The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 10 of 124

Sermon for the Sunday after New Year’s

Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business? — Luke ii, 49.

These words serve our purpose well, for I am going to speak of the eternal birth, which yet happens in time and does happen every day, in the innermost depths of the soul, far from all outward things. If anyone will receive this Divine favor, it is before all things necessary for him to be about the Father’s business.

What, then, is peculiar to the Father? We give to Him among the three Divine persons the attribute of power. If, therefore, the Divine generation is surely felt, it must be with great power, both in overcoming one’s outward self and breaking away from the senses in all things. It takes strong force to throw back and subdue all our faculties, suppressing their activity. Force must be applied; only by force can this ever succeed. Christ says: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matt, xi, 12).

And now a question arises. Does this Divine generation take place continuously in the soul, or only at intervals? I answer that that is according to our dispositions, and whether or not one applies himself earnestly to God’s work, for that end striving day and night to forget all things. And now we must tnake a distinction. Man is endowed with active intelligence, passive, intelligence, and that which is only possible intelligence. The first is always at work upon something present to it; the second works by accepting the action of another; the third remains in readiness to act and holds possession of what it may act upon. For example, what things one spoke ten years ago he now he holds under actual consideration. It is thus with the Divine generation. Our Lord said: “Yet a little while and you shall not see Me, and again a little while and you shall see Me” (John xvi, 17). And so it is with our good God; sometimes He reveals Himself, sometimes He hides Himself. Our Lord took the three apostles with Himself into the mountain and showed them the bodily glory which was His by His union with the Godhead (and which shall be ours after the resurrection) ; and immediately Peter would gladly have remained there forever. And, in truth, when a man finds good things he cannot give them up, in so far as they are good. And, therefore, when the intelligence has found good things, so must the memory afterwards recall them with love. Nor can our love be withdrawn from anything good unless we feel that there is some evil mixed with it. Our Lord, knowing all this full well, must sometimes hide Himself away from us or we should lose our freedom of accepting or rejecting Him.

Notice, besides, that the active intelligence is always busy with some object, whether it be God or creatures. And when it acts reasonably upon creatures, that is to say, referring them by well-ordered reason to their first cause, namely, to God’s glory and praise, then all is well with the intelligence, which is then rightly said to be active. But when God Himself undertakes to act within it, then the soul must hold itself passive. Meanwhile the possible intelligence co-operates with both the active and passive, so that while God acts and the soul receives His action, the best possible effect may be produced. The soul is active when it busies itself with its work; it must be passive and tranquil when God alone works within it; and ere this is begun and perfected the soul looks to God and to itself that it may possess a perfected work. In this position the intelligence is called the possible reason; and this, taken by itself, is of little value and produces no fruit. But in so far as the soul acts up to its possibilities in all fidelity, in so far does God’s Spirit rule the soul and its activity; then does it see the power of God and receive His Spirit. But since the sight of God in this corporal life is • oppressive, therefore at intervals He withdraws Himself. Hence: “Yet a little while and you shall not see Me, and again a little and you shall see Me,” which is as much as to say that the good God sometimes shows and sometimes hides Himself to our understanding.

Call to mind what I have said about Peter and the other disciples at the Transfiguration, and how we cannot give up any good, as such, when we find it. Wherever the intelligence perceives good, the will and memory follow after, and the entire soul cleaves to it until it finds in it something evil. Hence if our Lord, Who is the Supreme Good, did not at times hide His glory from the soul, it would so turn inward to Him and therein fixedly remain, that it could not care for the body, of which it is the single indispensable form and the actual life. Hence St. Paul’s words about his vision: “Whether in the body or out of the body, I know not” (II Cor. xii, 2). If he had been thus rapt away in the spirit during a hundred years, contemplating the infinite good, he could not come back to his body, and he would be meanwhile totally forgetful of it. That this Divine influence does not belong to this earthly life our gracious Father knows full well, and hence He imparts it to us only at intervals and in a way most fitting our weakness, just as a good physician gives a sick man medicine. It is all God’s work, not thine; and He acts or He acts not by turns, for thy best interests. His hand is ever upon thee to guide thee to much or little of His Divine influence, holding thee away from Him when His Divinity becomes intolerable to thee. He is no destroyer of nature; rather He perfects it; but only according as thou art by degrees prepared for Him.

And now here is a difficulty. Since one must, in order to prepare for God’s visit to his soul, be quite stripped of all interior images and freed from all activity of his mental faculties, which is yet ever man’s natural condition, what shall we say of outward works of brotherly love? Is it not certain that these must sometimes be performed, such as instructing the ignorant and comforting the unfortunate? Must all these be quite given up, the very works that the Lord’s disciples so often gloried in doing? A father of the church says that St. Paul was so filled with love of the people that he Beemed to bear the whole world of humanity in his heart. Must one be deprived of this great good for the sake of a lesser one? In answer I bid you to observe this: The one good is in itself the nobler; the other the more beneficial. Mary was praised for choosing the better part, and yet Martha’s part was in a certain sense the more useful, for she ministered to our Lord and His disciples. St. Thomas teaches that the active life is better than the contemplative, as long as one’s activity springs from that very love which one has gained in contemplation. Thus the two kinds of holiness are one; for the active man is only fruitful when he holds fast to the door. The doors are different; the house is one and the same. Therefore, in active holiness one has nothing that is preferable to contemplative holiness; for one kind reposes in and is founded on the other and carries out its designs. In God’s sight there is thus perfect unity between the two states, in one of which He shows the principle of action and in the other shows how to carry it out in the same spirit. In the one thou ministerest good to thyself; in the other the same ministry is extended to the brethren. This manner of life Christ our Lord perfectly illustrated in His own career, and He enforces it upon us by His teaching and example. This is most plainly shown in His whole life, as well as in the lives of all His disciples, all His saints whom He sent forth to serve the common good of all.

St. Paul writes to his dear son, Timothy: “Preach the Word” (II Tim. iv, 2). Does he mean the outward word that beats the air? No, by no means; but rather that inwardly given word which lies hidden in the depths of the soul. He is to preach it in such wise that the powers of his hearers’ souls shall receive it and be fed with it. He shall possess it so that he may be enabled to announce it to other men in all plainness. And a further grace is added: He shall so live outwardly that whatever his neighbor stands in need of, shall be found revealed in his outward conduct. The word he preaches shall thereby light up men’s thoughts, reason, will and senses. According to our Lord: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, Who is in Heaven” (Matt, v, 16). This teaching is against certain men who value contemplation and at the same time do not value active virtue. They say we have no need of the practice of virtue, we have progressed above that. Of these our Lord did not speak when He said: “Some fell on good ground and brought forth fruit a hundred fold” (Matt, xiii, 8). And elsewhere He says: “The tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down” (Matt, iii, 10).

Thou mayst ask: What, then, becomes of the hush and silence of which thou hast told us before? For to the active life belong many images, every act having its own, either within or without; as, for instance, that I teach this or do that, causes figures and forms in my knows outward things in these their images; but after this has happened the mind can only recall them with the turtner co-operation of the active intelligence, shedding new light upon the passive intelligence. Now, understand that all this work done by the active intelligence in the natural man, God Himself exclusively and completely does in a man wholly and supernaturally detached from all things. He suspends the active intelligence and puts Himself in its place; and then He does directly Himself the work that belongs to the active intelligence. This man has subjugated himself and reduced his active intelligence to inactivity. Therefore, God, if He wills him to work actively, must Himself be the worker and act directly on the passive intelligence.

Bear in mind that the active intelligence cannot contain two images at the same time; one must be before or after the other. Two colors may be in different quarters of the heavens, but thou canst see only one at a time. Now, mark well that this is not so when God Himself directly impregnates the mind in the stead of the active intelligence doing so, for He then conveys many forms and images to the passive intelligence at the same moment. When God inspires thee to one good work, immediately all good works are before thee; thy spirit is lifted on high a thousand times more swiftly than before, and is directed to all good. In one instant all the good thou canst do is displayed before thee; and this shows that the work is not of thy reason, but rather of Him Who has all forms and images in Himself at one and the same moment. Hence, says St. Paul: “I can do all things in Him who strengthened me” (Phil, iv, 13) ; not only this or that thing, but all things whatsoever. Learn by this that, when thou comest to this high state, the forms according to which thy work is done are not thine nor nature’s; they are His, Who is nature’s master; He it is Who has placed the forms and done the work. This has happened to thee in time, but it is generated and done by God in eternity and in a manner above all forms.

Thou mayst ask: Since my intelligence is herein stripped of its own natural activity, its own natural works and images, upon what support

In answer I say that the soul has for its basis of action not the accidentals of being, but being itself. When it perceives real being it immediately is drawn to it and rests in it, and therefrom does the soul reasonably speak its word or do its act. Until it finds the very truth of being, and touches the essence of what it knows, and can say it is precisely this and nothing else, it refuses to rest, but ever searches further, ever longing and seeking. Thus does the soul labor sometimes a whole year in the study of even some natural truth. Yet a longer time will the mind work at separating the non-essential from the essential, resting on no basis and making no decision.

This is true of the soul’s relation to natural truth. As to knowing supernatural truth, that is to say, God, never in this life can the soul be without longing and laboring, always remaining in greater ignorance than knowledge of Him, even in the highest spiritual states; for He never reveals Himself very much to His friends here below. What they are given to know of Him is nothing compared to what He really is. Yet it is really God in His very essence that is in the soul, but to the reason known only in a dark and hidden manner. And the soul is, therefore, ever without rest, struggling to know more, searching for what is concealed and yet is to be revealed of Him. Thus it is that we cannot know what God is in Himself, but we learn more of Him by unceasingly abstracting from our thoughts of Him whatever He is not, always seeking Him as matter seeks form. Matter never rests till filled with all forms; nor does reason, until it has possessed that truth which informs and enfolds all things; and that it must have in its essence. God withholds this, drawing the soul on, exciting its longing and its endeavors in search of greater and yet greater good. And the soul is by its nature never content with trifling things, but ever strives after the highest.

Thou mayst say: Master, thou hast told us before that all our powers must be still, and yet now Thou hast taught us that in this stillness there is a knowledge of and longing after all things in God. Is not this a loud cry and an eager speech after what one does not possess, an expecting and a longing — not stillness and rest? Is it not absence of real repose, and rather studying and wishing, seeking, thanking and praising, filling the mind with images? I answer by pointing out a distinction. If a man is stripped naked of self and all things else and that in his every faculty and in every way, then whatever happens in his soul

Is it His Who speaks or his who hears? Although it is in a certain way his who hears, yet it is essentially the Word of Him Who generates it and utters it, not of him who hears it. Take an example: The sun sheds its light into the air, which receives it and gives it to us, so that we can distinguish colors. And yet the light, though as to its form it be in the air, yet in its essence it is in the sun. It comes from the sun and not from the air, which yet receives it and distributes it to everything that is capable of it. It is thus with God’s generation of His grace in the soul. Thy soul receives it in its powers in many ways — in aspirations, in intentions, in newness of life, in thanksgiving. Although action thus affects thee, it is all God’s and not thy own. Take, therefore, all that happens within thee as His and not as thy own, as it is written: “The Holy Spirit breathes very softly even amid the tempest (III Kings xix, 12) . He does not pray in us, but we pray in Him, as St. Paul says: “No man can say the Lord Jesus but by the Holy Ghost” (I Cor. xii, 3) . It is thus before all things necesary for thee not to cling to anything, but to surrender thyself totally to God, that He may act within thee according to His will. The task is His; He generates His Word within thee and thereby generates all thy activity, and, indeed, all else that concerns thee. If thou hast yielded thyself with all thy faculties to God, offering up all thy being and its attributes, then must God enter into thy being and into its faculties, because thou hast renounced all self-ownership and made thy soul like a desert waste before Him. Then happens what is written: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness.” (Isaias xl, 3.) Let this voice resound within thee just as loudly as may be pleasing to God, who sounds it, and for thy part guard thyself with all carefulness.

Dost thou complain and ask how shall a man behave who is despoiled and cut loose from self and from all things else? Shall he stay waiting perpetually for God’s action? Or shall he do some things that belong to a devout life — pray, fast, watch at night, read pious books — as long as he takes nothing from without, but all from God, who is within him? If a man docs nothing, is he not a sluggard? Mark my answer: He must by no means neglect outward works, for these are commanded of him for the sake of good order; they lead him to God in a spiritual life, and they are for praiseworthy ends. Good works hinder his slipping downward into an irregular way of living, and, as they become habitual, they guard him from straying into eccentricities. By such means does

God prepare hi tor His more interior life, hindering him from that grossness of lin which He cannot tolerate.

:j. Be assured that all good works are rightly practiced if they lead a man captive to God and preserve him from strange, foolish and ungodly conduct; and this applies to all such works as prayer, reading good books, singing God’s praises, fasting and kneeling. Hence, if one perceives that God is not actively working His will within him, then he can do nothing better than practice any and all virtues, choosing those that are most needful for his soul, never seeking any advantage that is not truly spiritual. Let me caution such a one against all spiritual rudeness, for he must do nothing but what unites him closer to God. And then, when God once more visits him in high, supernatural ways, He will find Himself at home in his servant’s interior life. Wellgrounded interior life is the exclusion of outward unrest. Now, it may happen that God will ravish thy soul out of itself into a state of ecstasy, and then, perforce, thou must be totally passive. As to such pious practices as are imposed on thee by thy vows, even those thou shalt be for a while wholly unable to observe; for in that state God elevates thv soul above all and into a state higher than all — into Himself. Consider an illustration: Suppose that a layman has vowed prayers, pilgrimages and fasts; now, as soon as he enter a religious order these vows are dispensed; for in his new state he is bound to all virtues and to God by a new tie; and this shows what I mean in saying, that when a man is rapt in God rightly and truly, he is released from all such obligations, for he cannot fulfill them, because he is absorbed and immersed in God in ecstasy. And if the soul thus remains wholly inactive a week or a month it is not time lost as God sees things, for the soul must be entirely faithful to Him.

But as soon as a man returns to himself from his rapture he must at once apply himself to fulfill all obligations, without imagining, however, that what has been omitted of rule and duty should be now made good. God is responsible for all that, because He it is that had made thee incapable of observing it. Nor, shouldst thou wish that He would have enabled thee to perform all those holy duties, for the very least thing that God does is greater than all things else. And now be it well understood

Scripture well instructed and fully enlightened.

But what shall we say of an ordinary layman who knows nothing of this state, and is instructed only in external observances of piety, but who has made a vow to pray or to fast? If in an enlightened conscience he is convinced that the fulfillment of his vow interferes with his certain and ordinary duty to God, then he is dispensed from his vow. Whatsoever leads thee to God and places thee closer to Him, whether it be a vow or anything else, follow that earnestly, being sure that it is best for thy interior life. According to St. Paul: “When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away” (I Cor. xiii, 10) .

Vows differ one from another. Some are never dispensed, as the marriage vow, which, though made in the hands of the priest, is yet as sacred as if vowed to God in His open Divine presence. As to other kinds of vows, it is good to bind oneself to God to accomplish what one believes to be some better work. But if later on one finds his conscience oppressed, as often enough happens, and is convinced that to keep his vow would be injurious to God’s honor and his soul’s welfare, then he should release himself from his vow and find a surer way leading to eternal happiness. Nor is this a hard matter, for we have only to regard the fruit likely to result and the intrinsic truth involved, rather than the outward work. So St. Paul says: “The letter killeth;” that is to say, the external observance viewed entirely in itself; “but the Spirit giveth life” (II Cor. iii, 6), which means an interior perception of the actual realities of the case. Be earnestly watchful of thyself; whatever duty lies before thee, do it at once and in preference to everything else; cultivate an ardent and elevated spirit within thee and not a cowardly one, and all this in a state of interior tranquillity. Meanwhile take counsel with thy superior or some other enlightened friend of God, so as to avoid vain self-reliance. If thou canst not find such a one, consult at least thy father confessor; and in this course thou shalt be safe and secure. Remember that God guards thee, knowing well all thy wants before thou dost tell Him them. And, therefore, let thy prayers be simple, unlike those of the Pharisees, of whom our Lord Jesus Christ said that they trusted to be heard by reason of their long prayers, and meanwhile they were the enemies of God and man (Matt, xxiii, 14) .

May the Blessed Trinity — God the Father, and God the Son, and Gpd the Holy Ghost — bestow upon our spirit this blissful stillness, in which the Eternal Word shall be generated within us. Amen.