The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 75 of 124
Second Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after
also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee hat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee; and they shall not leave In thee a stone upon a stone; because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation. And entering into the temple. He began to cast out them that sold things, and them that bought Saying to them: It is written: My house is the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves. — Luke xlx, 41-46.
The city over which our Lord now weeps is Christendom. This is the first meaning of this Gospel; the second is that He weeps over worldly hearts, and well may He weep, for we may all weep and never weep enough over those who know not and who will not be warned of the time of their visitation. Jerusalem was in joy and peace when Christ wept over the city. And so are all these men who live in the life of the Benses. They are full of joy and peace as long as they have this worlds goods, power, friends, relatives, honors, everything to their hearts’ content, living as if these were to be theirs for all eternity. Meanwhile they keep up a show of religion, confession, and prayer, and dream they are safe. If you say anything to the contrary, you are lost to them. They abide in self-righteousness and in perfect security. But mark what comes after this state of security: their enemy shall come upon them, and leave not a stone upon a stone.
The time of God’s visitation is at hand. As they approach death, the fiend enwraps them in a mantle of despair, they know not which way to fly, not a thought ef God’s goodness can enter their souls. No wonder. God has never been there, they never built on Him, took little account of Him — they were ever absorbed in transitory pleasures and the joys of the senses. When the evil one has knocked away that foundation, then down falls the peace that was built thereon. Now follows an unbearable tumult of soul, unbearable and everlasting, over which all men might weep and wither up with terror; yea, they might well shed tears of blood over such a calamity. Good reason had Christ to weep over these souls, saying: "If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace.” And St. John writes: "All that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life” (I John ti: 16). How shall God judge such a soul after death? Would that He might give you to know the terrors of that future tumult of soul which shall never be followed by peace; which not my words but those of St Gregory describe in thiB day’s homily.
Then our Lord entered into the temple and drove out the buyers and sellers, saying: You have made My house a den of thieves. He means the soul of man, which is more properly the temple of God than all material temples in the world. St Paul says: "Enow you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth within you? If any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which' you are” (I Cor. iii: 16-17). Now when our Lord would enter into this His temple, He finds it a den of thieves and murderers, and a place of traffic. For what is buying and selling? It is when, for example, a man gives the corn which he has for the wine which he has not Now, a man has nothing that is really his own, except his free will. And it is by bartering away his free will in exchange for the perishable tilings of this world that he plies his traffic: no matter what he gets in return, he always gives away his free will — seeking joy in food and drink, in raiment and jewels, both for his own pleasure and for the admiration of other men. Alas, the day of reckoning is sure to come. And then they cry out, O blessed Lord, have pity on me! It was not a sensual love but a spiritual love I indulged in; we must have our relaxations. Dear children, make no mistake. This is really the traffic thou carriest on whilst thou canst barter away thy free will. ■ And as tiine goes on, God is removed farther and farther away
“Divine consolation is of so sensitive and delicate a nature, that it cannot abide the company of any other consolation.” One will perhaps exclaim: O Lord, we are in the religions state, members of a holy order. I answer: If thou hadst npon thee all the holy habits thou conldst choose, unless thou dost act up to what these rightly mean, they will do thee no manner of good.
It happened once that a man committed a crime, and then he entered a monastery, wholly unrepentant and unconfessed. Having received the holy habit, he came to his death — and the devil cut him to pieces and carried him off, body and soul, but leaving the holy habit after him. And they that belong to orders should be for that reason all the more holy than the ordinary traffickers of this world. Alas, how vast a subject is this for our meditation, if we did but search it to the bottom. For everybody seems full of his own will, full, full, full! How few strong characters do we meet with, men who subject themselves wholly to God; indeed, the majority of those who act thus are poor, humble women. All seek their own, all are self-willed. Ah, if they would but traffic with Qod, and give Him their free wills, that would indeed be a prosperous venture. And what is the net profit of their worldly barter? Nothing but disturbance of mind. Yet these half-hearted Christians are all the better off for their pain upon pain of heart, if they but knew it, for by means of this distress of conscience they will at last be saved; whereas those who are content with their ' state of infidelity to Qod are in great peril of final loss. St. Augustine speaks thus of the half-hearted: “Ill-regulated spirits provide a martyrdom for themselves, and lay on their souls an oppressive burden; they feel deep unrest and yet know not what ails them.” The trouble In that their temple is a place of traffic; they will not give up self-love.
Sometimes one will give up relatives and friends, his goods and his inheritance; but he will not give up self. And all is then in vain. He must be to himself as utterly stripped of all things as when he came naked from Qod. This Is true, even though one must have many cares for himself, like eating and drinking, seeing and hearing, all of which leave their memories in the Boul. What then? A man must in all these things keep Qod in view; he must seek Qod in all he does, in all he leaves undone. As long as he acts that way, he may disregard his memories and the images of his imagination. He keeps the temple, -of his soul clean from traffic. He is not entangled by these intrusions of outward things.
The bride in the Canticles says that their bed is full of flowers, that is to say, the soul in friendship with Ood is full of heavenly flowers, of thoughts and images of divine love and of Heaven. Ah, if thy temple were only totally empty, cleansed of all trafficking, all imaginations, then would it indeed be the temple of God — never until then, no matter what thou mayst do to it Peace and joy would then possess thy heart; nothing whatever could lead thee astray; all that now annoys thee and even fills thee with anguish would vanish away. The Lord commanded Ezechiel to dig his way through the wall into the temple, and to behold the many abominations there, and the foul images therein to be found — painted by the keepers of the temple themselves. And thus it is with the recollections and the imaginations of men; they themselves paint them upon their souls.
Herein may one distinguish between the elect and the reprobate. The former cannot enjoy full peace in inordinate use of created things, even if they do for awhile lose themselves and go astray in them. They feel the tooth of remorse constantly gnawing their conscience, sorrow and dread haunt them even in their evil hours; and this is the work of the Holy Ghost, as it is written: “The Spirit Himself asketh for ns with unspeakable groanings” (Bom. viii: 26). They come at last to sincere repentance, weeping over their wayward and disorderly life, and thus they are saved. This is true even though years may pass before they return to God. What an inestimable grace is this; and he who is granted it may well thank God for the warnings vouchsafed him, and the interior inspirations that stirred him to repentance. But, alas, with others it turns out differently. There are some to whom it avails not to give private warnings or public discourses — nay, there are whole countries that seem to be averted from God.
Therefore do I warn you to hear God’s message, while yet it is addressed to you: profit well by it. Admit the word of God into thy understanding, for it is too little understood. It is a blameworthy thing that God’s warning remains in the ear and does not reach the heart, for that is filled already; it is all encumbered and overlaid with things of sense. Make room for God’s word; drive out of your hearts the joys you take in created things; expel the imaginations and memories of this world— otherwise you cannot understand what God means.
When one preaches a truth of God today, and preaches the self-same truth again tomorrow, his hearers will receive it attentively and with undiscovered beauty and instruction, all of which we never can perfectly comprehend. And this ever-increasing power of understanding God's word, is granted especially to those who come to hear it with souls detached from earthly things. As to the others, much is lost to them, and much is not rightly understood. The truth of God reaches their ears and forms figures in their fancy — not much more. This is on account of the preoccupation of their souls by worldly thoughts. If these thoughts, these traffickers, were but driven out of that temple of God, it would be transformed into a house of prayer, in which God would love to dwell. And presently we shall discourse upon the prayer that should be offered therein. Meanwhile, may God grant us the grace to drive out all traffickers, and make our souls acceptable to Him. Amen.
Another is lack of sensible devotion — Yet another is discouragement over venial defects — Frequent communion as a reparation for the wickedness of the whole race of man — Our helps 'are all kinds of interior tendencies towards Ood — Externally, brotherly love is second to none — Disregard of men's opinion of us is a decided aid — An exhortation to frequent communion.