{ "meta": { "schema_version": "1.1", "endpoint": "/api/sources/rhineland-mystics/suso/vol-1-32-chapter-xxxiv.json" }, "work": { "slug": "suso", "name": "Heinrich Suso" }, "parents": [ { "slug": "rhineland-mystics", "name": "Rhineland Mystics", "url": "/sources/rhineland-mystics/" } ], "chapter": { "num": 33, "slug": "vol-1-32-chapter-xxxiv", "title": "Chapter XXXIV.", "of": 51, "words": 2577, "text": "## Chapter XXXIV.\n\nOf the joys with which God recompenses in this present \nlife those who suffer for Him. \n\nOn a joyful Easter-day the Servitor was once \nin very blithesome mood, and as he sat for a \nshort time, according to his custom, in the re- \npose of contemplation, he desired earnestly to \nhear from God what meed of delights they shall \nreceive from Him in this life who have borne \nmanifold sufferings for His sake. Whereupon, \nbeing rapt in ecstasy, a light shone into his soul \nfrom God to this effect: — Let all who suffer \n\n\n152 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nwith detachment rejoice, for their patience shall \nbe gloriously rewarded ; and as they have been \nhere below an object of pity to many, even so \nshall many rejoice eternally at the deserved \npraise and everlasting honour which shall be \ntheirs. They have died with Me, and they \nshall also rise again with Me in gladness. \nThree special gifts I will give them, so precious \nthat no one can reckon up their value. First, \nI will give absolute power to their wishes in \nheaven and on earth, so that whatever they \nwish shall come to pass. Secondly, I will give \nthem My divine peace, which neither angel, \nnor devil, nor man, nor any other creature can \ntake away from them. Thirdly, I will so in- \nwardly kiss them through and through, and so \nlovingly embrace them, that I in them and they \nin Me, and we together, shall abide eternally, \none undivided unity for ever. And since long \nwaiting and praying are painful to restless \nhearts, this love shall not be withheld from \nthem during this short present hour of life, \nwhich lasts but for a moment, but it shall begin \neven now, and be enjoyed eternally, so far as \nman's mortal nature can in each case more or \nless support it. \n\nThese glad tidings filled the Servitor with \n\n\nTHE REWARDS OF SUFFERING. 153 \n\njoy; and when he came to himself again, he \nsprang up, and began to laugh so heartily that \nthe chapel in which he was reechoed to the \nsound, and he said within himself joyously : — \nLet him who has suffered come forward and \ncomplain. God knows, I can declare that as to \nmyself, methinks I have never had any thing \nat all to suffer. I know not what suffering is ; \nbut I know well what joy and bliss are. Power \nto wish and to obtain is given me; a thing \nwhich many erring hearts must be without. \nWhat want I more? Then he turned his \nthoughts to the eternal Truth, and said : — Ah ! \neternal Truth, show me now this hidden mys- \ntery, so far as words can tell it, for it is a truth \nof which many blinded men are altogether ig- \nnorant. \n\nThis mystery was inwardly manifested to \nhim thus : — Mark those who have paid due \n.attention to the breaking away from creatures, \n— in other words, to that death to self and all \nthings with which a man must begin. Alas ! \nthere are not many such. The mind and \nthoughts of these men have so passed away into \nGod, that they know nothing, as it were, of them- \nselves, save only that they view themselves \nand all things in their primal fountain-head; \n\n\n154 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nand therefore they have the same pleasure and \ncomplacency in each several thing which God \ndoes, as if God stood by unconcerned with it and \ninactive, and it were granted to them to carry \nout each thing according to their own mind; \nand thus it is that their will is absolute in \nmight, for heaven and earth serve them, and \nevery creature is subject to them, in what each \ndoes or leaves undone. Such persons feel no \nsorrow of heart about any thing ; for I only call \nthat pain and sorrow of heart which the will \nwith full deliberation wishes to be freed from. \nExternally, indeed, they have a sense of plea- \nsure and pain like other people, and it is more \nintense perhaps in them than others, because of \ntheir great tenderness ; but in their inmost souls \nit finds no abiding- place, and exteriorly they \nremain firm against impatience. They are filled \nto the full even in this life, so far as this is \npossible, owing to their detachment from self,, \nand hence their joy is complete and stable in all \nthings. For in the divine essence, into which \ntheir hearts have passed away and become \nmerged, — that is, supposing they have not gone \nastray from the right path, — neither pain nor \nsorrow finds place, but only peace and joy. If, \nhowever, thy own frailty entices thee to commit \n\n\nTHE REWARDS OF SUFFERING. 155 \n\nsin, from which pain and sorrow justly spring np \nfor the sinner, and if thou committest sin, then, \nand then only, thou wilt find a flaw in thy \nhappiness. But if thou avoidest sin, and goest \nout of thyself in this respect, and passest away \ninto that in which thou canst have neither suf- \nfering nor sorrow — since pain is not pain to thee \nthere, nor suffering suffering, but all things are \nunmingled peace — then it is well with thee in \nvery truth. And all this comes to pass because \ntheir self-will is lost and gone. For these persons \nare of themselves driven onward with a longing \nthirst towards God's will and His justice; and \nthey find such a sweet savour in God's will, and \nthey so delight in it, and take such pleasure \nin all that He ordains concerning them, that \nthey have no wish nor desire for any thing else. \nThis, however, must not be understood as if \nthey were forbidden to ask things of God and \nto pray to Him; for it is God's will that we \npray to Him. But it is to be understood of the \ndue and rightful going forth out of our own \njudgment into the will of the supreme God- \nhead, as has been said. Now there lies in this \na hidden difficulty, against which many stumble, \nand it is this. Who knows, they say, whether \nit is God's will? See now. God is a super- \n\n\n156 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nessential good, and He is more interiorly pre- \nsent to every individual thing than that thing \ncan be to itself; and against His will nothing \ncan happen, nor can any thing exist for an in- \nstant. Therefore they must be miserable who \nare always struggling against God's will and \ndesiring to do their own will, if they could. \nThey have the kind of peace which is in hell, \nfor they are always in sadness and heaviness. \nOn the contrary, a soul stripped of self has God \nand peace at all times present to it, in adversity \nas well as in prosperity ; for if He is truly there \nwho does all and is all, how can the sight of \ntheir own sufferings be grievous to them, since \nin them they see God, find God, make use of \nGod's will, and know nothing of their own will? \nnot to speak of the consoling illuminations and \nheavenly delights with which God often secretly \nsustains His suffering friends. These persons \nare, as it were, in heaven. What happens to \nthem or does not happen to them, what God does \nin all creatures or does not do, all turns to their \nadvantage. And thus he who can bear suffer- \ning well receives in this world a portion of the \nreward of his sufferings ; for he finds peace and \njoy in all things, and after death everlasting life \nawaits him. \n\n\nHIS SPIRITUAL DAUGHTER. 157 \n\nChapter XXXY. \n\nOf the Servitor's spiritual daughter. \n\na Filia confide,\" — Be of good heart, daugh- \nter (Matt. ix. 22). The Servitor had at this \ntime a spiritual daughter, of the Order of Friars \nPreachers, in an enclosed convent at Tosse.* \nHer name was Elizabeth Staglin, and she lived \na very holy life exteriorly, and was of an an- \ngelic disposition within. The noble and ener- \ngetic way in which she turned herself with her \nwhole heart and soul to God set her free en- \ntirely from all those vain things which cause so \nmany persons to neglect their eternal salvation. \nAll her diligence was directed towards obtain- \ning spiritual instruction, that she might thus be \nguided to a blessed and perfect life, the one end \nand object of all her wishes. She wrote down \nwhatever she met with that pleased her, and \nseemed calculated to aid herself and others in \nthe acquisition of divine virtues ; and she acted \nin this like the industrious bees, which bring \nback sweet honey collected from many different \nflowers. \n\nIn the convent where she lived among the \nsisters as a mirror of every virtue, she composed, \n\n* Thoss, near Winterthur, in Switzerland, \n\n\n158 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nnotwithstanding her bodily infirmities, a large \nbook, containing, among other things, an ac- \ncount of the blessed lives which the deceased \nholy sisters had led, and the great marvels God \nhad wrought in them. It is a book well suited \nto excite good-hearted persons to devotion.* \n\nThis blessed daughter came to hear of the \nServitor of the Eternal Wisdom, and God in- \nspired her with great devotion to his manner of \nlife and teaching. She drew from him secretly \nthe way in which he broke through created \nthings to arrive at God, and she wrote it down, \nas has been already related. \n\nAt the first beginning of her conversion to \nGod she came across a great many deep intel- \nlectual views regarding the pure Godhead, the \nnothingness of all things, detachment from self, \nabstraction of the mind from all sensible forms, \nand such -like high things; and they were \nclothed in beautiful language, and were very- \npleasant to reflect upon. But there lay con- \ncealed beneath them something hurtful to \nsimple-minded beginners like her ; for she was \nquite ignorant of the necessary distinctions \n\n* Henry Murcr lias extracted many of these lives from \nthe Chronicles of the convent at Thoss, and inserted them \nin his Jlelcctla San eta. \n\n\nHIS SPIRITUAL DAUGHTER. 159 \n\nwhich ought to be made, inasmuch as the words \nwere capable of being taken in a spiritual or \na natural sense, according to the disposition of \nthose who used them. These doctrines were \ngood in themselves ; but they were insufficient \nfor her instruction. She therefore wrote to the \nServitor, asking him to help her, and guide her \nalong the right path. Nevertheless, as she had \nalready tasted of the pleasure which is to be \nfound in these doctrines, she prayed him to pass \nover the common ordinary kind of instruction, \nand to write to her something about the above- \nmentioned high subjects. \n\nThe Servitor answered her thus: — Good \ndaughter, if thou askest me concerning high \nthings through curiosity, in order to become \nacquainted with them, and to be able to talk \nwell about spiritual matters, what I have to say \nto thee will need but a few words. Take not \ntoo much pleasure in them, for they may easily \nlead thee into dangerous errors. True bliss lies \nnot in beautiful words, but in good works. If, \nhowever, thou askest about these things in order \nto put them in practice, my answer is, Let alone \nfor the present these deep questions, and attend \nto those only which are suitable for thee. Thou \nseemest to me to be as yet a young unexercised \n\n\n160 LIFE OP BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nsister, and therefore it will be more profitable to \nthee, and the like of thee, to hear about the \nfirst beginnings of the spiritual life, both how it \nought to be begun and what exercises are ap- \npropriate to it ; and also about good and holy- \nexamples, as, for instance, how this and that \nfriend of God, who began in the same way, first \nof all exercised themselves in imitating Christ's \nlife and sufferings ; what kind of things they had \nto suffer continually ; how they bore themselves \nin their sufferings interiorly and exteriorly ; whe- \nther God drew them onwards by sweetness or \nby severity; and when and how they were set \nfree from sensible forms and images. This is \nthe way in which a beginner is spurred on and \nguided to perfection ; for, though it is true that \nGod can give all this to a person in an instant, \nit is not His way to do so, but it is to be ob- \ntained ordinarily only by hard labour and many \nconflicts. \n\nOn receiving this letter, the daughter re- \nplied to him as follows : — What I long for is \nnot wise words, but a holy life ; and this I have \nthe courage truly and honestly to strive after \nuntil I attain it, whatever pain it may entail \nupon me, and no matter what I may have to \ngive up or suffer, or die to, or whatever else \n\n\nHIS SPIRITUAL DAUGHTER. 161 \n\nmay be needful to bring me to perfection ; for \nall this I must and will undergo. And fear not \non account of the weakness of my nature ; for \nwhatever you have the courage to command me, \nwhich is painful to nature, I have the courage \nto accomplish, with the help of God's might. \nBegin first with the lowest things, and guide \nme in them, just as a little school-child is first \ntaught what is adapted to its childish years, and \nthen afterwards receives more and more instruc- \ntion, until it becomes at last a master in the art. \nOne only prayer I make to you, and this you \nmust grant me, for God's sake, in order that I \nmay not only be instructed by you, but may be \nalso strengthened against all the trials which I \nmay have to encounter. He asked what this \nrequest might be. She answered : — Sir, I have \nheard say that the pelican is of such a nature \nthat it bites itself, and, from natural love, feeds \nwith its own. blood its young offspring in the \nnest. Ah, sir, what I ask is, that you will act \nthus towards your needy child, and feed her \nwith the spiritual food of your good teaching ; \nand that you will not seek for this from afar, \nbut take it from yourself; for the nearer it has \nbeen to you in the way of experience, the more \ndeeply it will come home to my longing soul. \nM \n\n\n162 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nThe Servitor wrote thus to her in answer: — \nThou showedst me a little while ago some high \nthoughts which thou hadst thyself culled from \nthe sweet teaching of the holy Master Eckart, \nand which, as is just, thou valuedst highly; and \nI marvel much, that, after thou hast drunk of \nthe noble drink of this high Master, thou de- \nclarest thyself so thirsty for the coarse drink of \nthe lowly Servitor. Nevertheless, when I con- \nsider it well, I note with joy thy great wisdom \nin this matter ; namely, that thou art so busy in \nthy questionings about what is the first begin- \nning of a high and secure life, and what are the \nexercises which must be first practised in order \nto attain it.", "project_translation": false, "text_trust": "verbatim", "quote_safe": true, "license": null, "methodology_url": null } }