The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 55 of 124

Second Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost

Beloved children, this is the day on which the precious treasure of Divine love, lost so sadly in the garden of Eden by Adam’s disobedience, was restored to us. The whole race of man had fallen into eternal death, had lost the sevenfold gifts of the Divine Comforter, and lay under the wrath of Qod in the bands of everlasting servitude. Jesus Christ broke these bands on Good Friday, as He was bound fast in death to His cross. He made perfect peace between His Father and mankind; and today He confirms that reconciliation. He restores the lost treasures of grace In the Holy Ghost. Our hearts and souls and senses are incapable of understanding the superabundant wealth of love that is in our Saviour, and which overflowed the souls of His disciples when they received the Holy Ghost. It was like a downpour of rain which overflows the streams and fertilises the valleys and fields. And as with the disciples then, so in all ages and without any intermission ever since then; the Holy Ghost overflows the inmost hearts of men with His graces, if only He finds those inner depths ready and open to receive His gifts. And now suppose that this our land were like Palestine in the days of Elias, when for three years and six months the earth was parched with drouth and no man could sow or reap, and that then there should come a sweet misery? In the same way, a man who feels himself parched with spiritual drouth in heart and soul about interior things and external things of religion, empty and loveless, entirely void of the overflowing comfort of the Holy Spirit — shall that man not mourn over his state of abandonment? Let us then consider what is to be done in order to obtain the Holy Ghost.

The first and most important preparation must be made by the Holy Ghost Himself, making ready a proper place for His abode; and that He does by two acts. One is to empty the soul, the other is afterwards to fill it. The emptying is the greatest preparation, for the more the soul is emptied of human attachment, the more receptive of God’s Spirit does it become. If thou wouldst fill a cup with some liquid, thou must first empty it of any other liquid that may be in it. Of two different materials, one cannot be perfectly itself if it is to be blended with the other. If fire is to come in, water must first go out, for these elements are naturally opposed. Well then, if God is to come into the soul, creatures must first go out — all that is not God must go ont. Thus, again, the animal instincts must yield place to the dictates of reason, if these shall hold sway. Thus, therefore, a man must surrender himself captive, be empty, detached, and ready. Nay, even this state of detachment itself — as far as any honor shall be due to it — must be surrendered to God in total self-annihilation; otherwise a man will prevent the highest activity of the Holy Ghost within him. But to go to this extent no one nowadays seems willing.

But when this emptying of the soul has been done, at once the Holy Ghost does His second work: He gratifies the soul’s capacity to receive Him. Tes; if thou art truly detached thou shalt receive abundantly, and if thou art but partially detached, thou shalt receive but partially. Thou must be totally emptied of self-will, self-love, self-opinion. Consider that if Heaven itself stood open before thee, thou wouldst not dare to enter in, until thou hadst known if God would have thee do so — such must be thy detachment from self. This is the state and this alone, in which the soul must be if the Holy Ghost is to be given to it unto perfect fullness.

Ah, children, when a man feels himself dull, hard and slow, being oppressed by nature; when peace is gone; when he is become quite helpless; then let him detach his soul’s affections from everything, yield him-

, self up entirely to Qod, suffer these trials and all other evils patiently, and he will have obtained real poverty of spirit; and then the Holy Ghost will soon fill the empty void. Into such a soul He pours all His riches, overflowing with His presence the whole man both inward and outward, enriching the highest faculties and the lowest. In this the man’s own part is to allow himself to be prepared by the Holy Ghost, and to make room for Him as He begins His Divine work. Few men do this, even of those whose vocation calls for it, and who show outward signs of spirituality. There is a widespread state of delusion and selfhood in such matters. This is owing to our acting in self-chosen ways, full of self-assurance. Nobody seems willing to yield simply up to the Holy Spirit’s action; everybody must have his own plan of spiritual life — such is the rule in our perilous times. Let thy only rule be to allow the Holy Ghost unhindered liberty in thy soul. He will thereupon so possess thee with His Divine influence, that even in thy outward conduct every word and work shall be according to His will — all in due order and quiet. As to thy interior life, He will turn thee inward to achieve great spiritual things, even though thou shalt be hardly aware of His action. For just as the soul acts in the body, so does the Holy Ghost act in our innermost life, all without our easily perceiving it, until we turn again and bend our mental powers deep into those recesses of the soul in which the Divine Guest has taken up His abode.

And then a man is apt to become foolish. When he sees these great things of God in his heart, he appropriates them to himself. It is as if a great painter had begun a masterpiece and some fool should come along and meddle with it and quite destroy its beauty. Thus do we act when we meddle with God’s work in our souls. This is done by the inordinate joy to which we give ourselves up, as we perceive how God is doing His holy work within us, for, indeed, that joy exceeds all other joys known to this life. But by means of this self-appropriation, God’s work is destroyed. It is very true that as long as a man does not fall into mortal sin the Holy Ghost is not driven out, but his soul may meanwhile be far removed from self-renunciation.

Sometimes a man will be under the delusion that his inner life is all of God, and as a matter of fact it is all his own self, his own self-sufficiency. A man may receive high spiritual gifts, even revelations and knowledge of secret things, and yet it may remain very doubtful as to what will become of him in the end — it is quite possible for him to be eternally lost from the consequences of his self -appropriation of these

A man must go out of himself and stay out of himself, if the Holy Spirit shall have His way with him according to His supreme and infinite dignity: beware of placing obstacles in His way. If thou hast, however, made this mistake, it is not necessary for thee to run off at once and annoy thy father confessor with matters so hard to explain. Turn immediately into thy own heart’s deep chambers, confess thy faults humbly to God there, and He will place His Divine hand on thy head and heal thee.

Thus said our Lord: “They shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark xvi, 18). And again He says: “They shall cast out devils.” God will thus grant thee power to detect the devil’s deceits and to escape them — a reward for thy soul’s self-renunciation. “They shall take up serpents,” meaning an interior man’s patience in bearing with snake-like men, with their overbearing manners and their usurped authority. These may sting and wound God’s servants in their lowermost faculties, but they cannot touch the higher powers of their souls — be of good courage and never let them distress thee. Our Saviour says also: “If they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” Does not this mean suffering from bad men, in whom everything turns to poison? They make the worst of everything, spinning around all that comes near them a poisonous web of wickedness. If it should happen that thou art desirous of receiving the fulness of the Holy Spirit, and that on that account thy sister should assail thee with her scolding tongue, then if thou wilt only accept this patiently for God’s sake, be certain that this is the work of the Holy Ghost. If thou wilt only be silent and bear with thyself sweetly, be sure that it is a preparation for the coming of the Holy Ghost. It hurts thy outward self, but it cannot injure thy interior self.

Children, would you be always happy, always at your best? Then hold fast to these two little points: Empty yourselves totally of all created things, including your own self, maintaining a well-ordered inner and outer life, so that the work of the Holy Ghost may be unhindered in you. Secondly, accept every happening of your existence, whether in the soul or in the outer life, as coming directly from God’s hand: come from where it may, be it what it will, look upon it as given you to help you make ready for His great gifts and for no other purpose whatsoever, knowing that only by trial and hardship, whether coming from the evil one or from unruly men, you can attain the supernatural and marvelous perfection to which God has called you.

Our Redeemer also said of His apostles: “They shall speak with new tongues” (Hark xvi, 17). This means that a man must cripple his tongue — that is to say, he must restrain his natural tendency to talk. Children, learn how to guard your tongue, learn that art before every other art Habitually take care what you say, or you will never amount to anything with God. See to it that your words are all to God's honor, or to your neighbor's good, or to your own peace of mind. Converse with God without ceasing. St. Bernard says: “I condemn and detest talking much with men; but we can never talk too much with God.” Thank God loudly with your tongue, and praise Him continually. If thou hadst only this to thank Him for — that He has patiently borne with thee to this hour and silently suffered thy disorderly conduct before His face, thou oughtest to demand new tongues of Him to give Him proper thanks, even if He never led thee onward to the complete fulfilment of His holy designs with thee. And among yourselves, as often as you meet together talk about God and about a virtuous life. This does not mean disputations about the Deity or any other such thingB, nor does it mean subtle reasoning of any kind; for that will only help to damn your soul and the souls of those you draw into such controversies. But converse about God and virtue, out of a heart full of God and of virtue. Avoid subtle and disputatious men, who are the serpents of whom we were lately discoursing. They are externalized men; thou must not draw them into thy sacred interior life. By their means the evil one may manage to entrap thee, taking advantage of thy weaker tendencies.

Besides this, the Holy Ghost works His supernatural ends according to the good natural tendencies He finds in thee. As God’s work grows in thee, He will draw under His influence both thy soul and body. When He finds a good and willing natural disposition, He works along its lines. Just as a copious rain produces a good harvest, so does God will that His gifts shall not be unfruitful — He develops all natural powers of soul and body, so that He may in due order act by their means for thy sanctification. But all this is on condition that God finds thee in true poverty of spirit. Hence thou must cast out of thy soul whatever thou hast cherished there that is not the effect of the action of the Holy Ghost; all hardness of heart, suspicious rash judgments — of all such things thou must be entirely emptied. But thou shouldst bear in mind that whatever happens to thee against thy will can do thee no harm.

Again, do not suppose that thou shouldst wait inertly for the Holy Ghost, ceasing to perform thy usual external works of religion, tawing

Providence. Let everything be done by thee in a kindly spirit, in all gentleness and self-denial, resolved to be at peace with thyself and with thy neighbor. It is not the work that hinders thee; no, bat rather it is thy spirit of disorder in doing the work that hinders thy spiritual progress. Bet that right, and keep God alone in view in all thy activity. Look carefully into thyself very often; take heed to what thy mind is occupied with; admit no confusion of motives there, whether about joy or sorrow; guard carefully thy external behavior. By these means thou shalt abide in contentment in all thy doings; the Holy Ghost will come to thee and fill thy soul. He will dwell within thee. If thou wilt but hearken to His teaching, He will work miracles within thee. To that happy state may God help us all. imerv

Ghost — The first gift is Divine fear, which is a supernatural instinct of seeking safety from danger — Then comes the gift of piety, which is a Divine trustfulness in God amid all inward disturbances and outward calamities — The third is the gift of knowledge, by which we learn how to place reason in supreme control over sense and God over all — The fourth is fortitude, by which a a man does wonderful things and overcomes horrible obstacles to holiness — Counsel is a gift revealing our defects in their naked deformity, and showing us how to overcome them — Understanding and wisdom are the perfect gifts, and place the soul in close but indescribable union with God.