Proloogvers
The Mirror of Eternal Blessedness
The author introduces the book as a spiritual mirror designed to reflect God, virtue, and the path to eternal life.
This book may well be a1 mirror in which you can truly read God, all virtues, and eternal life; for that reason, it has been named: Mirror of Eternal Blessedness.2 Whoever mirrors himself in it gains wisdom.3
A Prayer to the Glorious Name
A devotional invocation honoring the power and sweetness of the Lord's name.
That glorious name of our Lord—whom all angels and saints honor with great dignity; who makes the dead alive whom he touches with his power, into eternal blessedness; the outpoured ointment of love that, with its sweetness, makes every spirit lose its senses—may it now, in this present time, be believed, honored, and blessed, and in eternity.4
Read the original Latin
Dit boec mach wel . i. spieghel wesen Daer men waerlec in mach lesen Gode, alle dooghde ende eewegh leven; Daer-omme es hem dese name ghegheven: Spieghel der eewegher salecheit. Diere hem in spieghelt doet wijsheit.
Die gloriose name ons heeren Dien alle inghele ende heileghen eeren Met grooeter weerdecheit, Die de dooede levende maect Die hi met sijnre cracht gheraect In eewegher salecheit, Uut-ghestortte zalve der minnen Die alle gheeste doet ontsinnen Met haerre zuetecheit: Die si nu, in deser tijt, Ghelooft gheëert ghebenedijt, Ende in der eewecheit.
Notes
- 1 ↩Middle Dutch 'i.' is read as the common numeral abbreviation for 'een' ('a'/'one'), yielding 'een spieghel' with the following sentence. Less likely: a bare roman-numeral stanza mark 'I.'
- 2 ↩'salecheit' rendered as 'Blessedness' to match the work's established English title (eternal beatitude / salvation-bliss), not bare 'salvation' alone.
- 3 ↩'Diere hem in spieghelt' taken as relative 'whoever mirrors himself in it' (reflexive spiritual self-regard in the book-as-mirror). 'doet wijsheit' as 'gains/produces wisdom' (causes wisdom), not a separate personified actor.
- 4 ↩Middle Dutch ontsinnen means to drive out of ordinary sense/reason; rendered as mystical enrapture ("lose its senses"), not mere madness.
A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent