stabilizing in the spiritual life that makes the soul able to receive more without faltering.

“But the indrawing-touch of God demands of us, that we should be one with God, and go forth from ourselves, and die into blessedness…”

In contrast, the indrawing touch calls the soul to lose itself entirely in God-to “die into blessedness.” This death is not physical but mystical: the surrender of self-will and ego to be subsumed into the eternal love between Father and Son.

“Then we hear the voice of the Father… for He says: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”

Union with Christ draws the soul into the Trinitarian mystery, where it shares in the eternal delight of the Father in the Son. In this union, the Father’s voice is heard not externally, but within the soul, as the seal of divine adoption and intimacy.

“There all our powers fail us… and become all One and one All, in the loving embrace of the Threefold Unity.”

In the culmination of contemplation, even the soul’s highest faculties are overcome. The soul “falls from itself” and becomes absorbed in the Trinity-not losing its identity, but becoming fully what it was always meant to be: one with God in love.

“For then each one is himself a Fruition of Love, and he cannot and dare not seek for anything beyond his own.”

This final statement is striking: in the deepest union, each soul becomes not merely a recipient but a fruition of divine Love. So total is this satisfaction that the soul seeks nothing beyond what it already possesses in God. It rests, consumed in Love.

Summary Reflection:
Ruysbroeck uses the image of the Transfiguration to describe the mystical ascent of the soul into divine union. The contemplative life, when matured in faith, detachment, and love, becomes a Mount Tabor where Christ reveals His divine nature in radiant wisdom. The soul, drawn by the voice of the Father, is led into ever-deepening union, first by grace and then by surrender, until it is lost in the embrace of the Trinity, transformed into a living fruit of divine Love.

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1. What does the ascent of Mount Thabor symbolize in the spiritual life?

Mount Thabor symbolizes the ascent of the soul into contemplative union with God through the purification and elevation of the “bare intelligence”-the mind stripped of images and distractions. Just as Peter, James, and John ascended with Christ to witness His transfiguration, the soul ascends when it becomes like Peter in knowledge of truth, like James in detachment from the world, and like John in fullness of grace. This ascent leads to an encounter with the glory and divine brightness of Christ in a hidden, interior solitude.

2. What are the spiritual qualities represented by Peter, James, and John?

Peter represents the knowledge of truth and firm faith; James signifies overcoming the world and detachment; and John embodies fullness of grace and the possession of virtues in righteousness. These three together form the necessary spiritual foundation for the soul to be led by Christ up the mountain of contemplation.

3. What happens to the soul when Christ reveals Himself on this spiritual mountain?

When Christ reveals Himself, the soul enters into a state of divine illumination where the “living book” of Eternal Wisdom is opened. The soul is enfolded in God’s Wisdom and enters a simple, undivided fruition of all good, transcending distinctions like seeing, knowing, tasting, and being. This is a foretaste of union with God, where the soul receives light, truth, and the inward touch of the Father drawing it deeper into unity.

4. What is meant by the “bare vision” and “simplicity of spirit” in this context?

“Bare vision” refers to the soul’s capacity to see God without the mediation of images or concepts-pure, simple awareness. “Simplicity of spirit” is the soul’s inward unity and freedom from distraction, which allows it to receive God directly and fully. Together, these dispositions enable the soul to enter into the “wayless” experience of divine fruition, where it is simply absorbed in God without multiplicity or conceptual barriers.

5. How does the voice of the Father play a role in this mystical experience?

The voice of the Father is heard by those who ascend with Christ, affirming their identity as “chosen sons” and expressing divine pleasure in them. This inward voice is both an act of divine self-communication and a confirmation of the soul’s union with Christ. It draws the soul further inward and strengthens it with grace, forming the basis for the reciprocal delight between God and the soul-out of which true love arises.

6. What is the difference between the outpouring and indrawing touches of God?

The outpouring touch vivifies and strengthens the soul, filling it with grace, illuminating reason, and enabling discernment of virtue and truth. It stabilizes the soul in God’s presence. The indrawing touch, however, draws the soul into complete union with God, calling it to go out of itself, die to self, and be immersed in eternal Love-the love that eternally unites the Father and the Son. This is the deepest mystical experience, demanding full surrender and resulting in deification.

7. What is the ultimate goal or fruit of this contemplative ascent?

The ultimate goal is union with the Threefold Unity of God-becoming one being, one life, and one blessedness with God. In this union, all distinctions vanish, and the soul becomes itself a Fruition of Love, fully satisfied in God and unable to seek anything beyond this intimate participation in divine life. It is a state of resting in God’s embrace, marked by joy, simplicity, and perfect contentment.

8. Why does the soul, once in this union, no longer seek the joy of others?

In the depth of union, each soul is so fully absorbed in its own unique experience of divine Love that it cannot be distracted by the joys of others. This is not selfishness, but the total saturation of the soul in God’s presence. Each soul becomes a “Fruition of Love,” meaning that it is both the receiver and expression of divine joy, utterly fulfilled and complete in God.

9. What theological truth is revealed about Christ’s mission through this mystical teaching?

Ruysbroeck underscores the eternal plan and pleasure of the Father and the Son: that the Son should take on human nature, die, and bring the elect back to their origin in God. The mystical union of the soul with the Trinity is made possible only through Christ’s redemptive work, and the soul participates in this mystery by being uplifted through the Son into its divine origin.

10. What is the significance of the “good pleasure of God” in this teaching?

The “good pleasure of God” refers to the divine delight in the Son and in the souls who are united with Him. It is both the origin and the end of the soul’s journey: the Father is pleased with the Son and with those united to Him. This divine delight draws the soul inward into contemplation and fulfills it with grace. The good pleasure of God is the environment in which love, transformation, and eternal fruition occur.

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Chapter 13. Ruysbroeck teaches that true fruition of God requires three foundational dispositions: a peaceful renunciation of all inordinate attachments for the glory of God, an inward silence free from all images and distractions, and a pure, loving adherence to God that is itself the enjoyment of Him. Beyond this, three higher states deepen this union: resting in bare Essential Love, a mystical “sleep” in which the spirit loses awareness of self, and a final beholding of a divine “Darkness” where the soul experiences oneness with God beyond all reason and distinction. In this ineffable union, the soul finds God as its total peace, joy, and rest-dying to itself in blessedness and living again in virtue at love’s prompting. Those who dwell in these states enter a mode of contemplative life so natural that divine union becomes as effortless and continuous as breathing, forming the basis for the common life to come.

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“If a man would have fruition of God, three things are needful thereto; these are, true peace, inward silence, and loving adherence.”

Ruysbroeck begins by outlining the essential conditions for enjoying union with God. These three dispositions-peace, silence, and love-are not merely preparatory but constitutive of fruition. True peace implies moral alignment with God’s will, silence indicates the stilling of all images and distractions, and loving adherence suggests a total and selfless attachment to God.

“Whosoever would find true peace between himself and God must love God in such a way that he can, with a free heart, renounce for the glory of God everything which he does or loves inordinately…”

True peace is founded on detachment. This renunciation is not negative but a joyful surrender of anything that interferes with God’s glory. It’s a practical asceticism rooted in love, indicating that inner peace is inseparable from purity of heart and intention.

“The second thing is an inward silence; that is, that a man should be empty and free from images of all things which he ever saw or of which he ever heard.”

Inward silence goes beyond the absence of noise-it is the interior emptiness from all sensory and mental distractions. This condition allows the soul to be receptive to God in simplicity. It is the undoing of all conceptual barriers to divine immediacy.

“The third thing is a loving adherence to God, and this adherence is itself fruition…”

Ruysbroeck defines fruition not as a reward after preparation, but as the very act of clinging to God in pure love. This love is mutual and experiential: the soul loves and feels loved. Fruition is thus a living relationship grounded in love rather than abstract contemplation.

“The first of these points is to rest in Him Whom one enjoys… in bare Essential Love. There love has fallen in love with the lover, and each is all to the other…”

In the higher stages of fruition, Ruysbroeck speaks of a mystical rest wherein love and the soul become indistinguishable. “Essential Love” implies a union beyond faculties and images, where mutual indwelling takes place-God rests in the soul and the soul in God.

“This is called a falling asleep in God; that is, when the spirit immerses itself, and knows not how, nor where, nor in what it is.”

The second higher stage is described with the language of mystical unknowing. Like sleep, it is a surrender of control. The soul is immersed in God’s mystery without understanding-a total yielding of consciousness, akin to ecstatic absorption.

“The spirit beholds a Darkness into which it cannot enter with the reason… and one with God without difference and without distinction.”

The final stage surpasses reason and distinction. This “Darkness” is not the absence of God but the overwhelming presence of divine mystery. The soul loses all sense of self and enters undifferentiated union-a state of death to self and life in God.

“And this is an unfathomable abyss wherein man must die to himself in blessedness, and must live again in virtues, whenever love and its stirring demand it.”

Union with God is not static. Even after being lost in God, the soul returns to action, compelled by love to live out the virtues. This expresses Ruysbroeck’s recurring theme: the rhythm of contemplation and active life, rooted in divine love.

“Lo! if you feel these six points within you, then you feel all that I have, or could have, said before.”

Ruysbroeck concludes by saying that these six stages encapsulate his entire teaching. Anyone who experiences them naturally understands contemplation, introversion, and union with God as intimately as they understand their own physical life. It’s a radical statement about the integration of divine life into the soul.

“And from these riches there comes that common life of which I promised to speak to you at the beginning.”

This final line signals a transition. The contemplative heights just described are not an escape from the world but the foundation for the “common life”-a sanctified, active life flowing from divine union. This prefaces the final theme of integrating contemplation into ordinary Christian life.

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1. What are the three basic conditions necessary for the soul to have fruition of God?

Ruysbroeck states that three things are necessary for a soul to have fruition of God:
(1) True peace, which requires loving God so deeply that one is able to freely renounce everything that is done or loved inordinately or contrary to God’s glory;
(2) Inward silence, which is a complete emptiness of mind and heart from all images or memories of created things;
(3) Loving adherence to God, which is itself the essence of fruition-clinging to God not for gain but out of pure love, in which the soul both loves and feels loved by God.

2. How does Ruysbroeck define “true peace” and how is it attained?

True peace is the harmonious relationship between the soul and God, which is only attained through the renunciation of all inordinate attachments. One must be willing to surrender all actions, desires, and possessions that do not glorify God. This peace is not mere passivity but a fruit of a disciplined love that seeks God’s will above all.

3. What is meant by “inward silence” and why is it important for union with God?

Inward silence refers to the soul’s emptiness and detachment from all sensory and mental images-anything it has seen or heard. It is a profound stillness and openness that allows the soul to be fully receptive to God. Without this silence, the clutter of created forms and concepts obstructs the direct experience of God.

4. What is “loving adherence,” and why does Ruysbroeck equate it with fruition?

Loving adherence is the soul’s firm and affectionate clinging to God, not for personal gain but out of pure, selfless love. Ruysbroeck says this is fruition because true enjoyment of God comes from this very act of union in love. It is an experience of mutual delight: the soul loves God and knows it is loved by Him in return.

5. What are the three higher mystical states that establish the soul more deeply in divine fruition?

Ruysbroeck identifies three advanced states that deepen and stabilize one’s capacity for enjoying God:

Resting in Him Whom one enjoys: A state in which love possesses the soul and the soul possesses love, so fully that both are one in essential love.

Falling asleep in God: The spirit enters a state of complete immersion in God, where it no longer knows itself or its surroundings-a kind of spiritual unconsciousness.

Beholding a Darkness: A state beyond reason and understanding, where the soul feels itself dead to self and indistinguishably one with God. This is the apex of mystical union, marked by peace, rest, and joy in the divine abyss.

6. What role does the “Darkness” play in the mystical life according to Ruysbroeck?

The “Darkness” symbolizes the divine mystery that surpasses all understanding and reason. In this state, the soul experiences itself as dead to its own identity and fully merged with God, without distinction or difference. It is not the darkness of absence, but the overwhelming presence of divine incomprehensibility. Here, God becomes the soul’s total rest, peace, and joy.

7. What happens to the soul after it experiences union with God in this “Darkness”?

After experiencing the abyss of divine union, the soul is not removed from action but is reawakened to live again in virtue, whenever love stirs it. The death to self is not final obliteration but a prelude to a new, love-driven life. The soul becomes so rooted in God that contemplation and union become as natural and accessible as ordinary life.

8. How does this chapter anticipate the “common life” mentioned at the end?

Ruysbroeck concludes by stating that anyone who experiences these six stages (three foundational, three higher) is so deeply united to God that contemplation, introversion, and fruition become second nature. From this rich inner life arises the “common life”-an active, outward life infused with divine love. This foreshadows the integration of contemplation and action in the final part of the book.

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Chapter 14. Ruysbroeck describes the “common life” as the mature and balanced life that emerges when a soul, having attained union with God through contemplation and fruition, is sent back into the world by God. Such a person lives not for himself but entirely for God’s glory, acting as a transparent instrument of divine love and power. He is rich in virtues, deeply rooted in God, and able to serve others without depletion, since he draws from the inexhaustible fountain of the Holy Spirit. This life is universal because it unites perfect contemplation with perfect action. But only those who have passed through the full purgation and elevation of the spirit-the six degrees of transformation outlined previously-can live it. Ruysbroeck warns against self-deception: no one can truly contemplate God unless they are stripped of self-love, images, and attachments. The soul must be open, truthful, and inwardly free to ascend from virtue to virtue, until it sees, enjoys, and becomes one with God.

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“The man who is sent down by God from these heights into the world is full of truth and rich in all virtues.”

Ruysbroeck begins by describing the contemplative who has reached union with God and is then “sent down” into the world. This soul carries divine truth and virtue, not from self-effort alone, but as an overflow of divine participation.

“And he seeks not his own but the glory of Him Who has sent him.”

The sign of true union is the death of self-interest. Such a person lives for God’s glory, not personal recognition, showing the radical humility that marks authentic contemplation.

“And hence he is just and truthful in all things, and he possesses a rich and a generous ground, which is set in the richness of God…”

The virtues of justice and truthfulness are not mere moral achievements, but expressions of a “ground” in God. The contemplative is fertile soil, rooted in divine abundance, from which all virtue flows.

“And therefore he must always spend himself on those who have need of him; for the living fount of the Holy Ghost, which is his wealth, can never be spent.”

The contemplative naturally overflows in service. He gives himself to others because the Spirit within him is inexhaustible. This challenges the false dichotomy between contemplation and action.

“And he is a living and willing instrument of God, with which God works whatsoever He wills and howsoever He wills…”

The contemplative becomes a docile instrument of God’s will-completely pliable, without resistance. God’s work through him is spontaneous and unselfconscious.

“And these works he reckons not as his own, but gives all the glory to God.”

Even when working in the world, the soul attributes nothing to itself. It is free from spiritual pride because it knows that everything is God’s.

“And so he remains ready and willing to do in the virtues all that God commands, and strong and courageous in suffering and enduring all that God allows to befall him.”

This person is wholly surrendered in both action and suffering. Obedience and endurance are united in love, making him spiritually invincible.

“And by this he possesses a universal life, for he is ready alike for contemplation and for action, and is perfect in both of them.”

Ruysbroeck presents the ideal of the “universal life,” which harmonizes contemplation and action in perfection. It is not withdrawal from the world but being fully available to God in all modes of life.

“And none can have this universal life save the God-seeing man; and none can contemplate and enjoy God save he who has within himself the six points…”

Only those who have passed through the six stages of purification, contemplation, and union can enter this mature, universal state. Superficial or premature claims to contemplation are illusions.

“And therefore, all those are deceived who fancy themselves to be contemplative, and yet inordinately love, practice, or possess, some creaturely thing…”

True contemplation demands radical detachment. Any disordered love or attachment disqualifies a person from the vision and enjoyment of God.

“…or who fancy that they enjoy God before they are empty of images, or that they rest before they enjoy. All such are deceived.”

Ruysbroeck warns against spiritual presumption. One must first be emptied of mental images and fully united in love before resting in God. There are clear stages and prerequisites.

“For we must make ourselves fit for God with an open heart, with a peaceful conscience, with naked contemplation, without hypocrisy, in sincerity and truth.”

The path to God requires honesty, openness, inner peace, and a stripped-down, image-free contemplation. Hypocrisy and false mysticism must be purged.

“And then we shall mount up from virtue unto virtue, and shall see God, and shall enjoy Him, and in Him shall become one with Him, in the way which I have shown to you.”

The soul is led progressively, virtue by virtue, into vision, enjoyment, and unity with God. This is the fruit of the true contemplative path Ruysbroeck has laid out in the preceding chapters.

“That this be done in all of us, so help us God. Amen.”

Ruysbroeck closes with a prayer of intercession: may this path to divine union and universal life be realized in all readers who sincerely seek it.

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1. What characterizes the person who is “sent down by God” from the heights of contemplation into the world?

The person sent down by God from the heights of contemplation is marked by fullness of truth and richness in all virtues. He no longer seeks his own interests but lives entirely for the glory of the One who sent him. His inner “ground” is immersed in God’s richness, making him just, generous, and constantly self-giving. Because he is rooted in the inexhaustible fountain of the Holy Spirit, he becomes a source of help for others and lives as a vessel through which God works freely and powerfully.

2. How does this person relate to his actions and to suffering?

He does not claim his works as his own, attributing everything to God and glorifying Him alone. He is equally ready for action or contemplation, depending on God’s will. In doing so, he is obedient and humble in action, and strong and courageous in suffering. He accepts all things as coming from God, responding with full surrender.

3. What does Ruysbroeck mean by “universal life”?

“Universal life” refers to a state in which a person is perfectly prepared for both contemplation and action. This is not an alternating balance but a simultaneous readiness and completeness in both dimensions. Only a “God-seeing man”-one who has passed through all the degrees of contemplation and union-is capable of living this life.

4. What are the six points Ruysbroeck refers to, which are prerequisites for this universal life?

These six points were outlined in the previous chapter and include:

True peace (detachment from inordinate attachments),

Inward silence (freedom from all images),

Loving adherence (pure love and union with God),

Rest in God (possession of God in essential love),

Falling asleep in God (a complete immersion in God beyond knowledge), and

The Darkness of unknowing (union beyond all reason and distinction).
Only those who have progressed through these points are capable of living in constant contemplation and action.

5. What false assumptions about contemplation does Ruysbroeck warn against?

Ruysbroeck warns against assuming one is contemplative while still loving or clinging to created things inordinately. He also rejects the idea that one can enjoy God before being emptied of images or that one can rest in God before genuine union. These missteps are self-deceptions that short-circuit the true path.

6. What inner dispositions are necessary for authentic contemplation?

An open heart, a peaceful conscience, image-free contemplation (“naked contemplation”), and total sincerity and truthfulness are essential. One must be emptied of all falsehood and hypocrisy to become a fitting vessel for divine union and contemplation.

7. What is the ultimate goal of the contemplative journey, according to this chapter?

The ultimate goal is union with God through vision, enjoyment, and transformation. As one climbs “from virtue unto virtue,” the soul sees God, delights in Him, and becomes one with Him in love. This union is not only personal fulfillment but leads to an active life of love and service in the world, grounded in the divine will.

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In Book Three, the final book of the Adornment, Ruysbroeck unveils the summit of the spiritual journey: the God-seeing life. Here, the soul passes beyond all images, virtues, and selfhood into the direct, unmediated vision of God. This contemplative union unfolds in stages, from the soul’s loving response to God through virtue and desire, to being drawn into the eternal birth of the Son in the soul, and finally to participation in the hidden unity of the Divine Essence. Ruysbroeck describes how only those purified by virtue, consumed with love, and surrendered in utter inwardness can be lifted into this superessential vision. There, in divine darkness, the soul sees the uncreated light and becomes one with it, not by knowledge or effort, but by God’s own act.

This eternal beholding is no static moment but an unceasing procession of divine life and love. The Father eternally begets the Son in the soul, and the Holy Spirit breathes forth as their mutual love, drawing the soul into an ever-deepening fruition. In this union, all distinctions, between Creator and creature, between the Persons of the Trinity, are gathered into the abyss of the divine Unity, where the soul loses itself in love. What remains is a still, radiant silence where the soul, now free from every image and mode, dwells in blessedness. This is the culmination of the spiritual marriage: to see and be seen in God, to live in the eternal Now of divine life, tasting at last the formless glory of Love itself.

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Chapter 1 discusses three ways to enter into The God-Seeing Life. The inward lover of God, who holds God in fruitive love, embraces himself in active love, and lives a life marked by virtues, is led into the God-seeing life through these three elements. Such a person may be chosen by God to be lifted into a higher state of superessential contemplation. This contemplation is beyond human understanding and cannot be attained by effort, knowledge, or subtlety. Only those whom God unites with Himself in spirit can see God in this way.

In the essential unity of God, the three Persons of the Trinity eternally behold, love, and have fruition in an embrace of divine love. All inward beings are one with God in this unity, immersed in love, sharing the eternal bliss of God. And, the Father is the origin in this unity of every work in heaven and on earth, and He speaks in our depths: Behold, the Bride groom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.

These words open onto that superessential contemplation which is the source of all holiness. No one can really understand them in any creaturely way since that is far below their Truth. Only the one who is united with God, for to comprehend God as He is in Himself, is to be God with God, without intermediary, and without any otherness that can become a hindrance. Such a person has died to himself and lives in God. He has turned his gaze to the Hidden Truth that reveals Itself without intermediary, in one unique abysmal word in which He utters Himself in the hiddenness of our spirit. This is the birth of the Son.

To enter this God-seeing life, three things are necessary. First, a person must be perfectly ordered in virtues, inwardly empty, and free from all distractions. Second, they must cleave to God with unquenchable love and intention, like a fire that never dies. Third, they must lose themselves in a waylessness and darkness where all self-consciousness ceases, entering into the manifestation of God and eternal life. In this divine darkness, the soul sees an incomprehensible light (the Son of God) and becomes united with God’s own brightness. This divine light, given to the simple sight of the spirit, transcends all gifts and creaturely activities. The contemplative, in his emptiness and spiritual nakedness, becomes one with the light by which he sees, achieving a state of blessedness and eternal life.

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Chapter 2 emphasizes that the eternal birth of God in the spirit is a ceaseless process, wherein the soul continually beholds and is transformed by the ever-new presence of God.

In the God-seeing life, one experiences the constant birth of God’s presence in the soul as a perpetual enlightenment, an unceasing renewal and an uninterrupted manifestation of the Divine Light. The Bridegroom, who symbolizes Christ, is always coming anew into the soul, bringing an ever-fresh illumination that transcends time. This coming is both instantaneous and eternal, constantly bringing new joy and delight. The soul’s spiritual “eyes” are opened wide to receive the endless revelation of God’s presence, never to close again.

In this state, all earthly actions and virtues cease because God alone works in the innermost nobility of the spirit. Here, the soul is absorbed in an eternal act of seeing and being illuminated by the Divine Light. The spirit, in receiving this unending divine coming, becomes one with the Light itself, finding all blessedness in this divine unity. This ongoing process of receiving and becoming is what constitutes the eternal life and joy of the soul.

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Chapter 3 explores the most profound depth of union with God in which the soul, called to go out in eternal contemplation and fruition, shares all riches that are in God by nature, by way of the unmeasured love of the Holy Ghost. Through this love, we are dead to ourselves, and go forth in waylessness embraced by the Holy Trinity in the superessential Unity where the Father dwells in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and all creatures in both, beyond the distinction of the Persons which are the fruitfulness of the Divine Nature. It is here that an eternal going out without beginning begins: the Father generates the Son in perfect self-understanding and in this eternal generatioin, all creatures were conceived in God as ideas distinct from Himself, but not fully other. Thus, we exist eternally in God before being created in time, and our eternal being is like God’s being, having immanence in the Divine Essence without distinction. In the birth of the Son, our being obtains an outflowing and distinction according to the Eternal Idea.

Both our eternal indwelling in God’s essence (being in God before creation), and our eternal outflowing in distinction (through the Son as divine ideas), makes us so like God that He can eternally reflect Himself in us. We may appear “other” than God, but in the eternal Image (the Son), our likeness remains one with God. God sees Himself and all creation in this one eternal act of seeing – no before or after, just now. This eternal Image is both God’s own reflection and also our true self. We are made after this eternal Image and are called to go out from ourselves and return and unite with it in love and bliss, because it is our “proper life.”

The bosom of the Father is our ground and origin, from which we begin to exist. From the Father shines forth the eternal brightness, the Son, in whom the Father knows Himself and all that lives in Him. Everything in the Father, except His Fatherhood, remains unmanifested in Himself, yet is given to the Son and made manifest through Him. Our eternal Image remains hidden and wayless in the Father, but is revealed through the Son’s radiant Light. Those raised into the God-seeing life become one with this Divine Light, recognizing their uncreated essence as rooted in the same onefold ground. This leads them beyond created being, reason, and distinction into a contemplative union, where they are transfigured by and into the Divine Light itself.

God-seeing men follow the Eternal Image in which they were created, seeing God and all things, without distinction, in a simple seeing, in the Divine brightness. This is the noblest contemplation to which one can attain, leaving man master of himself and free. Each loving introversion increases his soul’s nobility beyond understanding. This gazing at the Divine Light lifts the soul beyond all virtue and merit. We now possess the reward after which we strive and participate in a heavenly life. Freed from earthly exile, the soul is more fully capable of receiving God’s brightness.

This path of contemplation is a transcendent “way above all ways,” where the soul is transformed in Divine radiance. In love, the soul goes out beyond itself, tasting God’s inexhaustible richness in a secret, inward union where it becomes like God.

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Chapter 4. When the inward, God-seeing person reaches their Eternal Image and enters the bosom of the Father through the Son, they continually receive the Eternal Birth in each moment, and are continually enlightened in a Divine contemplation. This is the final stage: a loving meeting, and our blessedness.

The Father, as the living ground, is always turned toward the Son (His Eternal Wisdom); and the Son, in turn, is always turned back toward the Father. Out of this mutual turning flows the Holy Spirit, their mutual love, who shares their nature. This love is so profound that all creation must remain silent before it, for it surpasses all understanding. Yet the soul that is above itself and is united with God sees without measure, as God does, the riches in the unity where it possesses itself according to its uncreated essence.

This rapturous union between Father and Son is continually renewed within us: the Father endlessly gives Himself to the Son, and the Son to the Father, in a perpetual exchange of love. Just as the Father forever beholds all things in the Son’s birth, so too are all things constantly loved anew by both Father and Son through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who embraces us in this eternal love.

This loving embrace is both fruitive and wayless. The abysmal waylessness of God is so unconditioned that it swallows up every Divine way and activity, as well as the attributes of the Persons, and brings about Divine fruition in the abyss of the Ineffable. Here the soul dies in fruition and dissolves into the pure, formless simplicity of God’s ineffable oneness, where all Divine names, images and distinctions lapse in waylessness and without reason. In the unfathomable abyss of divine simplicity, all distinctions fall away. Everything is gathered into fruitive bliss, an abyss that only the Essential Unity can comprehend. All that live in God, even the Persons of the Trinity, yield to this stillness where nothing remains but eternal rest in the outpouring of Love. This “wayless being” is what contemplative souls chose above all else -a dark, radiant silence where they lose themselves completely. To approach it, we must let go of everything and surrender to the vast, unknowable sea of God.

Ruysbroek ends his work with a prayer, “May we possess in fruition the essential Unity, and clearly behold unity in the Trinity; this may Divine Love, which turns no beggar away, bestow upon us. Amen.”

In Book Two of the Adornment, Ruysbroek turns to the God-seeking man and his soul’s journey toward union with God. The point of departure is the story of the wise virgin awaiting the Bridegroom, Christ. The divine call to “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him,” represents illumination, virtuous action, and final union with God. Ruysbroek understands the soul as a threefold unity of 1) its essential connection to God, 2) the higher powers of memory, understanding, and will fostering spiritual life, and 3) the bodily powers sustaining physical life. Grace flows from the spirit’s unity with God, empowering the soul’s faculties, illuminating and freeing it from worldy distractions, and drawing it toward virtue, peace, and divine love. To arrive at an full understanding of this unity in the spirit, Ruysbroek proceeds by expanding the above quoted passage. The coming of the Bridegroom is marked by the threefold inward coming of Christ, the first of which is marked by four degrees. The final union is then meeting Him. The following is a summary of the entire work, followed by a chapter by chapter summary.

The first degree of Christ’s first inward coming into the soul is marked by a profound stirring of desire, drawing a person toward union with God. This divine influence works through the lower part of man, purging and transforming the heart and bodily powers while igniting a longing for virtue and spiritual perfection. Christ’s presence acts like the sun, enkindling and illuminating the heart and senses, fostering a fiery ardor that gathers all one’s powers into unity and inward peace. From this unity springs inwardness, allowing the soul to perceive its inner workings and God’s communications, leading to a deep, sensible love for God that prioritizes Him above all else. This love transforms into devotion, which moves the whole person to serve God and purifies body and soul. Devotion naturally leads to gratitude, expressed through desire, action, and service, and culminates in eternal praise. However, this inward journey also brings two forms of grief: one from a sense of inadequacy in thanking and serving God, and another from the struggle to grow in holiness. These griefs refine the soul and represent the highest effects of this degree of inward exercise. Through constant praise, humility, and the enduring fire of divine love, the soul produces spiritual fruits, just as sunlight draws forth growth in nature. This transformative process completes the first stage of the inward life, adorning the lowest part of man and preparing him for deeper union with Christ.

The second degree of Christ’s first inward coming is likened to the sun’s effect on ripening fruit, symbolizing Christ’s transformative influence on the heart. When the soul, having achieved the virtues of the first degree, fully offers its charity, pleasure, and peace back to God with thanksgiving, Christ enters anew with a profound influx of consolation and divine sweetness. This coming elevates the heart to a higher state, filling it with a joy and solace that surpass any earthly pleasure. The intensity of this divine embrace can overwhelm the heart, fostering an acute awareness of the misery of those who live apart from God’s love. This experience, often described as spiritual inebriation, brings an ecstatic delight that overflows the heart’s capacity, manifesting in spontaneous expressions of joy such as singing, weeping, or silent awe. The person responds to these gifts with humility, recognizing their unworthiness and the boundless goodness of God, which spurs growth into greater virtues. However, dangers accompany this state, represented by hoar-frost, symbolizing self-attachment and pride, and fog, representing complacency in spiritual sweetness. Both can obscure true understanding and hinder spiritual growth. To navigate these perils, the behavior of the bee serves as a guide. Just as a bee gathers resources from flowers without attachment, transforming them into honey and wax for the hive’s unity, the soul must approach spiritual gifts with discretion, integrating them into a unified devotion focused entirely on God. This ensures that fleeting sweetness does not distract from the eternal union with God, completing this second degree of inward working.

The third degree of Christ’s first inward coming is described as the soul’s intense longing and striving for unity with Christ, which transcends all earthly or spiritual consolations. At this stage, the soul no longer seeks any comfort other than Christ Himself. Christ draws the heart and soul towards Him, causing an open wound of love that, while painful, is also sweet. This love is transformative, drawing the soul ever closer to God, but it also brings restlessness, as the soul cannot yet fully attain the union it desires. The inner pain intensifies, as the soul is agitated by the fierce longing for God, with no earthly or heavenly consolation providing relief. The soul is exiled from the divine and may even long to escape the body and be united with Christ. Amid this fervor, the soul may experience ecstasies or divine revelations. These moments, whether through visions, raptures, or jubilant joy, are fleeting glimpses of the Divine that lift the soul beyond the senses. But such experiences should be measured against Scripture and spiritual truth to avoid deception. While some may be misled by false spiritual experiences, those grounded in faith will discern the difference and stay true to the path. However, this stage also carries dangers. The intensity of divine love can lead to spiritual and physical suffering, resembling the extreme heat of summer, which withers both the body and the soul’s peace. At times, the soul may experience brief moments of sweetness, but the overall intensity of love causes continued inner pain. There is also the risk of being deceived by false sweetness, similar to honey-dew that spoils fruit in the heat of summer. This deception can present itself as spiritual nourishment, but it corrupts the soul if not recognized for what it truly is. Those who are vigilant and well-grounded in spiritual practices will be able to resist such deception and maintain the integrity of their journey. The soul must persevere through this spiritual heat, much like the ant in the parable. The ant, diligent and patient, works through hardship, storing up provisions for the future. Similarly, the soul must endure, focusing on God’s glory and cultivating virtues. By staying steadfast and avoiding distractions, the soul will ultimately ascend towards the divine, just as the ant eventually takes flight.

The fourth degree of Christ’s first inward coming is symbolized by the transition of the sun into Virgo, which represents a time of unfruitfulness and spiritual desolation. As the soul experiences a withdrawal of God’s presence, it feels abandoned, losing the vibrant love and joy it once had. This stage may involve external hardships and temptations, testing the individual’s perseverance and faith as they endure spiritual poverty and isolation. In response, the soul must completely surrender to God’s will. It should accept both suffering and joy with equanimity, offering everything for God’s glory. This resignation, symbolized by the sun in Libra, leads to spiritual maturity, turning all experiences into spiritual fruits that endure eternally. However, a danger arises when spiritual fervor cools, as complacency and neglect of virtue can diminish the soul’s appetite for virtue and divine truth, leading to spiritual illness. Attachment to material possessions further obstructs spiritual growth, inflating desires that block God’s grace and vitality, like dropsy does to the body. If the soul can detach from these worldly concerns, it may overcome this hindrance and continue to grow. The soul is also in danger of four types of spiritual “fevers” that impede spiritual progress: the Quotidian Fever (restlessness), the Fever of Fickleness (inconsistency), the Quartan Fever (estrangement from God), and the Double Quartan Fever (indifference). These spiritual ailments arise from neglecting inner life and detaching from God, and overcoming them requires self-awareness, humility, and a focus on God to maintain spiritual health.

Christ’s life exemplifies these four degrees, serving as the perfect model for all who seek union with God. In the first degree, Christ embodies oneness and inwardness, uniting all virtues within Himself as the Father’s Only Begotten Son. The second degree is characterized by overflowing love and grace, as Christ’s heart overflows with mercy, gentleness, humility, and generosity, drawing all people toward Him. The third degree, inclination toward glory and beatitude, marks Christ’s natural and supernatural desire for the highest glory, though He willingly remained in exile until the appointed time. In the fourth degree, humility, suffering, and redemption, Christ humbles Himself, enduring extreme suffering and forsakenness to redeem humanity. His ultimate sacrifice leads to His exaltation and eternal glory at the right hand of the Father. Only when one aligns one’s heart and actions in this way, bears all difficulties with patience and offers gratitude to God in all circumstance, is one ready for divine illuminiation.

With his discussion of the first inward coming of Christ completed, Ruysbroek next turns to the second. This coming is marked by a profound spiritual transformation as the soul receives grace poured into its higher powers followed by their return to God. Ruysbroek uses the metaphor of a fountain pouring water into three rills like grace illuminating the soul’s three faculties. The first rill of grace purifies the soul’s memory and creates simplicity, allowing the soul to focus on divine unity. This grace raises the soul above multiplicity and distractions, freeing the memory from distractions and fickleness. Through this simplicity, the person is called to go out of themselves and is established in the unity of spirit where the memory becomes fixed on the “nudity” of divine unity, above all multiplicity and distractions of sensible images. This essential and supernatural unity of spirit becomes their dwelling place, eternal heritage, and a point of eternal loving union in the bond of the Holy Spirit, Father, and Son, together with all the saints.

The second rill of grace illuminates the intellect, helping the enlightened person discern virtues and mysteries of the faith. It arises from the unity of the spirit through God’s inward charity to illuminate the understanding. This illumination enables the soul to discern between virtues. This light, always within us but not under our control, is revealed or concealed by God according to His will. Enlightened individuals, operating in this light, do not rely on external revelations but perceive God’s will directly from within, even gaining insight into unknown or future events when divinely inspired. Christ calls such individuals to examine their lives and compare them to His, both in His human and divine natures. The soul contemplates the attributes of God: His Simplicity, Oneness, incomprehensible Dimensions, dark Silence, and the eternal Rest of the saints in the Unity. The enlightened man perceives the Trinity’s attributes distinctly: the Father as Omnipotent Creator and Origin of all; the Son as Wisdom, Truth, and Enlightenment; and the Holy Spirit as Love, Mercy, and the Flame uniting all things in God. These attributes, while distinct, are perceived in the simple nature of the Godhead and marvelously shared between God and creation. The soul, filled with wonder at God’s universal generosity and incomprehensible richness, finds profound joy, trust, and gladness.

The third rill enkindles the will with spiritual love and leads to every perfection. Flowing from the unity of spirit like a consuming fire, this rill enkindles the will, filling all the soul’s powers with effortless spiritual love. Christ now calls the soul to “go out” with love according to the gifts of his second coming: the first rill has elevated the memory above distractions and grounded it in spiritual unity; the second rill has enlightened the understanding and enabled the discernment of virtues and divine mysteries; and the third rill has enkindled the will with love and spiritual richness, leading to enlightenment. God’s grace, acting like a fountainhead in the unity of the spirit, flows out into the soul’s powers and virtues but demands a return to its Source, maintaining the cycle of divine outpouring and re-absorption.

Ruysbroeck outlines four ways the enlightened person “goes out” with love and generosity. The first going-out is towards God and the saints. Here, the enlightened man observes the continuous cycle of giving and receiving between God and His creatures. He realizes that while no finite spirit can love God according to His infinite worth, this recognition leads to a profound delight and unity in divine love. Enriched by God’s abundance, the man distributes glory and gifts to all angelic choirs and heavenly hierarchies. The second going-out is towards sinners. The enlightened man descends with compassion and intercedes for them through fervent prayer, aligning himself with God’s will and trusting in His goodness. This love extends universally to all humanity, including unbelievers, that God’s glory and joy might spread to the ends of the earth. The third going-out is towards souls in purgatory. Here, the enlightened man prays for these souls with deep compassion, pleading for God’s mercy on their behalf. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he sometimes feels an intense urge to pray for specific souls, experiencing a spiritual confirmation when his prayers are heard. The fourth going-out is towards himself and all good men. The enlightened man, recognizing his unity with others in love, prays for God’s customary gifts to confirm them in love and eternal worship. Acting as a mediator, he teaches, reproves, and serves others with humility and discretion. Turning inward, he rests in the unity of spirit, finding peace in God’s ultimate Unity, the resting place of all spirits.

However, there are those who fail in true charity and spiritual enlightenment. These can be identified by three signs: First, such individuals lack simplicity and stability, experiencing restlessness and complex thoughts instead of the inward unity that comes without images. Second, their teachings are barren, marked by spiritual pride and a focus on external matters, leading others astray. Third, they exhibit isolation and self-importance, craving admiration and neglecting justice, humility, and generosity. Rather, self-awareness and gentle correction over harsh judgment will preserve the heart’s openness to Divine truth. Christ is the ultimate model of a universal love that benefits all who seek salvation. Christ’s mission, while initially directed to the “lost sheep of Israel,” ultimately extends to all chosen souls. Christ’s life, death, ministry, and gifts were entirely for the benefit of others, reflecting His perfect loyalty to the Father and His infinite love for humanity. His glory and merits, shared in eternity, remain the ultimate redemption and salvation for all.

The third in inward coming of Christ is the most profound. It is a divine touch which occurs within the depths of the spirit, where God dwells and all powers are gathered in unity. It is likened to a duct feeding the fountain which then flows into the three rills which are the grace of God flowing into the higher faculties, inspiring virtue, and then returning to the unity of the spirit from which it originates. This grace springs from God’s infinite richness, manifesting in a perpetual outpouring of faithfulness and love. Within this unity, the soul is passive, transcending all virtues, as God alone acts in His goodness. This touch is a direct act of God, beyond reason’s comprehension, an influx of all graces proceeding from the incomprehensible brightness of the Trinity. Here, God reigns within the spirit, and the spirit abides within God.

Through this divine touch, Christ calls the soul to act in harmony with its experience, drawing it into the most profound practices possible in created light. The spirit, moved by love, ascends beyond all actions to the unity from which the touch originates. Here, understanding strives to know God in His brilliance, and love seeks to enjoy Him without intermediary. Yet reason falters before the overwhelming radiance of the Supernal Brightness, which blinds all created understanding. Despite this, the spirit is continuously beckoned to explore this mystery, but it ultimately concludes that it cannot grasp the divine touch, for it belongs entirely to God’s infinite nature. While reason halts at the threshold, love, blind and driven by yearning, presses onward, tasting the fulfillment that lies beyond understanding. This awakens an insatiable hunger in the spirit, a yearning for the Uncreated Good that can never be fully satisfied in a created vessel. The more the soul experiences God’s touch, the greater its longing becomes, a perpetual hunger that transcends reason and understanding. This eternal yearning reflects the boundless capacity of the spirit to grow in love and desire for God. In this dynamic relationship, God touches the soul, and the soul responds, creating a mutual yearning and a loving struggle. Each spirit demands all of the other, offering all of itself in return, until their love becomes one simple, overflowing fountain of divine communion. In this state, the soul forgets itself and even God, knowing only love and becoming entirely consumed in it.

This love, the root of all virtues, resides at the core of the soul’s being, uniting all creaturely actions in their origin and end. Touched by God’s incomprehensible brightness and boundless love, the spirit becomes fruitful in virtue. It enters a heavenly cycle: consumed by love, it empties itself entirely, only to rise again to fresh endeavors. This cycle of divine love, born of grace and love, surpasses all works, uniting charity and virtue in an eternal flow back to God. It is the highest spiritual exercise possible in created light, enduring in grace and culminating in the eternal union of love with God.

Ruysbroek closes this work in chapters 56 to 67 by revisiting the central themes of Christ’s call to attentiveness and His inward coming, which occurs in three distinct ways. The first of these has four degrees, each requiring specific practices in response to God’s movement. The ultimate goal is the final meeting and union with Christ, the Bridegroom, representing the culmination of all spiritual efforts. This union is a mutual encounter, where Christ descends to meet the soul, and the soul ascends to meet Christ. This essential meeting between the spirit and God occurs in the nakedness, without intermediaries and above all created gifts and above all likeness. In its essence, the spirit continuously receives Christ directly and reflects God’s eternal image. This union is sustained by God alone as the spirit rests in Him, and possesses and is possessed by the Holy Trinty. The soul loses itself in God’s being, finding eternal blessedness before returning through the eternal birth of the Son. The spirit is impressed by God’s archetype, like a flawless mirror, maintaining its connection with Him. The spirit’s union with is the source of the transformation of its higher powers and the foundation of its holiness and blessedness: Christ enters the soul through grace, while the soul responds through virtues, and this reciprocal dynamic elevates the spirit, deepens its union with God and transforms it into the divine likeness. Damned souls, on the other hand, lack grace, remain in darkness and are unable to unite with God, while the faithful are drawn ever closer to Him through this transformative process. But for the God-seeking man, God continually visits his spirit’s unity with constant renewals, as Christ desires the soul to dwell uninterrupted in this divine unity. The Holy Ghost bestows His gifts through the divine birth, Christ’s inward coming, and the soul responds by aligning its works and intentions with God. The soul directs all its effort with a single, pure intention to meet God. This intention unifies the scattered powers of the spirit and aligns every action with divine love. It embodies faith, hope, and charity, fostering inner peace and clarity of purpose. This simplicity of intention enhances virtues, cleanses sin, and prepares the soul for its ultimate rest in God.

Chapter 63 is an excursion into how the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit guide and perfect the virtues in a soul, leading to a deeper likeness to God and ultimate union with Him. Each gift contributes uniquely to this transformative journey: 1) Fear of the Lord instills reverence and obedience, aligning the soul with God’s will through simplicity of intention and faithfulness. This fosters rest in God beyond mere outward resemblance. 2) Piety encourages the soul to act with gentleness, mercy, and meekness, cultivating virtues that deepen likeness to God and enhance the soul’s rest and fulfillment in Him. 3) Knowledge provides discernment to recognize and avoid actions contrary to virtue. The gift brings clarity and anchors the soul in the likeness of the Holy Trinity, ensuring virtuous living free from error. 4) Strength moves the soul from external practices to the inner truth of God, freeing it from earthly attachments. It fosters steadfastness, inner recollection, and the ability to transcend all for the sake of God’s love. 5) Counsel awakens a restless yearning for God above all else, leading to self-abandonment and total submission to God’s will. This gift deepens freedom, love, and joyful surrender, even in suffering, aligning the soul perfectly with God’s purposes. 6) Understanding illuminates the spirit with divine truth, fostering simplicity, unity, and universal love. It enables the soul to perceive God’s attributes, the richness of creation, and the eternal realities, all while living in active charity and restful union with God. 7) Wisdom perfects the soul’s love and union with God, making it wholly united with Him in eternal fruitfulness. This gift allows the soul to live in harmony with the divine essence, sharing God’s simplicity, clarity, and universal love. This journey involves humility, reverence, gratitude, intercession, mercy, and generosity, mirroring the divine attributes. Through these gifts, the soul transitions from outward forms to inward truth, resting in God while actively loving all creation in His light. The closer the soul aligns with God’s essence of simplicity, clarity, and love, the deeper its union and fruitfulness.

Finally, Ruysbroek turns to the heights of the most interior spiritual life and the practices that lead to union with God, and he describes how the Immeasurable Splendour of God penetrates and transfigures the human spirit in a way beyond comprehension. The spirit immerses itself in the Uncomprehended Light, experiencing a fathomless fruitive rest that can only be known through direct experience. Any attempt to comprehend this state would impose limitations, disrupting the infinite nature of this rest. In a simple, loving immersion, the soul enters an abysmal love where the abyss of God calls to the abyss of the soul. This divine influx enfolds the spirit in such profound love that it becomes lost to itself, flowing into the infinite darkness of the Godhead. In this union, without intermediaries, the spirit eternally meets and possesses God, sharing in the joy of eternal bliss. This is experienced in three ways. The first way, often called the way of emptiness, involves a deep inward turning of the soul, transcending all actions and virtues to focus solely on love’s fruition. In this practice, the soul encounters God directly without intermediaries. The simple light of Divine Unity reveals profound mysteries: in darkness, the soul loses its way in the immensity of divine mystery; in nakedness, it is stripped of all discernment and penetrated by a simple, divine light; and in nothingness, all activity ceases as the soul is overwhelmed by God’s abysmal love. This experience lifts the soul above all activity and virtues, filling it with divine delights and riches. It brings a sense of immovable interior peace, free from distraction or interference. The second way is the way of longing, where the soul turns to God with ardent desire and active love. This longing is ignited by Savouring Wisdom, a divine gift that stirs an insatiable hunger for God. In this state, the soul empties itself completely in love, surrendering all its works and desires to God. Each touch of God renews and deepens the soul’s longing, causing it to die to itself and live anew in love. This way of longing is more fruitful than the first, as love is the source and sustainer of union with God. Without active love, divine rest cannot be attained or maintained, and attachment to anything other than God becomes a hindrance to this union. The third way combines the previous two, uniting action and fruition in a harmonious balance. In this state, the soul lives wholly in both work and rest, responding to God’s call to continually renew its virtues while remaining immersed in fruitive rest. The soul becomes like a double mirror, receiving God’s gifts while also engaging the world through love and virtue. Although human instability may lead to distractions or minor failings, these are consumed in divine love during moments of inward turning. This balance of work and rest represents the supreme summit of the inward life, where the soul progresses toward God in eternal activity while resting fruitively in His presence. In this union, the soul dwells fully in God, extending universal love and virtue to all creatures while sharing in the bliss of divine union.

In the last two chapters, Ruysbroek exposes those who appear righteous but live contrary to the virtues necessary for union with God. Lacking divine love and enlightenment, they turn inward, seeking rest in themselves and outward things, which leads to various errors. One such error is a false natural rest, where people empty themselves of activity but lack the inward touch of God. This deceptive state fosters spiritual pride and blindness, contrasting with supernatural rest found in divine union. Similarly, self-directed natural love leads to self-indulgence, as individuals seek consolation for personal gain rather than turning to God in charity. This love isolates the soul and perpetuates sins inherited from Adam’s fall, in contrast to the virtues exemplified by the Virgin Mary, who conquered pride, avarice, gluttony, and lust through humility and self-renunciation. Another error is the unrighteous life of bare vacancy, where people reject virtue and divine commandments, considering themselves above the Church and free from sin. They indulge bodily desires and live without charity or likeness to God. Similarly, “God-passive” individuals falsely attribute all their actions to God’s will, believing they cannot sin. This belief leads to grave deception, as true union with God requires active love, virtue, and cooperation, not passive idleness or self-deception. In contrast, Christ embodies the perfect life of union with God, balancing fruitive rest and active love. Through humility, virtue, and charity, the soul encounters God, flows outward in love, and returns inward in peace. This eternal union with God reflects the harmony of divine likeness, inviting us to live in righteousness and love. May God’s grace guide us to this blessed state. Amen.

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The following is a map of Book Two of The Adornment. Following the passage “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him,” Ruysbroek structures the work as follows:

The first point, “Behold,” is discussed in the prologue and chapters 1-4.

The second and third points are “The Bridegroom cometh, Go ye out.” This is the inward coming of Christ and it is discussed in chapters 5-55. This coming is three-fold: the first is covered in chapters 5 and 8-34, the second in chapters 6 and 35-50, and the third in chapters 7 and 51-55. The first ways has four degrees. These are discussed, respectively, in chapters 8-16, 17-21, 22-27 and 28-32. Ruysbroek counts Christ’s inward coming as two points because there is a statement “The Bridegroom cometh” and a command “Go ye out”, the former being God’s inflowing and and the latter is our outflowing.

The fourth point, “to meet Him,” is the last point and is covered in chapters 56-65.

The last two chapters, 66-67, are dedicated to exposing those who appear to be living righteously, but are false.

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In the Prologue, the wise virgin, representing the pure soul, has devoted herself to God by forsaking worldly things and living a virtuous life. She has filled the vessel of her heart with the oil of charity and godly deeds, guided by the light of an unsullied conscience. However, when Christ, the Bridegroom, delays in sending His consolations and renewing His gifts, the soul may become drowsy and inattentive. At an unexpected hour, a spiritual call arises within the soul: “Behold, the Bridegroom comes; go out to meet Him.”

In this call, we discern four essential teachings. First, Christ desires our understanding to be illuminated by supernatural light, as indicated by the word “Behold.” Second, He reveals what we are to perceive: the inward arrival of the Bridegroom, who is the Eternal Truth. Third, He instructs us to undertake inner exercises of righteousness, embodied in the command “Go ye out.” Finally, He highlights the ultimate goal: the meeting with our Bridegroom Christ in the unifying presence of the Godhead.

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Chapter 1 addresses the first point: Christ commands us to “Behold.” To achieve supernatural vision in our inward exercises, one must cultivate three essential elements:

The Light of Divine Grace: This light must be of a higher degree than what we experience in our external, active lives. It transcends the ordinary and requires profound inward diligence.

The Removal of Distractions: We must cleanse the heart of all distracting images and attachments. This process involves becoming free from external influences and emptying ourselves of all creaturely attachments.

The Turning of Our Will: We need to direct our will and gather all our bodily and spiritual powers, purging them of any disordered affections. This allows the will to merge with the unity of God and align with the divine mind, enabling us to experience the highest unity of God in a supernatural way.

God created everything, including heaven and earth, for this purpose. He became man, taught us, lived for our sake, and became the Way to unity. Through His death and ascension, He opened the path to this unity, offering us the potential for eternal bliss.

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Chapter 2 explores the threefold unity present in every person by nature and how it is enhanced through supernatural means.

Firstly, the highest unity is found in God, the essential source of all creation and life. This unity is fundamental and exists regardless of our actions but does not make us holy or blessed on its own. Without it, we cease being.

Secondly, there is the unity of the higher powers, the memory, understanding and will. This originates from the unity of mind or spirit and stands above our senses, from which emerge the higher powers. These differ in that the latter is active, whereas the former is essential. In this unity the soul is called spirit.

Thirdly, the unity in our bodily powers is rooted in the heart, which energizes all physical activities and senses. This unity sustains our physical life.

These three unities function as a single life and kingdom within us. In the lowest we are animal, in the middle we are spiritual, and in the highest we are essential. The first is supernaturally adorned by the moral virtues, by charity and outward works in the active life. The second is more gloriously adorned by the divine virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, by inward exercises and a spiritual life. And the third is most gloriously adorned by a contemplative life, beyond human comprehension.

The soul prepares for a deeper God-desiring life by directing all actions and intentions toward God’s glory, surrendering with humble patience and trust. In doing so, the soul becomes like a vessel ready to receive God’s grace, resting in Him beyond all intentions and desires.

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Chapter 3 discusses the inflow of God’s grace into our spirit.

From the unity where our spirit is united with God without intermediary, grace flows into us. Christ, the Eternal Light of the Father without whom there is no light, says “Behold”, and His speaking is the inrush of His light into us. This grace enters our higher powers and spirit, empowering them to become active in all virtue, and to return to God.

The unity of our spirit is the beginning and end of all natural and supernatural works performed by the creature’s own strength and by the grace poured by God into this unity. Above all, He gives His very self to this unity which is our dwelling-place, so that we live a life of simplicity in His peace and charity. Grace is an inward force of the Holy Spirit, and moves our spirit towards virtue. It works from within outwards, for God is more intimate to us than our own inner workings. In contrast, creatures work from without inwards by means of sensible images through the imagination.

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Chapter 4 explores how to establish an inward life based on three elements – divine grace, unity of spirit and freedom from images.

Christ says to the inward looking man, “Behold.” To experience this in one’s inward exercises, three key elements are necessary. First, there is the grace of God which, like a candle in a lantern, illuminates the righteous man. This becomes manifest to him if he is inwardly attentive, and through him to others as virtues. This grace is the swift movement which first brings him to inward sight. From this springs the second element, a gathering together of all inward and outward powers into the unity of the spirit. The third element is freedom from images. A person must be able to turn inward without hindrance from sensible images. This means being indifferent to joys and sorrows, gains and losses, or any strange cares, and remaining detached from any creature. These three elements form the foundation for a true inward life.

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Chapter 5 addresses the three-fold coming of Christ into the inward man.

Even with clear sight, a person needs a worthy and desirable object to make that sight meaningful. So, Christ reveals to those with enlightened understanding what they will behold: His inward coming. This coming occurs in three distinct ways, each enhancing the depth of the inward life.

The first way involves Christ urging the inward feeling. This divine influence pulls a man towards heaven and calls for union with God. It affects the heart and the unity of bodily powers, particularly the desire, and works in the lower part of man which must be wholly purged and adorned. The changes it brings causes hope and despair, happiness and sadness, and other contraries that are challenging to articulate.

This first coming operates through four distinct degrees, each progressively deeper, shaping and purifying the lower part of the person involved in the inward life.

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Chapter 6 describes the second way Christ comes inwardly, characterized by greater nobility and radiance. This coming involves the outpouring of Divine gifts into the higher powers of the soul, which strengthens, enlightens, and enriches the spirit. In this process, the soul receives abundant divine riches and is called to return these gifts to their Source. This exchange is marked by an intense and profound experience of divine wonders, which surpasses anything achievable by mere creatures. This second coming is more elevated and divine than the first, adorning the three higher powers of the soul (memory, will, intellect) with a more profound spiritual richness.

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Chapter 7 addresses the third and most profound way Christ comes inwardly. This coming involves a deep stirring or touch within the unity of the spirit, where the higher powers of the soul reside. Here, the soul flows forth and returns, remaining united with God in bonds of love. This represents the highest and most interior state of the inward life, adorning the unity of the spirit in numerous ways.

In each of these inward comings, Christ requires a corresponding going out of ourselves which accords with His coming, urging us to align our lives with the way His grace directs us. We must progress according to how the Spirit of God moves us, or else we risk losing the inward inspiration and the virtues that accompany it.

The chapter concludes by noting that understanding these three comings requires personal experience. Each coming will be explored in detail, and those unfamiliar with these experiences may find them challenging to grasp.

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Chapter 8 further elaborates on the first coming of Christ in the exercise of desire, which involves an inward urging from the Holy Ghost towards all virtues. This coming can be compared to the sun, which, from the moment it rises, illuminates, warms, and affects the world. Similarly, Christ, the eternal Sun, shines upon the lowest part of man-the fleshly heart and the senses-enlightening and enkindling them in an instant.

The effect of this coming is experienced differently depending on one’s spiritual elevation. Just as the sun has varying effects on different regions-bringing early summer and fruitful harvests to higher lands, while producing less impact in colder, lower regions-so does Christ’s influence vary. Those who dwell in higher, more spiritual realms, with a gathered and uplifted heart, experience the full warmth and illumination of Christ’s presence. Conversely, those focused on external virtues and moral work might see some fruits but less of the inward joy and consolation.

To fully experience this inward coming, one must cultivate a free and uplifted heart, detached from earthly joys and sorrows, allowing Christ to shine fully upon it. This first coming of Christ in the exercise of desire is characterized by its fiery ardor, which enkindles every heart that is ready and open.

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Chapter 9 focuses on the concept of unity of heart. This unity springs from the fiery ardor which transforms the person to be like it. It is an ardor without which we could never achieve true unity, and is experienced as a gathering together of all one’s powers in one’s heart. It is a bond which draws together body and soul, heart and senses, inner and outer powers, and results in inward peace and restfulness

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Chapter 10 explores the concept of inwardness, which emerges from unity of heart. Inwardness means the person is turned inwards to his heart so he can understand his inner workings and divine communications. It is a sensible fire of love ignited by the Spirit of God, which drives a person from within without knowing its origins or what has happened to him.

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Chapter 11 delves into the concept of sensible love, which arises from inwardness. Sensible love is a deep, yearning affection that fills the heart and the soul’s desire, allowing one to experience the delight of God as the ultimate good. The person forsakes all creatures regarding pleasure, but not regarding need. It is a strong inner movement driven by Eternal Love, causing the person to cherish and prioritize this divine love above all else, willingly renouncing other things to attain it.

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Chapter 12 discusses how devotion arises from sensible love for God. Devotion is sensible love directing its desire towards God. It moves a man both from within and without to serve God and it ennobles body and soul before God and man. Devotion is essential in all acts of service to God, and it purifies the soul and body by removing any hindrances to spiritual progress. Ultimately, devotion guides one to blessedness.

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Chapter 13 discusses how inward devotion leads to gratitude. The truly devout person, filled with inward love for God, is best equipped to thank and praise Him. Gratitude is due to God for creating us, for making heaven, earth, and angels to serve us, and for becoming man to save us from sin. God’s gifts to us include His teachings, His sacrifice, His promise of eternal life, and His continual presence through grace, sacraments, and the Eucharist. We should also thank Him for giving us nature and the scriptures as a mirror in which we can see ourselves and turn to virtue, for giving us health and even the occasional sickness for our edification, for establishing inward peace and happiness, and for giving us Christian parents and names.

We should express gratitude and praise through every aspect of our lives-desire, action, words, and service-both outwardly and inwardly. This praise of God, which begins on earth, will continue eternally as our ultimate joy and fulfillment.

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Chapter 14 explores two kinds of grief that arise from deep, inward gratitude and praise. The first type of grief emerges from a sense of inadequacy in our efforts to thank, praise, and serve God. This feeling of falling short in our devotion causes inner turmoil. The second grief stems from our recognition that we are not growing as much in charity, virtue, and faith as we would like. This lack of progress in personal holiness and perfect conduct leads to a deep sense of dissatisfaction.

These two forms of grief are fundamental to the development of inward virtues. They represent the the beginning and end of the spiritual journey. This grief is considered the highest effect of the first degree of inward exercise and signifies its complete perfection.

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Chapter 15 uses a similitude to illustrate how we should practice the first degree of inward exercise. Just as natural fire causes water or another liquid to bubble and stir continuously, the inward fire of the Holy Ghost works in the soul. This divine fire stirs and motivates the heart and all the soul’s powers, leading them to continually thank and praise God. Even after reaching a state of fervent praise, one must remain humble, continually seeking to do more while recognizing the smallness of one’s own efforts compared to the greatness of what is desired. Thus, the heart remains in constant, fervent praise and lowliness, driven by the ever-burning fire of divine love.

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Chapter 16 uses another similitude to describe the effects of the first degree of inward exercise. As summer and the sun draw moisture from the earth into trees, leading to foliage, flowers, and fruit, so does Christ, the Eternal Sun, bring about spiritual growth in the heart. When Christ’s light and heat rise within us, they draw the heart away from earthly distractions and foster unity and inwardness. This divine influence leads to the development of inward love, ardent devotion, and the fruits of thanksgiving and praise. These fruits, marked by humble grief over shortcomings, are meant to endure eternally.

This chapter concludes the first of the four key degrees of inward working that adorn the lowest part of man.

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Chapter 17 describes the second degree of inward exercise, likening it to the sun’s effect on ripening and increasing fruit. As the sun, when it rises high and enters the sign of Gemini, influences nature to draw moisture from the earth, leading to increased and multiplied fruits, so does Christ, the divine Sun, impact our hearts.

When Christ rises above all things in our hearts, when our bodily nature has been set in order, when we have achieved the virtues of the first degree, and when all our charity, pleasure and peace found in these virtues have been devoted back to God with thanksgiving, then there arises a new influx of inward consolation and divine sweetness, making the virtues double if we don’t hinder their growth. This is a new coming of Christ into the loving heart that lifts man to a yet higher state. Christ then says: Go ye out according to the way of this coming.

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Chapter 18 describes how the sweetness of divine consolation leads to a profound well-being in both the heart and bodily powers. This divine delight is more fulfilling than any earthly pleasure. It envelops the heart in a deep embrace of God’s love, causing an overflow of joy and solace. This experience makes one understand the misery of those who live outside of this divine love, as the intensity of this inward joy is so overwhelming that it can make the heart feel as though it cannot contain itself.

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Chapter 19 explores spiritual inebriation, a state of intense joy and delight that surpasses the heart’s capacity to contain or desire. This state can manifest in various outward behaviors: singing, weeping, restlessness, clapping one’s hands, dancing, crying out with joy or melting away in silence. Some feel that everyone can experience this joy, while others think that only they can. Yet others think that this state will never be lost, or wonder why not everyone would want to become God-desiring, or what nature these delights may be. This rapturous life is the most ecstatic experience our bodies can attain, and it leads to such an intense sense of joy that one feels as if their heart might break. For all these gifts, the person will thank the Lord with a humble heart, acknowledging his unworthiness and his need for God’s boundless goodness. Such humility leads him to yet higher virtues.

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Chapter 20 addresses the potential hindrances to spiritual inebriation. Even if this coming and this degree are granted to such men, and even if their conversion is complete and they are solely God’s, they may still be feeble and needy. Like new shoots of plants in spring, they are susceptible to dangers:

Hoar-Frost: This represents the danger of being attached to one’s self, believing that you earned these consolations and are worthy of them.

Fog: This symbolizes the temptation to rest complacently in the sweetness of spiritual experiences. Such a fixation can obscure true understanding, leading to a false sense of contentment and potentially guiding one astray with deceptive comforts offered by the devil.

These hindrances can weaken or destroy the virtues cultivated, and thus must be vigilantly avoided to maintain one’s spiritual journey.

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Chapter 21 uses the behavior of the bee to illustrate how one should handle spiritual inebriation and divine gifts wisely. Just as a bee lives in unity within the hive and gathers resources from various flowers without becoming attached to any single one, a person should approach spiritual gifts with attention, reason, and discretion. The bee does not rest on any flower but transforms what it collects into honey and wax, contributing to the hive’s unity and productivity. Similarly, one should not fixate on individual spiritual experiences but rather integrate them into a unified devotion, continually returning to God with gratitude and praise. This approach ensures that one maintains focus on the eternal union with God, rather than being distracted by the fleeting sweetness of specific gifts.

This analogy illustrates the second degree of inward working.

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Chapter 22 describes the third degree of the spiritual coming of Christ by drawing an analogy with the sun’s movement and its effects. Just as the sun, when it reaches the zenith and stands in the sign of Cancer, brings the fiercest heat of the year and causes the earth to dry and fruits to ripen, so too, when Christ, the Divine Sun, rises to the highest point in our hearts, surpassing all gifts and consolations, He draws all our powers and desires towards Himself. At this stage, the soul no longer seeks or is swayed by spiritual consolations but yearns directly for Christ.

The third degree of inward exercise arises when the heart would rather forgo all consolations and gifts that it may be united with Him Whom it loves. Christ initiates this by drawing the heart, the desires and all the soul’s powers towards unity with Him. He spiritually calls us: Go you out of yourselves. This inward drawing is more joyful than any other experience and it readies the heart to fulfill what is demanded by God and by His unity. The heart is opened so widely that it can never be completely closed again, causing a profound wound of love. This wound, while painful, is also sweet, as it is a sign of deep spiritual healing and renewal. Christ shines into the wound and open heart and calls it to oneness again.

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Chapter 23 delves into the profound pain and restlessness experienced in the third degree. This state arises when, despite the soul’s elevation and its complete offering of itself, it is unable to attain the unity with God that it desires. This inner wound of love, caused by an insatiable yearning and the inability to achieve the desired unity, leads to intense spiritual pain. As Christ, the Divine Sun, reaches the zenith of the heart, His rays penetrate the deepest desires, consuming the soul’s strength and causing perpetual pain.

In this state, both external and internal agitation ensue, as the soul cannot find solace in anything earthly or heavenly. The heart, fiercely illuminated by Christ’s divine light, suffers from a restlessness that no creature can alleviate. This inner tumult often inspires sublime thoughts and profound wisdom but also fuels an intense, almost irrational, impatience. This fury of love, more intense than any previous stage, consumes the soul and hastens the ripening of virtues.

In the natural world, this period is marked by the sun’s entry into the sign of Leo, symbolizing fierceness. Similarly, when Christ’s rays blaze with such intensity, the heart’s blood boils with fervent desire. This fierceness prevails over all ways and works, for it wills to be wayless and without manner. The soul might even experiences a yearning to be freed from the physical body to unite with Christ.

In this state, the soul glimpses the heavenly glory and longs deeply for what it lacks, often leading to outward tears and profound sorrow in his exile. These tears, while soothing, also reflect the soul’s intense longing and its struggle to endure in virtue despite its suffering.

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Chapter 24 explores the nature of ecstasies and divine revelations that can occur when individuals are consumed by intense ardor and impatience in their spiritual journey. Such fervor can lift individuals beyond their sensory experiences into a realm where divine truths are revealed. Bodily images are perceived through the imagination and may be delivered by an angel, while intellectual or spiritual revelations are received through the understanding, and can sometimes be articulated with difficulty. Sometimes, a man is drawn above himself into the Incomprehensible Good, where they experience and direct encounter with the Divine. This is a rapture in which one is carried away, and it is called Raptus. In this state, the traditional senses of seeing and hearing merge into a singular, undivided experience. These moments are sudden spiritual glimpse, like a flash of lightning, and are entirely the work of God.

Other instances God acts through means and an intense light enters the soul resulting in an overwhelming joy that bursts forth in jubilant cries. It is called Jubilus. This is a joy so profound that one cannot contain oneself but must go out with opened heart to meet this light. In contrast, those who remain in the state of outward multiplicity and have not been deeply touched by love, may experience dreams or inspirations, but without the intense inner tumult. These experiences can be natural or divinely inspired but should be measured against Holy Scripture and truth to avoid deception. Trust in such experiences should be cautious and grounded in the validation of spiritual and scriptural truth.

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Chapter 25 illustrates the challenges and dangers faced by those who are immersed in the fervor of divine love. This period, analogous to the unhealthy dog-days of summer when the sun is in the sign of the Lion, is marked by intense heat and its detrimental effects on the natural world, causing withering plants, dying fish, and illness in people. But this doesn’t depend on the sun only, but on the corruption of the land in which the sun’s rays land. Similarly, in the state of spiritual impatience, the intense divine rays and the inner fervor of love can become overwhelming. Just as the sun’s heat exacerbates natural decay, the fierce ardor of divine love can lead to deep distress and suffering.

In this state, the intensity of love’s fire can cause such impatience and suffering that, if the man becomes fixed on his wounded heart and on Him Whom he loves, his distress grows without ceasing, akin to a woman in labor who struggles to give birth, but can’t. He shrivels in his bodily nature even as a tree withers in a hot country. Such individuals may feel as though they are perishing from this excessive love, yet they might enter heaven without passing through purgatory due to the purifying nature of their suffering. As long as he bears good fruit, he should not be uprooted.

Sometimes, amidst this turmoil, the soul may experience moments of divine sweetness and bliss, similar to a fish swimming in water. Yet even in these moments of delight, the underlying intensity of love can cause continued inner suffering. While prolonged exposure to this fervor can weaken the body, those who can manage their state effectively may endure without succumbing to the physical and spiritual strain.

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Chapter 26 provides another caution about a particular danger that can arise during the spiritual fervor of love. Just as, during the intense summer heat, honey-dew can fall from the sky and spoil fruit with its false sweetness, so can individuals experience a deceptive spiritual sweetness. This false sweetness is often characterized by a devilish light that can overwhelm and entrap the senses, presenting a mix of true and false visions and messages.

When people are drawn to this false sweetness, mistaking honey-dew for true rain, they may find pleasure in it, mistakenly believing it to be true spiritual nourishment. This deception can lead them to error if they accept these false experiences as genuine, thus corrupting the fruits of their virtues. However, those who are well-grounded in the spiritual practices and insights described previously will be able to recognize and resist these deceptions, thereby protecting themselves from harm and preserving the integrity of their spiritual journey.

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Chapter 27 uses the parable of the ant to offer guidance to those enduring the tumultuous state of intense love. The ant, a small yet wise and resilient insect, serves as a model of perseverance. It lives among its peers in a harsh, dry environment, diligently working through the summer to store up provisions for the winter. The ant splits its grain to prevent spoilage, sticking to a consistent path, and patiently awaits the time when it can fly.

Similarly, those in the fervor of spiritual love should exhibit strength and wisdom, resisting the temptations and deceptions that may come their way. Their focus should be solely on God’s glory and the pursuit of new virtues, rather than desiring death. They should immerse themselves in the intense heat of their spiritual journey, diligently gathering the fruits of virtue for eternity. Like the ant, they must split their spiritual efforts into two parts: one dedicated to the highest fruition of Eternity, and the other to exercising reason and patience to preserve virtue. They should avoid following unconventional paths, remaining steadfast in love through all trials. By enduring and persevering, they will ultimately witness the divine Mystery and ascend towards it, like the ant taking flight.

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Chapter 28 delves into the fourth degree of the coming of Christ, which involves the deepening and perfecting of a person’s spiritual journey through inner exercises focused on the lower aspects of their being. This stage is symbolically aligned with the season when the sun begins its descent from the zenith to the nadir, entering the sign of Virgo-a time associated with unfruitfulness and the gathering of lasting fruits, similar to how the Virgin Mary ascended to heaven rich in virtues.

As Christ, the spiritual Sun, begins to withdraw His radiant presence from the soul, the intense heat of spiritual love diminishes. The individual experiences a sense of abandonment and loss as the once vibrant inner life of love and consolation fades into a spiritual autumn. This transition marks the beginning of a new phase where the soul feels impoverished and forsaken, akin to the unfruitful season of Virgo. The passionate love, inward joy, and spiritual gifts that once flourished now seem to disappear, leaving the person feeling desolate and as if all their spiritual efforts have been in vain.

In this state of spiritual poverty, the person may also face external hardships, such as the loss of earthly possessions, friends, and even their reputation. They might be misunderstood, rejected, and subjected to physical or spiritual temptations. This profound sense of loss and desolation can lead to a fear of falling into despair, and the soul teeters on the edge of hopelessness.

During this challenging time, the individual often seeks out the company of the devout, sharing their suffering and seeking the prayers and support of the Church and the just. This degree represents a critical moment in the spiritual journey, where perseverance is tested, and the soul must endure the seeming withdrawal of God’s presence while maintaining faith and striving towards spiritual maturity.

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Chapter 29 discusses the appropriate response for a person who feels forsaken by God and is enduring intense spiritual desolation. Such a person should humbly recognize their own misery and emulate the attitude of Job, acknowledging that everything, whether given or taken away, comes from God. The forsaken individual should completely surrender to God’s will, accepting poverty or wealth, suffering or joy, with equal willingness, in service to God’s glory. This resignation is not just a passive acceptance but should be embraced with inner joy, as it allows the person to feel a deep belonging to God.

The chapter uses the metaphor of the sun entering the sign of Libra, the Scales, symbolizing balance and equality. Just as the sun balances day and night, the spiritually resigned person should balance all experiences-whether sweet or bitter, light or dark-as equal in the eyes of God, except for sin, which is entirely rejected. Even in this state of apparent loss and abandonment, the person can still offer up their suffering to God, turning it into a harvest of spiritual fruits that will endure eternally.

The virtues practiced during earlier phases, especially those nurtured in the “fire of love,” should now be maintained with renewed diligence and offered to God, despite the absence of consolation. This period is likened to the harvest time when all the fruits of one’s spiritual labor are gathered and perfected. Through this process, the individual not only grows in virtue but also influences and improves those around them.

Ultimately, this chapter emphasizes that the path of resignation-renouncing one’s own will in favor of God’s-leads to a singular perfection, making it an essential practice for all who seek salvation. This complete surrender is portrayed as the foundation for spiritual growth and the means by which one becomes adorned and perfected in both the bodily and lower spiritual faculties.

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Chapter 30 uses a parable to illustrate the dangers and hindrances that may arise during the fourth degree of spiritual development, particularly when a person becomes lax or careless. The chapter draws an analogy between the change of seasons, specifically the cooling weather after the equinox, and the spiritual cooling that can occur in a person’s life.

As the weather cools, some individuals may become prone to “noxious humours” that lead to sickness, disease, and even death. These humours symbolize the spiritual maladies that can afflict those who were once on the path of perfection but have strayed from it. Just as physical illnesses can spoil appetite and taste for good food, spiritual illnesses can diminish one’s appetite for virtue and divine truth, leading to a decline in spiritual health.

The parable warns that when a person’s spiritual fervor cools, they may become sluggish in practicing virtues and good works, and may seek comfort and bodily ease without proper discernment. This craving for comfort can lead to overindulgence in bodily pleasures, which further hampers spiritual growth. Moreover, those who seek solace in created things rather than in God risk falling into greater spiritual harm.

In times of spiritual desolation, it is crucial for a person to exercise strength and follow the guidance previously provided to avoid being deceived by these temptations. The unwise man, who does not govern himself well, is particularly vulnerable to these spiritual maladies, which can ultimately lead to the loss of taste for virtuous living and enjoyment of divine things.

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Chapter 31 addresses another significant hindrance that can impede spiritual progress: the desire for and attachment to earthly possessions. He likens this attachment to dropsy, a condition where the body retains excessive fluids, causing swelling. Spiritually, this condition manifests as an insatiable thirst for material wealth and possessions. The more a person acquires, the more they desire, leading to a swelling of their appetites and lusts.

This condition causes the “face of conscience and discretion” to become “small and thin,” meaning that the person’s ability to discern right from wrong and to act wisely is diminished. This happens because their excessive desire for earthly things blocks the inflow of God’s grace. When the heart becomes submerged in these “waters” of earthly wealth and desires, the individual loses the capacity to engage in true acts of charity, as they lack the vital spirit and breath of God’s grace and love.

Those who allow their hearts to be overwhelmed by material possessions are at risk of spiritual death, as they become so entangled in worldly desires that they may choke and die an eternal death. However, there is hope for those who can keep their attachment to earthly riches in check. If a person maintains a proper distance between their heart and their possessions-meaning they do not let their desires control them and are willing to renounce their possessions when necessary-they may still suffer from these inclinations but can ultimately be cured.

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Chapter 32 discusses four types of spiritual “fevers” that can afflict individuals who are burdened with inordinate inclinations towards bodily comfort and external consolations. These fevers symbolize various spiritual ailments that can hinder a person on their path to spiritual perfection.

The Quotidian Fever: This daily fever represents the restlessness of the heart, where a person becomes overly concerned with knowing, discussing, and judging everything around them while neglecting their inner life. Such individuals are constantly troubled by various concerns and are easily disturbed by even the smallest things. Their thoughts are scattered, moving from one thing to another, making it difficult for them to maintain inner peace or focus on God. Although this condition may exist within a state of grace, it hinders deep spiritual practices and diminishes the experience of God and virtue, leading to a significant spiritual loss.

The Fever of Fickleness: This fever occurs on alternate days and manifests as a lack of consistency and stability in one’s spiritual life. It can arise from either excessive heat (enthusiasm) or coldness (lack of commitment). In the case of excessive heat, it affects good men who, after being touched by God and then feeling forsaken, become unstable in their spiritual practices. They oscillate between different spiritual paths and decisions, unable to maintain a steady course. This instability can hinder their understanding of spiritual truth and destroy their ability to cultivate inwardness. To overcome this, they must learn to rest in God above all virtues and external practices. In the case of excessive cold, individuals love God but are also attached to other things, leading to a lukewarm charity. Their spiritual life becomes unstable as they secretly seek their own interests in all that they do, often without realizing it. Such people are inconsistent in their choices and actions, and their virtues lack depth and sincerity. This fickleness can lead them dangerously close to spiritual ruin, as they are motivated by self-love and hidden pride.

The Quartan Fever: This fever represents estrangement from God, oneself, truth, and virtues. It leads to confusion and disorientation in the spiritual life, causing a person to lose their sense of direction and purpose. This condition is more dangerous than the previous fevers, as it signifies a deeper level of spiritual alienation.

The Double Quartan Fever: This represents indifference, where a person becomes so detached and indifferent to spiritual matters that they risk falling into sin and losing all sense of spiritual awareness. This fever is extremely perilous, as recovery from it is difficult. Indifference can lead a person to a state where they are spiritually dead, as if they never knew anything of God or the spiritual life.

Ruysbroeck emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, humility, and a steadfast focus on God to avoid falling into these spiritual fevers. He warns that those who govern themselves poorly, especially in times of spiritual abandonment, are at great risk of severe spiritual decline.

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Chapter 33 illustrates how Christ exemplifies the four degrees of inward spiritual exercise in their perfection, serving as a model for all who seek to follow His path. These degrees adorn and elevate a person’s bodily powers and lower nature, drawing them to divine union.

First Degree: Oneness and Inwardness. Christ embodies perfect oneness, where all virtues are gathered and united within Him. As the Father’s Only Begotten Son, He became one with human nature, bringing the divine fire that inflamed all saints and good men. With sensible love for His Father and loyalty to those who shall enjoy Him in eternity, Christ’s life was a continuous act of thanksgiving, praise, and glorification of the Father, expressed through His words, deeds, and inner devotion. This inwardness is the foundation of the first degree.

Second Degree: Overflowing Love and Grace. In Christ, we find the fullness of all graces and gifts. His heart overflowed with mercy, gentleness, humility, and generosity, making Him supremely gracious and lovable. His presence and actions attracted all people of goodwill. Christ constantly gave thanks and praise to the Father for all the gifts bestowed upon His humanity. He rested above all gifts in the most high Unity of God, from which all gifts originate. This resting in divine unity constitutes the second degree.

Third Degree: Inclination Towards Glory and Beatitude. Throughout His life, Christ’s bodily powers and senses were destined for the highest glory and beatitude, which He now enjoys. Despite His natural and supernatural inclination toward this glory, He chose to remain in exile until the appointed time, as ordained by the Father. This willingness to endure until the right moment marks the third degree.

Fourth Degree: Humility, Suffering, and Redemption. When the time had come that Christ should reap the fruits of His virtues and carry them into the Eternal Kindom, He humbled Himself, allowing His bodily life to be taken by His enemies. In His deepest suffering, He was forsaken by friends and stripped of all consolation, both inward and outward. Yet, in this state of extreme distress, Christ accomplished the greatest work of love by redeeming humanity and restoring their eternal heritage. His suffering, patience, and ultimate sacrifice adorned His noble manhood, earning Him the title of Saviour of the world. As a result, He is glorified, exalted, and set at the right hand of the Father, where all creation bows in eternal reverence to His name.

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Chapter 34 outlines the practices necessary for a person to be receptive to divine illumination.

A person must live in true obedience to God’s commandments, practicing moral virtues not only outwardly but also inwardly. This involves living justly in both word and deed, without seeking personal gain, whether in this life or the next. Beyond moral virtues, the person should be attentive to the inward virtues that arise from the guidance and stirring of the Holy Spirit. This includes a deep commitment to the inward life, where one’s heart and actions are aligned with divine will. The individual must bear all kinds of difficulties-darkness, heaviness, and miseries-with equanimity and patience. Gratitude towards God in all circumstances and a humble resignation of self to His will are essential. Such a man has received the first coming of Christ by inward exercise, gone out from himself to the inward life, and adorned with virtues his heart and lower powers (body and senses).

Then, when a person has undergone purification and found rest, gathering the lower powers into unity, they become ready for enlightenment. This prepares the person for the possibility of divine illumination, should God deem it the right time. Enlightenment may come to those who, from the beginning of their conversion, completely surrender to God’s will and renounce all forms of selfhood. Such individuals, even if enlightened early, must still progress through the spiritual degrees and practices previously outlined. However, their journey may be easier, as they possess more light and understanding compared to those who progress from the lower stages upward.

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In Chapter 35, Ruysbroek begins his discussion of the second coming of Christ. This is likened to a fountain with three rills which represents the flow of divine grace into the soul’s highest powers. The fountain-head is the fulness of Divine grace within the unity of our spirit where grace abides essentially and the three rills are the inflowing of grace into the memory, intellect, and will, wherein God works in many diverse ways.

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Chapter 36 describes the first rill of grace as a pure simplicity that flows from the fountain in the unity of spirit into all powers of the soul, both lower and higher. It raises them above any multiplicity and distractions, and produces simplicity, freeing the memory-understood here as the mind-from distractions and fickleness.

Christ calls the person to go out from themselves in conformity with this simplicity, and so he finds himself to be established in this unity of spirit. This results in the person being lifted to a new state, where the memory becomes fixed on the “Nudity” above all multiplicity and distractions of sensible images. This essential and supernatural unity of spirit is his dwelling-place, his personal eternal heritage. He will forever have a natural and supernatural tendency towards this unity, and this unity shall have an eternal loving tendency towards the most high Unity, in the bond of the Holy Spirit, Father and Son, united with all the sains.

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Chapter 37 delves into the second rill of divine grace, which, by God’s inward charity, arises from the unity of the spirit and illuminates the understanding to discern diverse things and distinguish between virtues. While this light is always within us, it is not under our control; rather, God reveals or conceals it according to His will. These men have no need of revelations since their being is in the spirit above the senses, and God shows them His will and what is needful for them or others. He can even deprive such men of their outward senses and show them from within unknown or future things.

Christ desires that the enlightened person walk in this light, examining his life and comparing it to Christ’s, both in His human and divine natures. The enlightened person uses this light to understand the nature of God and His fathomless attributes: His Simplicity, His Oneness, his incomprehensible Dimensions, His dark Silence, a Desert, the Rest of all saints in the Unity, and eternal Fruition of Himself together with His saints. Because of the limits of our senses we must use sensible similitudes to describe them, yet these things are perceived inwardly as an abysmal and unconditioned Good.

The enlightened man perceives the attributes of the Trinity. He sees the Father as Omnipotent, Creator, Mover, Preserver, and Origin and End of all creatures. He sees the Son, the Eternal word as Wisdom, Truth, and the Pattern for all creatures, Eternal Rule, Seeing and Seeing Through all things, Transillumination and Enlightenment of all saints. And he see The Holy Spirit as Incomprehensible Love, Generosity, Compassion, Mercy, Faithfulness, Benevolence, Greatness, outpouring Richness, limitless Goodness, a Flame which burns all things into Unity, a Fountain, the Preparation of saints for eternal bliss, an Embrace and Penetration of the Father, the Son, and all the saints. These attributes are perceived without differentiation in the simple nature of the Godhead, yet they abide abid as the Persons do, in manifold distinctions. For the Father begets distinction and eternally begets the Son, and the Father and the Son breathe forth the Spirit who is their common Love. And all the attributes and their works are common to all three Persons who work by virtue of their Onefold Nature.

The Divine Nature’s incomprehensible richness and loftiness fill the enlightened man with wonder. He marvels at God’s universal outpouring of generosity, the incomprehensible Essence of God shared between Him and all saints, the activity of the Divine Persons outpouring grace and glory into nature and above nature. He reflects on God’s universal workings in all places and times, influencing saints, men, heaven, earth, and all creatures. He recognizes that heaven, earth, celestial bodies, the elements, and the course of the heavens are created for the common good of all. He contemplates the soul’s indivisibility despite its divisions into spirit and powers. He sees God as wholly present and unique to each individual and marvels at the multiplicity of His gifts, yet shared universally by all creation. This leads to a profound joy, trust in God, and gladness that saturates the soul and spirit.

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Chapter 38 describes the third rill of divine grace which establishes the will and leads to every perfection. This rill is born of the gladness flowing from the same unity of spirit and, like a fire, it enkindles the will and consumes everything into unity. It fills and flows through all the soul’s powers and creates a effortless spiritual love in the will.

Now Christ calls the soul to act according to the gifts of this second coming: The first rill elevates the memory above the distractions of sensible images, grounding it in the unity of the spirit. The second rill enlightens the understanding and enables discernment of virtues and the mysteries of the Scriptures. The third rill enkindles the will with tranquil love and spiritual richness, leading to a state of spiritual enlightenment.

God’s grace acts like a fountainhead in the unity of his spirit and its rills flow out into the spirit’s powers and into the virtues. But this flowing-out necessarily demands a flowing-back into the same source from where the waters began.

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Chapter 39 outlines the four ways in which the person should now go out. The man established in love will dwell in the unity of spirit and will go out with enlightened reason and overflowing love. He will discern and distribute all things with generosity because of his richness in God.

He is then invited to go out, first towards God and all the saints, second toward sinners, third to purgatory and lastly to himself and all good men.

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Chapter 40 discusses the first going-out: towards God and all the saints.

The enlightened man will observe how God’s delights and His very self are generously poured out to all the saints according to their desires, and how the saints return all they have received to the same Oneness from which they came, in a continuous cycle of giving and receiving between God and His creatures. But God desires to be loved according to His infinite worth, which no spirit can do because they are finite, and so their love becomes wayless since they don’t know how to fulfill God’s desire. All blessed spirits gather together to form a burning flame of love to fulfill this task, but they realize they can’t. However, this is a great delight to the enlightened reason that realizes God so transcends created powers that can only be adequately loved by Himself.

The enlightened man, now enriched, will distribute gifts to all the angelic choirs and spirits according to their merits. He moves through all the heavenly hierarchies, bestowing fresh glory from the divine abundance of the Trinity and the Divine Nature.

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Chapter 41 discusses the second going-out: towards sinners.

The enlightened man descends towards sinners with deep compassion and mercy and intercedes for them with fervent prayer, reminding God of His goodness. Even though God never forgets, He wants us to align ourselves with His will and to urge Him on behalf of others. The enlightened man’s charity obtains what he asks for, but remains humble and not self-willed, trusting in God’s goodness and generosity and finding peace in this surrender. This man’s love is universal, extending to Pagans, Jews, and all unbelievers that God may be praised in heaven and our glory, joy and peace spread to all the ends of the earth.

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Chapter 42 discusses the third going-out: towards souls in purgatory:

The enlightened man will occasionally turn to his friends suffering in purgatory and pray to God for His pity. He will plead for their good will, their yearning for God’s goodness, and remind God that they died in love, resting all their hope in His passion and mercy. Sometimes this man is specifically urged by the Holy Spirit to pray for a particular sinner, soul, or spiritual benefit. In such moments, he recognizes that this intense urge is not from his own will but from the Holy Spirit.

When the prayer is particularly fervent, the man may experience a spiritual confirmation that his prayer has been heard. This confirmation often brings a sense of completion and reduces the intensity of the prayer.

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Chapter 43 discusses the fourth going-out: towards himself and all good men.

The enlightened man sees how he and all good men are united in love, and he prays God to bestow His customary gifts on them so that they may be confirmed in His love and eternal worship. He shall discreetly teach, reprove and serve others out of his love for them and thus act as a mediator between God and man. He turns inward with all the saints and possesses a peaceful unity of spirit, and therewith the most high Unity of God wherein all spirits rest.

This is the true spiritual life since all the virtues, both inward and outward, and all the highest powers of the soul are supernaturally adorned.

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Chapter 44 offers a way to recognize those who fail in true charity and spiritual enlightenment. It describes three signs that distinguish such individuals. By the first, you can recognize the fault in yourselve, and by the second and third, you can recognize it in others.

First Sign: Lack of Simplicity and Stability: The enlightened man experiences a simple, stable unity free from overthinking. In contrast, those lacking in charity are restless and filled with subtle reasonings and complex thoughts. They do not experience the inward unity or the satisfaction that comes without images. This self-awareness is crucial for them to recognize their condition.

Second Sign: Barren Doctrine and Spiritual Pride: While the enlightened person receives wisdom directly from God and can discern truth effortlessly, these individuals rely on their shrewd, imaginative ideas. Their teachings are complex and focus on external matters, often leading others astray rather than guiding them towards unity. They are stubborn in their opinions, spiritually proud, and lack commitment to virtues. This pride is evident in their behavior and doctrine, which do not bear fruitful results.

Third Sign: Isolation and Self-Importance: Unlike the loving, enlightened man who overflows with charity towards all, these individuals isolate themselves, considering themselves wiser and better than others. They crave admiration for their teachings and look down on those who do not follow them. They are indulgent in satisfying their bodily needs, disregard minor faults, and lack justice, humility, generosity, and fervor. This indicates a profound disconnection from true virtue and a lack of knowledge of God and self.

Ruysbroeck advises that these signs should be observed and corrected within oneself and in others, but without condemnation. Judging others harshly can harm one’s heart and obstruct the understanding of Divine truth. Instead, self-examination and gentle correction are encouraged.

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Chapter 45 portrays Christ as the ultimate model of a love common to all who seek salvation, in order that we may seek this state of being common to all above all others since it is the highest state. Christ was sent to earth for the benefit of every person who turns to Him. While He initially states that His mission is for the “lost sheep of the house of Israel,” Ruysbroeck explains that this includes not just the Jews but all who are destined to see God in eternity. This inclusivity shows that Christ’s love and mission extend to all chosen souls.

Christ gave Himself, in perfect loyalty through His inward prayer to His Father, to all who desired to be saved. His love, teachings, consolations, gifts and merciful forgiveness was common to all. His sould and body, His life and death, His ministry and sacraments and gifts, were lived for the sake of others. Christ’s actions, whether eating, drinking, living, or dying, were done with the intention of benefiting all those who would be saved. Christ owned nothing; everything was in common: His body and soul, mother and disciples, even his clothing. His personal sufferings were His alone, but their spiritual benefits became the redemption and salvation of all. The glory and merits of Christ’s actions will be shared by all in eternity.

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Chapter 46 addresses the misuse of spiritual goods by those in religious and ecclesiastical positions, contrasting their behavior with that of the early Church leaders. Christ left behind the seven sacraments and outward goods of the Church, which should be held in common. Therefore, those who live off these goods, particularly those in religious orders, should be devoted to the common good, especially in their prayers.

In the early Church, religious leaders like popes, bishops, and priests lived communal lives. They were united, rich in faith, and overflowing with love for God and humanity. Their commitment was evident as they converted people, established the Church, and even sealed their faith with their blood. But now, many contemporary religious leaders have become worldly, unstable, and in multiplicity. Their prayers are mere words, lacking the spiritual engagement that should accompany them. They are often preoccupied with physical comforts and, worse, might even be involved in fleshly sins! They shall never be enlightened living thus. They should examine themselves, and if they find they are living unsaintly lives, contrary to the common way of life, they should correct their ways. If they are living rightly, they should rejoice in a clear conscience and continue to serve God for His glory and the good of all.

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In Chapter 47, Ruysbroek shifts his focus from praising Christ’s gift of being in common to yet another treasure He left us through His Holy Church, the Sacrament of the Altar in which He gives His very self to all believers. During the Last Supper, knowing His time on earth was ending, Christ took bread and consecrated His sacred Body. He then consecrated His sacred Blood and gave it to His disciples and so left it to all good men for their eternal profit. This was the culmination of the old law and the beginning of the new covenant.

In the Eucharist, Christ gives Himself in three ways: First, He offers His flesh, blood and bodily life, glorified and full of joy. Remembering his precious bodily martyrdom in which He was pierced for our sake, the lower part of our human nature is nourished and adorned. Second, He imparts His Spirit, filled with glory, virtues, and divine gifts. His indwelling nourishes, adorns and enlightens us in the unity of our spirit and the higher powers of the soul. And third, He gives His personality which elevates and unites us with the Father who receives His adopted sons. Thus we enter into our inheritance of the Godhead in eternal bliss.

When a man worthily considers these things, then he goes out to meet Christ as Christ comes to meet him. He lifts himself up to receive Him with all his heart, desire, love, power, and joy, even as Christ receives him. This union is marked by a craving which can never be too great since we receive our very nature through it. It unites man with Christ’s glorified humanity, bringing profound joy and revealing the hidden riches of God. Reflecting on Christ’s sufferings can stir such deep compassion that the man longs to share in His martyrdom, pressing into His wounds and heart. Through this devotion, many blessings and divine revelations have been bestowed.

The sensible love, compassion, and imagination united with inward contemplation of Christ’s wounds can be so intense that a man feels them in his own body and makes him capable of receiving Christ’s stigmata. This satisfies Christ with regard to the lower part of His humanity. We also dwell in the unity of our spirit and flow forth in love and discernment, and so resemble Christ with regard to the spirit. And through Christ’s personality, we transcend ourselves and created being to rest in our inheritance, God’s eternal being. Christ desires to give us this grace when we prepare ourselves spiritually and sacramentally. Even without strong feelings, one may worthily approach the Eucharist if free from mortal sin, seeking God’s glory and growth in blessedness.

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Chapter 48 delves into the profound mystery of the Divine Unity within the Holy Trinity, exploring the nature of God as a unified being expressed in three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The Unity of the Divine Nature is beyond human comprehension. It resides in a state of perfect and absolute stillness whose existence is beyond all created light and understanding. This Unity is not static but fruitful, for out of the Divine Unity, the Eternal Word (the Son) is eternally born of the Father. This eternal generation is the means by which the Father knows the Son, and in the Son, knows all things. Similarly, the Son knows the Father and all things in the Father, as they share a single, simple nature. From the mutual contemplation of the Father and the Son flows forth a fathomless love, which is the Holy Ghost. Through the Holy Ghost and Eternal Wisdom, God inclines Himself towards all creature, enkindling each with love according to its state. This divine inclination guides all good spirits, both in heaven and on earth, towards virtue and righteousness.

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Chapter 49 delves into how God interacts with the soul in both natural and supernatural ways, using an analogy of the cosmos to illustrate these concepts. It describes the highest heaven as a realm of pure, unchanging Radiance, encompassing all creation. This divine Radiance is immovable and constant, without time or space. Just below this divine Radiance is the sphere known as the First Movement. This is where all celestial movement begins, influencing the firmament and planets, and subsequently affecting all creatures. The chapter likens this First Movement to the essence of the soul, which is considered a divine kingdom filled with God’s Radiance. In this analogy, the unity of the soul’s spirit is compared to the First Movement. Just as the First Movement generates all celestial movement, so does God’s divine influence stir the soul both naturally and supernaturally. The soul’s essence is moved by God’s power, reflecting how celestial bodies are governed by divine order. God’s supernatural influence on the soul not only initiates virtues but also bestows the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, akin to the seven planets that illuminate and enrich the celestial world. These gifts are instrumental in shaping and guiding a person’s spiritual life.

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Chapter 50 summarizes how we attain the most profound inward exercise of the spirit by first cultivating the moral virtues of outward life and achieving a state of nobility and divine peace through internal practices. Such a person possesses a unity of spirit, illuminated by supernatural wisdom, and flows forth in generous love to both heaven and earth, raising himself through reverence and merits, and returning to the ground from which all things originate, the most high Unity of God.

God invites us into him, and we desire to enter into Him. The degree to which we receive His gift is the degree to which we ascend in love and tend inwardly into our origin, God.

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Chapter 51 treats the third coming of Christ which is an inward touch in the inmost part of our spirit. It occurs through our glowing love and through God’s loving inclination, working inwardly in the unity of our spirit where God dwells and where all our powers are gathered.

While the second coming was compared to a fountain pouring forth in three rills, the third coming can be likened to the duct that feeds the fountain. Just as there can be no stream without a fountain, and no fountain without a duct, the grace of God flows like rills into our higher faculties, inspiring all virtue. This grace springs up within the unity of our spirit and returns to the same unity from which it came, like a living spring flowing from the boundless richness of the Divine, where faithfulness and grace are ever-present.

The soul passively endures this inward touch for the higher faculties are united within the spirit’s unity, transcending the multiplicity of all virtues. Here, God alone acts in His pure goodness as the source of all virtues and blessedness. In this unity of the spirit, where the Divine duct flows, one is beyond activity and reason, yet not without reason for this Divine touch is felt, particularly through love. Reason cannot fully understand the means and nature of this touch, for it is an act of God, an inrusghin of all graces and gifts. It is the last mediator between God and man. Above this Divine touch, in the stillness of the spirit’s being, there broods an incomprehensible brightness – the highest Trinity, from which this touch proceeds. Here, God lives and reigns within the spirit, and the spirit within God.

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Chapter 52 discusses, how Christ speaks inwardly through this divine touch, urging the spirit to act in harmony with this experience. The spirit is drawn toward the most inward practices achievable by a creature in the created light. Here, the spirit, through the power of love, rises above all actions into the unity from which this life-giving touch springs forth. The touch invites the understanding to know God in His brightness and draws the power of love to enjoy God without any intermediary. The loving spirit longs for this experience, both naturally and supernaturally, above all else.

Guided by enlightened reason, the spirit ascends in inward contemplation, gazing into the depths where this touch resides. Here, all reason and created light reach their limits, for the Supernal Brightness that gives rise to this touch is so profound that it blinds any created sight, rendering all understanding akin to the eyes of a bat in the light of the sun. Yet, the spirit is constantly beckoned by God and by its own nature to explore the depths, to discern what stirs within, to understand the nature of God and this divine touch. But, even on the first day, the spirit finds itself as wise as it will ever be. Reason, baffled by this divine mystery, concludes: “I know not what it is,” for the Supernal Brightness, in its overwhelming clarity, strikes down all understanding whenever they meet.

God dwells in His brightness, surpassing all spirits in heaven or on earth, and those who journey through their innermost selves by means of virtues and inward practices, reach this source, the door to eternal life, and experience this touch. The Brightness of God shines so powerfully here that reason and all understanding are overwhelmed, unable to advance further, forced to yield before God’s incomprehensible radiance. However, even though reason and understanding falter before the Divine Brightness and must remain outside the door, the power of love yearns to move forward. Like the understanding, love has also been invited and urged forward. Love is blind and seeks fulfillment, a fulfillment that resides more in tasting and feeling than in understanding. Therefore, love presses onward, while understanding lingers behind.

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Chapter 53 delves into the eternal hunger that arises in the spirit, a yearning that will never be satisfied. The spirit, driven by God’s urgings and its longing for fruition, perpetually desires to reach a fulfillment that can never be reached because a created vessel cannot contain the Uncreated Good. Such are the poorest of all men. Even tasting the richness of God’s presence in every conceivable way, there is no satisfaction because what is lacking is God Himself, leaving the hunger ever renewed. The more God touches the spirit, the greater this desire grows, transcending reason and understanding, driven purely by the Divine love. In this state, the soul realizes that there can never be a separation from God. The divine touch, though experienced in a created way, continues to intensify as long as we live, reflecting the boundless capacity for growth in love and yearning for God.

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Chapter 54: In the profound depths of love, there unfolds a struggle between the Spirit of God and our own spirit. Through the Holy Ghost, God reaches out to us, touching us with His love. In response, our spirit, moved by God and the power of love, reaches out towards God, touching Him in return. From this mutual reaching and touching, a loving strife arises, where each spirit is deeply wounded by love.

Both spirits reflect each other, each showing its face to the other, and each yearning for the other in love. Each spirit demands all of the other and offers all of itself in return, making the two melt into one another. This is a communion where God’s love and ours flow back and forth, causing the fountain of love to overflow until God’s touch and our loving craving become one simple love.

In this state, the soul is so possessed by love that it forgets itself and God, and can only know love and do nothing but love. It is so consumed in love, and enters so deeply into the Divine touch, that it loses and becomes nothing in its own works, but empties itself completely. It moves beyond mere surrender to become love itself. This love is the root and origin of all virtues, residing in the very core of the soul’s created being, where all creaturely actions begin and end.

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In Chapter 55, the spirit, united with divine love, becomes fruitful in its virtues. Touched by God’s incomprehensible brightness and boundless love, the spirit cannot remain idle, but acts with a more sublime and inward desire than before. As the spirit engages in these higher works, it is quickly consumed and brought to nothing in love, only to go forth once more into fresh endeavors. This cycle is “heavenly love.” The spirit, driven by an insatiable hunger, yearns to fully consume God, but finds itself instead consumed by God’s touch, and its efforts ultimately fall short since its highest powers are unified in the spirit. Here, grace and love exist above all works, as the very source of charity and every virtue. There is an eternal outpouring from the source into charity and the virtues, and an eternal return to the spirit with a renewed hunger for God and the perpetual dwelling in pure love.

This cycle constitutes the most inward spiritual exercise possible for a creature in the created light, both in heaven and on earth. Above there is nothing but the God-seeing life in the Divine light. Here one cannot be deceived as this exercise begins in grace and last forever in eternal perfect union with God in love.

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Chapter 56 reminds us of what he has discussed so far in Book 2. The first point discussed is what Christ demands of us when He says “Behold”. The second and third points is what Christ desires when He says “The Bridegroom cometh, Go ye out.” This is the inward coming of Christ and there are three ways in which it happens. In particular, the first way has four degrees and we are to go out with practices responding to each of the degrees according to how God moves us.

The fourth point is the last point to be discussed, “to meet Him.” This is the final meeting and union with Christ, the Bridegroom, and it is the ultimate goal of all our spiritual efforts. Any meeting involves two parties coming together from different places. In this case, the meeting is between Christ, our Lord and generous Giver who descends from above to meet us, and us who come from below in need of everything. He comes to us from within outwards, and we go to Him from without inwards and we meet spiritually either by means or without means.

[Note: Here “with means” indicates that the encounter involves mediated experiences of God through gifts, symbols, forms, and conceptual images. These means guide us towards a deeper understanding and relationship with Christ. “Without means” indicates that the encounter is unmediated, occurring as a direct and intuitive experience in the unity of the spirit. There is nothing between the spirit and God.]

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Chapter 57 explores the essential meeting between the spirit and God that occurs in the nakedness of our nature, without any intermediary. The unity of our spirit comprises two aspects: essential and active. In its essence, the spirit receives Christ’s coming directly, without any means or interruption, for our very being in God, who is our Eternal image, is without means and indivisible. Our spirit continuously receives the impression of its Divine Archetype and dwells eternally in God’s presence, experiencing His perpetual comings and new illuminations of divine brightness. God is always present where He is, and He never leaves or changes, and the spirit, in its essence, holds God within itself, as God resides in the spirit. Thus, the spirit is able to receive divine brightness and fulfillment directly, without any intermediary. The spirit plunges and loses itself in God’s Being, finding eternal blessedness, and then flows forth again through the eternal birth of the Son to be placed in created being by the Holy Trinity, in the image of which it was made. In created being, it is continuously impressed by the image of its Eternal Archetype which it reflects like a flawless mirror. This essential union with God is not self-sustained but is maintained by God. It flows from God, depends on Him, and returns to Him as its Eternal Origin. This union, which transcends time and space, is incessantly active according to God’s will. While this essential union is present in every human being, whether good or evil, it does not alone confer holiness or blessedness. It is, however, the first cause of all holiness and blessedness. This union represents the deepest meeting between God and the spirit, occurring in the nakedness of our nature.

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Chapter 58 delves into the profound truth about how our spirit relates to God through grace and mortal sin. The spirit remains in its unity when acting, as it exists in its created and personal being. This unity is the source of all the soul’s higher powers and the beginning and end of all creaturely works, both natural and supernatural. However, this unity itself does not actively work; rather, all the soul’s powers draw their strength from it.

In this unity, the spirit is either like God through grace and virtue or unlike God through mortal sin. Being made in the likeness of God implies that we are created with a God-formed light that shines through us and makes us like God. Without this grace, we cannot achieve union with God even though we retain His image and our natural unity with Him. Losing this likeness, or grace, leads to damnation. So, whenever God finds in us the capacity to receive His grace, He freely infuses us with life and likeness to Himself. This transformation occurs when we fully turn our will to Him, at which point Christ comes to us with and without means-through virtues and beyond them. He imprints His image and likeness upon us, redeeming us from sin and making us like Himself. This process involves a union with God that transcends nature and means, representing our highest blessedness. Though God’s gifts are natural to Him, for us they are supernatural. Initially, we were separate and unlike God, but through grace, we become united with Him, reflecting His likeness and enjoying divine union.

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Chapter 59 explores how we possess God in union and rest above all likeness. This union with God, achieved without means, occurs in the essential intuition and remains hidden from our understanding except in a simplified manner. In this state, the spirit rests above all created gifts, natural or supernatural, and exists solely in union with God. We are possessed by the Holy Ghost, and in turn, we possess the Holy Ghost, the Father, and the Son-all of the Divine Nature, which remains ever undivided.

The fruitive tendency of the spirit, which seeks rest in God above all likeness, receives and possesses all that it has in its natural state in a supernatural way. Though this profound state is experienced by all good men, its full nature remains hidden unless one becomes inward and empty of all creatures. When a man turns away from sin, he is received by God in the essential unity of his being, at the highest point of their spirit, and find eternal rest in God. Grace and likeness to God are given at the source of one’s powers, allowing for continuous growth in virtues. This union and rest endure as long as the likeness endures through charity and virtues and can only be lost through mortal sin.

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Chapter 60 explains that we need God’s grace which makes us like Him and leads us to Him without means. All holiness and blessedness lies in our spirits being led upwards, through likeness and by means of grace to the essential unity. Here we enter into this naked essence in which God gives of Himself without means. Damned spirits dwell in darkness because they lack this grace, which should enlighten them and guide them to unity with God. Our essential being is so noble, that even the damned cannot will their annihilation, but are merely led into darkness preventing unity with God.

To overcome this darkness, grace is necessary to remove the sin that causes it, and make our lives fruitful. Christ enters us through means, that is through grace and various gifts, while we approach Him through means, that is through virtues and practices. As Christ gives us more profound gifts, our spirit’s workings become more inward and delightful in a continuous cycle growth into a higher life. This active meeting is completely through means, for God’s gifts and our virtues are means. These means are necessary for all men, because without the mediation of God’s grace and our loving response, no one can be saved.

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In Chapter 61, the focus is on how God and the spirit visit each other in the unity and likeness that God has made in us and through us. He sees this dwelling place and desires to continually visit it with a new coming of His noble birth. He wills to dwell blissfully in the loving spirit, bringing a new outpouring of His boundless love, enriching our spirit’s likeness to Him and enhancing our virtues with divine gifts.

Christ similarly desires that we also continuously dwell in the essential unity of our spirit, enriched by Him above all creaturely work. Our abiding in this unity should be without interruption in every work that we do. In each moment, God is born anew in us, and from this divine birth, the Holy Ghost bestows His gifts. So we should go forth to meet God’s gifts through the likeness, and hist most high birth through the unity.

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Chapter 62 turns to how we should go out to meet God through our works and intentions. To enhance our likeness to Him, we must direct every good work, no matter how small, towards Him with love and with a single, pure intention. As the end, beginning, and adornment of all virtues, this single intention unifies the scattered powers of the spirit and unites us to God. Its simplicity seeks only God in everything through their connection with God, cutting through all distractions and finding Him in the simple ground of its own being. It eliminates all hypocrisy and duplicity, keeping us focused on God, clear in understanding, diligent in virtue and fearless both now and in the Day of Doom. Singleness of intention gives light to man’s works and life, cleansing it of sin. It is the foundation of spirituality: it is the spirit’s inwardness, enlightenment and loving tendency. It embodies faith, hope, and charity, trusting in and remaining faithful to God. It fosters inner peace, drives away spiritual discontent, and maintains fullness of life in all the virtues.

In the unity of the spirit, in grace and likeness, we meet God through the means of virtues and offer Him our whole life with a simple intention. With every work we do, we increase our likeness to Him; and ultimately, we come to meet God without intermediaries, rest in Him in the abyss of simplicity, and possess our eternal heritage. All spiritual life and virtuous actions are rooted in divine likeness and simplicity of intention, and supreme rest lies in simplicity above likeness. Each spirit progresses in virtue and likeness according to its own nobility, and God provides for each according to their measure of love, both in this life and in eternity.

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Chapter 63 treats of the ordering of all the virtues through the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit by which we resemble God, and rest in Him in unity.

1. The Gift of Fear involves living in the reverence of God, demonstrating obedience to the Church and divine commandments, and having a willingness to do good with a simple intention. Through faithfulness and aligning one’s will with God’s will, a person resembles God and does what he should do and does not what he should not. He finds rest in Him above mere likeness through faithfulness and singleness of intention.

2. The Gift of Piety involves exerting oneself in what God has given, leading to the bestowal of the spirit of Piety and Mercy. This results in becoming gentle, meek, and merciful, which enhances one’s likeness to God, deepens one’s virtues, and increases one’s sense of rest and fulfillment in God. The more one resembles God, the greater the enjoyment of this likeness and rest.

3. The Gift of Knowledge is received when one exerts oneself with great zeal and single intention while fighting against what opposes virtues. This gift brings reason and discernment, enabling one to know what actions to take or avoid. Through simplicity of intention and godly love, one rests in God above oneself in the unity. He possesses himself in likeness and his works in delight, becoming obedient to the Father, gaining reason through the Son, and mercy through the Holy Ghost. Thus he resembles the Holy Trinity.

This is the whole of the active life: zealously pursuing virtue with discernment and humility before Christ, avoiding all that opposes virtue. In this way, he cannot error and will grow in likeness. However, those who focus more on outward practices, sacraments, and symbols than on the ground of the truth they signify, remain outwardly oriented. Such individuals will be saved by their good works and sincere intention, but will ever remain an outward man.

4. The Gift of Strength: To draw closer to God and elevate his practice and life, a man must move from external works and forms to their inner reason and truth, and thus come into the inward life. God then gives him the spirit of Strength which allows him to overcome joy and grief, profit and loss, hope and care in earthly things, and all hindrances and multiplicity. He becomes free from all creaturely images, masters himself, effortlessly becomes inward and recollected, and turns without hindrance to God with devotion, desire, thanksgiving, praise and singleness of intention. The whole of his life reaches fruition, both inwardly and outwardly, for he stands before the Holy Trinity, receives consolation from God and continually possesses inward peace through the singleness of his intention. By abiding steadfastly before God, the spirit of Strength within him is doubled, freeing him from attachment to bodily desires and longings for consolations, or even for rest and peace of heart. He will renounce all gifts to find Him who he loves. Thus he is strong in overcoming the unrest of the heart, and doubly strong in foregoing all consolations. He transcends all creatures to possess himself through the Gift of Strength.

5. The Gift of Council: When no creature can impede a man in his upward intention, and when through the Gift of Strength he is steadfast in seeking God above all His gifts, then God gives him the Gift of Counsel. The Father draws him inwardly, the Son invites him to follow to the Father, and the Holy Ghost ignites his heart with fiery love. This awakens a restless yearning of love in him which only God can satisfy. He abandons himself and all things to find Him in Whom he lives and in Whom all things are one. He should master his reason, renouncing self-will, and patiently awaiting the unity he seeks until its God’s pleasure to give it.

This Gift works in Him in two ways: 1) A man is great when he follows God’s precept and counsel by abandoning himself and all things, declaring with burning love, “Thy Kingdom come.” 2) A man is even greater when he overcomes and abandons his own self-will in love, submitting reverently to God and saying with insatiable burning love, “Thy Will be done in all things, not mine.” This is what Christ said to the Father when He approached his passion. These were to Him most happy, to us most wholesome, to the Father most lovable and to the devil most terrible, because by this renunciation of self-will, we were saved. Thus, for the loving and humble person, God’s will becomes their greatest joy and deepest desire, even if it were to lead to hell, which is impossible. Human nature is cast down and God exalted above all, and man becomes capable of receiving all of God’s gifts, having denied himself and given all for all. So, he asks for nothing but what God wills since this is his joy. He is the most free of all men since he has surrendered himself to God in love, and he lives without care for God cannot lose what is His.

Although God knows every heart, He often permits trials and temptations to test whether this man can truly renounce himself in freedom. This serves to enlighten the soul, allowing the person to live for God’s glory and his own salvation. This is why God sometimes lead such a man from joy to suffering, from heaven to hell, and from blessedness to great misery, so it seems that God and all creatures have forsaken him. If a man had previously renounced himself and his will out of love and joy for God’s pleasure, he will more easily do so in times of pain and misery, continuing to seek God’s glory rather than his own comfort. If he is willing to do good things, then he is willing to suffer great things, although the latter is nobler, more pleasing to God, and more satisfying to our spirits, since it is more contrary to our nature. Thus, in suffering our spirit is more exalted and our nature more cast down, than in a work with done with equal love. When a man remains steadfast in resignation, without any preference, then he possesses the spirit of Council in two ways: 1) He fulfills God’s will in his working and suffering by self-surrender and obedient submission. 2) His nature is gloriously adorned and capable of being enlightened.

6. The Gift of Understanding: God grants the sixth gift, the spirit of Understanding, which resembles the fountain with three rills: it anchors the spirit in unity, unveils Truth, and fosters general love. It is also like sunlight, which illuminates the sky with simple brightness, reveals all distinctions, and displays its power through warmth and nurtures fruitfulness. Its first ray instills simplicity within the spirit, like sunlight fills the sky with brilliance. God’s grace, the foundation of all gifts, is like a simple light in our potential understanding, and through this light, the spirit becomes stable, unified, and enlightened, resembling God in grace and love. However, since the spirit now loves God above all gifts, it cannot be satisfied by created likeness or brightness, and longs, both natural and supernatural, for the Abysmal Being from which it originated. The Unity of the Divine Being eternally draws all created likeness into itself. The spirit is enkindled with fruition and melts into God as its eternal rest. Just as sunshine is to the sun, so the grace of God is to God and the means to Him. This grace illuminates the spirit with simplicity, making it God-like. This likeness continually merges, dies, and unites with God, becoming one with Him through charity and causing it to dwell in the One. We retain the eternal likeness and maintain union with God beyond all activity even as we actively engage in charity and virtue. For, in the nakedness of spirit in the Divine light, we possess God in rest above virtues. Thus, charity in likeness is ever active while union in God is ever at rest, yet fruitive in love. This is the dynamic of love: it is simultaneously active and yet rests in its Beloved. Each strengthens the other and is inseparable: the higher the love, the deeper the rest, and the deeper the rest, the greater the love. Some devout men feel they neither love nor rest in God because their desire to love Him more makes their love seem insufficient. Yet, even in this striving, they both love and rest, although they don’t realize it. Only those who are resigned, emptied, and spiritually enlightened can comprehend how one can simultaneously labor in love and rest in fruition: they are one with God in rest and mirror God in acts of love, for they are like God Himself who eternally rests in His Essential Unity, and eternally works in the Trinity. To love God is to taste Him, and anyone satisfied with other things will not taste what God is. We must keep ourselves in simplicity, virtue and likeness, and God above ourselves in love, rest and unity. This is the first degree of enlightenment, in which a man common to all is made stable.

Just like when the sun illuminates the sky and the beauty of the world is revealed so our eyes can perceive its rich diversity; similarly, when we achieve inner simplicity and our understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of Understanding, we can perceive the sublime attributes of God which are the causes of all the works that flow from Him. Although some know God through His works, only the man who receives the Spirit of Understanding can grasp the divine attributes that ground these works. This gift allows him to recognize his nobility, discern virtues, and live without error in the eternal Truth. He can dwell in the spirit, and rightly understand all things in heaven and on earth by enlightened reason. He walks in heaven and perceives the nobility of his Beloved along with the saints – His abysmal height, depth, length and breadth, and the perfection of His wisdom, truth, generosity, and goodness. All these attributes are not separate from Him but are His very essence. The enlightened man lowers his gaze to himself and to all creation and sees clearly how God generously made all things in nature and offered Himself above nature to those who seek and desire Him. The richness of Gods blessings fills him with joy if he has died to self in God, lives in the spirit and tastes eternal realities. In addition to his naked state of being in unity with God in fruitive love and bearing likeness to Him in charity and virtuous work, the Gift of Understanding gives him an *awareness* of his state. It illuminates him so he walks with spiritual discernment and recognizes God in spiritual similitudes, including himself and all things according to the modes and measures of the divine illumination accroding to God’s will and the greater nobility of our understanding. This is the second degree of englightenment of a man common to all.

Proportionately, as the sun increases its heat, it brings all things to fruition. So too, as our understanding is increasinly enlightened and recognizes Divine Truth, our soul’s will, that is its power of love, intensifies towards all men in common, for the knowledge of Truth imparted by this Gift grounds us in a universal love. Those most simple in their being are the most peaceful, deeply immersed in God, richly enlightened in their understanding, most fruitful in good works, outflowing in love to all and hindered least because they are most like God. God is simplicity in His essence, clarity in His understanding, and outflowing universal love in His works. The closer we are to God in these three qualities, the deeper our union. Thus, we are called to remain simple in our innermost being, to perceive all things with enlightened reason, and to extend love universally. This is like the sun’s simplicity as it abides unchanged in the sky, and yet sends forth its rays to heat the whole world in common.

To live with enlightened reason in universal love, we must align our lives with the Divine attributes and purposes revealed in God. This involves several key dispositions and actions: 1) Humility and Awe: Recognize the Father as the Origin of the Godhead, both in Essence and Personality, and bow in humble reverence before His sublimity. This humility is the foundation of all virtues. 2) Adoration and Reverence: Honour the might of the Father, who creates and sustains all things from nothing. This adoration elevates the soul in a spiritual manner. 3) Gratitude and Service: Offer praise, thanks, and continual service to God’s faithfulness and love, who has redeemed us from sin and eternal death. Through this, we experience true spiritual freedom. 4) Intercession for Enlightenment: Present before God the blindness and ignorance of humanity, praying that all people may be enlightened and come to know the truth, so God is glorified and honoured. 5) Mercy for Sinners: Pray for the conversion and growth of sinners in virtue, that they may come to love God fervently and desire Him above all else. 6) Generosity: Share the riches of God’s gifts with those in need, helping them find fulfillment and guiding them to flow back to God, so that He may be possessed and glorified in all. 7) Offering of Christ’s Work: Present to the Father, in awe and reverence, all the works and loving service of Christ’s humanity, ensuring our prayers and efforts are heard and accepted. 8) Communion with Saints and Church: Unite with the devotion of angels, saints, and the faithful, offering their fervent love and the service of Holy Church, including the Holy Sacrifice, as a collective worship to the Father. 9) Union through Christ: Present the entire service of Holy Church, including the Holy Sacrifice, all our works, thoughts, and prayers in the name of Christ, striving to meet God through Him, becoming like Him in universal love, transcending likeness in simplicity, and uniting in the Essential Unity. 10) Continual Praise and Return: Abide in oneness with God, flow forth in universal love with Him and all saints, and return in perpetual thankfulness, immersing ourselves in fruitive love within the Eternal Rest. This is the richest life possible with the Gift of Understanding.

7. The Gift of Wisdom: We receive this Gift when we turn inward in contemplation with love and simplicity, encounter the fruitive unity of God as an unconditioned and incomprehensible darkness, and offer ourselves up to this fruition above the virtues. This Gift then saturates our simplicity wisdom and spiritual savor. It is a spiritual touch within the unity of our spirit, bringing all grace and virtue, which each experiences according to the intensity of the touch and of his love. This touch is the inmost mediator between God and ourselves, rest and activity, condition and unconditioned, eternity and time. God touches us before receiving any gifts, but we taste it last of all. Only after having sought God to the depts of our being, do we feel with certainty the inflow of all graces in the unity of our highest powers.

This touch is above reason but not contrary to reason because we can’t know its origin. The sun illuminates the sky so we can see, but if we follow its rays back to their origin, the sun itself is so bright that we would be blinded. Likewise, the reflection of the Incomprehensible Light in the unity of our higher powers is too intense for any creaturely activity. Here we can only passively endure God’s inner working. God can’t give himself to us more directly because our faculties are too small. So He pours His gifts into us according to our limits: the fruition of God abides above the unity of our powers and demands of us a likeness in love and virtue. So we are repeatedly touched and renewed, becoming ever more like Him. With each touch, the spirit’s desire increases and it craves to pass through the abyss of love to be satisfied. This is an eternally unsatisfied desire for all loving creatures desire God according to their nobleness and the intensity of the touch, yet God remains eternally incomprehensible. With all the saints, we are left with an eternal desirous introversion. His radiance is so limitless that all spirits fail in their ability, melt away in the sensible love in the unity of their spirits, and endure passively the working of God. In this state, our spirit, the Divine grace, and all virtues are one in a sensible love without outward activity. The spirit is simple, open to all gifts, and capable of all virtues. This ground of sensible love is where God works inwardly and causes us to move ever inward and flow outward in virtuous works.

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Chapter 64 discusses the highest degree of the most interior life. The Immeasurable Splendour of God, which is the cause of all gifts, transfigures and penetrates our fruitive spirit in a way that is wayless. The spirit immerses itself in the Uncomprehended Light in a fruitive rest which is wayless and fathomless, and cannot be know except by the experience of the rest itself. If we could comprehend it, then it would be limited by mode and measure, leading to eternal unrest. So, the simple, loving and immersed spirit is drawn into an abysmal love where the abyss of God calls to the abyss of those united with Him in love. This inward call is an influx of divine brightness, enfolding the spirit in a love so deep that it becomes lost to itself and flows into the wild darkness of the Godhead. United without any intermediary, the spirit becomes one with God’s Spirit, allowing it to meet and eternally possess God through God, sharing in eternal bliss.

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Chapter 65 deals with how the most inward life is practiced in three ways.

First, the inward man may engage in simple introspection, above all actions and virtues, through an inward gaze focused on the fruition of love. In this practice, he meets God without intermediaries. A simple light emanates from Divine Unity, revealing Darkness, Nakedness, and Nothingness. In Darkness, the soul becomes lost, unable to find its way; in Nakedness, it loses all discernment, and is penetrated by a simple light; in Nothingness, all activity ceases as the soul is overwhelmed by God’s abysmal love, ultimately uniting with Him in spirit. In this oneness, the soul experiences a fruitive tasting and possession of God, filled with divine delights and riches, which flow into the soul and the body, bringing a sense of inward immovability and a radiant, sensible well-being. This “way of emptiness” empties the soul of all things, lifting it above activity and virtues, leading to a profound perseverance in the most interior practices. However, any intermediaries or images impede this exercise, as it requires a going beyond all things into Emptiness.

Second, the inward man may turn to God with ardent desire and active love, seeking to glorify and honor God, annihilating all selfhood in the love of God. Here, God is met through an intermediary-the gift of Savouring Wisdom, the root of all virtues, which stirs and enkindles the soul with a desire that nothing but God Himself can satisfy. This desire leads the soul to surrender all its works and empty itself completely in love. And with each new touch by God, his desire is renewed and increased. Thus, “living he dies, and dying he lives again.” This “way of longing,” in which the sould longs to unite itself with God, is more profitable than the first, as it serves as its source, for no one can enter the rest except the man who has loved love. The soul’s longing for God precedes and follows the divine rest, and without active love, one cannot attain or retain God. Any attachment to God’s gifts or created things will hinder this exercise, as it is driven by a hunger that only God can satisfy.

Third, these two ways combine in the “inward life according to justice,” where God comes both with and without means, demanding both action and fruition. Here, the inward man lives wholly in both work and rest, responding to God’s call to continually renew both. He remains whole and undivided, united with God in fruition while actively loving in his deeds. Each divine illumination turns the spirit inward, renewing its virtues and immersing it deeper into fruitive rest. God gives Himself and His gifts, while the spirit offers itself and its works. This dual exercise leads the spirit into rest and keeps it active in love, striving for divine union. This just man is like a double mirror, receiving God’s gifts on one side and bodily images on the other, able to turn inward at will and practice justice without hindrance. However, human instability often leads him outward into unnecessary activity, resulting in venial sins, which are consumed like drops of water in a glowing furnace during loving introversion. This state, where both rest and work coexist in a single exercise, represents the supreme summit of the inward life. Those who do not achieve this balance have not yet attained true justice. In this union, the just man progresses towards God in eternal activity and rests in God with fruitive inclination, dwelling in God while extending universal love and virtue towards all creatures.

With this understanding, the discourse on the inward life is concluded.

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Chapter 66 explores how some individuals, despite appearing righteous, actually live contrary to the inward practices and virtues described in earlier chapters. These individuals fall into various forms of error because anyone lacking divine enlightenment and supernatural love is inclined to himselves and finds his rest in outward things. All creatures tend towards rest, both the good and the evil.

False Natural Rest: Some men achieve a natural rest by emptying themselves of all images and activity, which is opposed with the supernatural rest found in divine union. But the loving man cannot find stillness in this rest because it lacks the inward touch of God. This is a deceptive rest leading to spiritual blindness and self-indulgence rather than simple gaze into the Incomprehensible Brightness. Supernatural rest, which is sought by inward longing, is as far above natural rest as God is above creatures. Natural rest is not a sin per se, but if it is sought without virtue, he falls into spiritual pride. We see this with the angels: those who turned inwards towards God in love and fruition found beatitude, while those who sought rest in themselves found a short lived rest. They were separated from the eternal light, became blind and fell into darkness.

Self-Directed Natural Love: Others, desiring inward rest in idleness without God, are open to all sorts of errors for they are turned towards themselves, seek consolations in self-love and reject any self-renunciation. They engage in acts of penitence so that they might gain recognition on earth for their sanctity, and merit great rewards in heaven, because self-love desires honors and eternity. They ask for many favors and when they sometimes receive them through the devil, they ascribe it to their sanctity because they are proud. Even a small consolation may satisfy them because they don’t know what they lack, so attached are they to spiritual refreshment. This is spiritual lust since it is an inordinate attachment seeking its own profit in all things.

Such men, being proud and self-willed, are vehemently set on what they desire. So they are often deceived and might even become possessed. They live contrary to charity and inwardness whereby one offers oneself up to God, which alone can satisfy him. Charity moves us to renounce ourselves, draw up to God, and be united to Him; whereas, natural love turns us towards ourselves in eternal isolation. Outwardly their works look the same, but the inward intentions are different. The good man always seeks to glorify God, but a man in natural love always seeks his own profit. So, when natural love wins out, a man falls into four sins: spiritual pride, avarice, gluttony and lust. Thus was human nature corrupted when Adam fell: he scorned God’s commandment in pride, he avariciously desired knowledge, he gluttonously sought pleasant tastes and he was moved by lust. But Mary, the Mother of Love, found the grace Adam lost when she turned towards God in charity. She conceived Christ in humilty [vanquishing pride], she offered Him to the Father [vanquishing avarice], she never tasted consolation [vanquishing gluttony] and lived in purity [vanquishing lust]. Whoever follows her will similarly conquer all that is contrary to the virtues and enter the kingdom where she reigns with her Son.

The Unrighteous Life: When a man rests in bare vacancy and remains disobediently self-willed, he lives without charity and in unlikeness to God. This is third contrary way: the unrighteous life of error and perversity. These men think they are God-seeing men and believe themselves the holiest men alive, yet they are completely unlike God, His saints and all good men. Because of their natural rest, they think they are free and united to God without means, above all the Church’s customs, above all God’s commands, above the law and above every virtuous work. They believe their idleness is so great that it should not be troubled by work, and so remain in pure passivity, without work aimed above or below. According to them, any work they do would hinder God’s work and so they strive to remain empty of every virtue: they don’t praise or thank God. They have no knowledge, love, will, prayer, desire, for they think they already possess these and not even God can add or subtract anything. They maintain that they have surpassed all the virtues by this pure emptiness which is harder to obtain than any virtue and releases one from all the virtues. So they inwardly reject all authority, pope, bishop or parson, despite outwardly appearing to be submissive. For them, striving after virtue to fulfill God’s will is a sign of imperfection since such men lack knowledge of the spiritual emptiness. Rather, they fancy that they deserve a greater reward since their virtues have reached a maximum and they cannot sin anymore, for they say they live without will and are nothing and completely surrended to God in baren rest. They think they live in the state of innocence beyond law, and so no longer hinder any bodily desire. If the emptiness of their spirit is troubled by natural lust, they yield to it to assuage the desire. So they don’t keep Lent, or Ember-days, or commandments and live without conscience. Hopefully there aren’t too many such men, but they are most vile! Sometimes they are even diabolically possessed and beyond reasoning. Nonetheless, we know from scripture and our faith that they are deceived.

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In Chapter 67, Ruysbroeck describes another group of perverted men who, while distinct in some ways from those previously discussed, also believe themselves to be above all forms of human activity. They claim to be mere instruments of God’s will, existing in a state of passivity so complete that they attribute all actions, whether virtuous or sinful, to God working through them. They consider themselves “God-passive” men, believing their works to be more meritorious than any other human effort, as they view themselves to be empty vessels in whom God alone acts. These men are convinced that they cannot sin, as they believe that everything occurring within them is the will of God. These individuals appear humble and resigned, often displaying equanimity in all circumstances because they see themselves as mere instruments of God’s will. Outwardly, they may resemble good men, but their beliefs diverge significantly, as they assume that all their inner impulses-virtuous or otherwise-are from the Holy Spirit. However, this is a grave deception, for the Spirit of God never leads anyone to act against the teachings of Christ and the principles of true Christianity.

Such people are difficult to recognize because they often present themselves cleverly and can be very persuasive in their arguments. They are obstinate, holding their beliefs so rigidly that they would rather die than renounce even a single point of their misguided convictions. They consider themselves to be the holiest and most enlightened of all people.

These men differ from the previously described perverted individuals in that they claim they can still grow in merit, while the others believe they have reached a state of unity and emptiness from which no further progress is possible. Nonetheless, both groups are perverted and wicked, the latter even more so, as they claim a merit that surpasses others because they believe God alone acts through them. But God’s activity is eternal and unchangeable, with no potential for growth or merit for any creature. Without their own love for God and co-operation with Him, no created being can be blessed. The emptiness they claim is a deceit used to justify their own wickedness, presenting it falsely as superior to virtue. Such people, he says, are akin to the damned in hell, who also lack charity, praise, and adherence to God.

Rather, we should consider Christ who, while united with the Divine Essence, always lived in love, longing, and praise toward His Heavenly Father. His soul, like all who are blessed, continues in an eternal, loving striving, never reaching a state of idleness or complacency. This union with God, both fruitive and activie, constitutes the eternal bliss of Christ and His saints. It is a life of righteousness that never fades, calling us to adorn ourselves inwardly and outwardly with virtues and humble actions before God. Through these gifts, we encounter God, are touched by love, and filled with loyalty, enabling us to flow outward in charity and return inward in peace, achieving a Divine likeness. In this likeness, we are melted into unity, meeting God directly in fruitive rest while remaining in eternal flow, a perfect inward life of unity and love. May this grace come to pass in us through God’s help. Amen.

In the first of three books of John van Ruysbroeck’s “The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage”, the author explores the “active life”—the foundational stage of the soul’s spiritual ascent. This section outlines the cultivation of virtues essential for detaching from worldly attachments and aligning with God. Humility, as the first step, draws the soul into self-knowledge and reliance on God’s grace. This grounding opens the way to a love that embodies patience and compassion, followed by generosity and a zeal for righteousness, nurturing a spirit ready to serve and sustain others.

Purity is central to this process, requiring the soul’s detachment from distractions to focus entirely on God. This leads to an internal ordering through temperance and righteousness, where the soul learns to withstand spiritual trials and worldly temptations. Ruysbroeck likens the soul to a well-ordered kingdom, directed by free will and grace, which culminates in divine charity and a heartfelt desire to live fully for God.

This first book lays the groundwork for the journey, emphasizing virtue as the soul’s preparation for deeper union. In the subsequent books, Ruysbroeck shifts from the “active life” to the “God-seeking life,” where the soul enters deeper contemplation, and finally to the “God-seeing life,” reaching mystical union. Each stage builds on the last, with the active life as the essential beginning of the soul’s ascent toward divine communion.

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In the Prologue, John van Ruysbroeck uses the parable of the virgins to illustrate the relationship between Christ, the Bridegroom, and human nature, the bride. Created in God’s image and placed in Paradise, human nature was endowed with grace and given dominion over creation to be eternally united with Christ. However, human nature was seduced by the devil, becoming alienated from God and trapped in misery. God, moved by compassion, sent His Son, born of the Virgin Mary, to unite with human nature, teach divine truths, and liberate it through His death and sacraments.

Christ’s words, “Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him,” convey four teachings: the command to “Behold” highlights the danger of spiritual blindness; the phrase “The Bridegroom cometh” reveals Christ’s approach; “Go ye out” instructs us to act; and “To meet Him” underscores the ultimate purpose of our endeavors, union with Christ. Ruysbroeck explains these teachings through three paths: the Active Life for beginners, the God-desiring life attainable through virtue and grace, and the superessential, God-seeing life, reserved for a select few due to its profound nature.

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Chapter 1 begins with the fall. Since Adam’s time, Christ instructs humanity to behold, emphasizing the need for divine and supernatural sight. For such sight, three essentials are necessary: Divine grace, a free will towards God, and a pure conscience free from mortal sin. God offers prevenient grace, a universal light available to all, which prepares individuals for salvation, just as fruitless trees are pruned and grafted with fruitful branches. Yet, many resist, unwilling to shed disbelief and disobedience. Divine grace requires prevenient grace, voluntary conversion, and a cleansed conscience, marking the transition from prevenient to efficacious grace.

God’s prevenient grace manifests externally through life’s hardships, encouraging self-reflection and the desire for goodness. This grace, which readies the soul for salvation, culminates when God, in His generosity, grants the soul a higher light, sparking a union with God that births charity, leading to a pure conscience and sincere contrition. This spiritual journey fosters a profound repentance and a desire for virtuous living. Such readiness for divine sight embodies Christ’s command to behold, initiating a path to spiritual awakening and enlightenment.

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Chapter 2 delves into understanding the threefold coming of Christ, the Bridegroom. The Latin word Venit, spoken by Christ, conveys past, present, and future tenses. These encompass His initial coming as a man, His continual coming into loving hearts through grace, and His final coming at Judgment or death. Each coming invites reflection on its reasons, inner workings, and outward expressions.

God’s unfathomable goodness motivated the creation of angels and humans, allowing them to experience divine bliss. His incomprehensible love drove Him to become human, addressing mankind’s fallen state. Christ’s earthly mission was fueled by divine and created love, humanity’s dire need, and His Father’s glory.

To emulate Christ, one must explore His virtues and deeds. While His divine nature remains beyond human grasp, His human virtues like humility, charity, and patient suffering form the foundation of all virtues and perfection. These are key to following Christ’s example and understanding His work.

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Chapter 3 explores the profound humility of Christ in His dual nature as both divine and human. In His divinity, Christ exemplifies two distinct types of humility. The first is His willingness to become human, embracing a nature condemned to hell. This act makes Christ the Son of God, a brother to every person, good or evil. The second divine humility is His choice of a humble mother, a poor maiden rather than a princess, to be the mother of God, demonstrating His connection with all creation, regardless of status.

Christ’s humility, stemming from His divine essence, is reflected in all His humble deeds. Shifting focus to His humanity, Christ’s humility shines through the grace and gifts bestowed upon Him by God. His soul and its powers reverently bowed before the Father’s supreme might, directing all His actions toward glorifying the Father rather than seeking personal acclaim.

Christ’s humility manifested in His adherence to the old law, commandments, and rightful customs. This is evident in His circumcision, temple presentation, and payment of tribute to Caesar. His humility extended to His relationships, as He dutifully served His mother, Mary, and Joseph with reverence. He chose the poor and marginalized, the Apostles, as His companions to spread His message. Christ’s meekness and readiness to serve all, addressing both their spiritual and physical needs, underscores His role as a servant to humanity.

This comprehensive portrayal of Christ’s humility forms the foundation of understanding His nature as the Bridegroom.

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Chapter 4 focuses on Christ’s charity, the foundation of all virtues. His charity elevated His soul in continual reverence and love toward the Father, manifesting in fervent prayers and offering all His works for God’s glory.

This charity compelled Christ to address both spiritual and physical needs. He taught through profound teachings and miracles, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, restoring sight and speech, and raising the dead. Christ’s charity, stemming from the Holy Spirit, surpasses all human understanding as it was both divine and human nature in one Person.

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Chapter 5 highlights Christ’s patient endurance, a key virtue throughout His life. His sufferings began with His birth, marked by poverty and bloodshed, and continued through His life with hunger, temptation, and scorn. He faced betrayal, mockery, scourging, and the grueling path to His crucifixion. Spiritually, He endured the hardness of hearts, the ingratitude of humanity, and the separation from God’s grace, exclaiming His desolation but still forgiving His tormentors.

Christ’s virtues of humility, charity, and patient endurance were evident throughout His life and death. His ultimate act of sacrifice opened the way to divine grace and eternal reign at the Father’s right hand. This marks the completion of the first coming of our Bridegroom, now in the past.

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In Chapter 6, the second coming of Christ, which occurs daily within the hearts of the devout, is explored through the lens of continuous spiritual renewal. This coming, marked by the daily infusion of new graces and virtues, unfolds through four primary reasons: God’s mercy towards human frailty, the recognition of one’s own spiritual destitution, God’s generous nature, and the deep human longing for divine virtues and service. Just as a valley, illuminated by the sun’s rays, becomes bright and fertile, so does a humble heart, aware of its own limitations and needs, attract the light of Christ, the “Sun of righteousness,” shining from the Father’s right hand. This humility transforms the heart into a receptive vessel, resulting in three profound effects: an increased radiance from divine grace, a heightened fervor in charity, and a greater fruitfulness in virtues and good works. Thus, through this daily coming, Christ enriches the soul, making it more radiant, loving, and virtuous.

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In Chapter 7, the focus shifts to the daily coming of Christ through the reception of the sacraments, which offers growth in grace and renewal of divine gifts. This sacramental coming is contingent on receiving the sacraments with a humble and pure heart, free from obstacles such as disbelief in Baptism, unrepentant sin in Confession, or approaching the Eucharist with mortal sin or ill intent. When approached properly, these sacraments bestow new grace and deepen the recipient’s spiritual life. Conversely, those who partake in the sacraments unworthily only exacerbate their sinfulness. This aspect of Christ’s coming is essential for spiritual progress and perseverance in eternal life, emphasizing the need for sincere preparation and reverence in receiving the sacraments.

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Chapter 8 addresses the third coming of Christ, which is anticipated at the time of the Last Judgment or the hour of death. This coming is characterized by its alignment with the appointed time, the necessity of judgment, and the righteousness of Christ as the Judge. The fitting time for this coming is the moment of death, when each soul, having been created and bound to a body, must leave temporal existence and face the Divine presence. The due cause of this coming is that every soul must account for every word and deed before the Eternal Truth. The righteousness of the Judge lies in Christ’s role as the Son of Man and the Wisdom of the Father, who is entrusted with all judgment, knowing the hearts of all beings in heaven, earth, and hell. These factors define both the general coming on the Day of Doom and the individual coming at the moment of each person’s death.

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Chapter 9 is about the Day of Doom, in which Christ, both our Bridegroom and Judge, will administer divine justice by rewarding and punishing each individual according to their deeds. To those who have performed good works in God’s name, He will grant an immeasurable reward: Himself, which no creature could earn on its own. Through God’s grace working within them, they receive this ultimate reward. Conversely, those who have rejected the Eternal Good in favor of transient pleasures will face eternal torment. Their choice to turn away from God and oppose His glory and will leads to their rightful condemnation.

At this Judgment, witnesses include the angels and each person’s own conscience, while the adversary is the devil. Christ, as the Judge, is beyond deception and will execute justice with perfect fairness.

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Chapter 10 covers the kinds of men that will appear at the final Judgment. Christ will encounter five types:

Christians in Mortal Sin: The worst category, these individuals have died without repentance or regret, having despised Christ’s death and sacraments or having received them unworthily. They failed to practice mercy and charity, and are condemned to hell.

Unbelievers: Pagans and Jews who lived without Divine grace or love. They were already in eternal death during their lives but will face less suffering than the evil Christians due to having received fewer gifts from God.

Repentant Christians: Those who sinned but sought forgiveness through contrition and penance, yet did not fully satisfy justice. They will endure purgatory.

Faithful Christians: Those who kept God’s commandments, repented for their sins, and performed acts of charity. These individuals will ascend directly to heaven without passing through purgatory.

Saints: Those who lived a life so aligned with God that they are united with Him. They enter eternal bliss immediately upon death, do not face judgment themselves, but will judge others with Christ.

The third coming, anticipated by all, is the Day of Judgment. In contrast, the first coming (Christ’s incarnation and death) calls us to imitate His humility and virtues, and the second coming (His grace within hearts) encourages us to seek and nurture divine grace. The third coming should be awaited with hope and reverence, as it marks the end of earthly suffering and entry into eternal glory.

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In Chapter 11, the focus is on the spiritual journey of “going out” in virtue, which is essential for following Christ and preparing for the coming of the Bridegroom. After seeing through grace and charity and understanding the threefold coming of Christ, we are commanded to “go ye out,” which involves three forms of spiritual action. First, we strive towards God, maintaining a relationship with Him through charity. Second, we undergo a continual personal transformation, growing in virtues. Third, we extend our virtues and charity to others, embodying the love and righteousness we receive from God. Charity and righteousness are foundational for spiritual growth. Charity directs us towards God, the source of all unmediated love and the ultimate end of our spiritual journey, helping us remain steadfast and grow in humility and other virtues. Righteousness reflects the eternal truth of God, guiding us to know the truth and accurately fulfill virtue. Humility underpins both charity and righteousness, bringing us to recognize God’s supreme greatness and allowing us to stay small and lowly before Him. This virtue helps us surrender our selfhood and grow continually in new virtues. Thus, the spiritual “going out” involves actively pursuing God, transforming ourselves, and serving others through the virtues of charity, righteousness, and humility, essential for preparing for Christ’s coming and living a life worthy of His call.

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In Chapter 12, humility is presented as the essential foundation upon which all other virtues are built. Described as an inward bowing or self-abasement of the heart and conscience before God, humility arises from a profound reverence for God’s transcendent worth. It is through righteousness that humility is demanded, and through charity that a loving heart willingly adopts it. When a humble and loving person contemplates the humble service God has rendered and reflects on the contrast between God’s greatness and human littleness, a deep awe and veneration for God naturally emerge. This reverence compels the individual to offer homage to God in both actions and thoughts, making it the most delightful aspect of charity and a fitting component of righteousness. Such an individual constantly feels that their worship and service are insufficient and falls short of what God deserves. The humble person is meek, showing reverence to the Church and its sacraments, and practices discretion in every aspect of life, from food and speech to dress and behavior, avoiding hypocrisy and pretense. Their devotion, both outward and inward, is characterized by sincerity and a desire not to cause offense. Through humility, they conquer pride, the root of all sin, dismantle the devil’s snares, and establish themselves firmly in virtue. This humility opens the gates of heaven, brings God’s attention to their prayers, fills them with grace, and establishes Christ as their solid foundation. Therefore, anyone who bases their virtues on humility is assured of staying on the right path.

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Chapter 13 illustrates how obedience naturally follows from humility, as only a humble person can genuinely be obedient. Obedience is defined as an attitude that is unassuming, submissive, and adaptable, with a will that is ready for all that is good. It prompts a person to adhere to the commands and prohibitions of God and aligns their sensory and animalistic impulses under the governance of higher reason, enabling a life that is both decent and rational. This obedience extends to respecting and following the teachings and commandments of Holy Church, the sacraments, the prelates, and the wholesome customs of Christendom. It also ensures a readiness and flexibility in dealings with others, whether in spiritual or physical matters, approached with prudence and discretion according to the needs of each situation.

Obedience eradicates disobedience, a vice born of pride, which is more detestable than venom or poison. Demonstrating obedience in both intention and action enhances and manifests a person’s humility. It fosters peace within the community and, if exhibited by the leader, attracts those under his guidance. It promotes harmony and agreement among peers, and the obedient person earns the affection of both superiors and those they are responsible to. Moreover, God favors the obedient by advancing them and bestowing upon them His everlasting gifts.

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Chapter 14 discusses the concept of renouncing one’s own will as a natural extension of obedience. It highlights that true obedience involves more than just outward compliance; it requires a deep surrender of personal will and opinion. This surrender enables an individual to act without personal bias or preference, aligning their actions with the glory and commandments of God, the directives of their spiritual leaders, and maintaining harmonious relations with others as wisdom allows.

By letting go of self-will in actions, omissions, and enduring difficulties, the root of pride is eradicated, and humility reaches its pinnacle. In this state, God becomes the complete master of the person’s will, unifying their desires with His divine will, leaving no room for personal inclination. Such an individual embodies the essence of the ‘new man,’ who is transformed in alignment with God’s will. This transformation reflects the beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” signifying those who have surrendered their self-will and are thus granted the Kingdom of Heaven.

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Chapter 15 discusses how patience is a natural result of renouncing self-will. Perfect patience is attainable only for those who have fully aligned their own will with that of God and in all appropriate ways with the will of others. Patience is described as a serene acceptance of all events, whether they originate from God or other beings. A patient individual remains untroubled by any misfortune, such as the loss of material possessions, the passing of loved ones, illness, dishonor, the struggles of life, the inevitability of death, purgatory, or the threats of the devil and hell. This calm endurance stems from the person’s complete surrender to God’s will, underpinned by profound charity. Since he is unencumbered by mortal sin, everything God assigns, both in this life and the next, is perceived as manageable. Through patience, a person is also fortified against irritability, sudden anger, and impatience during hardships-traits that can lead to numerous temptations.

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Chapter 16 delves into how meekness and kindness naturally emerge from patience. A patient individual can maintain meekness even when facing adversity, as meekness fosters peace and tranquility in all situations. Such a person can endure harsh words, uncivil behavior, and any form of injustice without losing their inner calm because meekness embodies peaceful endurance.

Through meekness, one’s propensity for anger or aggression remains still and calm; the inclination toward virtue is uplifted; the rational mind recognizes and rejoices in this state, and the conscience finds peace. This is because meekness expels anger and wrath, allowing the Spirit of God to dwell within. As Christ teaches, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” meaning they will possess their own nature and all earthly things with meekness, and ultimately, they will attain the eternal Country of Life.

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Chapter 17 elaborates on the virtue of kindliness, which arises from the same source as meekness. Kindliness is expressed through a friendly demeanor, compassionate actions, and sincere words, even towards those who are quarrelsome. This virtue aims to encourage others to reflect on their behavior and improve themselves.

Kindliness sustains and nurtures charity within a person, likened to a lamp filled with precious oil. This oil symbolizes mercy, illuminating the sinner with positive examples and providing comfort and healing to those who are troubled. It acts as a guiding light for those practicing virtue, fueled by the fire of charity. Kindliness is impervious to jealousy and envy, maintaining its peaceful and benevolent nature.

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Chapter 18 discusses how compassion naturally emerges from kindness, as only a kind person can genuinely empathize with the sorrows of others. Compassion is described as an inner stirring of the heart, prompted by pity for both the physical and spiritual sufferings of people. This empathy allows one to share in Christ’s suffering during His passion, contemplating the reasons for His pain, His patience, and His deep love despite the shame, misery, and disrespect He endured, culminating in His crucifixion. The profound and unprecedented sorrows of Christ evoke deep pity and compassion in all kind-hearted individuals.

Compassion leads to introspection, prompting a person to acknowledge their own shortcomings, weaknesses in virtue, and lack of devotion to God. It highlights one’s lukewarm attitude, idleness, numerous failures, wasted time, and current imperfection in moral and other virtues. This realization fosters a genuine sense of pity and compassion for oneself. Additionally, compassion notices the faults and disturbances in others, their indifference toward God and eternal happiness, and their ingratitude for God’s blessings and sacrifices. It sees their lack of virtue and proficiency in wickedness, their concern for material loss and gain, and their disregard for God and eternal matters. Observing this, a compassionate person feels empathy and concern for the salvation of all.

Compassion also extends to the physical needs of neighbors and the numerous hardships of human existence, such as hunger, thirst, cold, sickness, poverty, and grief over lost loved ones, friends, possessions, honor, and peace. The countless afflictions faced by humanity inspire the righteous to share in these sufferings. Their greatest anguish, however, arises from witnessing how people’s impatience in suffering often causes them to forfeit their rewards and potentially endanger their souls.

This chapter emphasizes that the act of compassion and universal love for neighbors conquers and dispels the third mortal sin, which is hatred or envy. Compassion is depicted as a heart wound that produces a universal love for all humanity, a wound that cannot heal as long as any suffering exists in the world. God has placed grief and sorrow at the forefront of virtues, leading Christ to proclaim, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” This comfort will be realized when the compassionate reap in joy the harvest sown in tears.

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Chapter 19 delves into the virtue of generosity, which emerges from compassion and entails a faithful and benevolent disposition towards all. Generosity is the outpouring of a heart that has been moved by charity and pity. When one contemplates the suffering of Christ with compassion, generosity naturally arises, inspiring a person to offer praise, thanks, and adoration to Christ for His sacrifices, with a joyful and humble dedication of their entire being, both now and forever. This virtue also leads to self-reflection, prompting an individual to consider their own shortcomings and the good God has done for them, thus fostering a deeper reliance on God’s mercy and a sincere commitment to serve Him wholeheartedly.

A generous person, filled with compassion for others’ errors and shortcomings, fervently prays for God’s generosity to be extended to all, so they may turn towards truth. They are attentive to the physical needs of others and are eager to serve, give, lend, and comfort each individual to the best of their ability, guided by wise judgment. This spirit of generosity encourages the practice of the seven works of mercy, with both the wealthy and the poor participating according to their means and intentions.

Through generosity, all other virtues are enhanced, and the soul becomes enriched. The generous person is characterized by a joyful spirit and a serene heart, their actions and desires extending universally. Regardless of their material wealth, they embody a likeness to God, as they selflessly share all they possess. In doing so, they overcome the vice of avarice, aligning with Christ’s teaching: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy,” and will ultimately be welcomed into the kingdom of God, prepared for them since the foundation of the world.

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Chapter 20 explores how supernatural zeal and diligence naturally emerge from generosity. This zeal is an intense, restless drive towards embodying all virtues and imitating Christ and His saints. It leads an individual to dedicate their entire being-heart, senses, soul, body, and all aspirations-to the glory and praise of God. This zeal fosters growth in reason and prudence, enabling the practice of both spiritual and physical virtues in righteousness.

Supernatural zeal opens all the soul’s faculties to God, preparing them for every virtue. The conscience finds joy, God’s grace increases, and virtues are practiced with happiness and enthusiasm, enhancing the beauty of outward actions. Those who receive this zeal from God overcome the fifth mortal sin, sloth, both of the mind and often of the body, as it pertains to necessary virtues. Christ promises that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied when God’s glory becomes fully apparent to them, filling them according to their love and righteousness.

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Chapter 21 explores the virtues of temperance and sobriety, which stem from zeal and diligence. True temperance and sobriety, both inward and outward, are attainable only by those who are zealous in maintaining righteousness in both soul and body.

Sobriety helps separate the higher spiritual powers from the lower animal instincts, preventing excess and intemperance. It avoids indulgence in what is forbidden and encourages a focus on the righteousness necessary for spiritual life. Sobriety also involves understanding and respecting the incomprehensibility of God’s nature, recognizing that our human capacity is too limited to fully grasp His essence. The teachings of faith should be believed and not overly analyzed beyond what can be understood through the lives of Christ and the saints.

Temperance, meanwhile, requires moderation in all aspects of life-food, drink, speech, and actions-following the customs of the Church and the example of the saints. This leads to inward spiritual peace, constancy in faith, purity of thought, and a deep tranquility of heart. Outwardly, temperance and sobriety help maintain physical health, good reputation, and harmony with others.

Through temperance and sobriety, one can overcome the sixth mortal sin of gluttony or intemperance. Those who achieve this are blessed as peacemakers, akin to the Son of God, who brought peace to all who desired it. Such individuals are promised a share in the eternal inheritance with Christ.

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Chapter 22 explores the virtue of purity, which arises from temperance. Purity manifests in three forms: purity of spirit, purity of heart, and purity of body.

Purity of spirit involves not clinging to any creature with excessive affection, but rather, directing all desires towards God. This purity leads a person to seek God above all understanding, feelings, and even the spiritual gifts that God may provide. The focus is on God’s glory and growth in virtue rather than on personal satisfaction or pleasure. It means approaching sacred practices, such as the Sacrament of the Altar, with a pure intention of glorifying God.

Purity of heart is the constant, unwavering choice to turn to God during every temptation or natural inclination. It requires a firm resolve to remain faithful to God and not give in to sinful desires. This form of purity prevents the heart from consenting to bodily temptations, which would draw one away from God.

Purity of body entails avoiding all unchaste actions and anything that the conscience recognizes as contrary to God’s commandments and honor. It requires vigilance in guarding against any behavior that could defile the body and separate one from God’s will.

These three forms of purity together overcome the seventh mortal sin, which is unchastity. Unchastity is defined as the turning of the spirit away from God towards creaturely things, engaging in unchaste deeds, or indulging in sensual pleasures contrary to the teachings of the Church.

Purity of spirit keeps a person aligned with God, free from the distractions of creatures and united with the divine. Purity of body is likened to the beauty of lilies and the cleanliness of angels, symbolizing innocence and resilience. When maintained for God’s glory, it is as radiant as the sunflower, symbolizing one of the highest forms of natural beauty. Purity of heart, meanwhile, renews and increases God’s grace, safeguarding the senses and restraining inner lusts. It serves as a protective barrier against earthly temptations, while welcoming heavenly truths.

Christ promises that the pure in heart will see God, a vision that is the source of eternal joy, reward, and entry into bliss. Therefore, one should be vigilant and temperate, avoiding any actions or circumstances that could defile purity of soul or body.

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Chapter 23 addresses the importance of righteousness in overcoming three powerful adversaries: the devil, the world, and our own flesh. These adversaries continuously tempt and wage war against us, aiming to lead us away from virtue and towards sin.

The flesh, being the closest to us, often poses the greatest threat, as our fleshly desires are the tools our enemies use to attack us. Idleness and indifference to virtue and the glory of God are the root causes of this internal struggle. Our weak nature, along with carelessness and ignorance of truth, are the weapons our enemies use to wound and sometimes even defeat us.

To defend against these adversaries, we must create an inner division within ourselves. The lower, beastly part of our nature, which opposes virtue and seeks to separate us from God, must be despised, persecuted, and subjected to reason through penances and an austere lifestyle. This ensures that righteousness and purity of heart remain dominant in all our virtuous actions.

The chapter also emphasizes the importance of enduring suffering, grief, and persecution sent by God through these enemies for the glory of God and the honor of virtues. Righteousness that is maintained in the face of suffering and through virtuous deeds is compared to a valuable coin, worth as much as the kingdom of God, with which eternal life is purchased.

In summary, to overcome the devil, the world, and the flesh, we must hold fast to righteousness, practicing and preserving it in purity of heart until death. This will allow us to go out toward God, ourselves, and our neighbors with good customs, virtues, and righteousness, ultimately leading to the Kingdom of Heaven, as Christ promised: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

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In Chapter 24, the soul is likened to a kingdom that must be ruled and adorned with virtues to maintain spiritual integrity. The soul’s “king” is free will, which is naturally free and made even freer by grace. This king, crowned with charity, receives his kingdom from God, the Emperor, and must rule it in His name. Free will resides in the soul’s desirous power, wearing a garment of strength on the right side to overcome obstacles and ascend to God in love and surrender, while the left side is adorned with moral force to suppress immorality and fulfill virtues.

The king, free will, appoints two divine virtues, knowledge and discretion, as his closest advisors, residing in the rational power of the soul. They are clothed in temperance, guiding the king’s actions to cleanse conscience and ensure that all decisions are made wisely. Righteousness, the judge of the soul, is another key figure, dwelling in the heart’s irascible power, adorned with prudence. This judge exercises authority with the wisdom of the advisors, ensuring that all things in the soul are ordered according to righteousness.

The common people of this kingdom are the other powers of the soul, grounded in humility and godly fear, each serving God according to its nature. A soul governed in this manner, with love and virtue directed toward God, self, and neighbor, is considered well-ordered and spiritually sound. This is the third of four principal points under consideration.

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In Chapter 25, the author emphasizes the importance of a spiritual meeting with God, which he describes as the culmination of all virtue and the source of true bliss. This meeting is essential for anyone who wishes to live in union with Christ, the Bridegroom, and attain eternal life.

To meet Christ, one must prepare by focusing on three key points. First, the person must keep God in mind in all actions that lead to eternal life. Second, the person must love God above all things, without allowing anything to rival that love. Third, the person must seek rest in God, above all creatures, divine gifts, virtuous deeds, and spiritual experiences.

The text explains that truly “meaning” God involves having a clear and godly conception of Him in the mind, whether as the Lord of all creation, a Divine Person, or under attributes like Creator, Redeemer, or Bliss. Despite the many names we give to God, His divine nature remains a simple, nameless nobility beyond human comprehension. The author stresses that knowing God must be accompanied by love, for knowledge without charity is of no value.

For those turning from sin, the first step is meeting God with sincere contrition and a firm resolve to avoid sin in the future. In this initial meeting, they receive forgiveness and the foundation of virtues like Faith, Hope, and Charity.

To advance spiritually, one must continually go out to meet Christ with gratitude for His works and promises, allowing these reflections to strengthen faith and inspire further virtues. Self-renunciation, wisdom, and discretion are essential in this process, focusing solely on God’s glory and continuing steadfastly in virtue until death.

Throughout life, one should maintain an upright intention, seeking rest in God rather than in His gifts. This path, called the Active Life, is necessary for all. Those who do not live in virtue live in sin, as there is no middle ground. The author concludes by urging each person to examine themselves and live according to the virtues outlined.

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In Chapter 26, the text explores the deep desire to know Christ, the Bridegroom, in His true nature, especially for those who live a life devoted to God, offering their actions and love to Him above all else. This longing to see and understand Christ beyond His works drives one to seek a more intimate knowledge of Him.

The text draws a parallel with the story of Zaccheus, who climbed a tree to see Jesus. In a similar way, a person must rise above the distractions and multiplicities of the world-symbolized by the crowd-to truly see God. This ascent is described as climbing the “tree of faith,” which is rooted in the Godhead and has twelve branches representing the articles of faith. The lower branches concern the Divine Humanity and our salvation, while the upper branches pertain to the Trinity and the Unity of God’s Nature.

Upon reaching the highest part of the tree, where God’s unity is found, one encounters Christ, who reveals Himself as immeasurable, incomprehensible, and beyond all human understanding. This highest knowledge acknowledges that God cannot be fully known or comprehended by the created mind. Christ then invites the soul to “make haste and come down,” symbolizing a descent into the abyss of the Godhead through desire and love-where reason cannot reach, but where love and longing can dwell.

When the soul transcends all created things, natural senses, and the light of nature, it meets Christ in the light of faith. Here, it becomes enlightened and acknowledges God’s unknowable nature. Through this intense longing and love, the soul encounters Christ and is filled with His gifts. Ultimately, when the soul loves God above all gifts and creatures, it dwells in God, and God dwells in it.

This chapter concludes by stating that this union with God through faith, love, and righteousness constitutes the true active life. When one has laid the foundation of these virtues, one truly dwells in God and experiences His presence in daily life. This is the culmination of the spiritual journey in the active life, where Christ is met and known in the deepest, most profound way.

Let’s read St Teresa of Avila’s “The Way of Perfection”.
Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD.
A Study Edition Prepared by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD.
ICS Publications, ISBN 978-0-935216-70-7

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Chapter 40

• In this chapter, St Teresa focuses her concern on not being deceived in “this dangerous war.” She posits love of God and fear of Sin as the two guides. But this begs the question, how do you know you are loving and fearing correctly? If you possess love, you are in a state of grace, but how can you be certain? You can’t be completely certain, but “there are some signs that even the blind … see.” St Teresa elaborates on these signs:

“Those who truly love God, love every good, desire every good, favor every good, praise every good. They always join, favor, and defend good people. … Do you think it is possible for a person who really loves God to love vanities? No, indeed, he cannot; nor can he love riches, or worldly things, or delights, or honors, or strife, or envy. … These persons go about dying so that their Beloved might love them, and thus they dedicate their lives to learning how they might please Him more.”

• Love of God has all the signs of bing “love sickness” which cannot be hidden in its intensity:

“Hide itself? Oh, with regard to the love of God — if it is genuine love — this is impossible. … Within three days [St Paul] began to realize that he was sick with love … The Magdalene knew from the first day. … Thus, the love makes itself known according to its intensity. … But, where there is love of God, whether little or great, it is always recognized.”

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• Contemplatives are already great lovers of God, else they should question their vocation, and the deception the devil brings are not few. So St Teresa adds more specific advise:

“[A contemplative’s love] is a great fire; it cannot but shine brightly. And if this splendor is not present, they should walk with serious misgivings. … But if one proceeds with humility, strives to know the truth, is subject to a confessor, and communicates with him openly and truthfully … [then] the things by which the devil intends to cause death will cause life, however many the haunting illusions he wants to scare you with.”

• She also warns that the devil might make us fear that God doesn’t grant favors:

“In order to disturb your soul so that you will not enjoy these wonderful blessings the devil will set a thousand false fears before you and strive that others do so. Since he cannot win us over, he can at least try to make us lose something. … First, those who listen to him are struck with a terror of approaching prayer, for they think they will be deceived. Second, if it were not for these fears many more would come closer to God in seeing that He is so good … and that it is possible for Him now to communicate so much with sinners.”

• St Teresa further argues that when it comes to worldly love, “the more we do to hide it the more it is revealed”. Then how much more so is this the case with love for God which always increases as it is always being repaid?”

“This other love can no longer be doubted since it was shown so openly and with so many sufferings and trials, and with the shedding of blood even to the point of death in order that we might have no doubt about it. Oh, God help me, how different must the love of God be from the love of creatures for whoever has experienced the former!”

• Nonetheless, we should never presume that anyone is safe “in the dangers of this tempestuous sea.” Backsliding is always possible.

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• St Teresa ends the chapter meditating on fear, the other pillar keeping us from delusion. She reminds us of the Four Last Things. For those who love God:

“[I]t will be a great thing at the hour of death to see that we are going to be judged by the One whom we have loved above all things. We shall be able to proceed securely with the judgment concerning our debts. It will not be like going to a foreign country but like going to our own, because it is the country of one whom we love so much and who loves us.”

• But for those who have not loved God:

“What will become of the poor soul … How mangled as it goes to hell! … If it is hard for a self-indulgent person … to spend one night in a bad inn, what do you think that sad soul will feel at being in this kind of inn forever, without end?”

• So she concludes that we should ask God that if we are to receive sufferings, we receive them here “with the hope of being freed from them”, and “beseech Him to give us His grace in this life so that we will not walk unawares into temptation.”

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Chapter 41

• St Teresa begins the chapter by contrasting love of God for love of the world. The latter is a childish delusion which can only lead to weariness:

“I laugh to myself when I hear it said: “That person repaid me badly.” “This other one doesn’t love me.” What does anyone have to repay you for, or why should anyone love you? This experience will show you what the world is, for your very love for it will afterward punish you. And this is what wears you down: you realize you have let your affection become involved like children in their games.”

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• She next turns to fear of God, which develops over time, and becomes recognizable as one begins to turn away from sin, its occasions and bad companions. It is readily manifest in contemplatives:

“For no matter how long we observe them, the Lord keeps them in such a way that even if a thing very much to their own interest come along, they will not advertently commit a venial sin; mortal sins they fear like fire.”

• Nonetheless, contemplatives may have illusions about their ability to resist sin. So, St Teresa prays God that He keep us from temptation on His part, and we strive never to offend him for our part:

“Let us beseech God always that the temptation may not be so strong as to make us offend Him, that its strength might not outweigh the fortitude He gives us to conquer it. This fear is what is important; it is what I desire may never be taken from us, for it is what will help us.”

“Oh, what a great thing it is to have resisted offending the Lord so that His slaves and servants in hell may be bound …”

• St Teresa eleborates on this, and warns against committing any deliberate sin, even venial ones. We must avert them deliberately if we do not first avert them out of habit; but, under no circumstances should we commit them deliberately!

“[T]here is an advertence [of sin] that is very deliberate; another that comes so quickly that committing the venial sin and adverting to it happen almost together in such a way that we don’t first realize what we are doing. But from any very deliberate sin, however small it be, may God deliver us.”

• Until we cultivate this fear and it becomes a virtue, we should avoid occasions and companions that don’t bring us closer to God.

“[I]t is very helpful to understand the seriousness of an offense against God … for it is worth our life and much more to have this virtue rooted in our souls. And until you have it, you must always proceed carefully and turn from every occasion and companion who does not help you come closer to God.”

• Once this virtue has been well established, its no longer necessary to be so tense since our confidence will be in God to protect us. We will be free to interact even with those who were previously a danger to our soul and will become a help to them:

“When we are more determined we are less confident of ourselves, for our confidence must be placed in God … [and] there will be no need to go about so tense and constrained; the Lord will protect us, and the habit acquired will now be a help against offending Him.”

“For those who, before you possessed this authentic fear of God, were a poison and a means of killing the soul will afterward often be a help to your loving and praising God more because He has freed you from that which you recognize as a glaring danger. If previously you played a part in contributing to their weaknesses, now by your mere presence you contribute to their restraint; this happens without their having any idea of paying you honor.”

• This fear of God, once it becomes a virtue, has an apostolic effect on others around us. Like how one avoids speaking ill of someone in front of their friend, our friendship with God causes others to refrain from sinful behavior.

“I often praised the Lord, thinking it comes about that often a servant of God, without uttering a word, prevents things from being said against God. This must happen for the same reason that something similar happens here below: there is always some restraint so as not to offend an absent person in the presence of someone known to be his friend.”

• This happens passively, and “without uttering a word,” so St Teresa warns against being overly tense since this discourages others even if they recognize the virtue of a godly life.

“So do not be tense … such a feeling will be very harmful to everything good … this constraint will be good for you but it will not bring many souls to God, because they will see so much repression and tenseness. Our nature is such that this constraint is frightening and oppressive to others, and they flee from following the road that you are taking, even though they know clearly that it is the more virtuous path.”

• Being overly tense can also lead to judging others, especially when they pursue holiness by a different path. If you do so, it can only be detrimental to others.

“Another harm derives from this attitude; it is that of judging others … There are those who advance with greater holiness [but] since they do not journey by your path they at once seem to you to be imperfect. … This constraint is a very dangerous [and] detrimental to your neighbor.”

• But be careful, because the opposite extreme is also a danger:

“And there is another harm: in some things of which you must speak, and it is right that you speak, you don’t dare do so for fear of going to extremes; rather, perhaps, you speak well of something that it would be very good for you to abhor.”

• But in general, a holy person should be affible to others to make his way of life appealing rather than repulsive.

“So .. strive … to be affable and understanding in such a way that everyone you talk to will love your conversation and desire your manner of living and acting, and not be frightened and intimidated by virtue. [E]ven … if [the] conversations do not go as you would like them to, never turn away …”

• God doesn’t look at trifles, so there’s no need to be tense, since this leads to losing many blessings, and don’t withdraw from the world.

“He doesn’t look at trifles … so don’t … allow your soul to be constrained, for many blessings could be lost. … Don’t let your soul withdraw into a corner, for instead of obtaining sanctity you will obtain many imperfections …”

• St Teresa concludes the chapter restating her thesis that love and fear of God are the two virtues that lead you forward calmly, and carefully.

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Chapter 42

• St Teresa begins this chapter noting how life-weary Jesus was in anticipation of His Passion, but this was nothing compared to His suffering due to the offenses committed against the Father.

“[W]e already see how tired He was of this life when He said to His Apostles at the last supper; I have greatly desired to eat this supper with you … What was His whole life if not a continual death, in which He always saw beforehand that most cruel death they were going to inflict on Him? And this was the least of His sufferings; but how many offenses committed against His Father …”

• Turning to her own weariness, she tells us that she awaits the end of all things (as indicated by the word “amen”), when temptations, imperfections, and sin will cease. Although, not in this world, nor is it wise to be without them.

“Amen … all things come to an end … It is useless, Sisters, to think that while we live we can be free of many temptations and imperfections and even sins … if we turn to bodily ailments and hardships, who is without very many and in many ways? Nor is it good that we ask to be without them.”

• St Teresa feels this way because she knows she is a sinner.

“I am not speaking about the saints … but sinners like myself. I see myself closed in by weakness, lukewarmness, and a lack of mortification, and many other things. I see that it behooves me to ask the Lord for a remedy … [but] I do not find this remedy while living … What good do we find in this life, Sisters, since we lack so much good and are absent from Him?”

• And like Jesus, she prays for deliverance:

“Deliver me, Lord, from this shadow of death, deliver me from so many trials … that would tire anyone who can bear to live. This weariness must come to me because I have lived so badly … And what is unendurable, Lord, is not to know for certain that I love You or that my desires are acceptable before You.”

• It is a clear sign of contemplatives that they desire heavenly blessings. They want to leave this life so they can enjoy these goods without obstacles. However, St Teresa thinks that in her case, its because she has lived so badly and so she is wearied by life.

“To ask for these blessings with great desire … is a clear sign for contemplatives … [But] In the case of my asking for these things the same is not true … [S]ince I have lived so badly, I fear living still longer; and so many trials weary me. It is no surprise that those who have a share in the consolations of God desire to be there … [and] they do not want to remain in a life where there are these many obstacles.”

• Life here would have to be very different for us to want to remain here! Our will wants the opposite of what God desires for us. So it is good to ask God to be freed from these dangers!

“Oh, how different this life would have to be in order for one not to desire death! … He wants us to love truth; we love the lie. He wants us to desire the eternal [the sublime, the secure] ; we, here below, lean toward what comes to an end [the base, the dubious]. Everything is a mockery … except … beseeching God to free us from these dangers forever … Even though our desire may not be perfect …”

• Harking back to her considerations on vocal prayer, St Teresa adds here that this is what it means to pray vocally with perfection. And even if not perfect, we should ask God to perfect it for us! An excellent entry into the spiritual life is the Our Father, a vocal prayer, which St Teresa meditated on in depth earlier in the Way of Perfection.

“[Praying] vocally with perfection … means that you be aware of and understand whom you are asking, who it is that is asking, and what you are asking for … [and] what you do not understand about prayer, beseech the Lord to teach you.”

“Now see, Sisters, how the Lord by giving me understanding of the great deal we ask for when reciting this evangelical prayer [The Our Father] has removed the difficulty involved in my teaching you and myself the path that I began to explain to you … for now you have seen the entire spiritual way contained in it.”

• At this point, St Teresa closes the work on a humble note, as one would expect. She asks forgiveness for her boldness in speaking on spiritual matters and says she doesn’t know what more to add. She refers her sisters to The Book of Her Life which is in the hands of her confessor, Fr Banez. He can make it available at his discretion.

“Sisters, beg this good Master to pardon me, for I have been bold to speak of such sublime things. … Well, Sisters, it now seems the Lord doesn’t want me to say any more, for I don’t know what to say … The Lord has taught you and me the path that I have described in the book I said I wrote, how one reaches this fount of living water, what the soul feels there, how God satisfies it, takes away thirst for earthly things, and makes it grow in the things pertaining to the service of God. … If he [Fr Banez] thinks this book will be helpful and gives it to you, I will be consoled that you are consoled.”

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Closing Remarks: St. Teresa begins this section expressing concern about the dangers of spiritual deception, emphasizing the importance of love for God and fear of sin as two key guides. However, how one can be sure one is loving and fearing God correctly? While you can’t be absolutely certain, St. Teresa offers signs to help recognize love for God, likening it to “love sickness” that cannot be hidden due to its intensity. She advises contemplatives, who should already be great lovers of God, to be especially wary of the devil’s deceptions. He may try to incite fear that God does not grant favors, but she reassures us that God’s love grows as it is repaid. Nevertheless, backsliding is always a risk, and St. Teresa adds that fear of sin is as essential as love for God to avoid delusion.

Reflecting on this fear, St. Teresa emphasizes the Four Last Things and cautions that we should pray to receive sufferings in this life in reparation for our sins to avoid them in the next. She contrasts the love of God with worldly love, calling the latter a childish delusion that ultimately leads to weariness. Fear of God develops gradually and becomes evident as one avoids sin and bad companions that lead us astray. St. Teresa also emphasizes the importance of avoiding deliberate sin, even venial ones, stressing the need to cultivate fear of God and avoid dangerous occasions until this virtue is firmly established. Once fear of God becomes a virtue, one can engage more freely with those who were previously a danger, helping them instead. Their conversion to God occurs passively, as others refrain from sinful behavior in the presence of someone devoted to God. However, St. Teresa cautions against being overly tense, which can discourage others and lead to judgmental attitudes. Rather, she advises that holy persons should be affable to attract others to their way of life.

In reflecting on Jesus’ weariness in anticipation of His Passion, St. Teresa notes that His greatest suffering was due to the offenses committed against the Father. She mirrors this weariness herself, longing for the end of all things, when temptations, imperfections, and sin will cease, though she recognizes that this is not possible in this life. St. Teresa feels this way due to her awareness of her own sinfulness, and like Christ, she prays for deliverance. A clear sign of contemplatives is their desire for heavenly blessings and their longing to leave this life to enjoy these goods without obstacles. However, St. Teresa humbly attributes her own weariness to having lived poorly. She acknowledges the difference between God’s will and our own, explaining that we often desire the opposite of what God desires for us. It is, therefore, good to ask God for deliverance from these dangers. Returning to her earlier discussion of vocal prayer, St. Teresa concludes that this is what it means to pray vocally with perfection, and even if our prayer is not perfect, we should ask God to perfect it for us.

St. Teresa concludes the work humbly, asking forgiveness for her boldness in speaking on such spiritual matters. She directs her sisters to The Book of Her Life, available through her confessor, Fr.Banez, for further spiritual insights.

Let’s read St Teresa of Avila’s “The Way of Perfection”.
Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD.
A Study Edition Prepared by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD.
ICS Publications, ISBN 978-0-935216-70-7

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Chapter 37

• St Teresa does not yet proceed to the next lines of the Our Father at this point, but steps back and gives a summary of what she has found so far in her meditation. The Prayer is of “sublime perfection” since it scope encompasses everyone who prays it. Each can find the the prayer his own needs. For the contemplative, St Teresa sees in the prayer everything about contemplation and perfection in so few words that no other book is needed.

“We ought to give great praise to the Lord for the sublime perfection of this evangelical prayer. Each of us, daughters, can apply the prayer to her own needs since it was composed by such a good Master. I marvel to see that in so few words everything about contemplation and perfection is included; it seems we need to study no other book than this one.”

• The Lord left the prayer open to interpretation (“in obscure form”) so that each could petition according to his state in life, his needs and intentions. Contemplatives could ask for heavenly things while others (“those who still live on earth”) could ask for earthly things. But giving Him our will (“thy will be done”) and forgiving others (“forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”) is clear since it pertains to everyone. The degree may differ, but the essence of the surrendering of our will and of forgiving is the same for all.

“I have wondered why His Majesty did not explain more about these sublime and obscure things that we might all know about them. It has seemed to me that since this prayer was intended for general use so that each one could petition according to his own intention, be consoled, and think that he has a good understanding of the prayer, the Lord left it in this obscure form … Contemplatives … ask for the heavenly favors that can … Those who still live on earth … may ask also for bread.”

“But both should consider that two of the things mentioned pertain to all; giving Him our will and forgiving others. True, there is a more and a less in the degree to which this is done … The perfect will give their will in the way perfect souls do and forgive with that perfection that was mentioned.”

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• Not only is the Our Father a perfect prayer, but it can be said with such perfection that you will receive the graces necessary to reach a high state. You don’t have to repeat it mindlessly, but just say it once with sincerity. The perfect, or nearly perfect, no longer fear anything since they have the greatest hope in these favors and are absorbed in their delights.

“We can say this prayer only once in such a way that the Lord will enrich us since He sees that we do so sincerely and are determined to do what we say … He knows that those who ask with perfection will be filled with such favors from His Father that they will reach a high state. In fact, those who are already perfect or those who are approaching it are not afraid of anything, nor should they be … they have the greatest hope … in the effects of the favors He grants them. Absorbed in these delights they don’t want to remember even that there is a world or that they have enemies.”

• But we do have enemies in this world, so the Lord needs to remind us lest we fall asleep, absorbed in His delights. So, the Our Father continues with the petitions to “lead us not into temptation” and to “deliver us from evil.”

“Thus since the Lord sees that it is necessary to awaken and remind us that we have enemies … and that we need much more help from the Eternal Father because our fall will be from a higher place … He makes the following petitions … ‘And lead us not, Lord, into temptation; but deliver us from evil.'”

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Chapter 38

• Contemplatives not only do not avoid trials, but look for them, because there is much to be gained in undergoing trials. They are not afraid of public enemies, but of devils who tempt us to destroy our virtues. It is for this that we ask the Lord not to lead us into temptation, but bring us into the light where we can see the deception.

“This is another very great and certain effect of the contemplation … these persons desire, ask for, and love trials. They are like soldiers who are happier when there are more wars because they then hope to earn more.”

“… those who experience contemplation and engage in prayer, are eager to fight. They never fear public enemies very much … Those whom they fear … are the traitorous enemies, the devils who transfigure themselves into angels of light, who come disguised … They suck away our blood and destroy our virtues … With regard to these enemies, daughters, let us ask and often beg the Lord in the Our Father to free us and not let us walk into temptation, so that they will not draw us into error or hide the light and truth from us, that the poison will be discovered.”

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• The devils can feign delights from the Lord, but these are the least of harms because, even if the delights are not from God, the result is that we seek him more and still advance. The remedy against these false delights is humility, to think we do not deserve them and to not seek them out.

“Consider, daughters, the many ways these enemies can cause harm. Don’t think they do so only by making us suppose that the delights and consolations they can feign in us are from God. This seems to me the least harm … it could be that by means of this they will make one advance more quickly. For, in being fed on that delight, such a person will spend more hours in prayer … [So] strive always, Sisters, for humility and to see that you are unworthy of these favors; do not seek them.”

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• We must beware that the devil can make us think we have virtues that we don’t! This makes us weak in humility and careless about growing in the virtue we think we already have. We can’t forget that God gives us virtue and He can take it away, and He often does to remind us of our utter dependence on Him! This is why sometimes we feel very detached and another time very attached to the same thing. If we are not genuinely walking in poverty of spirit, we are deluded and think we don’t need God. He will then abandon us for our own good! So we might learn humility, that there is nothing we haven’t received.

“The way the devil can do a great deal of harm, without our realizing it, is to make us believe we have virtues when we do not … it seems we are serving and giving and that the Lord is obliged to pay. Thus little by little this latter notion does great harm. On the one hand it weakens humility, and on the other hand we grow careless about acquiring that virtue we think we have already acquired.”

“If it seems the Lord has already given us virtue, let us understand that actually it has been received and that He can take it away, as in fact often happens, but not without His wonderful providence … Sometimes I think I am very detached … At another time I will find myself so attached, and perhaps to things that the day before I would have made fun of”

“Now since this is true, who will be able to say of himself that he is virtuous or rich? For at the very moment when there is need of virtue one finds oneself poor … The treasure will have to come from elsewhere … True, if we serve with humility, the Lord in the end will succor us in our needs; but if this poverty of spirit is not genuinely present at every step, as they say, the Lord will abandon us. And this abandonment by the Lord is one of His greatest favors, for He does it so that we might be humble and understand in truth that we have nothing we haven’t received.”

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• St Teresa closes this chapter deepening her insight into the nature of pride. Whereas humility allows us to see ourselves as we truly are, pride blinds the sinner, as the psalmist says “But who can detect their own errors? From hidden faults acquit me. From presumption restrain your servant; may it not rule me. Then shall I be blameless, clean from grave sin. ” (Psalms 19:13-14) This is why we must always resist the temptation to think we possess some virtue. The humble person does not focus on how far he’s come, but how much further he has yet to go to achieve perfection. Focusing on his poverty in spirit, he sees how he is lacking, how he is incomplete, insufficient, and how he falls short.

“[If] the devil makes us think we have a virtue, let’s say of patience … I advise you not to pay any attention … For it will happen that with one displeasing word spoken to you, your patience will go tumbling to the ground. When you suffer often, praise God that He is beginning to teach you this virtue of patience and strive to endure, for the suffering is a sign that in this way He wants you to pay for the virtue.”

“The devil brings about another temptation. We think we are very poor in spirit and have the habit of saying that we don’t desire anything or that we couldn’t care less about anything. But hardly does the occasion arise to receive a gift … than our poverty of spirit is completely ruined. So often do we say we have this virtue that we end up believing we have it.”

“Great is the importance of always being careful to understand this temptation, both in the things I have mentioned as well as in many others … The truly humble person always walks in doubt about his own virtues, and usually those he sees in his neighbors seem more certain and more valuable.”

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Chapter 39

• In this chapter, St Teresa gives us important advice regarding the discernment of humility. Since false humility can be very destructive to our spiritual growth she not only tells us how to identify it, but also how to remedy it.
• True humility calms the soul. Even though you see how wretched you are, this comes with a satisfaction you wouldn’t want to avoid and so the soul is not disquieted no matter how painful the self-knowledge is. Rather the suffering causes the soul to expand so it can serve God all the more. False humility, on the other hand, is from the devil and is very disquieting. It shrinks the soul. You feel unworthy to approach God in Communion or in prayer, and you waste your time on scrupulous self-examination. You feel abandoned by God and despair of His mercy. Everything seems dangerous and futile, and you are paralyzed with self-doubt.

“Now be also on your guard, daughters, against some types of humility given by the devil in which great disquiet is felt about the gravity of our sins. This disturbance can afflict in many ways even to the point of making one give up receiving Communion and practicing private prayer … the time they used to spend in receiving favors is now spent in wondering whether or not they are well prepared … the soul thinks God has abandoned it … it almost doubts His mercy. Everything it deals with seems dangerous …”

“… sometimes it will be through humility and virtue that you hold yourselves to be so wretched, and at other times it will be a gross temptation … Humility does not disturb … it comes with peace … Even though a person upon seeing himself so wretched understands clearly that he merits to be in hell … if the humility is genuine, [it] comes with a sweetness in itself and a satisfaction that he wouldn’t want to be without. The pain of genuine humility doesn’t agitate or afflict the soul; rather, this humility expands it …”

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• This is a grave situation since you are mistaking false humility with a loss of confidence in God. St Teresa gives us a remedy: stop focusing on your misery; rather look to the mercy of God and how He suffered for us. If you can’t do that, at least recognize this as a temptation. Similarly, avoid excessive penances. If you want to hide them, you’re clearly going to far! Rather let your confessor know and strive to obey because there is greater perfection in obedience than in penance.

“I think the devil’s aim is to make us think we are humble and, in turn, if possible, make us lose confidence in God.”

“When you find yourselves in this condition, stop thinking about your misery, insofar as possible, and turn your thoughts to the mercy of God, to how He loves us and suffered for us. And if you are undergoing a temptation, you will not even be able to do this … It will be enough if you recognize that this is a temptation.”

“Likewise he tempts us in regard to excessive penances … If you hide them from your confessor or prioress, of if when told to stop you do not do so, you are clearly undergoing a temptation. Strive to obey, even if this may be more painful for you, since the greatest perfection lies in obedience.”

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• Believing that you are forever stuck in sin is itself a sin, but another is the belief that we have grown past sinning. We should never rest in the idea that we will never return to past faults, no matter how many spiritual delights we experience. Rather, we should be ever vigilant that we can fall again. It might be helpful to discuss our spiritual experiences with others so that we remain in humility.

“The devil sets up another dangerous temptation: self-assurance in the thought that we will in no way return to our past faults and worldly pleasures … Thus, however many delights … the Lord gives you, never proceed with such self-assurance that you stop fearing lest you fall again; and be on guard against the occasions of sin.”

“Strive … to discuss these favors and consolations with someone who will enlighten you … however sublime the contemplation, let your prayer always begin and end with self-knowledge. And if the favor is from God, even though you may not want to follow the advice, you will still follow it most of the time because God’s favor brings humility and always leaves greater light that we may understand the little that we are.”

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• Our worldly enemies are nothing compared to the knots into which the devil ties our soul. “More tortuous than anything is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) For this, only God has the remedy so we understand ourselves. We must pray for this since the devil especially tempts those on the path of prayer. Yet so few who recite the Our Father as St Teresa taught are actually deceived by the devil, that it really is surprising when it does happen.

“Let public enemies come … But these other treacheries; who will understand them, my God? We always need to pray to You for a remedy. Instruct us, Lord, so that we may understand ourselves and be secure.”

“What a strange thing! It’s as though the devil tempts only those who take the path of prayer. And everyone is more surprised by a mistake of one of those who are nearing perfection than by the public mistakes and sins of a hundred thousand others … people are right in being surprised, for among those who recite the Our Father … there are so very few deceived by the devil that … their mistake causes surprise.”

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Closing Remarks: Reflecting on her meditation so far, St Teresa finds that the Our Father is a prayer of “sublime perfection” because of its generality. Anyone who prays it can find in it something for their needs, no matter their state in life. Contemplatives can ask for heavenly things while others can ask for their earthly needs. Only the lines “thy will be done” and “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” are clear and pertain to everyone. The degree of surrendering our wills or forgiving others may differ between people, but the essence is the same. We can reach a very high state of spiritual life just by saying this prayer with perfection. We don’t have to recite it repeatedly but need only pray it once with sincerity. The perfect find great hope in these favors and are so absorbed in their delights, that they forget that the have enemies! The Lord reminds them of this with the last lines of the Our Father, “and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Contemplatives are not afraid of trials because they know there is much to be gained spiritually from them. They are not afraid of public enemies. Its the devils who tempt us to destroy our virtues that they fear. This is why they need to ask the Lord not to lead them into temptation, but bring them into the light so the devil’s deception is revealed. He can even feign delights from the Lord, although these are of a lesser harm because they can lead us to seek God and still advance. The remedy against them is humility, the understanding that we do not deserve any spiritual delights and to not go out seeking them.

A much greater danger comes from the devil making us think we have virtues that we don’t actually possess. This can make us weak in humility and careless about the need to grow in virtue. We must always remember that God gives us everything, even virtue, and He can and does take it away to remind us of our utter dependence on Him! Just when we think we are detached from something, we find that later we are actually very attached to it! We must sincerely walk in poverty of spirit, always mindful that without His continuous outpouring of grace, we will loose strength and fall. If He sees us deluding ourselves about the source of our virtues, He will abandon us for our own good! To learn humility and that we depend on Him totally.

St Teresa shares with us her deep insight into the nature of pride. Whereas humility allows us to see ourselves as we truly are, all our defects, pride blinds the sinner to his sins. As the psalmist says “But who can detect their own errors? From hidden faults acquit me. From presumption restrain your servant; may it not rule me. Then shall I be blameless, clean from grave sin.” (Psalms 19:13-14) This is why we must always resist the temptation to think we possess some virtue. The humble person does not focus on how far he’s come, but how much further he has yet to go. Focusing on his poverty in spirit, he sees what is lacking, what is incomplete, insufficient, and fallen.

Discernment of humility is important because false humility can be spiritually destructive and needs to be remedied. We can recognize true humility because it calms the soul despite the fact that you see yourself as you truly are. This self-knowledge comes with such satisfaction that you willingly endure any pain in the disclosure of this knowledge and your soul is not disquieted. Rather the suffering causes the soul to expand so it can serve God more fully. On the other hand, false humility is from the devil and is very disquieting. You feel unworthy to approach God in Communion or in prayer and you waste your time in scruples. You despair of God’s mercy, feel abandoned and experience everything as dangerous and futile. This causes your soul to shrink and you are less able to serve God.

Thus false humility is a grave situation in which you are mistaking what you think is humility with a loss of confidence in God. The remedy is to shift your focus from your misery to God’s mercy and how He suffered for us. Sometimes the temptation is so great that you can’t even do that, so at the very least you can recognize that you are in temptation. Sometimes people in this state are given over to excessive penances. You should not hide these from your confessor and obey him in this regard because there is greater perfection in obedience than in penance.

Despairing that you are stuck in sin is a sin, and presumptuously believing that you have forever overcome sin is a sin. We can always return to past faults no matter how many spiritual delights we have received, so we must remain forever vigilant. Discussing our spiritual delights with a confidant may help to keep them in perspective and remain in humility.

Our worldly enemies are nothing compared to the devil which harms our soul with temptations against virtue. For the latter, only God can help so we can understand ourselves. The devil especially tempts those who pray! Yet few who recite the Our Father as St Teresa taught are actually deceived by the devil. It can happen, but when it does, it is surprising.