The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 42 of 124

First Sermon for Low Sunday

Jesus said to them: Peace be to you. — John xx, 19.

“Peace be to you!” exclaimed our beloved Lord, as He appeared to His disciples after His resurrection. All men long for rest and peace by a law of their very nature. Toward this end are directed all their strivings, all their manifold labors, their devotions and spiritual exercises. But they will never attain to true peace, no, not if they struggled for it for all eternity, except they seek it where alone it can be found, namely, in God. What, then, is the way to this true peace, as it is in most perfect truth, in God? We may learn this by the threefold vocation of St. John the Evangelist, for in this way does God call all men to eternal peace.

The first, was when He called St. John from the world and made him an apostle. The second, was when He drew him close to him and made him rest his head on His breast. And the third and most perfect, was on holy Pentecost day, when He gave the apostle the Holy Ghost, and opened the door to his entrance to perfect love.

So shalt thou be first called, namely, to give up the world. This means to subject all thy lower powers and thy appetites to reason; to learn to know thyself thoroughly and remain at home with thyself, watching all thy words carefully, lest thou sayest anything different from what thou wouldst have others say to thee; also keeping guard over all thy emotions and scrutinizing them, as to whether or not they come from God, and are fit to be directed back again to God; over thy thoughts, never

The second call is to repose on Christ’s bosom. If thou wilt enjoy this privilege with St. John, thou must be transformed into the holy and living image of our Saviour. It means that thou shalt cultivate very diligently the study of His blessed meekness, His burning love for friends and foes, and His wonderful and most self-denying indifference to all things except His Father’s will, in all methods, states and ways of life.

Consider His unbounded kindness to all our race, and also His blessed poverty. Heaven and earth were His and He owned it all, but He was in it as if He owned nothing of it. Every word He spoke, everything He did, was for His Father’s honor and the happiness of all mankind. Look yet closer upon Him, look deeper into His heart, study Him with perfect attention, and then look upon thyself, and behold how different thou art from Him; acknowledge thy pettiness. Now it is when thou has honestly done this that our Lord draws thee to Himself, and makes thee rest thy head upon His bosom. For this end there is nothing so useful as the holy sacrament of our Saviour’s body and blood. And thou shalt be also aided by the counsel of one whose soul has been enlightened by Divine grace more fully than thine own. Thou shalt hereby be so filled with the sweetness of heavenly consolation, that thou canst easily renounce all the sweetness of this world.

These two calls to God are common enough among men, and many sincerely resolve to persevere in them. But it often happens that a certain rashness of temperament hinders them from going forward in answer to the third call of God. For, although St. John reposed on our Lord’s bosom, yet when Christ was seized by His enemies he deserted him and fled away. So let it not be with thee. When temptation tries thee, resist all self-seeking, resolutely stand fast by thy Saviour; and, on the other hand, do not allow any impetuosity of temper to cause thee to make a false step. If thou hast done well in these two ways and wilt not allow the love of created things to lead thee astray, God will then draw thee closer to Him. When thou feelest this drawing, let no pious method or practice of thine own devising hold thee back, but yield thyself without form or image lovingly to Him as an instrument in His hands. If He is allowed His way, then in less time than it takes to say a Pater Noster He will sanctify thee, and thereby give honor to Himself— more than thou canst do by a hundred years of thy devotions in the two former ways. But one might at a certain point begin to ask himself: Hast thou not now passed beyond thy former state and come into the higher one? Always answer: No! For no man can go forward otherwise than after the pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rather ask thyself this: Hast thou progressed beyond the spirit of self-love in the pious exercises that thou hast practiced? Diligently examine thyself in this regard, and then accept God’s good pleasure as He leads thee forward from one devout way to another.

The third call was when St. John received the Holy Ghost, and the heavenly door was opened in his soul. This happens to some in the form of an ecstasy, to others simply by absolute abandonment to God. Thus speaks St. Paul: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.” (I Cor. ii, 9.) But one must never presume to think that he can reach his highest degree of perfection; it only happens when the outer man is absorbed in the inner, for only then is a man fully mastered by God, and the Divine marvels and riches are revealed in him. And you must understand, children, that those who are partakers of this privilege, must often lie abed quite enfeebled and helpless, for nature cannot endure such a strain; nay, one has, as it were, died a painful death many times over before reaching this state — death within and death without; but a death that means eternal life. Nor does one day bring it all about, nor one year of preparation. But be not frightened; for if it takes time and self-denial and purification of heart, it is also the most perfect way of all.

By these three processes does a man acquire that purity of heart that St. John had in a superior degree, and of which our Lord taught: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.” (Matt, v, 8.) A clean heart is more highly prized by our Lord than anything on earth. That heart is very noble, splendidly adorned with virtue, the golden temple of the Holy Ghost in which God loves to dwell; it is the oratory of the Divine Son in which He intercedes for us with His Father, and in which He daily offers His Divine sacrifice. A purified heart is the chair of the highest judge; it is the chamber of rest of the holy Trinity; envy of the saints above; it is a beloved sister of the angels; the expectation of the celestial army; the brother of all good men; the terror of evildoers; the complete victory over temptation; a, weapon to resist every assault of the enemy; an assemblage of all good gifts; a treasury of all virtues; an example to all men; a restoration of all that was ever lost.

Who, then, has such a heart as this? He — we have already described him — who is wholly and absolutely content with God and intent on God; who has no taste for anything but God; who fixes his thoughts ever and always on God; to whom all that is not God or has not God for its inspiration, is strange and remote and unwelcome; who holds himself aloof from all intruding forms and images, ail joys and sorrows of the outer life, as far as he may, and who for this end makes the best of everything that happens; for to the clean all things are clean, and to the meek and humble of heart nothing is bitter. Amen.