The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 4 of 124

Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent

What went ye out into the desert to see? — Matt xl, 7.

Our Lord asks the Jews: “What went ye out into the desert to see? A reed shaken by the wind?” We find in these words three matters for consideration — the going out, the desert, and what they went to see. Let us first speak of the going out. This is done in four ways, for we must go out from the world, that is to say, from its concupiscence, by contempt for it, according to St. John’s words: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (I John, ii, 15). Those who renounce the love of the world depart truly out of Egypt; they leave King Pharaoh’s service in renouncing pride, vainglory, presumption and all other sins; and those who would go out of the world have great need of finding a Moses who will serve them as conductor — one who will be like the first Moses, full of gentleness and compassion. They need a guide — sweet, kindly and patient — who will make their going forth, which costs so dearly, more easy to them. There are others who go forth out of Sodom and Gomorrah, that is to say, from avarice, intemperance and impurity, and who have still to suffer dire assaults from these vices. They should have an angel for director and counsellor; that is to say, a man compassionate, grave and of an austere manner of life. He who allows himself to be thus directed or led will surely escape pride, avarice and sensuality, according to the words of Isaias: “For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace” (Isaias lv, 12). Or, according to our Saviour: “In the world you shall have distress” (John xvi, 33) , and in Me, peace.

We must go forth from all exterior things, useless preoccupations, self-love and self-will, and enter into ourselves if we would know our-

on account of self-love or some other motive, cannot learn to know himself, according to the teaching of St. Bernard: “There are plenty of men who know many things, but who yet know absolutely nothing of themselves. Now, to knQw oneself and to realize how sick one is and full of defects is of more worth than to possess all sciences. Says Solomon in the Canticle: ‘If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth and follow after the steps of the flocks and feed thy kids beside the tents of the shepherds’ ” (Cant, i, 7). That is to say, look at thyself in the lives of the saints and follow their example, instead of following thy own will.

Thou must depart from thy own ease and sense and thou must give thyself up wholly to the service of thy neighbor, helping him with all thy might by good advice, good works and pious example, by a deep and constant charity, in order that he may the more easily attain to eternal happiness. For such is our Saviour’s precept: “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. * * * By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.” (John xiii, 34-35). And St. Paul says: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so shall ye fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. vi, 2). And in Genesis we read that Joseph said to his brethren: “You shall not see my face unless you bring your youngest brother with you” (Gen. xliii, 3). And again in the Canticle we read: “Come, My beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us abide in the villages; let us get up early to the vineyards” (Cant, vii, 11).

We must go forth from all that is not God; in such a manner that our love for Him surpasses all other love, and that we love Him with all our soul, all our heart and all our strength. Of old God said to Abraham: “Go forth out of thy country and from thy kindred, and out of thy father’s house” (Gen. xii, 1). That means fix not thy heart on perishable things, but on God alone; seek Him and love Him in all that thou dost possess. The Canaanitish woman had thus gone forth, as her words testify, and, therefore, she got from Jesus all that she asked. In the Canticle God invites the faithful soul and its companions to this going forth, saying to them: “Go forth, ye daughter of Sion” (Cant, iii, 11). It is right that He should give them the name of daughters rather than that of sons, for their spirit is yet weak, troubled by the fears and distresses of women, for they are not yet strong enough of resolution to

Let us now speak of the desert. Scarcely have we quit worldly desires and sin than we encounter the desert, an image of that life, spiritual and detached, that we must lead here below. But there are two kinds of desert — one good and the other bad. The latter is that in which the heart of man fills itself with vanity, stripping itself of charity and of heavenly longings. In the temple of the soul are no longer heard the chants of divine praise; and the sheep of the house of Israel, that is to say, good thoughts, are scattered and go forth each on his way. The fertile desert is that wherein a man has driven down into the * lowest depths of his heart the stormy disturbance of passions, the irregularity of worldly desires and the love of created things. He still sometimes experiences, it is true, in his body or his senses the first movements of the passions, but his will remains inaccessible to their attempts. There is the good desert — storm without and the sweetness of peace within. It is of this desert that God speaks to the prophet: “I will lead her into the wilderness and will speak to her heart” (Osee ii, 14), for no one hears or understands what is within himself or what God says within until He reaches that desert.

It is called a desert, this life of detachment and separation, because of the small number of those who go into it after being separated from the world. These are few enough when compared with the great number of those who continue to yield to their sensual desires. We must drive out of our hearts the world and its images and advance into the interior of the desert, to dwell there with Moses. There can we the more easily guard our flocks; that is to say, free ourselves from our interior temptations and the caprices of our imagination. When Moses had led his flocks into the interior of the desert God showed Himself to him in a burning bush, which signifies that the fire of charity and holy desires shall fill our heart, and then it is that we can follow God whithersoever He calls us.

There is to be found that delightful desert of which it is written: “Who is she that goeth up by the desert as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices?” (Cant, iii, 6). St. Gregory says that the nature of love is to rise each day higher above oneself toward God by holy desires and never to rest until one has reached the supreme good. For upon the earth there is nothing that can attract a loving soul’s glances; but his whole effort is to go to God, raising himself above himself. Such is the

And to them the fervent soul makes answer: “I found Him whom my soul loveth; I held Him, and I will not let Him go” (Cant, iii, 4). For whoever penetrates into this desert knows how to savor and how to express interior and mystical things. Charity by its good works renews and increases all the virtues, and this our Saviour well showed us when he clothed himself with glory on Mount Tabor and discovered to us the fruits that we gather in the desert when we are sincerely converted to God. Thus St. Paul tells us: “We all, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord” (II Cor. iii, 18).

We And, besides, in the desert a multitude of beautiful flowers on which the foot of man has never trodden. It is even so with a life of renunciation and separation; by pious practices, hard to nature, the habit of Christian virtue is acquired. But, as these practices cost much effort and pain, there are but few who make up their minds to adopt them. In this desert we find lilies and other flowers of shining whiteness, namely, purity of soul and body. There we also find deep red roses, namely, mortification, exhausting to flesh and blood, triumphing over sin and causing us, if necessary, bravely to suffer martyrdom. Ah, there are things there which one can hardly get in the world. This desert grows also the violet, the symbol of humility, and many other precious plants and flowers; that is to say, the example of the saints. Choose, then, for thyself a spot in that desert by living piously, by imitating the purity, poverty and obedience of the saints and their other virtues, according to what is written in the Canticle: “The flowers have appeared in our land” (Cant, ii, 12), which means that many men have departed this life full of virtue and of merit.

But one must not expect to find his ease in the desert, and it is on this account that the lovers of this world cannot endure it. The children of Israel murmured against Moses because of the very many privations to which they were subjected. Those privations are a symbol of the sober, severe and recollected life necessary for every Christian; for, had we the whole universe at our command,, we ought yet to use only what is needful, and we ought ever to dread going beyond the just measure of necessity; it is thus that the soul strengthens itself. This desert minis-

ters, it is true, very little that is pleasing to the senses, but in compensation we find abundance of spiritual comforts, much surpassing worldly joys. “The Lord will comfort Sion. * * * He will make her desert a place of pleasure and her wilderness a garden of the Lord” (Isaias ii, 3). And again the prophet says: “That which was dry land shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water” (Isaias xxxv, 7). The solitary soul shall be granted a more numerous posterity, that is to say, a greater number of merits, than the soul that is wedded to the world. God had commanded Pharaoh to let the people of God go into the desert to sacrifice to the Lord, for they were to receive spiritual consolations in place of the worldly consolations of Egypt.

When we have penetrated into this desert we shall, with the eyes of the soul, see the King and His bride, namely, God and the soul; and that sight is a fountain of delights for us. So it is written in the Canticle: “Go forth, daughters of Sion, and see King Solomon” (Cant, iii, 2) ; that is to say, Christ, of whom Isaias says: “A child is bora to us, and His name is Wonderful” (Isaias ix, 6). Behold, indeed, how much God is wonderful, since He has even willed to become man for the sake of His bride. This is the marvel that Moses saw and of which he tells: “I will go and see this great sight — why the bush is not burnt” (Exodus iii, 3). That bush is the human nature of Christ; the flame is His holy soul, burning with love, and the light, that is His divinity united to His mortal body. Come, then, and behold Christ, this Solomon into whom is poured the infinitude of wisdom and who understands all things. He is the truth that has shown us the road to Heaven. The soul should contemplate Him without ceasing, in order to be able to imitate Him by living according to the Spirit and not according to nature. And even nature will be greatly strengthened in her struggles, if she will hold her eyes fixed on her King, and meditate how it was that He accomplished His pilgrimage here below. It is a great consolation for a loving soul to consider in Jesus Christ at one time the infirmity of human nature, and again the spiritual life that He led so superior to human nature.

According to an illustrious teacher, an abundance of consolations weakens our energies, and spiritual joys even wholly devour the soul when they are excessive. A very lively happiness cannot last long, and a prompt change is made necessary, for here below the soul is not admitted to serve God in the holy of holies: “Thy chalice, which inebriateth me, how goodly it is!” (Ps. xxii, 5). The soul should, therefore, consider

“Lord,” exclaims St. Bernard, “come to me and reign from Thy throne in me, for, alas! it too often happens that I occupy it myself.” Pride, covetousness, lust and sloth would reign in me; wrath, hate and calumny make deadly attacks upon me and claim control of my will. I resist them, I mourn over their assaults and I cry out: I will have no king but Jesus Christ. O peaceful King, come and reign in me, for I desire no other king but Thee! I await Thee, O Lord, with wonder, with prayers and burning supplications, with many changes of grief and joy! O, how can we for an instant leave off preparing to receive so great a King — a God who has made our poor nature capable of receiving His Divine Being, who has taken it and united it to Himself, and clothed Himself with its shades and colors and displayed its beauty to us. He loves us much more than we love Him. I shall, therefore, be without excuse if I do not love Him above all things, for He asks nothing else of us but that we love Him. We should, therefore, go forth entirely from ourselves, and enter into that blessed solitude, and long to know and to contemplate the true King and spouse of our soul. For this we need Moses — that is to say, a good will to conduct us even to that mountain where God dwells.

The people taken out of Egypt by Moses are our old habits, for after our conversion we easily go back to our accustomed ways and, with our fleshly desires and our unclean or worldly thoughts, make, as it were, a golden calf, that we may live according to the flesh and enjoy creatures rather than God. On this account we have great need that the true Moses, Jesus Christ, should lead us and guide us on our way; that He may draw us after Him, in order to make us enter into the interior desert of our soul, in which is the mysterious dwelling place of the Lord. May He grant us this grace. Amen.