The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 62 of 124

First Sermon for the Feast of Corpus Christi

For My flesh is meat indeed. — John vi: 56.

This is a most blessed day, on which we venerate the precious body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Although the Sacrament of the Altar is honored every day of the year, and has a special festival on Mannday Thursday, yet our holy mother, the Church, sets this day apart that we may do particular honor to onr Lord in the blessed Sacrament, thereby renewing our devotion to Jesus really present with us. Thus has holy Church done her part; and she has met with hearty response from her children, who honor our Lord in the blessed Sacrament by carrying Him in procession from one church to another, with splendid and costly ornaments, the sound of church bells and of organs and of loud musical chants.

Children, all this is good, because it helps the interior praise of Christ in our souls — everything even the littlest may be made to serve that end. Let us gladly do reverence to God every way we can think of — the humblest little earth worm, had it but the use of reason, would willingly lift up its head to God and then bow down in all reverence ta Him. But as to man, he has a high degree of praise to offer, for he has the privilege to love and honor God out of the depths of a heart endowed with intelligence; and this far surpasses all that he can ever do without this in the external order of religion.

And he can reach a yet higher grade of praise, namely, by having so full a knowledge of God’s greatness and of his own littleness, that he feels that he cannot praise Him enough — a veneration of God exceed*

God with many words, and another doctor bade him hold his peace, saying: “Thou blasphemest God.” And both were right. It is a wonderful thing, that the unspeakable Goodness is so great that no one can rightly praise it. Bight praise of God is infinitely beyond the two degrees we have mentioned, and exceeds all words and methods of veneration. Let a man be absorbed in God, blending selfhood into God, until in this man’s soul it is God who praises Himself and returns thanks to Himself; and whosoever reaches this state, it can hardly be supposed that God will permit him to fall away from Him.

Our Lord says: “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed,” and He adds: “He that eatheth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me and I in him.” Behold our Lord’s fathomless humility, in that He is silent about His infinite greatness, and speaks only of the least of His attributes. His greatness is His adorable Godhead, and yet he speaks only of His flesh and His blood. Yet in the Holy Communion His blessed soul and His divine nature are also present. His amazing and unspeakable love for us is shown in that He was not content to make Himself our brother and assume our poor human nature. No, He became man that man might become God — nay more: He insists that He shall become our food. Of this St. Augustine speaks: “No nation is so great as the Christian people, nor any to whom God has come so close as to us: we feed upon our God.” How wonderful a love is His, to invent this way of union. This love overwhelms us; it should wound every heart of man with its overpowering greatness. No act in our material existence is so close to us, or enters so intimately into our bodily life, as eating and drinking. And this is the reason why our Savior chose this marvellous way of being brought into the closest and most interior union with us.

Let us consider the processes of taking bodily food; it may seem a gross thing, but it serves to illustrate the Holy Communion. St Bernard says: “When we eat this food, we ourselves are eaten.*’ When we take food we first chew it, then it passes into the stomach and is changed in the heat of our organs of digestion, which separate the coarser and useless portions from the good parts; sometimes out

“I shall not be changed into thee, but thou shalt be changed into Me.” Whosoever receives this divine food worthily, it penetrates the veins of his most interior existence.

Let us explain St Bernard’s saying: “When we eat this food, we ourselves are eaten.” For then Qod feasts upon us; as He enters He scourges us for our sins, which He ( reveals plainly to us — His divine presence scourges our conscience. As one turns his food over aud over again in his mouth and continually bites it, so is a man cast back and forth under God’s scourging, namely, in anguish, dread and sorrow about his sins. Dear child, gladly endure this biting of God’s presence in thee, let Him eat thee and chew thee to pieces, seek not to escape His chastisement, and offer Him the deep sighs of thy heart: Oh, Lord, have mercy on me a poor sinner; and meantime keep close within thyself. Be sure that all this is more for thy profit than much pious reading or praying if these should take thee out of thyself. But be on thy guard lest the evil one cunningly afflict thee with excessive sadness about thy sins; for he would gladly sow in thy heart the seed of bitter sorrow. Our Lord sows the seed of a sorrow that is sweet and good.

After the chastisement comes a gentle softening of one’s soul, loving trust, divine confidence, holy hope: it is now that God is absorbing and, as it were, swallowing thee. And just as well-cooked food when it is chewed, softly and gently sinks into the stomach, so shall it be with thee in Communion when thy conscience has been prepared. But thou must give thyself up to our Lord with all trust, and then shalt thou be gently absorbed in Him. If we have followed St Paul’s directions about the Eucharist: “Let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice” (I Cor. xi: 28), then our Lord will consume us as we consume our food. This is done by renouncing all our selfhood, and destroying out of our lives all attachment to created things. The more carefully food is masticated the more it becomes unlike its former self. Thou shalt find out if thou art absorbed into Qod as His food, if thou are so changed as to find nothing in thyself except Him, and flndest thyself nowhere else but in Him. For does He not say: “He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him.” Therefore must thou be stripped of thy old self, as it were, by the divine mastication of thy soul — just as thou dost change thy food by chewing it. If anything will be turned into what it is not, surely it must cease to be what it is — when wood is turned into fire it is perforce no longer wood. If thou shalt be changed, as it were, into God thou must cease to be thyself.

Again, our Lord says: “He that eatheth Me, the same shall live by Me.” Hence, if thou wouldst gain the life of Jesus, thou must receive the blessed Sacrament often, for thereby the old Adam within thee shall be wholly destroyed. As the forces of nature fill our veins with the strength that is in our food, making it one thing with ourselves, so shall the divine food entirely change thee into itself. Thou shalt know if this is done, if after receiving this Sacrament thou feelest thy heart wholly detached from whatever is not God. And this new life within thee will work outwardly and be manifested in thy conduct and actions and conversation. This adorable Sacrament separates all that is bad, profitless and superfluous, casting it all out of the soul; and then God enters into all one’s life, love, thought, intention, making all newer, cleaner and more divine.

This Sacrament cures a man’s inner blindness and gives him to know himself, teaching him how to turn away from self and all created things. Thus says the wise man: “With the bread of life and understanding, she shall feed him” (Eccli. xv:3). This divine food so changes a man into itself, that his whole life is regulated by God. He is led by God, he is changed by God, through this food. Therefore, if a man goes to Communion and still remains empty of heart, vain and arrogant, his demeanor frivolous, if he be yet addicted to fine clothes, fond of amusements — if, I say, he wilfully adheres to these defects, then his going to Communion is a perilous thing. Better a thousand times that he stayed away. He goes to confession, indeed, but he does not give up the occasions of sin. Not the Pope himself can forgive the

Prudent confessors will tell each one how often he Bhould receive Communion, some every week, others every month; and these should be able to spend a week before and after each Communion very piously. Tea, yea, and nay, nay, should be their guileless rule of life, besides much moderation at their morning and evening meals. Others, again, may receive Communion at the great festivals, and some at Easter. These will do little enough if they spend all Lent in preparation. And some, alas, should never approach the holy table as long as they have no grief for their sins nor any firm purpose of amendment of life — Buch a one would make himself guilty of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Children, you know not how serious a matter this is, for some seem to think going to Communion a sort of recreation. But I assure you that it is a matter of life and death as to what diligence one exercises in preparing for this Sacrament. Any man who neglects the teaching of the Church’s ministry in this matter of preparing for Communion, falls into a state of the greatest possible danger. There is a class, besides, who will go to Comunion weekly, often actuated by no spirit of devotion nor moved by any divine impulse, but rather out of mere custom, or because they see others going. No, no— let none yield to such a tendency. If, however, a man would approach the altar weekly out of gladness of heart towards Qod, and with reverent fear, and in order to strengthen his soul against damnation — by no means to put on airs of perfection — a man, in fact, who is of good life and carefully guarded against the occasions of sin, then let him do it, after obtaining the counsel of his father confessor. Let me tell you this: if I found a man who had been a vile sinner, and who now has given up his vices and turned to Qod with all his heart, I had rather give him Communion every day for half a year, than do so a single time to a half-hearted and lukewarm man. For I believe that thereby I should drive the world out of my poor penitent’s heart

I have shown you the reasons why the holy Sacrament does these tepid men so little good — men who once had some trace of Qod in them, and who now after Communion remain cold-hearted. One reason is a secret sin, a deed of inner or outer wickedness. Perhaps it is the Bin of unguarded speech. The harm thereby done is often incalculable — attend to that, for Qod’s sake, or you will come to

Now there are some customs that are really good, Buch as that of staying home in one’s interior self after Communion, the lack of which does much harm, and hinders the realizing of the good effects of this heavenly food. The immediate fruits of Communion are per* ceptible for three or four days, if one will but advert devoutly to them. Dwelling with one’s interior self sweetly and happily, one will not fail to experience them, no matter in what circumstances he may be placed or in what company, as long as he avoids as much as possible what binders his soul’s solitude. Be sure that if thou keepest faithfully to thyself, the holy Sacrament will keep thee company and work its way in thee, changing thee into a noble being. Any priest whatsoever will serve thee for receiving this Sacrament, and it may happen to be better for thee than for himself. And every time thou hearest mass thou shouldst cherish a longing for Communion, a practice which tends to train one’s thoughts towards God. And may God grant us that we may all worthily receive this adorable Sacrament. Amen.

from sin, the virtues of Christ, devoted to divine things, and peacefully disposed — How the onslaughts of Satan may he made a help — And the persecutions of men — Preference of divine visitations over self-chosen austerities — Daily communion — Spiritual communion— The holy inner silence that should follow communion — How to use this Sacrament in periods of inner desolation.

SECOND SERMON FOB THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI.

He that eateth Hy flesh end drlnketh Hy blood abldeth in Me and I in him. — John vl, 67.

Dear children, rightly to praise the holy and adorable Sacrament la beyond the power of the tongues and hearts of men, and yet to that end are onr devotions now directed, for in it is concentrated all our joy, all our hopes of salvation. Let us avail ourselves of St Bernard’s words (although they may seem somewhat coarse to us), as, by comparison with bodily food, he tells of the qualities of this heavenly nourishment — of the chewing and the swallowing, the digestion and the assimilating of the Son of God. Proud men and subtle minds may not be pleased with such figures of speech, but a humble spirit always loves simple ways of explaining divine things. Thus says our Lord: “I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to little ones” (Matt. xi:25).

Dear children, we must view this glorious gift of God with both enlightened reason and ardent love. How humble is our Lord, to thus give Himself to us under such lowly appearances sb bread and wine, so that all may partake of Him just as they do of their ordinary food. This can mean nothing else than His purpose to press in so dose to us, to sink so deep within us, to be so entirely made one with us as order with her bodily eyes, lighting up priest and altar with indescribable splendor, surrounded by His glorious angels, whilBt He imparted to her soul the most beautiful sentiments. But in this era of grace nothing is more precious to ns than receiving this adorable Sacrament devoutly and humbly. Nor is there anything more frightful than Communion received unworthily or without preparation. Hence, says our beloved St. Dionysius: “Four things are necesary for receiving the holy Sacrament: first, to be free from all sin; second, to be clothed with the virtues of our Lord Jesus Christ; third, to be emancipated from self and given over to God; fourth, to be God’s temple.” As to being free from sin: that means clear knowledge of one’s sins, then Sacramental confession of them and acceptance and performance of the penance imposed according to the rules of holy Church. After that 1st a man interiorly sigh for a perfect knowledge of his sinfulness, n spiritual exercise of far more benefit than vacantly reciting vocal prayers. In addition to this one must have a firm purpose of amendment, including a determination to avoid all occasions of sin in the future. These dispositions being posessed, one’s soul is set free from sin. The second is to possess the virtues of our Lord Jesus Christ, namely, mildness, obedience, purity of intention, patience, gentleness and mercy, readiness to be silent, and love for all men, friends and enemies, good and bad, for the sake of God. The third is emancipation from self and subjection to God. This means that having become possessed of the virtues of Christ, one cultivates peacefulness of soul in God’s inner presence. Then it is that one experiences the meaning of our Lord’s words: “He that eatheth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him.” One should with carefulness preserve this peace, allowing himself never to be disturbed by any word or deed, for it must not be mistaken for any natural state of restfulness, but rather the inward peace that belongs to God’s Spirit alone, extending to all sorrow and joy, all things natural and spiritual. For in so far as a man is in God truly, just bo securely is he placed in quietness of soul; and in so far as he is out of God, so is he in unrest, And when he has thus entered essentially upon peace, he becomes the temple of God in very truth, for the abode of God is in peace. Thereby

But let us again consider St. Bernard’s words about receiving our Lord in holy Communion: “As we have eaten Him, in like manner shall we be eaten by Him.” Now by the word eating he means — as we have already said — the punishment and, as it were, the biting which the Lord inflicts on our conscience, and which He causes all created things to inflict upon it. Herein does a man find himself hunted like a wild animal that the emperor’s huntsmen pursue, in order that their master can capture him. We know that the emperor is better pleased to have the animal resist so that the hounds shall bite and tear him, rather than if he meekly submitted. Dear children, the eternal God is the divine monarch who will possess Himself of our hunted souls, and, as it were, feed upon them. His dogs are the evil spirits, who pursue and bite the soul with many unclean temptations. Again they assail the soul with pride, avarice and various other evil suggestions; now from one side, again from another, striving to throw him into despondency and excessive sadness. I say to thee, stand thy ground* Nothing of this can hurt thee. If thou shalt ever succeed in the spiritual life thou must thus be hunted.

But besides the evil spirits, this world and thy fellowmen will hunt thee with their injurious words and their false accusations. And yet further thy own imperfection, thy tendency to yield to corrupt nature, will assail thee. And thus is a man hunted and driven by everything that is bad, if he is ever going to acquire patience by true humility and mildness in all things of soul and body. Meanwhile he must cultivate a merciful and forgiving feeling for those dreadful men who have thus persecuted him, scoffed at him, tortured him, despised him, and maligned him to others as a wicked man. Let him now cry out from a heart all full of love: O eternal Lord and God of all creatures! Have pity upon them and upon me. Thus pray to God. Also be on thy guard by thy very soul lest thou endeavor to escape from thy trials — as if by running away from thy hunters across hedges and through the woods: our wild animal keeps to the straight, smooth road that lies before him, nor does he bite back at his hunters nor bellow at them.

Now the heavenly Father has His hunting hounds everywhere — in convents and monasteries, in our homes and in cities, and in the thou hast truly gained His refuge, thou shalt attain the highest perfection, and then will flow into thy spirit all those noble virtues of which we have already treated, humility, merciful sympathy, divine love for God and thy neighbor.

Ah, dear children, how sad it is that the universal virtue of love of God is quenched out of the world, gone from all states of life. If we could find a man pursuing the course of divine love, we ought to revere him above all others, no matter what his condition in life. All creatures should do him service, for he has gained the eternal inheritance of the heavenly Father. And yet God sometimes withdraws His comfort from these elect souls, because He thereby advances them still further in virtue; they must yet again be willing to be hunted by all creatures, suffering in silence and in self-abnegation, complaining by no word or action.

Such an immolation of the soul to God is more pleasing to Him, and is more valued by all choice spirits, than any kind of self-chosen means of perfection, such as fasting, vigils, reciting prayers — yea, or a thousand strokes of the discipline every day, although it all be done for God’s sake. The reason is because the trials sent by God work their good effects in the inner depths of thy soul — and there it is that God must be united to thee in very truth. Stand this test bravely, and God will make thee worthy to partake of His heavenly nourishment in holy Communion as often as thy soul desirest, were it even as often as every day. For the High Priest of eternal truth would thus permit, since He has at heart in everything He does for thee thy welfare for time and for eternity.

How perilous a thing for a man to approach this holy table unprepared and unworthy, especially if he be absorbed in the love of creatures living or dead, and unwilling freely to give them up for the love of God. How different is it with the soul that gladly gives up every

Art thou conscious that God’s work of purification is increasing within thee, and that thy soul is being softened to its influences and humbled beneath God’s hand in real detachment? Dost thou perceive an increase of the love of God in thee? Dost thou also perceive the lessening and the quenching of thy desires after earthly things, with an increase of childlike and reverent fear of God? Are these thy dispositions in very truth? Then the wide world does not possess a more profitable thing for thy soul than to receive the body and blood of our dear Lord Jesus Christ Dost thou inquire how often? St Ambrose, in commenting on the words, “Give us this day our daily bread,” takes them to mean daily Communion. But where shall we find a priest so kind as to allow us to be daily communicants? But be not distressed if thy priest, dear child, shall refuse thee this privilege. Earnestly endeavor to maintain thy detachment of spirit, keep thy soul in quiet peace, fall back upon the thought of thy own nothingness, and meanwhile do not doubt but that the Lord will grant thee in compensation spiritual gifts greater, perhaps, than those which thou wouldst have received in the holy Sacrament Eat and drink of Him spiritually and in the Holy Ghost, for even then His words will be true: “He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me and I in him.” This kind of dwelling in Him is one of the degrees of holiness granted by this Sacrament

And there are yet two more degrees, both of them higher and more glorious than any we have yet spoken of. By one we receive graces of both knowledge and feeling, bestowing on us the emptying of self unto its annihilation. The other is feeling without knowledge, an oppression of spirit born of this annihilation; for in proportion as selfhood possesses us, just in that degree must our anguish be bitter and sore.

Thus does St Bernard teach us, when he says that we must be consumed as food by God in our process of detachment For as food suffers a change into something not itself, so must we, if we would be

God enters in all created life that is not sanctified must go out, and all created proprietorship. If God really acts in thee, thou must rest in a passive state, all thy powers being stripped of their own activity, their own initiative, placed in self-renunciation and, as it were resting in their own nothingness. The more perfect is that sense of thy own nothingness, the truer and the more essential is thy union with God. See the annihilation of self that happened to the adorable soul of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. If it were possible (as it is not) that any man could show the same in his soul, his union with God would be the same.

If God shall truly speak within thy soul, then all thy soul’s powers must sit in silence. This is not a case of doing but of undoing. If bodily food shall be changed into the natural man, it most be first annihilated out of its own self and be made totally unlike itself, as if it had never been the food that once it was. If this be true of the food of our natural life, it is a thousand times more true of the food of our spiritual life. But, dear children, I must tell you that hurt is herein done by the interference of the human reason, which too often insists on having a share in this divine work, wanting to know all about it, and refusing to be willingly undone by God. Be on your guard against this; I warn you for God’s sake and for the sake of your eternal welfare. And if frequently receiving the holy Sacrament be an aid to thee in yielding willingly to God, thou mayst receive it, even two or three times a week. But do not run to it over eagerly, especially when thou art conscious that God is interiorly leading thee to the degree of self-renunciation proper for the best effects of Communion.

Dear child, thou must know that a soul so placed feels an intolerable inward woe in its self-destitution, so that the whole earth seems too narrow for it, until it is at loss to know what ails it, so bitter is the oppression upon it, for God seems gone from it never to return. It is all caused by the self-surrender to God: it is a dreadful tiling to wish not to die and yet be compelled truly to die to oneself. In this state St. Paul’s words about the holy Sacrament are applicable to xi: 26). This showing of the Lord’s death is not simply in words telling of the actual fact of His decease — that is no difficult thing. No; it is rather to show the Lord’s death in the dying of the soul to itself by the power of His death. And this is hindered by three things, all of which thou must overcome. One is clinging too selfishly to the adorable Sacrament; the second, clinging in the same spirit to God’s word; and the third, over-attachment to thy own chosen devotional practices. For in truth everything that might be a help to thee in ordinary circumstances may during this trial be turned into a hindrance. Ah, dear child, if in this thy time of anguish thou wouldst but make up thy mind willingly to suffer, and positively resist the tendency to break away from the visitation of God, that would avail thee more than all that thou couldst possibly do. And that is just the trouble; for many a one runs about from one counsellor to another, vainly seeking comfort, and therefore remains uncomforted by the eternal truth. Stand fast and be patient, and the very essence of that eternal truth will be born within thee.

One cannot express the harm that is done souls by yielding to nature’s weakness, and seeking, while in this process of purification, to be relieved from the inner distress that accompanies it Reason rises up within thee and demands an object for its activity; and it says to thee: Alas, what art thou about? Hast thou no end in life? Thou art neglecting thyself in everything. And then thou fanciest that thou must say prayers; and forthwith the evil spirit says: What art thou doing here? Thou art wasting thy time; thou shouldst be engaged in some good work; get up at once and set to work. After that come rude men with their favorite pious devices, and these say to thee: My dear man, what art thou about? Thou shouldst go to Church and listen to God’s word. Now let me remind thee that all these are God’s hunting dogs, and thou thyself art a hunting dog teasing and barking at thyself along with them, and saying to thyself: What ails thee to be wandering about this way? — thou shouldst receive the holy Communion.

Now children, while one is thus interiorly tried he should not expect to be relieved by the holy Sacrament. If thou earnest to me for advice about going to Communion while thus suffering, I should crossquestion thee to discover whether it were God moving thee thereto, or custom guided thee, then I would refuse to allow thee to receive Communion, unless, indeed, thou wert reduced to a state of misery simply unbearable. Thai, indeed, once or twice a week thou mightst receive Communion; but not to relieve thee of thy distress — rather to strengthen thee in bearing it.

God’s generation within thee shall never take place — be sure of that — until thou hast passed through this agony. Whatever gives thee relief, that Bame and not God is born in thee. Be sure that thy distressed nature had rather journey to Rome than patiently suffer this trial to the bitter end — a trial of far greater advantage than any other possible gift; for it is better to suffer than to labor. And sometimes this poor man calls to mind his former sweetness of devotion at Communion and while hearing the word of God, and afflicted nature would gladly enjoy that comfort again. But it has been withdrawn, and to that withdrawal the Boul must submit in its inmost depths, in misery, in death — yea, a death more bitter to nature than any other death.

But, dear children, thou must not misunderstand me, as if I had forbidden thee the Sacrament and the word of God. Thou art aware that in the first two degrees nothing is more profitable to a blessed, a divine life than Communion and sermons — these stand above all else. Only this: in the present degree of God’s dealing with the soul, everything that ordinarily helps the soul is liable to become a hindrance. For in seeking help the soul, as it were, turns its back on God and seems to say to Him: I will not go by Thy guidance, but I will go by my own — and that is to our Lord as if He were crucified again; for His adorable will cannot now be effectuated in that soul. Alas, that this incalculable benefit should be lost to that soul, simply because it will not yield itself up to suffer the want of all comfort in body and in spirit.

And now let us consider these words of St. Bernard: “I am eaten by God when I am transformed by Him; I am made one with Him when I am conformed to Him.” And we exclaim: O blessed Father, when shall this sorowful state of bouI have an end? — with all its undoing, and anguish, and pain. But O how noble an end that shall be, when at last the soul is made over again and new-formed in God, united to God. St. Paul teaches us this, having himself learned it in the school of God, in the third heaven: “But we all, beholding the glory of

Yon should also know that there are men who are only in the first degree of those who follow devout practices, and to whom, nevertheless, the new forming of soul is granted. It comes as in a flash of supernatural light, sometimes mice or twice a week. It is granted wholly according to God’s merciful will, for it is something that cannot be merited. Sometimes it comes with clear knowledge, at other times without knowledge and in darkness. Such a man is left in a state of soul all wounded by love. But those of whom we treated above are fettered by love, being conformed to love and drawn into it, and one can better feel this condition than describe it. This class is made up of men wholly self-abandoned, perfectly well ordered — far beyond spiritual men who lack this divinely established degree of holiness. May God prepare us all for this detachment of spirit. May God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost perfect His great work within us, removing all hindrances. Amen.

Wqt Signttg anil Hort of (Emraramimt

Heretical exaggerations — Delusions of certain imperfect communicants— Marvellous results of careful preparation for communion — Doily communion according to St. Augustine — Striking comment on a passage from St. Thomas.