The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 57 of 124

Fourth Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost

Amen, amen, I say to yon: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber. — John x, 1.

Our Lord teaches in the same chapter that He is Himself the door of the sheep. And what is the sheepfold? It is the Divine Fathers heart; of this our beloved Lord is the door, ever opening to admit us, ever closing to keep us in. For we know that till our Saviour came, the door of God’s heart was shut against us. In that sheepfold is the assemblage of all the saints. The shepherd is the Eternal Word, the door is the humanity of Christ, the sheep in this beautiful house of the shepherd are the souls of men, and, we may add, that this is the dwelling place of all angelic natures. The Good Shepherd, the Eternal Word, has shown all reasonable creatures the road to the Divine sheepfold. And who is the doorkeeper? The Holy Ghost, as Saints Ambrose and Jerome teach: “All truth that is ever known or ever spoken comes from the Holy Ghost.” As to how the Holy Ghost instructs our hearts, inclines them, incessantly compels and enraptures them, that is known by those who have entered deeply into their own interior life.

Ah, how sweetly dops the fatherly heart of God shut to the door when we have entered in, how generously does He lavish upon us the hidden riches of His house of love. No one can fully understand how ready and as it were thirsty God is thus to receive our souls, meeting us every instant halfway and with all eagerness as we advance toward Him. O children, how does it happen that we hold back, and that we refuse this gracious invitation, that we do it so often and for such frivolous reasons? We read in Scripture that when King Assuerus invited Vasti, his queen, to a royal banquet, she refused to come; and then the king detested her

Now the Holy Spirit, the Gatekeeper of the Sheepfold, calleth His own sheep by name. Some refuse to hear Him and go away, but others hear His sweet voice gladly, and follow Him faithfully, turning neither to the right nor left and following no other. He leads onward, and they follow loyally after Him into the fatherly heart, into their peaceful home, passing through the door of the Eternal Word in His beloved humanity. True sheep of God are these; no alien shepherds do they follow; only God and His honor do such souls regard, guided absolutely by the Divine will — true sheep of the one Good Shepherd. Our Saviour says that He knows them and they know Him and recognize His voice, the voice that calls them to the door that opens into everlasting life; for He is the way, the truth and the life. Whosoever cometh to the Father must go through the door that Jesus is. To strive to enter any other way is to be a thief and a robber.

And who, dear children, are the thieves? All who would enter into God’s sheepfold trusting to their natural good qualities; those who do not keep God alone in mind and heart in humble self-denial, nor follow the lovely form of Jesus Christ in entire disengagement of spirit; those who will not acknowledge themselves worthy of rejection — all these men enter in by the wrong door. And who else is the thief? The bad man who seeks out other men to corrupt them, the treacherous man of honor, and from ourselves the truth of God and our everlasting perfection. This spiritual thief within us, dear children, does more harm to men than those criminals who are hanged for stealing our natural goods.

Therefore I warn you against this secret thief; as you value your eternal welfare resist self-love, lest it steal from you the fruit of Heaven’s joy.

So much for the thieves. And now, dear children, let us ask who are ■> the wicked robbers. They are rash judgments of our neighbor. Some men — and you find them in all states of life — are full of the spirit of rash judgment; so much so that their condemnation of others prevents them from knowing and condemning themselves. Such a one inwardly exclaims: That man talks too much, that other talks too little; this one is overbusy, that one is too idle; one has committed that fault, another this fault. And thus injurious reflections are multiplied as well as heavy condemnations, and at last a pitiable and sinful state of interior uncharity results. This inner contempt for one’s neighbor often breaks out in ugly words, and characterizes the whole outward demeaner. It spreads the deadly infection to other men, slaying souls right and left. Ah, thou poor, blind creature; why dost thou not sit in judgment on thyself? What canst thou know of the heart of thy neighbor, or the way God is leading him with His loving favors, or of the inspirations and drawings of the eternal God in his inner life? What! Wilt thou, poor wretch that thou art, sit in judgment on these secret things, known to God’s eye alone? Wilt thou thus presume to decide about what is wholly God’s work, to meddle with it and destroy it? Bepent of this before God and His saints and angels, repent sincerely, for all judgment is God’s alone.

This death-stroke of evil judging works great harm in religious communities. It is a pitiful thing that such uncharitable spirits should forget our Lord’s words: “Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matt, vii, 1, 2). One must never condemn anything except mortal Bin. If it happens that a man must pass judgment because he holds an office, then the Holy Ghost judges and punishes through him, and he therefore should act with Divine gentleness, lest in curing one wound he inflict ten others. Divine love, brotherly charity, a meek and gentle heart — these are the right dispositions for a judge. Without these, a religious superior gropes in darkness and soon wanders away from the truth. Ever and always should we first sit in judgment on ourselves. As long as thou livest thou hast hanging about thy neck a sack full of thy own sins, calling out constantly for judgment. As to judgment and punishment of thy neighbor, leave that to himself and his God, if thou wouldst

Dear children, when a man turns inward, he discovers in his soul these two enemies, the thief of self-appropriation of God’s graces, and the robber of rash judgment against his neighbor. These hidden enemies steal and destroy the treasures of God’s grace, and lay waste His interior kingdom. Let a man turn one enemy upon the other. Let him force the robber of rash judgment to exercise true judgment upon the thief of spiritual self-conceit, and then follows what often happens: both suffer death, the robber and the thief destroy each other. O children, happy is the soul in which this happens. Blessed is the life of a man when nature’s fierce tendency to condemn, is turned upon its greedy self to inflict punishment for appropriation of Divine gifts. Then he rests meekly under God’s judgment, in his own case and in that of all others; then he soon finds himself at the door that is Jesus Christ our Lord; then the beloved Doorkeeper, the Holy Ghost, opens wide the portals of eternal life, and introduces the soul into the deep abyss of the Father’s love, into and out of which it passes, always enjoying rich pastures of grace.

That soul sinks with unspeakable joy into the Deity, comes forth again with equal joy by union with the blessed humanity of Christ, fulfilling the word of our Saviour spoken through His prophet concerning His sheep: “I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel; there shall they rest on the green grass (Ezechiel xxxiv, 14). Then shall the soul’s work and rest be made one. May that be our blessed lot, by the help of God. Amen.