“In
the desert,
Mechtild's first lesson is central to the mystical experience – our oneness with God.
“I who am Divine am truly in you. I can never be sundered from you; However far we be parted, Never can we be separated. I am in you and you are in Me, We could not be any closer. We two are fused into one, Poured into a single mould."
Mechtild's God wasn't 'out there' but is the eternal and abiding presence everywhere, “God says: Now is the time to tell you where I am and where I will be. I am, in Myself, in all places, in all things, as I ever have been, without beginning.”
Mechtild found God everywhere she looked, and listened, in all of nature. “How does God come to us? Like dew on the flowers, Like the song of the birds! Yes, God gives himself with all creatures wholly to me."
Mechtild rejected the path of the ascetic – she refused to deny the body or disdain earthly life. Her spirituality was grounded in an appreciation of the holiness of the earth and all her creatures. “The manifold delight I learn to take in earthly things can never drive me from my love. For, in the nobility of creatures, in their beauty and in their usefulness, I will love God... This is why I bless God in my heart without ceasing for every earthly thing."
She tell us, “Do not disdain your body. For the soul is just as safe in its body as in the Kingdom of Heaven - though not so certain. It is just as daring – but not so strong. Just as powerful – but not so constant, just as loving – but not so joyful, just as gentle – but not so rich, just as holy – but not yet so sinless, just as content – but not so complete.”
Wisdom, Mechtild tells us, comes from humility, “The truly wise person kneels at the feet of all creatures and is not afraid to endure the mockery of others." Endure the mockery of others she did. She wrote, “My enemies surround me. O Lord, how long must I remain here on earth in this mortal body as a target at which people throw stones and shoot and assail my honour with their evil cunning?”
The second lesson I learned from Mechtild was as much from her actions as from her words. It's a lesson in authenticity, courage, and integrity. Whilst we do not know very much about Mechtild's early life, we do know that she came from a wealthy family. Compared to most people around her, her life would have been rich in material comforts. And yet she chose to leave this comfortable life, at the age of around 23, to move to the city where she knew no-one. She followed her calling and joined a Beguinage – a community of women who lived together, not bound by a monastic rule, but committed to lives of contemplation and caring for the poor and sick in the wider community, in which they supported themselves by the work of their hands.
As you can imagine, these independent female communities were not looked upon with favour by the ecclesiastical authorities of the time. Successive popes tried unsuccessfully to order their dissolution and then to make them submit to the authority of local clergy, rather than their preferred association with the mendicant orders of Dominican and Franciscan friars. They were often under suspicion of heresy for their mystical writings. Thankfully, Mechtild avoided being convicted of heresy, and her writings went on to inspire those of the more famous male mystics who followed her, especially Meister Eckhart and Dante. But some of her sisters were not so lucky, most famously, Marguerite Porete, whose book, The Mirror of Simple Souls, saw her burnt at the stake in Paris in 1310.
Despite the obvious threat to her personal safety of such a course of action, Mechtild was not afraid to criticise corrupt clergy in her writing. Eventually, threats from the church and her failing eyesight combined to lead her to retire to the safety of a convent, where she was better protected, but more confined. There, she continued to write and encouraged her fellow nuns to “preach boldly.”
Whilst we know deep down that we are always held in that Love which is so much greater than us, and trust that God is there for us, in bad times as in good, it is beyond human capability to sustain an awareness of God's presence at all times. We all go through periods of feeling lonely and empty, and Mechtild was no exception.
Eventually Mechtild came through her experience of the dark night of the soul, persevering through her suffering until her pain was transformed through love. She wrote, “From suffering I have learned this: That whoever is sore wounded by love will never be made whole unless she embrace the very same love which wounded her.”
From pain and emptiness, new life, new consciousness, emerged, as the healing actions that flow from love - compassion, and justice. In this beautiful passage she shares her manifesto of compassion,
“If you love the justice of Jesus Christ more than you fear human judgement then you will seek to do compassion. Compassion means that if I see my friend and my enemy in equal need, I shall help both equally. Justice demands that we seek and find the stranger, the broken, the prisoner, and comfort them and offer them our help. Here lies the holy compassion of God.”
I am sure she has more to teach us in the future. So far, these are the lessons I have learned from Mechtild on how to 'dwell in the desert':
Find God in all things.
Embrace the simple, earthly life.
Have the courage to live an authentic life. Live your life's calling. Speak truth to power. Don't be afraid to defy convention.
Persevere through suffering. Trust in the transformative power of love.
Act from compassion to further justice; help build the kingdom of God here on earth.
And finally, Mechtild has these words for us about what we might expect at the end of our lives, “God says: Do not fear your death. For when that moment arrives I will draw my breath and your soul will come to Me like a needle to a magnet.” And, “When we get to heaven we shall find that there everything is held for the good of all in common.”
May it be so. Amen.
Turn
toward emptiness.
Love the nothing, flee the self.
Stand alone.
Seek help from no one.
Let your being be quiet,
Be free from the bondage of all things.
Free those who are bound,
Give exhortation to the free.
Care for the sick, but dwell alone.
When you drink the waters of sorrow
you shall kindle the fire of love
with the match of perseverance -
This is the way to dwell in the desert.”
Love the nothing, flee the self.
Stand alone.
Seek help from no one.
Let your being be quiet,
Be free from the bondage of all things.
Free those who are bound,
Give exhortation to the free.
Care for the sick, but dwell alone.
When you drink the waters of sorrow
you shall kindle the fire of love
with the match of perseverance -
This is the way to dwell in the desert.”
From The Flowing Light of the Godhead by Mechtild of Magdeburg
During the short time I have spent with the medieval German mystic, Mechtild of Magdeburg (1207 - c.1282), she has taught me many profound lessons about what she called “dwelling in the desert,” lessons on simplicity, authenticity, truth, perseverance, compassion, justice, and love.
“The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw and knew I saw all things in God and God in all things.”
Mechtild's first lesson is central to the mystical experience – our oneness with God.
“I who am Divine am truly in you. I can never be sundered from you; However far we be parted, Never can we be separated. I am in you and you are in Me, We could not be any closer. We two are fused into one, Poured into a single mould."
Mechtild's God wasn't 'out there' but is the eternal and abiding presence everywhere, “God says: Now is the time to tell you where I am and where I will be. I am, in Myself, in all places, in all things, as I ever have been, without beginning.”
Mechtild found God everywhere she looked, and listened, in all of nature. “How does God come to us? Like dew on the flowers, Like the song of the birds! Yes, God gives himself with all creatures wholly to me."
Mechtild rejected the path of the ascetic – she refused to deny the body or disdain earthly life. Her spirituality was grounded in an appreciation of the holiness of the earth and all her creatures. “The manifold delight I learn to take in earthly things can never drive me from my love. For, in the nobility of creatures, in their beauty and in their usefulness, I will love God... This is why I bless God in my heart without ceasing for every earthly thing."
She tell us, “Do not disdain your body. For the soul is just as safe in its body as in the Kingdom of Heaven - though not so certain. It is just as daring – but not so strong. Just as powerful – but not so constant, just as loving – but not so joyful, just as gentle – but not so rich, just as holy – but not yet so sinless, just as content – but not so complete.”
Wisdom, Mechtild tells us, comes from humility, “The truly wise person kneels at the feet of all creatures and is not afraid to endure the mockery of others." Endure the mockery of others she did. She wrote, “My enemies surround me. O Lord, how long must I remain here on earth in this mortal body as a target at which people throw stones and shoot and assail my honour with their evil cunning?”
The second lesson I learned from Mechtild was as much from her actions as from her words. It's a lesson in authenticity, courage, and integrity. Whilst we do not know very much about Mechtild's early life, we do know that she came from a wealthy family. Compared to most people around her, her life would have been rich in material comforts. And yet she chose to leave this comfortable life, at the age of around 23, to move to the city where she knew no-one. She followed her calling and joined a Beguinage – a community of women who lived together, not bound by a monastic rule, but committed to lives of contemplation and caring for the poor and sick in the wider community, in which they supported themselves by the work of their hands.
As you can imagine, these independent female communities were not looked upon with favour by the ecclesiastical authorities of the time. Successive popes tried unsuccessfully to order their dissolution and then to make them submit to the authority of local clergy, rather than their preferred association with the mendicant orders of Dominican and Franciscan friars. They were often under suspicion of heresy for their mystical writings. Thankfully, Mechtild avoided being convicted of heresy, and her writings went on to inspire those of the more famous male mystics who followed her, especially Meister Eckhart and Dante. But some of her sisters were not so lucky, most famously, Marguerite Porete, whose book, The Mirror of Simple Souls, saw her burnt at the stake in Paris in 1310.
Despite the obvious threat to her personal safety of such a course of action, Mechtild was not afraid to criticise corrupt clergy in her writing. Eventually, threats from the church and her failing eyesight combined to lead her to retire to the safety of a convent, where she was better protected, but more confined. There, she continued to write and encouraged her fellow nuns to “preach boldly.”
Whilst we know deep down that we are always held in that Love which is so much greater than us, and trust that God is there for us, in bad times as in good, it is beyond human capability to sustain an awareness of God's presence at all times. We all go through periods of feeling lonely and empty, and Mechtild was no exception.
Over the
last twelve months many people in our society have been lonely and
isolated. Mechtild knew loss and suffering, and learned the hard way
how to “dwell in the desert.” Sometimes her pain was so great
that she lost her intimacy with God, and she experienced a 'dark
night of the soul.' She
wrote extensively of her despair,
“There comes a time when both
body and soul enter into such a vast darkness that one loses light
and consciousness and knows nothing more of God's intimacy... At such
a time when the light in the lantern burns out the beauty of the
lantern can no longer be seen. With longing and distress we are
reminded of our nothingness... At such a time I pray to God: “Lord,
this burden is too heavy for me!” And God replies: “I will take
this burden first and clasp it close to Myself and that way you may
more easily bear it.”
Eventually Mechtild came through her experience of the dark night of the soul, persevering through her suffering until her pain was transformed through love. She wrote, “From suffering I have learned this: That whoever is sore wounded by love will never be made whole unless she embrace the very same love which wounded her.”
From pain and emptiness, new life, new consciousness, emerged, as the healing actions that flow from love - compassion, and justice. In this beautiful passage she shares her manifesto of compassion,
“If you love the justice of Jesus Christ more than you fear human judgement then you will seek to do compassion. Compassion means that if I see my friend and my enemy in equal need, I shall help both equally. Justice demands that we seek and find the stranger, the broken, the prisoner, and comfort them and offer them our help. Here lies the holy compassion of God.”
She encourages us to, "Heal the broken with comforting words of God. Cheer them gently with earthly joys. Be merry and laugh with the broken and carry their secret needs in the deepest silence of your heart.”
I am sure she has more to teach us in the future. So far, these are the lessons I have learned from Mechtild on how to 'dwell in the desert':
Find God in all things.
Embrace the simple, earthly life.
Have the courage to live an authentic life. Live your life's calling. Speak truth to power. Don't be afraid to defy convention.
Persevere through suffering. Trust in the transformative power of love.
Act from compassion to further justice; help build the kingdom of God here on earth.
And finally, Mechtild has these words for us about what we might expect at the end of our lives, “God says: Do not fear your death. For when that moment arrives I will draw my breath and your soul will come to Me like a needle to a magnet.” And, “When we get to heaven we shall find that there everything is held for the good of all in common.”
May it be so. Amen.
