Inleiding
The Eternal Call to Love
The author affirms the reader's eternal election and calls them to respond with a sincere, loving commitment to the religious life.
Dearly beloved in our Lord, I hope and trust without a doubt that he has foreseen, called, chosen, and loved you from eternity. Not only you, but also all who make profession truly before his glorious face in his community.1 These are all who freely and without pretense choose to serve him, praise him, and love him forever. For them, this is a true witness and a sure sign that God has, from eternity and out of free goodness, foreseen, chosen, and called them with his beloved friends into his community.2 But if you're still a novice, then commit to the Order and make your profession in love and true holiness. Choose without pretense, with a free heart, and you'll feel that you've been eternally chosen by God. For the sake of his chosen beloved, he sent his only Son, who with him3 one4 is in substance, and with us one in our nature; and he has lived for us and taught us and loved us to the death, and he has redeemed us and set us free from all our enemies and from all our sins.5 He did this for all of us in common, and in common he has given and left us all his sacraments. And for this reason, if you choose in love, let that be a sign to you that you have been chosen from eternity.
Living in the Heart of Christ
Christ offers Himself as food and drink, inviting the believer to dwell within His wounded side and experience the sweetness of His love.
And so that you may believe him in this and trust him fully, he has given and left you his flesh and his blood as food and as drink, in a lasting taste for your whole nature. And that taste will feed and nourish you all the way into eternal life. For he wants to live and dwell in you; he himself wants to be your life—God and man—and to be entirely yours, if you want to be entirely his and to live and dwell in him as6 one7 heavenly divine man. This is the order and way of eternal love: that you are his, and not your own; and that you live for him, and not for yourself. In the same way, he has been yours and has lived for you, and he remains yours for eternity.8 So, live and praise, think and intend to honor your eternal Lord, not for the sake of reward, gain, pleasure, comfort, or anything else that might lead you away from Him. For true love and service to the Lord should not be motivated by anything; therefore, He has given you Himself and all things, for He binds you with the grace of His nature. And so, give to Christ, your Bridegroom, all that you are, and all that you have and can do, and do this with a free and generous heart; and then he will give you back all that he is and all that he can do: you will never have seen so joyful a day.9 For he will open to you his glorious, loving heart, and the inmost depths of his soul, all full of glories, graces, joys, and faithfulness.10 There you'll rejoice, and you'll grow and increase in heartfelt love. The open wound in his side will be your gate to eternal life and your entrance into the living paradise that he himself is. There you'll taste the fruit of eternal life, which grew for us on the wood of the cross—the fruit we lost in Adam's pride and now win back through the humble death of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our living paradise; for in him and from him flows the fountain of eternal health.11 From his wounds flows balsam, a medicine for every affliction; its fragrance is so strong that it drives away all the devil's serpents, awakens those who have died in sins, and gives grace and eternal life. In the inmost depths of our Lord Jesus Christ flow streams of honey beyond any taste or sweetness you could imagine. If you can enter there and taste and feel him, you'll easily overcome the world, yourself, and all things.✦ For he will show you the way of love to his Father—the way he himself walked, and which he himself is.✦12
The Offering of the Beloved
The believer is invited to offer Christ's humanity to the Father, securing their place as heirs of the kingdom through the Holy Spirit.
In this, he will show you how his humanity is a worthy offering to his Father. He has given you this humanity, along with all he suffered, so that through it you may come to the heavenly Father. He has made peace, and we are free. And for this reason, you should present and offer Christ, your offering, with humble hearts, as your gifts that you have offered and prepared. He will offer you, along with himself, to the heavenly Father as the offering for which he died. And the Father will receive you with his Son. i. minlec behelsen. Look, where all sins are forgiven, and all debts are paid, and all suffering is accomplished, and love is united with love in a shared affection. In this possession, you find and feel the living presence of love within you, and love itself dwells in you. And this is the origin of true holiness. For no one comes to the Father except through the Son and His passion and His death, and those who are united in love. Those who try to enter any other way are deceived; they are thieves and murderers, and they belong to the eternal fire. But the Son has offered Himself to the Father on your behalf, as you are included in love; and love has been given to you as a pledge that you are committed to serving God. i. Moreover, you are heirs of the kingdom of goods; and God cannot fail to honor His pledge, for that pledge is all that God Himself is and possesses. Look at this pledge and this inheritance, which is the Holy Spirit: it is your brotherhood and your heritage, which Jesus, your bridegroom, has also inherited in His Father's kingdom.
Read the original Latin
Lieve gheminde in onsen heere, ic hope ende ic ghetrouwe hem sonder twifel, dat hi u voorsien, gheroepen, vercoren ende ghemindt heeft in der eewecheit. Niet alleene u, maer oec alle die-ghene die professie doen ghewarechlec, vore sijn gloriose anschijn in sijn convent. Ende dat sijn alle die-ghene die vrilec ende ongheveinsdelec verkiesen eeuwelec hem te dienenne, te lovene ende te minnenne. Ende dit is hen een ghewaregh ghetughe ende een seker teeken, datse god in der eewecheit voorsien, vercoren ende gheroepen heeft van vriër goetheit met sinen gheminden vrienden in sijn convent,
Maer sidi noch novicia, soe nemt de ordene ane ende doet professie in minnen ende in ghewaregher heilecheit.
Verkiest ongheveinsdelec met vriër herten, ende dan seldi ghevoelen dat ghi van gode eewelec vercoren sijt. Want omme sine uutvercoorne gheminde heeft hi ghesendt sinen eeneghen sone, die met hem . i. es in der substantiën ende met ons een in onser natueren; ende hi heeft ons gheleeft ende gheleert ende ghemint tote der dooet, ende hi heeft ons verlooest ende ghevrijd van allen onsen vianden ende van al onsen sunden. Ende dit heeft hi ons allen ghemeine ghedaen, ende ghemeine ghegheven ende ghelaten alle sine sacramente. Ende hier-omme, wildi in minnen verkiesen, dat si u een teeken dat ghi van eewecheit vercoren sijt.
Ende op-dat ghi hem des ghelooeft ende wale betrout, soe heeft hi u ghegheven ende ghelaten sijn vleesch ende sijn bloed in spisen ende in dranke, in eenen doorgaenden smake al uwer natueren. Ende die smaec sal u voeden ende spisen tote in dat eeweghe leven. Want hi wilt in u leven ende wooenen; ende hi wilt selve uwe leven sijn, god ende mensche, ende al-te-male uwe sijn, eest dat ghi te-male sine wilt sijn ende in hem leven ende wooenen alse . i. hemelsch godlec mensche.
Ende dit es de ordene ende de maniere eewegher minnen, dat ghi sine sijt, ende niet uws-selfs; ende heme leeft, ende niet u-selven. Ende aldus heeft hi uwe gheweest en u gheleeft, ende blijft uwe in der eewecheit.
Ende hier-omme, leeft ende looft, meindt ende mindt ende diendt te sijnre eewegher eeren, niet omme looen, noch omme gherief, noch omme smaec, noch omme troest, ochte omme eenegh ding die u daer af werden mochte. Want gherechte minne en suect des heers niet; ende daer-omme heeft si gode ende alle ding, want si met gratiën natuere verwindt.
Ende hier-omme, gheeft cristo, uwen brudegooem, al dat ghi sijt, ende al dat ghi hebt ende vermooght, ende dit doet met melder vriër herten; ende dan sal hi u weder-gheven al dat hi es ende al dat hi vermach: soe en saeghdi nooeyt soe bliden dagh.
Want hi sal u openen sine gloriose minnende herte, ende die binnenste sijnre zielen, al vol gloriën, gratiën, [ende] vrouden ende trouwen. Ende daer-in seldi verbliden, ende wassen ende toenemen in herteleker liefden. Die opene wonde sijnre ziden sal sijn uwe pooerte in dat eeweghe leven, ende uwe ingang in dat levende paradijs dat hi selve es. Daer seldi ghesmaken vrocht eeweghs levens, die ons ghewassen es op dat hout des crucen; die wi verloren in adaems hooeverde, ende nu ghewinnen in die oedmoedeghe dooed ons heeren jhesu cristi, die onse levende paradijs es; want in hem ende ute hem soe vloeyt de fonteyne eewegher ghesunden. Ende ute sinen wonden vloeyt balseme, medicine van alre qualen: die roke es soe starc dat hi verdrijft alle de serpente der duvele, ende verwect die ghestorven sijn in sonden, ende gheeft gratie ende eeuwegh leven.
In die binnenste ons heeren jhesu cristi vloeyen honeghvloede boven allen smaec ende suetegheit, diemen ghedinken mach. Mooghdi daer-in comen, ende sijns ghesmaken ende ghevoelen, soe verwindi lichtelec de werelt, u-selven ende alle ding. Want hi sal u wisen den wech der minnen te sinen vader dien hi selve ghing ende die hi selve es.
Ende daer-in sal hi u vertooenen hoe sine menscheit eene weerdeghe offerande es sinen vader. Ende dese menscheit heeft hi u ghegheven met al dien dat hi gheleden heeft, dat ghi coenlec daermede te hove comt vore sinen hemelschen vader. Want hi heeft den pays ghemaect, ende wi sijn vri. Ende hier-omme seldi cristum, uwe offerande, presenteren ende offeren, met ooedmoedegher melder herten, alse uwen scat daer ghi mede verlooest ende ghecocht sijt. Ende hi sal u, met hem-selven, offeren sinen hemelschen vader, alse sine gheminde vrocht daer hi omme ghestorven es. Ende die vader sal u met sinen sone ontfaen in . i. minlec behelsen.
Siet, daer werden alle sonden vergheven, ende alle scoud betaelt, ende alle dooghde volbracht, ende lief met lieve in minnen beseten. In desen besittene seldi u bevinden ende ghevoelen levende in minnen, ende minne in u. Ende dit es de orsprong gherechter heilecheit. Want nieman en comt ten vader, dan overmids den sone ende sine passie ende sine dooed, ende die gheüfent in minnen. Die anders opclemmen ende ingaen willen, die sijn bedroghen, ende dat sijn dieve ende mordenaren: die behooeren alle ten helschen viere.
Maer heeft u de sone met hem ende met sijnre dooed gheoffert sinen vader, soe sidi behelst in minnen; ende minne es u ghegheven alse een pand daer ghi mede ghecocht sijd gode te dienenne, ende alse . i. weerdere daer ghi mede gheërft sijt in dat rike goods; ende god en can sinen pand niet ghequiten, want die pand es al dat god selve es ende vermach. Siet dese pand ende dese weerdere dat es de heileghe gheest: die es uwe bruudscat ende uwe duwarie daer u jhesus, uwe brudegooem, mede gheërft heeft in sijns vader rike.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1John.5.4-1John.5.5;John.16.33 — For everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1John.5.5 — Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. John.16.33 — I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart — I have overcome the world.
- ↩John.14.6 — Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
Notes
- 1 ↩convent: rendered as community (the religious company gathered before God's face); could also be taken as a monastic house or convent in a narrower institutional sense.
- 2 ↩van vriër goetheit: rendered as of free goodness (uncompelled divine favor); free goodness is the motive of election, not a human quality of the elect.
- 3 ↩Sentence is cut mid-clause at printed boundary; continuous sense resumes in s3–s4 as 'who with him is one in substance…'.
- 4 ↩Printed 'i.' is read as Middle Dutch een ('one'), matching the parallel 'een in onser natueren' in s4 and the next section's 'i. hemelsch…' pattern.
- 5 ↩'in der substantiën… een in onser natueren' is the classical Christological pairing: one in substance with God, one in nature with us.
- 6 ↩Sentence ends mid-comparison at 'alse' (as); the complement continues in s4–s5.
- 7 ↩Source stands as lone 'i.'; read as Middle Dutch 'een' (one/a), the same pattern as SpiegSal.1.2.3.s3, joining 'alse' (s3) to 'hemelsch godlec mensche' (s5).
- 8 ↩u gheleeft is rendered as lived for you, mirroring heme leeft (live for him) in s1; the reciprocity of belonging and living-for is the section's force.
- 9 ↩Middle Dutch melde = generous/open-handed; vri = free. Rendered as 'free and generous heart' rather than a stiffer 'liberal free heart'.
- 10 ↩Middle Dutch 'trouwen' can mean faithfulness, troths, or trusted bonds; rendered as 'faithfulness' in this bridal-mystical context.
- 11 ↩'ghesunden' is rendered 'health' (wholeness/salvation), keeping the medicinal-fountain image that continues in the next sentence.
- 12 ↩Middle Dutch 'dien ... die' binds both the path Christ walked and the claim that he himself is that way; rendered to keep both the moral following and the identity sense.
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